Rodeo...Rodeo..RO-DE-OOO!!!!

When we first arrived in Guyana, we heard about this pretty awesome three-day event on the border of Brazil called Rodeo. The trip consisted of a 15-hr bus ride to the south-west part of Guyana to see Brazilian and Amerindian barefoot cowboys ride bareback bulls and horses, while feasting on meat on a stick and drinking Brazils famous Caipirinhas. You can imagine how quickly we decided that this adventure would definitely make it onto our bucket list while in Guyana. And here we are a year later and can report back that the hype was spot on, because Rodeo was unlike anything I have ever experienced before.

We started our trip two-days before the first kick-off event which was to occur on Friday night. Together with 11 other Peace Corps volunteers and about 20 other Guyanese, we jumped onto two buses at 8:00pm Thursday night to head out on our 15-hr bus ride. Unfortunately what was supposed to be 15-hrs turned into 20-hrs because we got stuck in the mud twice and had to be pulled out by a truck and our bus couldn’t go up a steep hill due to the weight, which meant we had to get out of the bus in the wee hours of the morning to walk alongside the bus in the middle of the jungle. Mind you there is no road; it’s just a dirt path. About two hours before our arrival in Lethem we stopped in the village of Annai and got our first taste of Brazilian meat and some Suriname beer. We ate our first of many servings of Calabrese sausage cooked in a typical Brazilian churrasco barbecue.

"These are ant hills!"

We finally arrived at our hostel, the Savannah Inn, at around 6pm on Friday, quickly showered and began our nightly festivities. But before we headed to the pageant, which was the kick-off event, we first had some dinner and ate some of the most incredible Brazilian pizza. Who knew Brazil was not only known for its meat, but its pizza too. Unfortunately, the pageant got rained out, but nevertheless we got to socialize with other volunteers and Guyanese friends in a cool outdoor bar.

"Brazilian Big-Boy Beers"

Saturday morning, we woke up and started our day with Bloody Marys that we packed with us all the way from Georgetown- can’t start a weekend in the sun without some Bloody Marys first. Before heading to the grounds we walked around Lethem and did some window shopping, which felt almost surreal, because I can’t remember the last time I went shopping in an actual store (we even tried on clothes!) Lethem looks and feels very different than our site. I am sure it has a lot to do with the proximity of Brazil, which is only a 30 minute drive. Lethem is mostly savannah with some of the oldest mountains in the backdrop. It feels like the Wild West, everyone drives a truck or rides a horse, and wears a cowboy hat and most people speak Portuguese. As you walk around you can almost hear the theme song of the “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” playing in your head. A little after lunch we headed to the grounds for our first taste of rodeo.

"The backdrop of Lethem. Doesn't it look like the Wild West"

"People traveling in Lethem"

"This was the Brazo hunk of the Rodeo."

"Barefoot Vaquero"

We arrived to what looked like a state fair ground with a large rodeo arena where all the riding occurred. The events that took place throughout the two days consisted of bareback bronco riding, saddle bronco riding, bareback bull riding, saddle bull riding, bull roping, greased pig catching, (which we missed) and a watermelon eating competition. All the cowboys or “vaqueros” which is Spanish for livestock herder, as they were called were mostly barefoot when doing all their riding, which I am told is way harder to do. Even though we are in Guyana and close to Brazil all the music they played throughout the day was American country, which I found pretty funny. And not only was it American country, but they played the same 6 songs on loop. Normally this would have gotten on my nerves, but because we were having so much fun it was actually nice to able to sing along to all of the songs.

"Getting ready to ride."

"She was our absolute favorite. Aren't her boots so cute?"

Rodeo finished each day at around 6pm and then the night time fair-atmosphere would erupt. There were all sorts of fair games and bounce houses, cotton candy, and a huge dance party, which Nate and I partook on each night.

But wait I haven’t spoken about the food…oh the food! How I miss thee. Nate and I ate our body weight in meat on a stick in a matter of two days. We had T-bone on a stick, ribs on a stick, chicken on a stick, sausage on a stick and the list goes on. With every portion of meat we also ate farihna, which is powdered cassava that is made into flour that is normally used as a seasoning like salt and pepper. But at the grounds they would add other seasonings to it and put in a cup for you to eat as is. Surprisingly, it was delicious. If you got lucky, some stalls would have farihna that would be sautéed and pieces of dried meat, like beef jerky, would be mixed in. Needless, to say I ate so many cups of this that I made myself sick. To wash down all these delectable meals, which we had probably 6 a day of, we drank Brazilian beer and like I mentioned before Caipirinhas, which is Brazil's national cocktail, made with cachaça, which is sugar cane rum, sugar and lime. I even got to practice my Portuguese, which well…wasn’t great. But I was able to order food and communicate most of what I needed and wanted and was even able to throw in a few jokes. To make an awesome weekend even awesomer, we got to meet the president of Guyana and take a picture with Mr. Ramotar. Nate was psyched about this, as this was one other thing on his bucket list. Big weekend for our bucket list…huh?

"T-bone on a stick!"

"Nate made friends with the Portuguese women selling meat on a stick. Classic Nate."

"Nate bringing me Caipirinhas. What a beautiful man!"

"President Ramotar"

So now a few days later, after recuperating I can say that the 20-hr bus ride was absolutely worth it, though on the way back the 18-hr bus ride back seemed a little less worth it. Funny how that always happens.

Till next time.

From a Woman's Perspective

Over the last year we have portrayed our experience in Peace Corps and Guyana in a very positive light. We have done this because we are truly enjoying our time in Peace Corps and in our new home of Guyana. But that is not to say that we haven’t dealt with some real issues while here, both related to the difference in culture and that Guyana, even with all its splendour and charm, is a developing country, especially in the hinterland regions like where we live. A few weeks ago, I posted a blog from another Peace Corps volunteer that gave a more accurate portrayal of what daily life is really like. This inspired Nate and I to discuss why we haven’t been more real on our blog and we came up with a few reasons: one- we don’t want to give a negative impression of Guyana, two-we really love our community, and three- we chose to come to Peace Corps, no one forced us. So we didn’t want our blog to be a nit-picking, negative-Nancy forum. But on that same note we do want to share some of our frustrations and discuss some real issues that are not necessarily specific to Guyana, but to the developing world and what we have learned. So if you know me, the topic of my first real-issue blog post won’t surprise you. Yup…you guessed it women and the developing nation. Now I promise you I won’t rant and rave for what might seem like hours, because once you open that can of worms, well let’s just say I hope you have some time. I will try and be concise and objective with my thoughts and give just a few real life stories. Also, what I am going to say here is not going to surprise you and it is certainly not new. Many other organizations, books, non-profits have not only discussed this issue, but are currently working to improve the problem. So here it goes.

When first preparing to come to Guyana, Peace Corps told us that we needed to mentally prepare ourselves for the differences in gender roles, especially if we were placed in a remote location. They explained that it would be taboo for Nate to help in household chores, that men ONLY were allowed to partake in drinking and enjoying leisure time outside of the home, and that people would expect me to have children and would probably consider us baron, due to my age. I thought to myself, “Yeah that will probably be hard, but I am mentally prepared for it, so I will just laugh it off.” Wrong! However, the reason it bothered me wasn’t because we were constantly considered strange, but because those gender roles stem from a place so much deeper than just what each gender is supposed to do but how women are constantly treated and considered second-class citizens.

When we first arrived, people, mostly men, would reach across me to shake Nate’s hand and never make eye-contact with me. When asked to go on an outreach trip, the supervisor of the trip, who was usually a woman, would call Nate and ask for his permission for me to go. I would be considered loose if I went to a rum shop with Nate, don’t even think about me going alone-even if it is just to pick something up for a get-together, and when acknowledged at a rum-shop the person buying the drink would ask Nate if I could have a beer, purchase the beer hand it to him for it to be handed to me. Women are not to speak up and when boisterous, like myself, would be asked to please quiet down because I am “too loud,”- true story.

Most women in our site do not aspire to be more than just a housewife with a primary education. Few complete a secondary education (high-school) and even fewer attend university. And it is absolutely right that there is a correlation between women and education and the size and economic status of their families. A small family is usually comprised of six children, while the largest family I have ever seen was 19 children. When I interview women at the antenatal (or prenatal as it’s called in the States) clinic who has a large family, 4 out of five times they do not know how to write or read and often times the children come from different men. Their main and only duties are those of household duties and many of times the family has very little means to buy food, not because the father doesn’t have a job or doesn’t make money, but because the money is spent quickly on superfluous material goods, such as a TV or generator to play music, that he chooses, or on alcohol (which is the most common expense for men). Often times I try and convince women on choosing family planning when they express to me the difficulty of maintaining their family. But more often than not, they do not choose a family planning option or don’t stick with it, because partners do not allow it, mostly because it gets in the way of producing a large family. Of course there are exceptions, but those women are usually educated and are in a more egalitarian household. But at the end of the day, a woman’s worth is directly correlated with how many children she has.

Now, I am only speaking for remote communities. I do not work in the capital of Guyana, Georgetown, and do not know if it is different, but my little observation says that families are smaller, and that woman are becoming more educated and in higher position. But it is still very common and normal to see a 19 year-old having her first or second baby.

When I am asked why I don’t have children and I explain that I am on family planning and waiting until I am financially well-off, and mentally prepared to embark on the beautiful journey of mother-hood, I just get starred at like I am a bit crazy.

On a daily basis, these types of conversations anger me, bring me down and discourage me. I often want to shake these women and men, and say two different things. Women- “you are strong, capable and your self-worth is not calculated in the number of children. GET EDUCATED, speak to your partner, asked to be included in decisions, and if not find another man that will. Come together and SPEAK UP.” Men- “you all have a mother, so respect your partners, include her in decisions, take women’s opinions and educate your daughters!”

It saddens me when I work with youth and the same standards are being passed onto them. Girls don’t speak up in class, and the ones that do are the promiscuous ones (or so they say), they normally have not thought of doing anything other than getting pregnant (usually at the age of 16-17) with their lives and when I encourage them to think outside of the norm, they laugh. Boys speak up, and nonchalantly express that they want a girl who will give them “plenty babies” and when I encourage them to be more egalitarian, well…they laugh and hit on me.

I will continue to be the outlier here and try in the most culturally appropriate way to show that women are equal. And Nate well…he will continue to wash clothes in front of everyone, despite the harassing and laughing, will continue to ask men and others to acknowledge my presence and will always respond “you can ask Ilana that directly, she is very knowledgeable” or “I will need to discuss that with my wife, we make all decisions together.”

Till next time.