...IC!!! EPIC!!!*

Noemster and Ilana making a postcard.

I can honestly say, without a hint of exaggeration, that our recent trip to Barbados was the BEST vacation that I’ve ever had and I know Ilana feels the same way. It’s hard to put into words just how awesome it was.  To try to use a simile, if this vacation had been a concert it would be like if Led Zeppelin played a reunion show for your surprise birthday after finding out that John Bonham hadn’t actually been dead this whole time he’d just been gone working on his masterpiece, a whole new kind of bacon that gives  you a 6-pack, slows aging, and prevents cancer.... it was like that. 

Barbados as a whole was extraordinary. With a population of only about 300,000 it’s small enough to feel like a community. It is also very developed: extremely clean, potable water from every tap, electricity all the time, and everywhere we went the people were super nice (even outside tourist hotspots).  

Ilana and I arrived 2 days earlier than everyone. We spent our 3^rd anniversary at the Butterfly Beach Hotel, which was really nice. The hotel was not crazy expensive, right on the ocean, walking distance to a supermarket=  awesome.  We definitely experienced a period of adjustment going from remote Guyana to Barbados (hence the reason we dropped a serious wad at the supermarket our first night (mostly on salad ingredients, cheese, and wine (ok and bacon))). 

Then, they came. Some might say we had our cake and ate it too. Others might say it was like watching a cake ice itself, cut itself up, then dance it’s way onto your fork. First Noemi, sweet sweet Noemi. Then Alex and Cat, glorious. Then, about an hour before the New Year began, Drew and Hibby (is there an emoticon for holding back a tear?). Again, I’m having trouble finding words. 

I got a little excited to see the washing machine.

About what transpired from then, it is only fair to say “holy $@%, that was the best $@^*%@^ time of my life.” We laughed, we sang, we gained a combined weight of 14 pounds (just Ilana and me). I literally woke up each morning saying, “man, that was the best dream....” and then I’d realize it was really happening. 

'Nuf said.

Activities included: going to beautiful beaches, snorkelling with sea turtles, going on a pleasure cruise, swimming in caves, taste testing rum, karaokeing, mini bussing, and eating delicious food the best of which was prepared by Ilana and Drew.

For those thinking about going to Barbados and interested in the details of the trip, this is what we found worked well for us:

Staying in a 3 bedroom condo in St Lawrence Gap (called the Terraces), close enough to bars that it was walking distance, but far enough that it wasn’t loud. Thanks to Noemi, our card-carrying travel agent superpal, for finding it. I think my compatriots would agree that the condo made it the best vacation².

Were able to take the mini bus to Carlisle Bay, where you can snorkel with ship wrecks and turtles. We also did a 6-hour catamaran tour there that was this** good. We used a crew called Jammin and would highly HIGHLY recommend them.

Pleasure cruise.

We went to Oistins Famous Fish Fry Fridays to on a Friday, but were happy to discover that it’s better to go on a weeknight because there were alot fewer people. At the pier right behind the fish market you can take the guts of the fresh you just bought and feed it to sea turtles for free. We got in and swam with them there too.

To the northern parts of the island we went to a beach called Sheba Bath that looked right out of a James Bond movie. Also went to Harrison Cave and Animal Flower Cave.

Rum tour close to Bridgetown is fun if you love Mt Gay rum, but it’s not actually where they distil it. For that you have to go to a different place up the island. 

Animal Flower Cave.

Thanks to our friends for coming and seeing us in Barbados. We look at the photos often and say that was just one of many awesome vacations we’re going to have with you guys. Alex, it was ok to see you too I guess. Our plan of joining the Peace Corps to get you to buy us an iPad has finally worked. Didn’t see that coming did you? Gra

*Works better with “legendary”.

**As good as the blacked out parts from Hang Over but on a boat.

 

Coincidence or Barbados love bubble magic?

Despite the Rainy Season...We Got Our Second Visitors!

Well…Mother Nature you tried, but I am sorry to inform you that you failed. My parents arrived in Guyana on January 7th, and despite the enormous amounts of rain we were able to make it out to Mabaruma, even if it was two days later than planned, and show them what our day to day mostly consists of.

Echevarria’s-1, Mother Nature-0…

After returning from our kick-ass trip from Barbados (Nate will be posting about these glorious 10 days) we were quickly welcomed by my mom and dad who arrived the same day as us. We spent the first two nights in Vreed en Hoop were we trained prior to moving to Mabaruma and introduced my parents to our host mom Debee and the rest of the clan. We commemorated our reunion, yup…you guessed it, with an awesome bottle of wine my parents brought us and finally made it to sleep at 2am after all the excitement of seeing each other began to wear off. The next day we caught up and our host mom cooked my favorite Guyanese meal for them to try and then that night my parents treated us all to dinner at the Brazilian Restaurant. That night we had an impromptu little party, were my mom showed our Indo-Guyanese friends how to dance Puerto Rican reggae (this was just one of the many times my mom showed Guyanese how to dance Spanish music). Needless to say, they now ask me on a daily basis when my mom is returning to Guyana to dance with them, because they don’t see me dance and well they like her better. Haha! Thanks MOM!

We spent the remaining two days trying to get out to Mabaruma, but since our air strip is a dirt road and there are no lights, the rain was too much for us to fly. So we were forced to stay in Georgetown for a few more days. But because my parents are awesome and brought multiple bottles of wine and tons of snack goodies, we spent those days just catching up drinking and talking.


We finally made it out to Mabaruma and only had a few days to show them the highlights of our village. We showed them the market, went for a day-long hike to the falls, played pool, went out to WhiteCreek and cooked some Guyanese food, walked around our village and introduced them to about a hundred people, we took them to our jobs and gave them an idea of our daily work schedule and lastly we went to a rum shop, where yes my mom danced again, but this time it was Salsa. My dad spoiled us by cooking almost every meal and giving us a break from the kitchen, and then as quickly as they arrived they were gone. Bummer. We didn’t even get to show them how we do our wash (wink…wink). I think they figured if they kept us occupied they would leave before we would realize wash needed to be done. Smart.







Our holiday season was epic. Between having both sets of parents come visit us, not only to Guyana but all the way out to the middle-of-nowhere-Mabaruma, as well as having five of our closest friends travel all the way to Barbados to spend new year’s with us, well I don’t want to get too mushy, but we feel soo unbelievably lucky. Thank you Thank you Thank you. Thank you for not only coming and seeing us, but also for bringing us sooooooooo many goodies, loving us and then making sure we got to see, eat, drink and do everything we have missed this last year while we were with you.

Karen & Charlie, Edda & Jose, Alex, Cat, Hibby, Drew and Noemi WE LOVE YOU!

Till next time.

Our first Eco Hostél Visitors

We finally had our first set of official visitors and it was glorious. Last week Nate’s parents, Karen and Charlie, made the trek from Florida to not only Guyana, but to Region 1 to see us for eight days. They arrived on a Friday morning and spent the whole week going on multiple hikes, joining us at work, seeing how we live, cooking and even doing wash by hand.

At Hosororo Falls

River Community "Imbotero"

Monkeys on our river boat trip

Nate and I woke up especially early on Friday and walked to the air strip to see them get off the plane. Due to sheer excitement we arrived at the airstrip 45minutes early and waited anxiously for the sound of the plane. Once it landed, it was a pretty surreal experience seeing our family getting off the tiny 12-seater prop plane. They kept telling us they couldn’t believe how far we lived, considering it took them two days, one car, two planes and one mini bus into the jungle of Guyana to see us and stay at our “eco hostel.” Once they arrived we spent the rest of the day talking, opening all sorts of goodies they brought us and giving them a quick tour around our community. The following days we went on hike to a small waterfall were we had lunch, took them on a 6 hr boat ride on the river where we saw some pretty impoverished areas, monkeys, scarlet ibis, and snakes and then swam in the river, went to an Amerindian home and parched coffee, which means we took raw coffee beans and roasted and grinded them, (let me tell you that that was the best coffee I have ever had, hands down), we went to the market on multiple occasions to see how we get our food, went to a Christmas concert at the secondary school, which was an experience in itself, had a Birthday bbq for me on our car-rimmed grill and went out to another community Whitewater where we visited an even more remote volunteer while getting their first real taste of Boom Boom mini buses.

Aunti Lizzy parching coffee

Nate grinding some coffee

WhiteWater Village with PCV Emily

A Jingle Bell item at the Christmas Concert

B-Day BBQ

We also brought them to work with us to give them a little taste of what we do on a daily basis and introduced them to more people they will ever be able to remember. Each night we cooked big meals, which usually were Guyanese in nature and spent hours talking about…well pretty much everything. On their last day here, they treated us to some fried chicken and appetizers we bought at a little shop and Coke Zero which we happened to find and consume immediately. (They were also excited to drink something that wasn’t water) The week flew by of course, but we enjoyed every second of having family with us and having the opportunity to share all the things we talk and don’t talk about in our blog. There is even some talk about them coming back to do some outreach medical work next year. Saturday morning they flew back to Georgetown and spent the day with our host “mom” Debee. They got to see where and who we lived with for 2 months while we were training and got to eat some of her awesome chicken curry.

Saturday for us was a rest day as we had two upcoming days of celebrations. Sunday we attended an engagement party for some Guyanese friends. Though I think they missed the boat on what an engagement party is supposed to be. They understood it to be where you propose. A few hours into the party they stopped and had a small ceremony were the groom passed around the engagement ring for everyone to take pictures and then asked for her hand in marriage, which apparently is really uncommon here. Most people live with a partner for years and eventually, if ever, get married and have a ceremony. So engagements are not done here. The groom had lived in the states, Brooklyn, and had heard of an engagement party, so they wanted to have one. It was interesting to see how they interpreted an American tradition. Even with the “lost in translation” moment, the party was a blast. We stayed out till midnight, which ABSOLUTELY never happens here. The following day was my birthday and the volunteer I spoke of before that lives even more remote, Emily, came out to celebrate with some dinner and drinks. Nate for my birthday bbq the week before had baked me the most incredible carrot cake. He had all the ingredients flown from town (real butter and cream cheese) and made it to share with some fellow volunteers and his parents. It was incredible and an awesome birthday gift (which was a mostly a surprise).

Even more incredible is that there was some left over cream cheese icing and on my real birthday my lovely husband baked me cinnamon rolls from scratch and put the remainder of the cream cheese icing as my second birthday cake. It was melt-your-face fantastic. He also cooked some quesadillas (since I really miss Mexican food). After dinner and dessert Nate, Emily, another volunteer Dutch and I went down to the corner rum shop and had some beers. Again we had so much fun that we didn’t get to bed till 1am. Two big days and that’s just the beginning. We will be leaving Mabaruma for two weeks to spend Christmas with our host “mom” Debee and then off to Barbados for our 3 year wedding anniversary and New Year’s where we will be meeting Nate’s brother and four of our closest friends. And if things couldn’t get any better, my parents fly into Guyana the same day we get back from Barbados to spend one week with us.

Ravi and Ravenna's engagement party

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Till next time.

HEAT! HEAT! HEAT...Movie Night

So remember in my last blog I mentioned that I ran a club with an awesome name and that we were hosting a movie night soon as a fundraiser...well this past Friday we had our first one. Club HEAT hosted a Christmas theme movie night, which means we watched Ernest Saves Christmas, not my first choice but the kids loved it. We had a total of 30 kids attend and made a profit of $8,000 GYD, which is equivalent to $40 USD! We sold popcorn bags for $.50 and charged $1 for a seat, and we only spent $900 GYD ($4.50USD), so our profit margin was great.

Prepping the popcorn bags.

My club members were very proud of their successful event and the kids seemed to have fun doing something on a Friday night. Most of the kids that attended are from the dormitories. These kids live at the school during the term, because they live to far to travel each day on the river. They normally don't have anything to do, so I think we may have started a little monthly activity for the community.

We even had a community vendor come and sell additional snacks.

Till next time.

Our Thanksgiving in Guyana

Lizzy (World Teach), Ilana (gorgeous), Emily (PC), Kristin (PC), Inga and Fiona (Project Trust)

Ilana and I shared Thanksgiving with about 25 other foreign volunteers for various organizations (World Teach, Project Trust, Wings for Humanity, Peace Corps). Some folks who do med-evacs for our region were able to fly in 2 turkeys from Georgetown...  sadly they had to die to fly.  

Suzanne (World Teach), Judd (Wings for Humanity pilot), and our turkey friends

 Everyone brought different dishes to contribute. We made the biscuits and Mom’s famous Magic Cookie Bars, which were a huge hit.

We even had a big hairy local special guest join us for desert. A face-sized tarantula appeared on the ceiling as we were finishing the meal. Springing into action, one of the boys who lives in the house caught the beast and brought her down for all of us to enjoy. Do I smell a new tradition in the Echevarria-Stewart house?

Didn't you mother ever tell you not to play with tarantulas at the Thanksgiving table?

Hey Alex, you want to come down to Thanksgiving next year?