coco blog: Red Dirt Roads

So I've hardly had a minute since the last post. This will be less talk and more show so I can enjoy the last weekend of Easter Break, get some letters written, and get all my lesson plans in order.

GUY 24-All Dressed up for PromSo first there was our Mid-Service Conference where GUY 24 reunited one last time before close of service to share ideas, take hot showers, and dance like maniacs. While the highlight was definitely our guyanese prom...oh and those ice cream cakes...it was as always reaffirming and reinspiring to see the work that everyone else has been doing at their sites. I know I gathered several pointers from library organization to classroom games that I will be trying this term.

Seven Curry-Served on Lilypad Leaves

Walking to a Next House

At the Mandir-Mid Phagwah Play

End of the Day...no easy feat to removeThen it was Phagwah, or Holi, the Hindu festival of colors. This year I spent it in a village in region 3 called La Grange with an unbelieveable host of people. They invited us into their Mandir answered my several hundred questions about Ganesh and Shiva, painted us with Phagwah colors, drenched us in water and then fed us, my first, seven curry.

Mid-Bus Ride

Long way From Linden

Loading the Ferry to cross the EssequiboThen it was off to Rodeo. Last year for Easter you may recall we went out to the Basin and flew kites which is the typical Easter pasttime but this year myself and several other volunteers decided to brave a 19 hour bus ride into the jungle to experience a wholly unique region and culture of Guyana.

Iwokrama

Up in the Canopy

Swimming at the FallsOn the way down we stopped in the Iwokrama Rainforest to do a quick canopy walk. Then back on the bus where we passed miraculously from lush rainforest to open savannah framed with mountains. The air was drier, the dirt was redder, and the termite mounds were, quite frankly, frightening.

Many of the Vaqueros were barefoot

Watermelon Eating Contest

FairgroundsFor a weekend we got to explore the Region 9 Rupunnunni town of Lethem, which borders Brazil and felt like a whole other country. We spent a day at a waterfall, ate obscene amounts of churasco style meats, searched in vain for vegetables, befriended a neighbor, borrowed some water, danced late into the night, watched bulls and broncos and children chasing sheep, listened to Portugese and learned about yet another hidden jewel of Guyana.

The Main Event Sunday was Bulls and Bareback Broncs

Watching from the Chutes

Ribbon RaceNow the holiday break is nearing an end and it is time to settle back into routine. I am looking forward to seeing my students and hearing in a multitude of jumbled voices all about their Easter breaks. Hope all back home had a lovely Easter!*All photo credit goes to my companions on the trip, I'm camera-less at the moment
Source:http://lorenguerin.blogspot.com/2013/04/red-dirt-roads.html

Red Dirt Roads Images