18 days in Guyana and still alive!!!

18 days only??? Woww...It could because of the culture, the HEAT,the food, the landscape, ... but everything is so different that it really feels like I'm here much much longer... Yesterday came back from New Amsterdam, (no no don´t get confused I was not in a weekend trip to The Netherlands), it's a city in Guyana located in Berbice (2 hours by minibus from Georgetown) where Christina, is living now. All the volunteers who either are based in Georgetown (Selina, Viveth, Paul & Sarah and Xerez) or are still waiting to move to the regions ( Only Marieke, Sonja and me) went to visit her yesterday to celebrate her birthday!! It was nice to meet all of us again but the city itself does not look like very touristically interesting...(let's put it that way) Today I had a feeling that was going to be GOOD day, is the same feeling every day, but today was a very GOOD day!!! I know many people won't understand this, but today I'm very happy because It the first time I really work in Guyana!!! Finally!! I have been waiting for almost three weeks and to be honest a lot of patience have been needed, things go really slow here... In fact, I still don't know when I'll be moving to my new home in Waramadang (I'm still staying at my dearest Rima Guesthouse with 2 of my buddies and the rest are already in their placement's locations)!! But Today I started to develop part of my work and right now have a better picture of my project and what´s going to happen in the next few weeks...: Wednesday 1st Sept: Going to Bartica (Reg 7) to meet my local employer (RDC 7) and coming back on Thursday. Monday 6th Sept: Going to Lethem (Reg 9) with my VSO boss (Tim) and my buddies (Marieke & Sonja) to get to know the area and meet RDC 9, will come back on Friday 10th Sept. Monday 13th Sept: Going to Bartica for 2 weeks to start familiarizing with the job itself and my local employer! After those 2 weeks I hope I can move to Waramadang!!!! That´s in a month from now and I can't wait to be there... Okay, okay and those are my plans for the near future, but you know good thing I already learned in Guyana is that plans can change every day so I'll keep you updated!! In the meantime I can say I'm getting bored.... One day we all went to a creek to swim in "black water" ( there's a saying in Guyana that if you drink black watter and eat "labba", wild meat, you for sure will come back! Fuck in 2 weeks here I already did both things!! :p ), I had my motorbike training during 2 days, the first one in the botanical gardens and the second one in the surrounds of the city avoiding cows, dogs and goats in my way!! It was the day when I learned about the concept of Guyanese time!! We were supposed to start by 8am and we started at 11am!!! Only 3 hrs waiting... I knew that my pink helmet was going to be really succesfull!! I also went for a weekend in Essequibo (region 2) with Clive, a local volunteer, and after one of the nicest boat trips of my life through Essequibo river until the Atlantic Ocean I had a very local weekend where I tried home made pepperpot!! (local dish) A reggae concert in the National Stadium under a heavy rain could not be missed (sorry no pictures from that day) but it was so funnny!!! Of course, as some of you know I was almost a NBA star in my younger times but did not want to be so popular so I just opted to stop playing but by chance got into a basketball match between the Guyana National Team and the Washington Warriors (University team), the match was quite boring but it was funny to pay attention to some small details like.. the curious outfit of some of the public, the shows in the breaks, (we had an imitation of Michael Jackson and the guayanese version of full monty) and the fact that they gave ALL the trophies to the USA team, including the MVP and the championship winner, which was strange to me even they were much better because it was only HALF TIME when they did it!!! More things, i tried a rastaphari vegetarian restaurant where I could buy some reggae and also checked out the best curry of the city!! Mmmm...really goood!! Ahh!!! Before I forget I'm trying to get more healthier.... I'm trying to quit smoking!!! I'm already 2 weeks without any cigarrettes in my body!! And I'm preparing myself to run a marathon!!! It will be in December next year in Barbados (good excuse, no?) !!! And I went to play football last Friday!! I was the only "whity" of the 6 teams playing and all the public watching!! Interesting experience! (let's put it that way) Ok people that´s it for now....going to put my mosquito net now as they are already attacking!!! Looking forward to know about your lifes by emails/comments/facebook/sms/smoke signs/whatever.. Abrazos para ellos y Besos para ellas!! Ser

Una semanita por la Guayana...

(Nieves, Raphael, Benjamin, Selina y yo)

19 de Agosto de 2010!! Y todavía estoy vivo y no he perdido "demasiado" peso!! Creo que ya habrá gente con apuestas perdidas... Pués eso, que ya llevo una semanita por estas tierras y el cambio es tan radical que ,aunque no pasara nada, porque la verdad es que con el calor que hace poco puede pasar, me da la sensación de que llevo aquí un mes!! Que os cuento?? Bueno que el jueves nos recogieron a mí y a 4 voluntarios más en el aeropuerto y nos trajeron a la pensión en la que estaremos alojados mientras estemos en Georgetown. Os presente a la increible, la maravillosa, la auténtica RIMA GUEST HOUSE !!!! (aplausos, chas chas chas chas y así sucesivamente hasta coger el ritmo) (ovación, algo así como oeeeeeeeeeeeeee) Nuestra gran mansión está situada en el city centre de la capi, tiene servicio de desayunos y cenas, dotada de 15 habitaciones distribuidas en 2 pisos y con dos espaciosas duchas a compartir, en las que si tienes suerte te sale agua fría y si no es tu día de suerte te sale más rentable ir al baño a leer el periódico mientras llega el agua. A pesar de no tener aire acondicionado, no es que sea necesario con 39º a la sombra, las habitaciones están provistas con un genial e innovador servicio de ventilación cuya potencia nada tiene que envidar al Katrina!! Como somos 11 y son todo mujeres excepto por Paul, que ha venido con su novia, todo el mundo comparte habitación menos yo!! Por una vez ser chico tiene sus ventajas!! :) Total que una vez instalado en semejante mansión, el jueves aguanté como pude yendo de allí para allá sin enterarme de nada y tirando porque me toca y al final me fuí a dormir a las nueve, todo para intentar acoplarme lo antes posible y luchar contra el jet-lag!! En cuanto al finde pues ya es otra cosa, porque quieras que no, el fin de semana es el fin de semana, en la haya, en valencia o en la guayana!!! El viernes llegó el resto de la expedición, como os decía somos 11! Os presento: Desde Holanda, Marieke, Anna, Sonja y Selina, (aplausos, chas chas chas chas y así sucesivamente hasta coger el ritmo) Desde Canadá, Christina, Clive y Xerez (se llama así porque su padre estuvo en la Marina y estaba destinado en Jeréz de la Frontera) (aplausos, chas chas chas chas y así sucesivamente hasta coger el ritmo) Desde UK e Irlanda, Sarah y Paul (aplausos, chas chas chas chas y así sucesivamente hasta coger el ritmo) Desde Filipinas, Isabelita (aplausos, chas chas chas chas y así sucesivamente hasta coger el ritmo) y desde la millor terreta del mon, un servidor! Ya lo sé, ya, o os duelen las manos de tanto aplaudir o estáis hasta los ..... de la bromita, y si pongo aquí una ovación seguramente me quedo solo, así que no preocuparse que ya me doy yo los aplausos y la ovación!! Una vez hechas todas las presentaciones, sigamos con el finde... Total que el viernes ya nos juntamos todos y nos fuimos a tomar algo después de cenar y acabamos en una discoteca de moda guayanesa dando todo lo que el jet-lag nos dejó!! Curioso lo de los DJs en la Guayana, no es que no me gusten las canciones/temas es que no te dan la oportunidad de saber cuál ponen porque la cambian a los 30 segundos!! El sábado todavía fue mejor...porque después de adentrarnos en las profundidades de la ciudad mediante un paseo a mediodía en el que casi nos derretimos, literalmente, acabamos probando uno de los platos típicos de la comida india que se lleva por aquí, el roti! Ya, yo tampoco tenía ni idea de qué era pero ha resultado ser algo parecido al pan hecho de vegetales que se come con curry y que está delicioso!! Lo único es que hay q tener cuidadín con el curry, como bien saben mis gallos mexicanos el picante y yo hace tiempo que no nos saludamos cuando nos vemos... Después por si fuera poco decidimos seguir probando cosas nuevas y Clive nos llevó a una tienda de ron a probar "el dorado", el mejor ron del mundo según los guayeneses...total que entre el calor, el curry que todavía se repetía en el estómago y los cubatas de ron... a eso de las 19h nos tuvimos que retirar a nuestros aposentos a relajarnos un poco porque si no nos iban a tener q sacar de allí en camilla y por la noche ya teníamos plan: Concierto de Chutney en el estadio nacional de Cricket!!!! Vaya telaaaa!!! Sabéis lo que es el chutney? Si podéis buscarlo por ahi pero la verdad es que hacía tiempo que no me reía tanto....si hubiérais visto como intentaban un par de guayanesas enseñarme a bailarlo, a mí el hombre con ritmo propio!, os hubiérais desternillado de la risa también!!! Total que ahí estuvimos todos dándolo todo y siendo conscientes de que éramos los únicos "blaquitos" de todo el estadio!! Para rematar la faena, el domingo todo el mundo se fue a pasar el día a la piscina de un hotel cercano menos vuestro amigo Sergio, que con la excusa de tomar unas fotos y dar una vuelta por los alrededores decidió tostarse un poquito rollito cangrejo de obra y ahora lleva las marcas de la camiseta de tirantes impresas en su cuerpo!!! Vaya torrá me pegué! Cheé!! Pero las fotos espero que valgan la pena y ya sabéis que yo todo por el arte!!! Ah, y si esto fuera poco el fin de semana no terminó ahí... por la tarde, teníamos una fiesta de despedida de un voluntario y conocí a dos personas que me han impresionado por los valores que defienden. Ellos son Benjamin, francés, y Raphael, alemán, y están convencidos de que un mundo sin dinero sería mucho más pacífico y feliz para todo el mundo!! Para demostrar al mundo que un cambio de estas dimensiones no es una utopía, sino que requiere de un poco de tiempo, reflexión y pequeños cambios en los seres humanos que formamos parte del planeta llamado Tierra emprendieron un viaje desde Holanda hasta Mexico sin utilizar el dinero!!! (Tiene gracia la cosa que me voy a la Guayana en el otro rincón del mundo y termino tomándome algo con 4 holandesas, en una fiesta de despedida de un voluntario holandés en mi grupo de voluntarios y hablando con 2 chicos que han vivido en la haya al mismo tiempo que yo) Os recomiendo que os guardéis un rato y echéis un vistazo a su página web, es realmente inspiradora. A mí me ha impresionado conocerles y por el bien de la humanidad ojalá algún día podamos vivir sin pensar en el dinero. www.forwardtherevolution.net Y bueno, lunes, martes y miércoles la verdad es que no han sido tan moviditos, tan sólo diré que el martes por fin conocí a mi jefe Timothy, que aunque no me aportó mucha información sobre lo que voy a hacer me cayó muy bien y que ayer miércoles nos llevaron a pasar el día a un riachuelo cerca de Georgetown, nos bañamos en aguas negras lo cual estuvo muy divertido (x cierto, dice la leyenda que si comes basaba (carne salvaje) y bebes el agua negra de los riachuelos volverás a la Guayana, yo la verdad es que un trago de agua si que pegué sí...) e interesante pués como parte del training recibimos una sesión sobre desigualdad en La Guayana de Lucía, una voluntaria ciega que lleva aquí 2 años y medio, y que nos mostró lo dura que puede ser la vida para un disminuido físico o mental en la Guayana. Bueno, esto es todo amigos...voy a ver si os pongo alguna fotillo ilustrativa!! besos para ellas y un abrazote para ellos!!!

My trip to Guyana!!!

12th August 2010

I finally arrived to Guyana!!! What a trip I had!!! I’m so HAPPY it ended well as at some points I did not believe I would make it…

Let’s have a look at my original itinerary….

1. Valencia-Paris. Departing at 07.00am, I had to be at the airport at 05.30am so could not sleep more than 3 hrs., and arriving at 09.00am.

2. Paris-New York (JFK). Departing at 10.30am and landing in New York at 12.45pm. Finally took the next flight at 13.30h that landed in JFK at 4pm.

3. New York (JFK) to Georgetown, Guyana. I was supposed to be in the flight at 5.40pm from New York which would land at 1am (local time ) but missed that one and took another that took off at 1am from NY and arrived at Guyana at 07.00am (local time)

Summary: I left Valencia on Wednesday 11th at 07.00am towards Paris, from there to New York and landed in Georgetown on Thursday 12th at 07.00 am local time ( 1.00pm at Valencia) so if I´m still able to do some math…that means I was travelling for 30 hours…

Things did not look good since the beginning when I tried to check in my backpack to Georgetown from Valencia and the “very nice and kind” flight attendant at the air france checking desk started to look at me in a strange way because I was going so far away as a volunteer…at some point she started to ask too many questions, like… “why are you doing this? Are you sure of going there? And they are not going to pay you anything?? “ and of course you always want to be cool with her as she’s the one putting the tag to your bag and one “little” mistake and all your belongings would end up at the other part of the world…So after me answering all her questions with my best smile ….finally she became “doubtful” after reading the special conditions for travelling to Guyana and she did not allow me to check in my things to Guyana because I did not have a valid visa to enter the country! (no visa is required for anyone).

So I had to fly to Paris with my bags, missed my next connection to New York, at that point I thought I would stay in Paris for the night (thanks Andrea for being there I promise you are more than welcome in Guyana!!) but after some phone calls ( I had to look for a place to charge my cell as of course it had not battery) with dearest Maria from VSO Office in The Netherlands I was into the next flight to JFK (New York), and guess what? This time the French version of the same flight attendant from Air France that I had not only did not put any problems for me to check in my bags to Guyana, she even put me in the emergency row for the flight so I had double of room to extend my legs…I definitely like French women!! :p

Okay, are you still there? Cool because this is not finished yet… So I thought “okay, my luck is changing!! I am in one of the most comfortable seats that I can reach, my bags are going straight to Guyana and when I arrive to NY still got almost 2 hours to catch my next one!! I was very convinced about positive thinking…

But I noticed something was not going well when after landing in NY the captain said something like “we have to wait 20mins (that became 40 mins) because another plane stole our parking spot” ( Fuck!! Are you telling me there’s no more parking places in the whole airport?? Reallyyyyyyyyy????)

Then I had to go through Security, apart of doing a 30 mins queue no big deals, and when I was asking how to reach terminal 4, I was in terminal 1, for my next flight the guy told me that I really had to pick up my backpack from this flight and bring it to the other check in desk where I would get my boarding pass as well…

Summary:

4pm (landing) + 40 mins (finding a parking) + 30 mins (waiting at security) + 15 mins ( picking up my backpack, taking the shuttle and running from terminal 1 to 4) = Yes, I missed my flight that was at 5.40pm ….

Cool!!! So now, after 17 hours travelling, here I am in New York, with no flight, no battery in my phone and is around midnight in Europe…mmm…interesting….what shall I do?? Right, first I went to the terminal 1 to try to convince Air France that was the “very nice!” flight attendant’s mistake what made that I missed my flight to Guyana but of course it was not my day….so no good results from that…Therefore I came back to terminal 4 and yes, I went to change some euros into dollars and straight to Mc Donalds….I know I know, not the best dinner ever but there were not so many options and I really needed to have some food in my body as things look really bad when I’m hungry!!!

After that, I bought 2 cards for international calls and called the 24hrs number of the travel agency in London, where they told me about the possibilities for the next flights to Guyana, there were two options:

a) She kindly put me in the waiting list for the next flight with Caribbean Airlines at 01.05am. The flight was full but maybe there was going to be a cancellation, no? We will never know as there was nobody at the Caribbean A. Desk!!! So I had to go for option b

b) There was only one seat in a flight from Delta Airlines at 0.50am but I had to pay for my new ticket and hopefully I would get a refund from VSO!! Okay, so I take all my things from the kart and head terminal 3 where I could “easily” buy a ticket in the next flight….

O o o, more problems… first I don´t know how to enter into terminal 3!! When I get off of the suttle the door is closed so following a very kind gentleman’s advise I go outside of the airport, follow a road with cars passing by and then enter terminal 3 through the back door…and then….CAOS………………..a bunch of people charged was filling the terminal with tons of huge suitcases, you could hear them screaming from the outside, queues without an end, arguments everywhere, people trying to get a ticket …..

Summary: 2 hours (queuing for the ticketing desk) + 780 usd (the price for the last seat available in the flight to Georgetown, it had to be in First class) + 1 hour (queuing for the checking desk) + 5 mins ( calling my contact in Guyana from the public telephone for telling them that I was arriving at 06.30 instead of 01.30!!) + 10 mins (chatting with Sonja, another VSO volunteer that I met when I was waiting in the gate)= I almost missed my flight but I finally made it!!!!!!!!!!

And yes, there was a happy end!!!!

I was in a First class seat for my last flight!!!

As Sonja said I really deserved!!!

:)