Baigan choka and roti at sunset in Kamarang

Kim was managing the small restaurant for her aunt. She had moved to Kamarang from Georgetown to be closer to her husband who is from Jawalla.


My teeth have gone out of sync so chewing is not as it should be. Kim cooked roti and baigan choka, which was made more delicious by watching the watery sun going down behind a hill.    Yeah, I know that I should have had cassava bread - but one night we had boil and fry cassava which was easier to mash with tongue, cheek and the few teeth which are still aligned.


Kim's interaction with her customers is 10-star, the mix of hospitality and marketing and responsibility for the well being of all her customers. There are many persons in Guyana who are like her. She at 26 years of age is  inspirational - reminding me of Rohit the young man who weeds starting at 5:30 am and works every day including holidays once the work is there.

Watery sun set in Kamarang

After a rough few days in Georgetown, after elections, there was an opportunity to work in Kamarang. I am a town boy and the Universe sometimes offers these kicks out of my comfort zone.

Kamarang is accessed via plane. There are many planes landing during the day and one of the air lines, Correia Mining Company is going to charge the airfare as per weight of passenger. The planes carry cargo.. the flour, and baigan for my roti and baigan choka came from Georgetown and apparently sometimes the Cassava Bread does as well. The soil is apparently not too fertile for planting, though Pariuma up the Mazaruni has great soil for many different kinds of crops.

Plane cargo includes beer and soft drinks and I wondered about how much carbon is emitted in the transportation of beer and soft drinks across the country. My colleague picked up an empty bottle from the edge of the airstrip. There was litter all round.

This landscape is different and no matter how reasonable I am, or scientific, all the stories and legends about the hinterland had me slightly nervous and wondering about how to make peace with the whole of the landscape.
One night , in the half doze that happens, I dreamt that there was a woman watching me from my bedside. When my mind cleared, the shadows on the  net had created the image. A colleague said that I was normal, experiencing what many men who had gone into the hinterland, where women came in the dreams - some calm, some restraining.

One man apparently used to sleep with his light on to keep away the woman who sat on his chest and choked him.

I did not feel afraid of the woman who had been created from the shadows on the bed. In fact, security was not an issue.. there was something about sleeping with the window open when it was the easiest for any thief to climb in (and locking the door).


River and the Sea

The sea near my home

I live near the sea and I always hope be near the sea wherever I have to live.
Seas are about space and you kind of know from Georgraphy roughly what is to the north and so on.

Watching Kamarang River join the Mazaruni River

It is not a water thing. The river, his Mazaruni River which is calm and green.. with rocks in and under it, is different. The river it seems goes on and on into the unknown and from the unknown.
The sea is known, the river is unknown.








A woman in a shop asked me about the work. She asked quietly . I have never been asked so many detailed questions by someone who was never associated with my work. She also asked for some of the relevant materials. Other women asked questions as well, older women. I could understand why politicians would not want to hang around too much. This was accountability. There were no assumptions in the questions. Another  woman had her dictionary which we used when another woman asked for the meaning of a word.

I was glad to get over the elections which brought up race and other divisions - not that we could ever get over elections 

Here ,  a woman reminded me that Amerindians were nine people, not just 'one' of the six. And there was Akawaio and Arecuna languages spoken in this area. In considering Guyana's diversity, we have to understand that the diversity is very wide ranging and complex.

I might be considered coolie sometimes, but not like the coolie people who wanted to strip and slap a woman on behalf of their Minister or like the coolie people whose religion have them liking Indian culture once it is stripped of any  Hindu linkages.

Another young man asked for things to read.. he said he keeps books at home, people who come by him could read if they do not want to talk. There is Direct TV.


The intense heat and humidity of the day contrasts with the cool of the night. In the dry season, it is apparently much colder in the night. 

The river is the road. There are dugouts with and without engines and people using them with ease. There are engines and some distances are measured in hours with a 15hp or 40hp in wet or dry season. 

I am personally scared of river travel in small boat, and my balance is awkward (pagally) so moving in and out of boats requires some thing to brace on.

Work required that I hold my fear in my hand and say to hell with it. It was easy to think of Ganga here, more than say when looking at the rough Essequibo River which many people traverse with ease.

Trying to take a picture from a speed boat

Wondering whether to put my hand in this..

I wanted to put my hand in the wash of the boat but held back my hand. I should have tried , but maybe next time. 

I have to remember as I get on with other work which will involve holding out my hand to people who I would not otherwise connect with 

But such is the nature of life, and work