Mango, pigs, more family stories & rooftop drinks

Good night! It’s a greeting here and not necessarily way to say “I’m going to sleep”. But in fact, that’s my disposition right now. It’s been a long day! I never guessed I’d be on a hunt for mangos this morning. But we went to Sandvoort  in search of some quality ripe mango on a tree my cousin saw yesterday at a lady’s house who said he  could come back and pick from the tree. Sandvoort is away from the center of New Amsterdam in what used to be sugar cane plantations. We drove for about 15 minutes down a quiet peaceful road. Then we met a guy on a bike who rode ahead of us and led the way to a tree with the ripest mango. He climbed up and we got a few yellowish mango’s off a tree with mostly green mango. 

 

Can you spot the man in the tree?

I wish I could climb a tree… Then on the way out we ran into a man on a horse! What was he doing??…

 

That’s the interesting thing about Guyana and lots of developing countries for that , you always run into real-life relics from the past just living life as if it were 50 or 100 years earlier! This man is basically a cowboy. He raises cattle for meat and chases behind the cattle on his horse. A Guyanese cowboy! Our last stop in Sandvoort was a pig farm! Or whatever reason, I found those little piglets quite endearing. And definitely super aggressive with their nursing!?

I got home later and was happy to do some housework. It’s been mostly talking, eating and riding in a car! The clothes hanging on the line under the house were now dry after a couple hours sunlight and breeze. At home, I had a short phase where I was hanging clothes on a small rack trying to be eco friendly… maybe I’ll try again to give my dryer a break. 

After making chow mein with my aunt (I’ll talk more about food and cooking and another post) I had a nice long conversation with my uncle and got more context on his side of the story of how and why he grew up apart from his brothers in Georgetown instead of in Berbice, considered “country”, with the rest of his brothers. I also learned about the family dynamic on my paternal grandmother’s side  and uncle’s studies in Cuba in the late 70s. I even had to pull out old family albums, and books with pictures to piece together and illustrate the narratives. I even told my uncle he should write a book as good as a storyteller as he is. 

Then, we had some neighbors come by (visiting from New York for the holidays) and started conversations about the devaluation of Guyanese currency and turning points: when it went from 10 to 1 then 33 to 1 and now where it is at 200 to 1USD! Then that eventually evolved into sharing personal stories of immigration, vignettes about people who returned to Guyana and eventually my father’s version of “how I met your mother.” I had heard pieces about a roller skating rink in Canada, a double date, and my aunt Paula. But it was cool to hear the story in a little more detail with more context… now I gotta verify with Mommy. 🤔 

It’s also really cool because when other people are around somebody you already know, you always learn something new about them or hear things from a different perspective because different aspects of someone’s personality come out with others are around. Similarly you might share something in a different way or a different audience.

Sidebar: That’s why I think it’s so critical to bring whoever you are dating around lots of different friends and family, go on trips, etc and create memories with others not just you two! 

Finally, after enjoying my chow mein at home, the two girls (neighbors) who were visiting with their mom invited me to have a drink at an inn with a rooftop view. I was down, so I changed my sweaty top, washed  my face and headed out. We walked about 10 minutes and hung out for about an hour and a half just talking. We had the convo  about living through Covid, being in Guyana, work, and even a little bit of our politics… I haven’t really thought much about elections, inaugurations since I’ve been here. But to be honest, I haven’t thought much about it at home either —Ha!

That said it’s 10:23 PM and my night is over. 10 years ago, no… Probably more like 20 years ago when I was here, I was out and about riding on the backs of trucks with my cousin and going from one spot to the next with a Carib beer in my hand lol. Right now I couldn’t be happier, under my net in my bed! So, I will end the way I began, Good night!