When it Rains, It Pours

This is a long post I had written during orientation but never published. Since elections are coming up, I won’t be coming in town for a while, which means sporadic internet connection. Enjoy while you can… (btw- yay I can upload pics now!)

So I've been spending some serious time with Mother Nature lately. Much of my days are spent doing orientation type things: lesson planning, doing our teaching practicum, listening to sessions on Guyanese culture and safety, and visits from the Peace Corps nurse. (Side note: The nurse told us we weren’t allowed to have pet monkeys. Boo.)

The rest of the time we have fun activities planned for us or free time to do whatever we want. This past weekend we went on a one hour hike through the rainforest to an abandoned beach village. It was breathtaking. The walk was so tranquil and cathartic… until it started pouring down rain and we were sloshing through the mud. Then it turned into a cool, rejuvenating, and dirty hike.

Hike through the rainforest. Hiking makes me hungry.

Volunteers enjoying an afternoon at Beacon Beach

The next day we took the most beautiful speedboat ride down the Masaruni River to check out Marshall Falls. The water reflected all the colors and detail of the thick wall of trees and the fluffy white clouds sitting upon the clear blue sky that it doubled the beauty surrounding us. It was absolutely enchanting riding down the river… until it started pouring down rain and the harsh droplets smashed against our bare skin.

Once we got off the speedboat, we hiked through the rainforest stopping every once in a while to admire certain plants until we made it to Marshall Falls. The water there was a deep wine red, dyed by the leaves and iron from the dirt.

Red Red Wine

Our guide then told us to take off our shoes so we could climb up the waterfall into the cave behind it. Now if we were in the US, everyone would be given lifejackets and helmets, watch a safety video on how to climb slippery mossy rocks, then sign a release form. But since we’re in a third world country, we just kicked off our shoes, slowly climbed up through the cascading water, and sat back in the cave admiring the underside of Marshall Falls.

Yay! No lawsuits here. Everyone made it up without a scratch.