Thursday, May 31, 2012

Courier Exploits of the Rainy Season

5/30/2012 2:30 p.m.
So.... late Friday night, practically Saturday morning my resourceful and auspicious Uncle Ken proposed an adventure that I could not deny..... Deliver surveying equipment to Uncle Eddie in Guyana! Leave the country for at least a week! To my place of birth! Reconnect with Dad's relatives and friends and family of folks in "foreign". Oh, and begin my plan of world domination ( foreign land ownership) by updating my personal documents! Who can refuse?? With all of this comes the requisite preparation... currency exchange, toiletry inventory, gazing at the mirror to see what everyone else might/will see, learning to say no to too many side requests for me to "send this" or "bring back that". I had to remind my mother that I signed up as a courier for one specific directive, not as a mule for everyone else's whim and fancy. It's like it's own institution among Guyanese.... and my good will only goes so far. I feel like I have already accomplished a lot... gotten over myself and my self-perceived level of confidence, comfort-level, and understanding of "my people".

Yes, I can  use a toilet with little to no running water, and yes, I still remember the value of a well-executed bucket of rainwater. Yes, I can appreciate why some relatives choose to live "in town" amid more crowded, stinkier conditions, while others are across the river and "out-of-the-way" and have a peaceful, less hectic life, away from city drama. The constant mugginess here lulls me into a midday stupor unlike any other endured in NYC.

I am not as averse to mosquitoes and the requisite armor one must use against them, although I shudder every time I find myself involuntarily inhaling OFF! (with DEET.... yes, not very environmentally sound)I find myself taking pictures of the ugly as well as the beautiful, an attempt to capture and retain all aspects of my homeland, whether in paradox or in denial.

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