Rollin' up the river

"I'll cry when Sleemai leaves for America."--younger woman
"I won't be sad when Sleemai leaves, because she'll take me back to America!"--older woman

I recently ventured out from the confines of Gunzi to see what lies up the river in the deep southern reaches of the Suriname River. I departed Saturday, January 16. I had expected to leave Gunzi in the early afternoon but the boatman I was waiting on had other plans--I got the infamous "dalek" treatment which meant we'd leave when he felt like it. So I was picked up at Gunzi near five o'clock and hopped the boat with fellow Peace Corps Volunteer and my dear buddy Taangapai--"The Strong Son". Going down river, we had two unexpected stops. Our first was at Bendikwai, where we met up with our Peace Corps friend Bendikwaipai. Yep, his village seriously calls him that, it's hilarious. After hanging around until our boatman was ready to leave we headed further up river and he took care of some short business in a village called Pikislee. Taangapai and I remained on the boat as there is no Peace Corps Volunteer in Pikislee. After about a 15 minute wait we were finally ready to depart. The young lad who was the 1st mate under the captain of our motorized canoe was sure we'd arrive in Zemoise at 8 pm. He was wrong. At 8 pm, in the pitch dark without a flashlight, we were firing up the rapids near Masia creek. To make matters worse, it had also started raining. I was pretty sure we were not going to make it to Zemoise but by 9 pm we had arrived. Upon arrival, we found a dead rat in Taangapai's house. We threw it outside in the bush, cooked up some velveeta cheese shells and called it a night.

The next two days were an introduction to village life in Zemoise. We met up wtih Captimai, the other volunteer in Zemoise. I attended the two volunteers' English class in Zemoise and then Taangapai taught me how to make mango wine which has turned into a potential project possibility for the tourist camp in Gunzi. We spent the better part of the second night listening and dancing to The Killers. This amused the village children. The next day was pretty low key and I was waiting around until the late afternoon to hop on another boat and go further south--up the river, to the furthest Peace Corps site along the Suriname River, Gaanslee.

Gaanslee was an interesting trip. First, there is no electricity in this village which I had only experienced once before. This basically means that everyone wants to hang out at night as opposed to sit in their house and watch movies every night which is what happens in Gunzi. Also, the volunteer in Gaanslee had a big rat infestation due to the way her house had been built. I hate rats. I spent two nights and one day in Gaanslee. During the day I spent there, we did a quick tour of the village and I got to see some great wood carving work some of the guys in the village had done. We walked further south along the river, through two more small villages until we reached the point where the river splits into the big and small river. This is an important part of Sarramaccan culture. On an island at the end of the rapid where the big river begins is where the Sarramaccans first broke the reeds to consecrate the land for themselves. Here, we took a boat across the river to a village called Djumue and then walked through Bendikonde, where there is a radio station, to the Graanman Konde, Asindohopo. Of course, we visited the Graanman's house, the Sarramaccan equivalent of a govenor's mansion I suppose, but unfortunately he was not there. We also toured the Graanman street and hung around the area for a whiles. At one point, while I was sitting on a log above a small creek taking a picture of a very large and cool looking tree, three local kids told me there were kaiman below my feet. I quickly ran away.


After the Gaanslee trip I decided to slowly but surely head back down the river, back home to Gunzi. First I made a return to Zemoise for the day where I hung out with Taangapai once more. We made some more wine, walked to a village called Pempe, played some soccer with the villagers in Zemoise and watched Team America--an abnormally productive day on our part. I decided to leave a day early and headed for Futunakaba, a big church village. Here, I met up with Bendikwaipai and Futunumai. The highlight of our day was playing cards and listening to the new Green Day CD. Unfortunately, there were more rats in Futunakaba and sleeping was minimal once again--darn rats! Finally, after 6 nights and at least 10 villages later, and probably 15 rats seen, I caught a boat back to Gunzi. Of course my stay was short as that afternoon the villages came to my house and told me to pack up my football shoes as I'd be playing in a scrimmage game later that night.

*Pictures of this trip are on the facebook, check them out!