oh the Drama…why can’t I have a drama free Vacay

….Say what! you gotto be kidding me! Are we really in 2015. I stared with shocked amazement at my passport, is this really saying what it reads, let me consult the calendar.  There begun the excitement of my Vacation to the land of the Hummingbird, the twin Island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. I had a very busy weekend, so the packing for the vacation began on the evening prior to us leaving for our little vacation. I asked my husband to put out whatever he wanted to take so that I can pack it in the suitcase (he had an engagement that evening and I a meeting during the day). so there I was packing in the pieces for our week vacation, fold..roll..pack..fold..roll..pack, finally  I put in the toiletries, then took a tired but satisfied look at the case. My hand piece was completed as well, so I moved them to a corner, thinking yes, so proud of myself  all packed and ready. Slippers? check, sandals? check, flats to travel with, check? got my sunglasses, camera is charging….everything seem to be in order.

OK, now time to get the documents in order as we had to leave pretty early, and I was trying to avoid last hassle, you know how confused we can get early morning. I took out our passports and the printed ticket, then decided to check my passport data page (yes i like looking at my photo on my official documents) and reading the fine prints now and then. Reading the fine prints and suddenly….

OH THE HORROR…..

no, no, no, this can’t be right, my eyes are tired and playing tricks on me, I had a long day, let me read this again. The information did not change….Yes we were in July and Yes it was 2015. Even though I questioned myself three times to ensure  that I had the date, month and year correct.  And yes my passport expired the previous week. I think in my tired state, my blood managed to drain and re drain from my face. I had a 8am flight, with a three hour prior check in, the drive to the airport is roughly 45 mins with very light traffic….

WHY ME Oh Lord WHY ME

Shaggy’s song “Why me, O Lord, Why me” started resonating in my head, what lesson am I suppose to be learning here now, you are probably thinking didn’t you check your passport before, the answer is no. Your next question is probably why not? because in my mind I had more time on my passport. But, when you bought your ticket… my husband bought the tickets and he didn’t need the passport just needed the correct order and spelling of my name. But….well regardless of the but and why questions, the deal was done, it was minutes to 10pm  and I had a 8am flight with a week old expired passport and all government building start working at 8am.

THINK Alexi THINK

If there is one thing I can pride myself in is that i’m pretty good at dealing with high pressured issues and decision making (even though my blood pressure may not appreciate this particular talent). I immediately called one of my bff, as I know she was in a similar situation and received an emergency travel document (though her case was a little different as she was travelling for work) but hey, who knows, right now going to the passport office is the only option. Ring…ring….ring…. ring…voicemail. Try again…same thing…. third try….same thing. So I tried my other bff, her response was do you want me to see what I can find out, I said yes please she ok, ill call you back. She returned the call shortly after, unfortunately we didn’t get the information we were looking for but she was so sweet and provided that support, we decided that the passport office is definitely the way to go cause they certainly will not let me out of the country with an expired travel document. I contacted another friend who knew someone that worked at the passport office to find out what the possibility was for me getting an emergency document, she advised that I go with my documents and ticket and explain my situation to the officers, and try my luck. Lord Help Me. Note, my other friend phone is still ringing out and going to voicemail. I went online, checked out the documents and so on before I make the other call…to my hubby…

“Hey babe, I got something to tell you, but don’t get upset” Ok what happen? “we got an issue, my passport expired last week” You lie? “nope i’m serious” ….Alexi ….and seriously I cant remember what else he said, let’s just say the rest of the very short conversation did not go down too well. In this union, let’s just say I cope better  dealing with high pressured decision making situation. I’m very practical I think…OK here is the issue, no how do we get pass this issue to move to the next level, what’s the game plan. I’ve learned a long time ago that its ok to fume, but we gotto choose our battles, some are just cases where the sooner we figure out a solution, the better. This was one of those situations.

Guyana Passport Office Experience

Well first off, I don’t know why every single day from Monday to Friday a very long line and crowd can be seen outside the passport office, seriously ever working day of the year.If you wana get out by 10 am, you better be there between 4:30-5:30 am (yes AM as in early morning). So I woke up,  at 4:30 after having very little not so sound sleep, got myself ready and drove to the passport office, which got me there at 5:30. There were a number of persons in front of me (naturally about 20 or 30), I said my prayers and took my space in the line. There was a very interesting preacher with an “interesting theory” who had a captive audience, as nobody wanted to move and loose their space in the line. While in the line my friend called, now returning my call from the previous night, so I explained my situation and she was now trying to think what it was that she needed when she was in the same situation, so she can advice me (then I said how come you now seeing the call, her response “girl you know me, I tek knock out and didn’t hear the phone, now seeing the missed calls) As per norm she was very positive and promised to check in with me to see how things were progressing.

My Bffs my forever cheerleadng squad- love these ladies.

At 6:30 the place was opened and persons started filing in, the officer with over dress codes and checked documents. I explained my situation, and the answer was when you get in speak to the officer inside. I told my hubby to go ahead and catch the flight without me as it made no sense that both of us had to change our tickets. Plus I would be better able to focus, if I don’t have him in my ears and eyeballing me  in this situation. So my sole focus was to get my document and proceed.

I took my place in line then was told that I needed to change my form because some information was missing from the print (Lord, please, perseverance, patience, please) so I went, got the new forms, and had to get it endorsed (Bless those taxi drivers, they knew all the right people  and took me where I needed to be) on the way I also needed new passport photos, which I also got at 6:30am (Photographer came out, pulling a shirt over his torso, looked at me and commented “baby you look more tired than me”. I laughed, and responded, that is probably true, as I had noticed bags under my eyes that morning. He took my photo, I paid him and chit chatted a bit, about business traffic during the early morning hour.

Taxi man was waiting on me outside and took me to my next destination then back to the passport office, where I had to go and rejoin the line, apparently I had lost my space and there were now about 15-20 persons in front of me, I felt like crying, but again I calmed myself as there were about 200 persons behind me and at least I was in the main building (bright side of things).

Finally I went from one  counter to the next, and now I was inside (final stage), I explained my situation and the officer was very polite, she advised that when she is finished processing my documents I’ll need to go talk to the second in command and explain my situation and then a decision will be made based on his consideration. I was told that such a document I was seeking could take as long as a passport (3-4 days- heck I only got one week for this vacay). (I’m thinking What! then why is it called an emergency travel document then)

Second in Command (A VERY VERY KIND SOUL)

I went through to see the Second in Command and had to wait a bit as someone was with him at the time, I prayed. It was my turn, I went it pleasantries exchanged, documents handed over for inspection, then I explained my situation, he looked at me with kind fatherly eyes, then said, what time is your flight? I told him, then explained I was hoping to catch a later flight but that is dependent on the time I get out of there as I still had to deal with changing the ticket. He then said ok I don’t want you to miss your vacation with your husband, and don’t worry your husband will calm down when he sees you again. He proceeded to write instructions on a paper, told me I needed two passport photo which I had fresh off the press, thanks to the taxi driver and his hook ups) and I also needed a revenue stamp (which I did not have). The kind officer, took one off his desk and showed me what it should like, he then said I am going to give you this for your document, go back outside to the officer and give her your details, while they are processing your document, you need to go and buy back my stamp (this was about (8:30- 9am) round the corner by the Post Office.(i’m thinking, this is it? oh thank you Lord)

So Relieved! I then asked, so do you get alot of these cases often, without missing a beat or looking up he responded…mmmhmm. Me “ok”. I thank him for his kindness and proceed with the instructions and to buy back his stamp. That conversation and situation could have taken a whole different route

So BIG SHOUT OUT TO THE GUYANA IMMIGRATION AUTHORITY- PASSPORT OFFICE< YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!

Needless to say I received my inter-caribbean travel document that same day, during the waiting period I thought the officer had forgotten about me, but she came out saw me and said “babes I ain’t forget yuh, I gon call yuh jus now right”. I was out of there by 10 am, went straight to the airline and paid the penalty to change the time of flight, which too, was not too bad, more pleasant surprises, as there is a same day travel time change policy.

My brother and his wife drove me to the airport, I hopped on the late afternoon flight and was in Trinidad 45 mins later.

Piarco International Airport- tired with accomplished goal.

Whew! WHAT A DAY! and a half.

More from the vacation diary, it had just begun, so you know this has gotto be an exciting one.

Oh Lord why me! until next time 😉

Barahar …Barahara…no we are not discussing a place in India

Even though  Barahar or Barahara is actually a place in India (more than one place as a matter of fact). I would to introduce to you  the fruit  with the same name- Artocarpus lakoocha  aka Barahar or Barahara.

Image 1: Barahara/Barahar

I like to consider my self a tropical girl with a pretty diverse knowledge of the tropical fruits around me. Seriously, I’ve lived in Guyana all my life (well almost all) so i’ll correct that to read most of my life, I have never heard of, much more seen a Barahar or Barahara. I went to the Bourda Market which is pretty much in the heart of the city of Georgetown last Friday to get some greens (that’s how we say vegetables, normally we don’t say I’m going to get some vegetables, its more like I going an buy some greens). So while there I walked around and while I was making a purchase, I turned around and there behind was this very elusive Barahar!. Naturally the  explorer in me directed my steps closer and I asked the “uncle” what kind of fruit was that? His response was to announce with great pride “BARAHAR!

My follow up questions was, “Is grown locally right?” he responded  “yes” then I said so where does this grow? (as there are fruits that are to specific areas) He said “everywhere”. Well can’t be everywhere cause i’m pretty mobile and I have not seen it, so I guess its everywhere that I’ve never been to.

Image 2: Recognize the orange looking fruit between the Mami apple and the tangerines. (Bourda market fruit stall)

It looks lumpy and funny shaped, kinda like a Noni, yet it resembles a monkey apple, the outside looks  and feels somewhat suede-ish with a sandy/sandpaper twist. It is described as green when unripe and yellow when ripe.

Image 3& 4 -views of the Barahar

When opened it is ornagish looking. The texture is similar to monkey apple, its smoother though causing people to compare it to a kowah (jackfruit).  It does have its unique scent, but as not strong as Jackfruit.

Image 5: Opened fruit see the seeds and compartmentalize flesh of the fruit.

It is SOUR! or maybe I should be a little more diplomatic and said it has a high acid content. I’m currently fasting (the Baha’i Fast 2-20th  March, where we eat and drink before sunrise and eat and drink after sunset) and having a Barahar after dinner is not the smartest thing to do. Though if you add some sugar it should be good to go. I excitedly stopped by my parents on my way home to show them my rare find. I was like ” have you seen this before? my parents had completely different reactions. My dad was like oh Barahara, he then reached out for one. My mom on the other hand said “girl! you like try all sort of strange things”. My next question to her was would you like to taste? she said “na me ain’t know bout it, me ain’t trying it! So my little cousin and nieces and nephews tried it in small portions, I saw my little cousin eating away so I said, you like it? how does it taste. Her response was ” I got the cold so I eating it”. I didn’t quite understand her answer but I said ok. When I opened one this evening and tasted it then I understood why she said what she did, it is fully packed with vitamin C.

See the seeds

The seeds are white and looks similar to other fruits in the same line up. I am sure if we did some further research we will find that this is some power fruit, healing all sorts of things. What strange fruit have come up on recently.

Part 2 of 3- 45 Parties to Hit in a Row

..And I called it in my previous blog when I said this band was a boss in that parade, and naturally they cam out on top and won in their category. In the parade, each band not only parades as part of the celebration but there is a competition that is entered based on the size of the band. The categories are small, (below 50 I think)  medium ( above the small limit to 100) and large (100 plus). This band was part of the medium category and they were required to have certain number of pieces in their band. As promised I will now share the King and Queen’s costumes, which represented various aspect of Indigenous life/ culture.  The overarching theme of the Celebration was One People, One Culture, One Celebration. Therefore every band had to reflect some aspect of this theme.

THE QUEEN (Cock-of- the- Rock)

This Costume represented the very colourful tropical bird the Cock-of-the-rock, this bird is found in the highlands of Guyana, its it one of those birds that bird watchers visiting Guyana would love to get a glimpse of, it is a bird whose bright feathers are used by the Indigenous peoples.  (Photo Credit: Alexi La)

The Queen in action. (Photo: Alexi La)

THE KING

Now the King Costume was not something you encounter everyday (well except if you live where there is a lot of jungle, it is also something you don’t want to encounter everyday). The King’s costume is the ‘Bushmaster” (Lachesis muta), it is considered the  largest of all pit vipers and the longest venomous snake in the western hemisphere. No need to wonder why it is called the master of the bush.

The costume represents the ” realistic fantasy of the snake” with the colourful rays being the vibes of the snake.

Photo credit: Fidal Bassier

Full costume on display, full vibes on (Photo: Alexi La)

There we go. the head of the snake on full display getting ready to strike!

Hope you enjoyed these two, next ….revelers!

45 Parties to hit in a row…

Really, I do think  that there were forty-five parties to hit in a row to mark the 45th anniversary of Guyana attaining its Republican status and joining the commonwealth of Nations. No its not our Independence celebration, but let’s face it (my opinion) it is celebrated more than our Independence is. So why is this?  you are probably thinking, ok so what’s the difference, and those of you who would have learned about it in primary school now boxing your brains to differentiate the exact reason.

Well on 23rd February 1970, Guyana was able to have its own head of state (albeit ceremonial), as prior to this, we were ruled by the British Monarchy (Queen Elizabeth II). In 1966 when Guyana gained its Independence, there was an agreement in the Guyana Independence Act of 1966, where the Ceremonial head of state of Guyana would be the Monarch (of Course the Queen cant be all over at once, so there was an appointed Governor-General in country as her representative.), while a Prime Minister was granted to rule the country. This went on until a few years later, the Constitution of 1970 came into being.  Although in 1966 after gaining Independence we had our national symbols such as flag, pledge, anthem, flower, animal etc), the complete transition did not take full effect until 1970, when we were allowed to choose our own “ceremonial President”, while the powers were still vested in the Prime Minister. And so the late Mr Arthur Chung became Guyana’s first President (note I did not say executive as the powers were still vested in the Prime Minister, that situation changed ten years later however). It took a lot of hard work  for this process to come to fruition and after such ‘hard work’, naturally a celebration is in order.

Hence the Birth of Mashramani (the most colourful celebration in Guyana where everyone comes on the street and celebrate either in a band or as a spectator on the road), or rather I should say Mashir-I-mehi, the original Arawak word meaning a celebration after hard cooperative work. This is a tradition that was practiced by the Indigenous peoples of Guyana for centuries. After they would have worked hard in hunting or cutting a field to plant their food, they would come together, cook, eat, drink, dance and celebrate their accomplishment, not as an individual but as a community. Unity in hard work.

Hence I want to dedicate this first Mash piece to the Indigenous Band that Mash up de place (pun intended) on 23rd Feb, 2015.  P.s  they were totally awesome, loved it! Am I being a little bias? maybe, but after seeing the beauty of this contingent you would be too.

I am going to be sharing  photos from a super talented photographer friend of mine, Fidal Bassier of 55 Photography, and also some from my personal collection.

The band hit the road under the theme ‘Celebrating life, celebrating our culture”, this band saw a Piai Man and Medicine Woman leading the contingent, followed by the Music truck, then the King of the Band which was a ‘Bushmaster snake” the Queen of the Band, a Cock- of the rock bird and colourfully clad revelers representing the beautiful Macaw completed the band.

Let’s start with the Piai Man & Medicine Woman

Medicine woman of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs Mash Band- Photo Credit: Fidal Bassier,  designer of costume: Trevor Alfred

 

Photo 2: Another Fidal Bassier Photo showing both Piai Man and medicine woman.

 Photo 3: Piai man (check the shack shack/maracas out) – Photo: Alexi La, Designer of Costume: Trevor Alfred.

Photo 4:   Leading the band – Photo: Alexi La

Photo 5: Back view of the beautifully created head dress- Photo: Alexi La.

Photo 6: Working those costumes man- Photo Credit: Alexi La

Are you beginning to see why I think this band  was totally awesome and mash up de place. Seriously, there were so many parties to mark this occasion that I lost count. There are also a number of organized annual events to mark this celebration which highlights the rich cultural heritage of Guyana, which I will touch at another time.

Come back again I got more for you as Guyana celebrates its 45th Anniversary as a Republic.

 

Place of the Mosquito “Masakenari”

When one hears that they are being welcome to place of the mosquito, the first things that’s crosses one’s mind is “did I pack my repellant”?

In Guyana we know that mosquitos don’t make joke, I can guarantee that every household owns a can of insect repellent, and religiously uses it to rid the place of those pesky insects. In early 2015, my travels took me to an exciting place, at the extreme south of Guyana, bordering Brazil. I was super excited to visit what we refer as ‘Wai-wai country”, an area of land where the Wai-Wai Indigenous people live.  Due to the remote location very few coastlanders would have visited this community,  as flying is main mode of transportation from the city unless you favor travelling about 2 weeks on foot from the closest transportation point in the south of the country. Secondly  if you don’t have any business there you wouldn’t necessarily go there, even though its extremely beautiful and clean. The Wai-Wais of Guyana are small in number ( when compared to other nations/tribes) and extremely talented in craft making (gotto see their jewellery), therefore the opportunity to be in their midst was something to look forward to.  I must add that due to geographic location, it takes about 2.5 hours of flying from the Capital city (Georgetown)  to the deep south of the country to get to the airstrip ( a little above Konashen).

The village is about 45 minutes on foot from the airstrip, the walk is undertaken over open savannahs for about 20-25 minutes with rolling mountain ranges  in the distance,  and eti Palm in the forefront. This tells you that this savannah often floods, as Eti Palms do not grow in dryland, but prefers the environment of the wetlands. In fact we arrived during the dry season, as a good shower had not seen the area in months. The walk continued through semi-covered canopy path over bridges and creeks, with the midday sun beating down on us.  Did I mention that we had on our backs whatever we would need for the few days being spent there? Yes so whatever you packed you had to carry. I just buckled up and braced for the walk, since it was my first time I asked my friend how far more we got to go ? The answer was; when we are close to the village we have to go up a hill. My next question was, is it a big hill? one can’t be too specific as in Guyana the sizes of hills vary, and so does people’s description. The answer was “nah is not a big one”. Ok then.

The walk took us to the village eventually, and to a hill over a bridge, so I got excited and asked if this is “the hill”,  as it fitted the description of not big. My excitement was soon quelled when I was told ‘nah, nah, you gon know it when you see it (I thought I had seen it) eventually when got to “the hill” that was not so  big, I did recognize that it was however  steep,  some persons decided to take a rest before tackling the hill but I had to push on because I  knew if I had stopped it would have been difficult to get up back.  At the foot of the hill was a Homestead, built in a circular manners and surrounded by fruit trees. I however did not allow myself to be distracted  by what occupied the foothills,  my aim was to tackle the hill. After climbing the hill the beauty of the village unfolded in front of us. Rising were buildings and Benabs (indigenous style architecture which the wai-wais are famous for)  and animals grazing on the well manicured lawns.

Also at the top of the hill,  was a blessed mango tree which  provided a most welcome shade with a swing for resting my tired legs and fatigued sun baked body for a few minutes, while taking in my first glympse of Masakenari. Which is by the way, pronounced Masa-ken-yar . I must confess I learnt a lot of new things while in Masakenari, including how to correctly pronounce the name of the village, which literally translates to  “place of the mosquito”.

Would I visit again? without a doubt! 🙂

Easter Rabbit and Eggs, really, Why not an Easter Chicken Instead

 

Now tell me what a rabbit and eggs have to do with Easter, it must have crossed your mind sometime too right. I mean the logical thing would have been to have a chicken and egg, or I’m going to be liberal here and say any bird with eggs. I would even accept a rabbit delivering carrots on Easter instead of eggs, or maybe that’s too cliché. Either way, rabbit and eggs have become a global representation of Easter. In Guyana, besides the religious significance, Easter means Kites, open spaces and hats (yes because of the sun and because of another reason). Easter is a favourite time because we get to have family picnics and everyone goes out and fly their kites, and when I say everyone I mean everybody (all Guyanese, regardless of religion). During this season one find a nice breezy spot under a shaded tree, or a nice branch in the tree and can sit there for hours just watching the kites soar in the skies. Heck you even make up little games between the kites (hopefully soon we can get a glimpse of what Easter 2013 looked like in Guyana). In the city they also have these garden hat parties/competition, where hats are painstakingly decorated with flowers and what’s not and of course who else but the ‘Easter rabbit and eggs’ (though this means nothing to us), then they are paraded for those assembled to see and ohh and aww over.

Well, one mystery was solved last night when I was reading my favourite Finnish magazine (SixDegrees Finland’s English Language Magazine). Yes it’s my favourite because I can read it with ease from cover to cover (who am I kidding, it’s the only ‘Finnish” magazine that I read, outside of the university magazine English section). It has interesting articles too, and lo and behold Mr. Rabbit made the cut in its latest publication. So here goes…

A Cute Little Bunny With Some Eggs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A mythical birth of Easter traditions.

EASTER, the deeply significant Christian festival, has become steeped in many traditions and rituals. I’m sure we are all aware of the religious connotations of many of these customs but I don’t remember a bunny in the Bible or children painting eggs with all the colours of the rainbow. So what is all this about?

Saxon goddess Ostara, goddess of spring and dawn, brought the end of winter in with her each year and made the days grow brighter and longer. With the rabbit as her sacred animal and her passion for new life it’s no wonder that she created pagan traditions with her story. Feeling guilty for her late arrival one year, and as an apology to a bird whose wings had been frozen by the harsh winter, she turned it into a snow hare and made him her pet. Uniquely, as a homage to his previous state as a bird, Ostara also kindly granted the hare the gift of being able to lay colourful eggs once every year.

Eventually however, he managed to anger the goddess, forcing her to cast him into the skies forever as the constellation Lepus, being guarded at the foot of Orion. The hare’s only saving grace was that he was permitted to return to earth once each year, but only to give away his technicolour eggs to the children celebrating the Ostara spring festivals.

So the poor thing may have, understandably, been feeling hard done by at the time but he managed to become a variant of the legendary character that we all know and love as the Easter Bunny and brought the iconic convention of making, receiving and eating those deliciously decorated eggs.

(Taken from SixDegrees Finland’s English Language Magazine: Beth Morton: ItsLassieTime)

 

Easter postcard circa early 20th century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now it makes sense right? I know, I too was thinking hmmm…interesting after reading this article. Thank you Ostara for solving one of life mysteries for me, now I know why rabbits/hares and eggs go together at Easter. I have a feeling she is also feeling pretty guilty this years because in Finland we still have snow fall in April, when spring was to begin, hmm I don’t know, somewhere around ….21 March. But the days are longer and brighter so I have to give her props for that, she is doing something

 

Until next time, one of life’s mysteries solved (at least for me).

I Found Love in what could have been a Hopeless Place (part 1 of 2)

Interesting? No, its not the images that are coming to your mind as you read the caption, the love that I found is one that is filling, creative and most of all gave me joy.  Yes I know you are thinking your love does or did the same for you too.  This love in retrospect also brought me out of what could have been a hopeless place. This love, is the love I found in cooking (bet you didn’t see that coming).

 

Where did all that light go?

Remember that professor I told you about in my last blog who gave me advice about winter footwear? Well this same professor (God bless him) also asked me in that same conversation about my relationship with my friends back home. Again I wondered the purpose of this comments, I had in fact started the semester a little late and thought OK; maybe he is thinking that everyone has already bonded, formed their little cliques and I would be friendless and he just wanted to ensure that I has someone to talk to.  So when this question came out, I was also wondering, did I gave off a vibe that shouted “it’s difficult for me to make friends’? He then put me out of my musings and said, I’m asking you about your friends back home because many persons who are not accustomed to this weather get depressed. I gave him a look that said “come on, really now”, he continued by saying soon the darkness will come, and we will have very little sunlight, and for some it is very difficult to deal with this, they take it very hard.

I had heard a story of someone being so depressed that they took to the train tracks, and mentioned this to him, in a somewhat unbelievable, someone added too much to that story tone.  His response was, after shaking his head and looking outside the window, “yes, we have had cases of suicide because people were unable to deal with the darkness and depression.” Silence in the room, maybe my eyes were a little more serious now than before, so he said, I want you to be prepared for the darkness and make sure that you are in constant contact with your friends back home. I assured him that I had good relations with my friends back home and they would be happy to keep me engaged.

 

Wanna Play Cricket?

Whew! Okay, first of all, depression is not a word in constant use in my vocabulary. In the society that I am from, you are either sane or coocoo. In the coocoo category there is a little coocoo, or big time coocoo, no middle ground for depression.  So when I heard this from him, I was there thinking, thank you but I’m not coocoo, nor do I plan to go coocoo and I’m not drinking any vitamin D tablets to trigger my happy place, I appreciate the info but I’m sure I got this. I graciously thanked him for the information and went along my business. I shared this with my flatmate when I got home and she said, yeah I heard this and that and shared some more “depression stories” to brighten up my day. This concept as I mentioned was unfamiliar territory,  I am not in any way making light the  case of depression, I know it is very real. It’s just that for me I had to travel this new trajectory in my life that was unfamiliar to me as was the experience with frozen lashes which gave birth to the Nordic beauty product of Icecara.  Coming from a country that embraces both its South American and Caribbean identity, we have an abundance of sunshine and many happy moments to go with it. Of course it gets dark, but not in the day and when it is dark we generally sleep. No one usually discusses depression of any kind, it is something that I’ve notice in recent time, starting to to pop up here and there.

Caribbean countries are now trying to weave it in and  even some artist  are also doing their parts in integrating it into their music. The music carrying the message however is never dark and emo like, its always laced with vibrant colours and nature and families, though the message is ever present and often  leave you in silence for a few minutes after the song /video is over. But because it is not a part of our acknowledged culture, it is difficult to break that barrier and put it out in the open. There are suicide cases as in many countries, but the usual story is boy meets girl, fall in love, family objects, boy or girl commits suicide, hardly is the link made to depression.  In Guyana, we have one mental institution that is very far from the city. At this institution  you can find persons playing the game of cricket with an imaginary ball and bat, hitting 4s and 6s, having the crowd go wild with applause,  and an umpire who can detect LBW (leg before wicket), because the player used his imaginary bat wrongly, therefore putting his leg to block the imaginary ball from hitting the imaginary wicket. So you see why no one want to be even thought of as on the coocoo side. Besides, I mean if you’ve ever played cricket you know it’s more fun with the real stuff.

So click the next link for part 2 as we continue to explore finding love in what could have been a hopeless place…