Boldi's Journey in Tropical Jungle Guyana - Album
Welcome to my online adventure journey blog where I post my adventures in Guyana where I decided travel and build IT infrastructure part of education VSO-CUSO UNESCO humanitarian relief. I am also making a TV documentary about intern life in the 3rd world. If you want a copy of the video request one... Enjoy my blog! Boldi Fachet
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
http://findboldi.blogspot.com/
on a new blog site http://findboldi.blogspot.com/
The Guyana www.boldi.blogspot.com was very popular with my peculiar scrutiny so I was asked to create a new one for this job/adventure for my family and friends and whoever interested. This will be quite different from the CUSO VSO experience since I am actually getting paid to live there and more protection from my company. At the same time the current world state of affairs adds a danger element to this one as I never been to a country where there is active war going on so not sure how I feel about the Americans pulling out of Iraq and not helping that someone is threatening to burn the Qur'an. I am starting my training for my November departure and the home base will be in Al Khobar , Dammam but every second month there will be trips to Erbil, Sulamaniya and Abu Dhabi and Dubai. On my days off most likely I will be in Europe spending some quality family time it's been four years again that I have seen them so I am very excited for that too. Expect my real first overseas blogs to come around November December but I might post some interesting material in the mean time....
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
CUSO-VSO event/RV reunion and potluck dinner
I am pleased to be coming to Calgary on September 22 and Edmonton on September 23 for a Meet CUSO-VSO event/RV reunion and potluck dinner. I would love for you to join me.
Calgary: Wednesday September 22 Venue: TBA
5-6pm: Meet CUSO-VSO (for the public and RVs interested in learning about he current application process and sharing their volunteer experience- please invite anyone you think may be interested)
6-8pm: Returned Volunteer Potluck Dinner and Reunion: Please join us for a potluck dinner to meet other RVs and learn about the work CUSO-VSO is now doing. Please bring something to share for the dinner.
Does anyone have any 10 year Eldorado Demerara Rum left? I am coming =)
Guyana minister: Rum may be fun, but don't glorify
(AP) – 3 days ago GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Guyana's top health official is urging popular singers to stop soaking their lyrics in rum.Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy says recent radio hits such as "Bring De Rum" and "Rum Till I Die" are undermining efforts to reduce alcohol abuse in Guyana.The health ministry is conducting surveys to evaluate alcohol's influence on popular culture, including chutney, a style of dance music laced with Caribbean and East Indian rhythms.Ramsammy said Saturday that he was not suggesting a ban on rum-drinking songs but called for artists to focus more on positive messages.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Monday, December 08, 2008
Welcome to my Blog
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Comrads who are still in Africa not doing well
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Friday, February 02, 2007
European Winter Road Trip
Monday, October 23, 2006
Humanitarian Aid workers of Alberta
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Adopted love
Sunday, February 26, 2006
La Mashramani Carnivale
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Sunlight on Sweet Black Water
Sunlight on Sweet Black Water
The sea breeze gently rolls over the seawall as I take my steps and I look across the
This weekend Christmas music squeeze the street noise out of the stores as the poor black Santa has to sweat fully dressed in winter red robes equipped with fake white hair and cozy hot beard as his glowing black cheeks sparkle with sweat in the no air-conditioned store entrance, even the plastic blowup snowman decided to melt in the December heat. Ok Just a few more thoughts, so I was watching on TV these Guyanese commercials for cute Christmas toys and I took some moment when all the Caucasian dolls and Barbie’s are really white and blonde .... Next screen was a little black girls playing with all these newest blonde Caucasian dolls quite happily so I was wondering what type of image it creates at early age about what a pretty girl should look like... So I asked a Guyanese girl and she said well...the thing is there were no black dolls made before but even now when she bought one for her little niece a black Barbie kind of doll ....she just didn't like it... I mean most of the toys don't resemble them at all but maybe television has something got to do with it...most TV programming is pirated from US satellites….
Yesterday on a hot nauseating day when nothing goes right, I left work for some peace and quiet and that’s when you just get opposite effect as I was arrested by a tall giant police man for biking on sidewalk, which quite hard as sidewalk are so rear and few in this city everyone forced to walk on dangerous roads, I guess I was at a busy part of town so I tried to shortcut from one corner to the other as cars conduct honking chorus angry while traffic halts. Then this odd tall army looking black man riches out like inspector gadget and grabs me off the bike and calmly tells me that it is an offense riding bicycle here and follow him now to the police station to register for a court date, at first I thought it was a joke, so I expressed amusement but his eyes went under his eyebrows deep so I realized he is not just some crazy but possibly corrupt maybe as I am white and not letting me go until some bribe money funnels into his pocket. Coincidentally this woman comes up yelling at Mr. law enforcement that this guy just assaulted her and trying to get his attention to follow this up now but to my shock he blocked my getaway routes and conveyed to the lady to have to wait until he deals with this perpetrator, aka “me” and kept repeating about some 15000$ penalty, ok now this was freaking me out how is my cycle offence outweighs her assault case. But she kept coming back to my luck and intensifying the irritation level for both of us even as I was sneaky trying to waste time by wanting to see all his ID’s asking questions while showing tremendous potential that I will be a really good boy and never do such terrible things in the future ….like bike on sidewalk …ever again wishing he would just disappear and take care some assault victim… eventually woman won him over so no money was squeezed out of me just a warning with a straight index finger straight up and then left but sure made me feel I committed worse crime then an assault. I tell you priorities here are something else.
December 22nd - for Christmas Holidays seven of us eco adventurous fate mates decided to brave the deep Amazonian jungles close to Brazil border some 350 km from Georgetown. The road was not really finished but neither was for any great explores, only paved first one third after that humanitarian aid money ran out so after the bus still didn't slow down and let me tell you sometimes the bus seat felt like ready to eject into space. The bus left about 11pm and trip takes about 8 to 10 hours from turtle speeds to 140km/h. The bus was 3rd worldly over packed incredible full of people and luggage, boxes, even stuffed between seats like this folded wheelchair that made it beside me of course rattled and skid around, then slide by innocent travelers by surprise….. But I was more concerned about the many ready to plunge suicidal luggage above our heads. So we shake it all the way to Iwokrama ECO research field station which is in a protected piece of the Amazon tropical rain forest sponsored by major eco support money. It was clean modern and beautiful, and for a big change it was jungle quiet at once with some birds and monkeys only echo some hello to us. First day we walked around learned about the trees and some species around our area but later on we got on the motor boats to track the great essequibo river. Next day early afternoon we climbed Turtle mountain where we hoped to see some wild life and unpredictably the first animal we saw climbing the mountain was a turtle... now I wonder how long will it take for the turtle to climb a mountain...definitely not worth waiting for so later on as we didn't see any wild monkeys my group of vso comrades and a medical student made up for my camera by hanging off of a long swinging vine that that throw you out above a steep slope proved to be a whack load of monkeying around fun. On the summit thanks to a sharp cliff we had a spectacular view of the Amazonian forests and rivers and mountains. I saw vast lands of forests and rivers and rolling hills through the distance. Also a faint white curtain of rain was approaching our observation point so we decided to head back down on the mountain which proved more challenging on slippery leaves and moist clay like soil, and that's when we all stopped as we heard something very unusual and scary.... the sound grew from a near deep distance and eerily echoed amongst the trees. At first I thought whirlwind approaching from the storm but our guide reassured us that this was our first time hearing the great Howler monkeys. It was the most interesting perfect horror movie noise like hunting lions roaring…… some scary sound I ever heard. The guide told us;
Howler monkeys are named and known for the loud, guttural howls that they routinely use at the beginning and end of the day. They are the loudest animal in the
Well we figured the fine spray is the rain catching up rather than any monkey business so we marched on heading back to the bottom of the mountain then to our field station. Next day 5:30am early morning we boated out to see some wild life but not much other than a few bright colored macaws with lot’s of attitude as they turned around and each let out a long poop you would not want to be under of…..so we decided to switch to night hunt so our guide “Gary” took the boat out again for some black Cayman crocodile hunt.....
Caiman is a Spanish term for "alligator" or any crocodilian > crocodilus means "a crocodile" (Latin) > "Spectacled" refers to the intra-orbital (between the eyes) bridge of bone that lends a bespectacled appearance….
Our boat rips into the sweet black waters as the jungle night swallows us up and there is a faint click! as “G” switch on his spotlight, and a white beam lances over my shoulder and punches a hole in the black gullet. It nods right, left, we are looking for the eyes.
Such encounters are rare, but running afoul of a black caiman isn't the only reason I'm hesitant about patrolling so close to shore. Between the gnarled roots of mangroves and rotting Huarmo trunks, lurks perhaps the most dangerous of the laguna's dwellers - El Boa, the anaconda. Then our guide silently points towards the shore in the water "Caiman." Near its lower gates, locked in silent vigil, are the red eyes of an ogre. The caiman's sit atop a bony ridge just behind his powerful jaws seen in the glare of artificial light they appear as pulsing red orbs, the eyes of the Devil. The caiman reappears a few meters from my left elbow, then dissolves into the inky depths. Besides the gray piranha that inhabit the river by the thousands, he's the next best reason to erect a "no swimming" sign. We were only fortunate to get close to only one black caiman and after some adrenaline rush we loop around in a rumbling fishtail, and we dive back along the narrow tributary towards station. The canoe careens around another bend and as I catch sight of light and we are back to our station then as we walk up from the boat Sarah had the opportunity to grab on to the rail and also a beautiful hairy tarantula spider that was resting on top of rail. Thanks to quickness of the large poisonous beast she just barely missed it, but we still had a good photo shot from underneath the rail. I mean some of us like spider hunting so I organized every night around midnight a creepy crawler spider hunt in the jungle.. I have to say only 3 guys was in our group including me the other two were from England teaching sign language here for deaf community as they are also hearing-impaired and the rest where girls, one of them admitted to severe arachnophobia. So my little jungle tours were not that admired as I had thought it would be so the exploration was conducted by myself for the first 3-4 days, so I was pretty comfy tracking the paths in the darkness but, really I can’t believe those girls as it was incredible I was in many legs spider haven, my headlight equipped with spread blue light LED’s made amazing sparkles as it bounced back from the spiders eyes…it was like twinkling little green diamond sparkle and it grew bigger with the size of the spider, but at night with this perfect pursue light you could see 100’s of them in different shapes and sizes. I even brought a 2 way radio with me so I can leave it in my room in case I get lost in the jungle….but my luck ….the only 2 guys in my house was deaf…One of them Steve at first seemed game for the idea but later admitted he didn’t know what to say when radio vibrated. Oh well you know soon enough you will find partners in crime and before long I met a young adventurous couple from
We had shaken our kidneys back to
After the holidays back at my work everyone was cheerful asked how my holidays went then changed subject when they saw left side of my face, haha. Well to sum up quickly at work I started teaching new class and building website design at
January 29th Boldi
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Primacy of the eye in the lost Eldorado…
Primacy of the eye in the lost Eldorado…
The winter sun rises above the horizon slowly as the temperature drops down to +32c …. The days are half hour shorter now then summer time and after my scheduled weekly burn at the public pool I shed some more skin in GTown! Maybe one day I won’t forget my sun lotion.
A lot has happened since I wrote last time, I wrote small notes that are haunted by passionate discovery and tender emotions, but I will only mention a few that I still remember.
One sunny Friday I went for fast food at KFC chicken and I had ordered a nice glass of draft beer with my menu .......sounds uneventful but really you do can have fun at a fast food restaurant here. Ten of us came down on a friday night for what I thought was just a regular quick meal before we go out. Little I knew we are already out and staying for the night so we sat outside as most fast food outlets have more like a cafe like atmosphere patio built around it, well except for the usual cheap plastic yellow seats... next thing we ordered 6 jugs of cold draft beer, yippi and to note this is the only place I see people put ice cubes into their glass of beer..... so next I realize they already set up two gigantic speakers outside that just happens to be taller than the restaurant…
Well have you seen slow dancing at Fast food restaurant?...hmmm well I just did... as the speakers blast away the foam from my beer I sit and enjoy as there is no way to talk anyways so near to the speakers.
OK let me see what were some of the highlight of the last few weeks…. oh yea... during one twisted night I partied with Miss
The other day I realized certain things you learn only when you are in the most need...like how to use the toilet system here...
During those days when you really have to run to the bathroom like at work, and soon you find out afterwards the water company decided to take away your water privileges... so how do you flush now?.... first you panic as you don't want to leave things behind... and that's when I stumbled upon the wonders of bucketing system. The 3 big different colored buckets outside one for filling up your tank... one for reserve and one for washing your hands with a measure cup... The kitchen maid actually gave me a crash course on the how to ...
Couple weekends ago our little group decided to crave some adventure getaway to one of the places called shanklands. It is truly a tropical paradise up on the Essequibo river which spans across 37 kilometers by the time it reaches the ocean and makes it the largest river in
Shankland was beautiful and some of the pictures will be uploaded soon for that, but just imagine a gentle rolling hills looking down to the might river with sandy beaches and dense forest all around the compounds. As the night descended on us the incredible jungle sounds were calling me to the jungle… so I invited a few less intoxicated friends to check out the nearest forest around us. As we found a path into the deep moist but never sleeping darkness the amphibians greeted us with loud singing and the reptiles and birds all orchestrating a wonderfull concert for the Canadians. So we picked a quaint clearing where a little creek was making its way to a less dense field and the moon gave characteristics to the whole visual experience so it became our spot to sit and enjoy what the nightlife has to offer… the amazing thing was that after midnight I could see my breath just like during winter in Canada but here it was plus 24Celsius. I guess the only explanation to this is that the dew point is incredible high here. A little background Dew points indicate the amount moisture in the air. The higher the dew points, the higher the moisture content of the air at a given temperature. Dew point temperature is defined as the temperature to which the air would have to cool (at constant pressure and constant water vapor content) in order to reach saturation. A state of saturation exists when the air is holding the maximum amount of water vapor possible at the existing temperature and pressure. This is when you see water on your car windows, grass and feels quite bit cooler than it is.
Well I recorded some of the sounds with my camera and our pleasure ended as I wiggled my feet above the creek and I saw something twinkle as it slowly moved towards my feet in the faint blue moonlight. By the time I realized it was a cayman crocodile I almost become a part of the scene from the movie Crocodile Dundee… except I had no huge knife to put through its brain and I doubt a beer bottle would do the same trick so I jumped back as far as I could, turned our lights on and quickly headed back to our exploration snoring base camp. Heading back with a slight hangover the next day coupled with a less fortunate looking wooden jet boat didn’t make us happy. To make things worse it started raining and the rain started like pellets flying at our bodies hard feeling it will pierce my skin at any given moment as the captain of the boat chubakka switched to light speed and riding rather rough on the white waves. The next day naturally we all just slept hopefully recharging for another working week.
Recently one of the largest hindu celebration ended called the Diwali, I was looking forward to it as my landlady told me so much of how they will decorate the house with full of lights. Every Year On the dark nights of Diwali the sound of firecrackers announces the celebration of the favourite festival of Indians. Homes are decorated, sweets are distributed by everyone and thousands of lamps lit to create a world of fantasy. Of all the festivals celebrated in Diwali is by far the most glamorous and important. Enthusiastically enjoyed by people of every religion, its magical and radiant touch creates an atmosphere of joy and festivity. If I would not known about the festive loudness already it would have seemed war just broke out. I woke up from my afternoon nap with a loud bang that made my Venetian window glass fall out. So naturally it was time to get up and went to join the industrious kids to help put out the hundreds of little terracotta cups field with oil and a fuse to light. It’s quite dangerous transporting 50 cups of explosives on a tray but hey this is my Diwali. Some reason like with everything here but this time the weather did not seem to cooperate as much as the gods started whispering loud and blew our candles out and only on my side of the street…. Getting angry at the winds my pyromaniac instinct kicked in and took a torch and tried other means to light the night up. I took to the night to see what the street has to offer for visual pleasure and soon my eyes were filled with the many wonders of the festive lights… There was a row of cars and trucks decorated with thousands of brilliant lights of the Indian culture has to offer and the parade has began. Music and dances shook the ground while the fire crackers and fireworks complement the many activities of the night.
One of the thing that struck me the so many swastikas painted on the grounds and on different things… For those of you who are unfamiliar with the swastika. It is an ancient symbol of peace and good luck, used extensively in the Indian subcontinent and throughout Asia (
Culture.
In my picture section I will post some of the wonders of these festivities.
Also in my picture section you will also see some images of the Toucan Guest house where VSO took us for a weekend and the house was built by a Portuguese man who loves