Adventures in Guyana: Rups Rodeo 2011

The Rupunnuni Rodeo, an annual Region 9 extravaganza, has come again. It falls over Easter weekend each year, and attracts people from all over the country and Caribbean. Lethem is packed with people, the GT road has traffic, there are strange, fair-like attractions like ferris wheels and trampolines at the Rodeo grounds. The Rodeo is on Saturday and Sunday, but that doesn't include the Miss Rupununi pageant on Friday night at the Takutu Hotel, or the send off parties on Monday, as everyone (or most) pack up and leave for home. Then there are those diehard Rodeo-goers, some whom I was destined to be affiliated with, who use Monday as a trip-to-the-falls day, and Tuesday a day of recovery before heading back home.

Mom was visiting my first year here and as much as she was a trooper during the weekend, I learned a lesson - do not bring your mom to rodeo weekend. I was discovering the pleasure of staying out until the sun came up, when I had mom back at her hotel room, not complaining when I walked in the room at 6 a.m.

Last year, I didn't attend, partially due to aversion to a 5 day weekend, partially due to transp conflicts. This year, my last year, it seemed like I should make a point to be there, plus I thought I should really take a break from the village. So, the convoy headed out Friday afternoon, Chris, Mike, myself and three new volunteers for the year - Matt, my roomie; Robin, a PCV Response at K/bu, and Evi, associated with Panthera, also at K/bu. We rode into Lethem, using 4 headlights to shine the way and caught the pageant at the Takutu. Krista and Mina, two friends of ours, were in the competition. I met up with people I haven't seen in a long time, glorified in strangers and attractive men older than me and spent some quality time with past and current roomates.

Rachel, the PCV Response from Katoka, and I enjoyed the variety of snacks and finger foods as we perused the grounds over the weekend, watched some bucking broncos and bought a few pieces of jewlery during the day, then beers and rum and dancing at night. I was fortunate to catch rides back to the house a lot of us were crashing at in Culvert City, right past the airstrip, fairly early each night.... 5 a.m., 1:30 a.m. and 3 a.m.

We stayed at the Li's family house. There's a big porch there where hammocks by the dozens could be hung up, not to mention hammocks under the mango trees, and there are many open bedrooms where you can throw a mattress down - or just your hammock down, in Matt's case. Some of the Li's family were visiting from the States, and then a friend, Navin, who rents the house with his wife and daughter, had his in-laws visiting, too. All the ladies and Kavita, the lady of the house, cooked up lunches and got the rest of us to help clean. The late morning might include a bath at the local creek, or lounging in a hammock or a nap or a short walk, then it was a leisure trek to the rodeo grounds.

Sunday night, I actually dressed up for the dancing, and then a group of people had this huge dance train that will go down in history. I was squeezed between Chris and Robin. I danced with all the gals and with some different guys, but I never really got into the groove this time around. As I waited for something to happen on Monday, Chris tied me up a hammock under the mango tree and I swung there, napping and thinking; a very contented moment. Tuesday was waiting to get ready to go, talking about getting ready to go, getting ready to go, talking about going, going, going, going and finally gone, around 10:30 p.m. A full 5 days, But I am glad to say I went. It's part of the culture.