Walking with Sampai
Brahma, the IICA driver, picks me up at 5:30AM then we pick up Leo Sampai. Leo is my counter-part at IICA and wherever he goes I go. Today, we are going to the interior and it’s going to be a long one. The first two hour past fairly quickly as we drove at a decent pace along a narrow two lane road…it’s paved…then came the red road…it looks like hard clay but then there are those big ruts made by big truck that carry gravel to the city, and you see that the road… is in fact… sand. The red comes from a compound that they lay on top of the sand to hold it in place. It makes it almost hard but you don’t want to stand on the road when a car comes by…your clothes will be red forever. It’s dry season so the road is like a washboard…along with some very…drive around potholes. Four hours on this road and just when you feel your guts are about to bounce out of your body we come to the village of Atjoni…the debarkation point for the Upper Suriname River. I won’t call it a village. It’s more like an old fashion border town. Three bars, one Winkle (kind of a general store) which, by the way had a TV and it seemed like all the teenagers in the area were just hanging out watching the Suriname version of MTV. There were a couple of sheds that let you get out of the sun, a gas station and a parking area where the Waggies leave from. A Waggie is a large 6-wheel truck with windows cut in the side panels and bench type bus seats bolted to the floor. Not a very comfortable ride but neither was the subway trains going to Brooklyn back in my day. The shore is lined with motorized dug out canoes. Some hold four others take up to 20 people and their supplies…I wonder who’s getting that Queen size mattress??? The motorized dugout canoe …unlike the Waggie …is the only…means of transportation into the interior. We loaded up our gear…Leo and me. We were off…traveling south…up river. The sound of the engine is drowned out by the silence and the beauty of the shore… the sky is blue and bright …the clouds are pure white…the shoreline is seven shades of green and the water is black. Man… this is what I came to see. Twenty minutes after entering the river we were heading for shore. Two large buildings dominated the scene…it was right out of a Discovery Channel documentary…a guest house to my right, and the church to my left…both built by Monrovian minister some 55 years ago. Walking with Sampai up from the river and through the village…I had this feeling…I don’t know…I can’t really explain it…I was elated… I was excited…I was relaxed…I was feeling very special…happy to be in Abenastone. I felt as at home as if I were walking down Ocean Avenue back in Brooklyn. I waved to everyone and said… hello…they waved back and said something in Saran Tango…probably…who’s the tall white guy with Sampai? And like in all good jungle movies…the kids were running in front and behind me…just laughing. I wondered…is it my “Expedition Series” hat they think is funny or is it my REI hiking boots. Probably the boots in the fact that everybody is either bear foot or wearing Dollar Store flip-flops. We go straight to the captain’s house…hut…shack…what ever…a front room, back room and a thatch roof. Yes I still think I’m on a movie set. There’s a parrot sitting on a stump…and the captain sits on another stump weaving a “Matapi” (I’ll explain what that is at a later time, when I tell you about cassava).. On the ground is an 8-inch stick that is moving. I start to think that the sun is frying my brain. I continue to stare and the dam stick continues to move…on legs that are hair thin. I put Sampai’s hat on the ground and it crawls into it…another National Geographic moment. My first day in the interior is coming to an end… the guest house has been opened for us…. the beds are made…the mosquito nets are up and the bush meat that Sampai bought from a young girl along the road is served…I don’t know …I didn’t ask…it was good. The sun goes down and I’m off to bed…It has been a long day and besides I’m trying to get to tomorrow as fast as possible. But you do know that at my age nature always makes a call during the night. I’m not looking forward to it…I didn’t bring a flashlight. I walked down a dark flight of stairs and stepped cautiously out into the dark night…I looked up… there it was…my big sky…no moon …no lights…just stars lots and lots of stars…just as bright as they can be…nature called. And I loved it. Morning came …I steeped out on to the second floor balcony and looked down…and there it was…another National Geographic moment. The village women were heading to the river…on their heads…in perfect balance… a plastic tub filled with last nights pots, pans dishes and yesterdays clothes…on their backs a child…another child in one hand and a bucket of something in the other hand…and it wasn’t like they’re walking down a nice paved road…it’s a dam rutty path…how do they do that. Well, for one thing they start when they’re around 6 years old…and that little girl...she was balancing a bucket of water and had her little brother in tow. In day two of… walking with Sampai… I found myself carefully watching my step as we walked through the Rainforest (snakes…didn’t see any)… heading to the plot where the women of the village grow their food. It’s about a 15minute walk to the plot…there they harvest all day in the hot sun and return with the days take (of course) on the top of their heads. Then they peel and dry and slice and chop and cook…it’s not an easy life. …What is it you’re asking??? What are the men of the village doing all this time??? Not Much.
The day ended with me being massaged by the swift current of the Upper Suriname River, watching the sun go down and the stars come up…life is good.
Brahma, the IICA driver, picks me up at 5:30AM then we pick up Leo Sampai. Leo is my counter-part at IICA and wherever he goes I go. Today, we are going to the interior and it’s going to be a long one. The first two hour past fairly quickly as we drove at a decent pace along a narrow two lane road…it’s paved…then came the red road…it looks like hard clay but then there are those big ruts made by big truck that carry gravel to the city, and you see that the road… is in fact… sand. The red comes from a compound that they lay on top of the sand to hold it in place. It makes it almost hard but you don’t want to stand on the road when a car comes by…your clothes will be red forever. It’s dry season so the road is like a washboard…along with some very…drive around potholes. Four hours on this road and just when you feel your guts are about to bounce out of your body we come to the village of Atjoni…the debarkation point for the Upper Suriname River. I won’t call it a village. It’s more like an old fashion border town. Three bars, one Winkle (kind of a general store) which, by the way had a TV and it seemed like all the teenagers in the area were just hanging out watching the Suriname version of MTV. There were a couple of sheds that let you get out of the sun, a gas station and a parking area where the Waggies leave from. A Waggie is a large 6-wheel truck with windows cut in the side panels and bench type bus seats bolted to the floor. Not a very comfortable ride but neither was the subway trains going to Brooklyn back in my day. The shore is lined with motorized dug out canoes. Some hold four others take up to 20 people and their supplies…I wonder who’s getting that Queen size mattress??? The motorized dugout canoe …unlike the Waggie …is the only…means of transportation into the interior. We loaded up our gear…Leo and me. We were off…traveling south…up river. The sound of the engine is drowned out by the silence and the beauty of the shore… the sky is blue and bright …the clouds are pure white…the shoreline is seven shades of green and the water is black. Man… this is what I came to see. Twenty minutes after entering the river we were heading for shore. Two large buildings dominated the scene…it was right out of a Discovery Channel documentary…a guest house to my right, and the church to my left…both built by Monrovian minister some 55 years ago. Walking with Sampai up from the river and through the village…I had this feeling…I don’t know…I can’t really explain it…I was elated… I was excited…I was relaxed…I was feeling very special…happy to be in Abenastone. I felt as at home as if I were walking down Ocean Avenue back in Brooklyn. I waved to everyone and said… hello…they waved back and said something in Saran Tango…probably…who’s the tall white guy with Sampai? And like in all good jungle movies…the kids were running in front and behind me…just laughing. I wondered…is it my “Expedition Series” hat they think is funny or is it my REI hiking boots. Probably the boots in the fact that everybody is either bear foot or wearing Dollar Store flip-flops. We go straight to the captain’s house…hut…shack…what ever…a front room, back room and a thatch roof. Yes I still think I’m on a movie set. There’s a parrot sitting on a stump…and the captain sits on another stump weaving a “Matapi” (I’ll explain what that is at a later time, when I tell you about cassava).. On the ground is an 8-inch stick that is moving. I start to think that the sun is frying my brain. I continue to stare and the dam stick continues to move…on legs that are hair thin. I put Sampai’s hat on the ground and it crawls into it…another National Geographic moment. My first day in the interior is coming to an end… the guest house has been opened for us…. the beds are made…the mosquito nets are up and the bush meat that Sampai bought from a young girl along the road is served…I don’t know …I didn’t ask…it was good. The sun goes down and I’m off to bed…It has been a long day and besides I’m trying to get to tomorrow as fast as possible. But you do know that at my age nature always makes a call during the night. I’m not looking forward to it…I didn’t bring a flashlight. I walked down a dark flight of stairs and stepped cautiously out into the dark night…I looked up… there it was…my big sky…no moon …no lights…just stars lots and lots of stars…just as bright as they can be…nature called. And I loved it. Morning came …I steeped out on to the second floor balcony and looked down…and there it was…another National Geographic moment. The village women were heading to the river…on their heads…in perfect balance… a plastic tub filled with last nights pots, pans dishes and yesterdays clothes…on their backs a child…another child in one hand and a bucket of something in the other hand…and it wasn’t like they’re walking down a nice paved road…it’s a dam rutty path…how do they do that. Well, for one thing they start when they’re around 6 years old…and that little girl...she was balancing a bucket of water and had her little brother in tow. In day two of… walking with Sampai… I found myself carefully watching my step as we walked through the Rainforest (snakes…didn’t see any)… heading to the plot where the women of the village grow their food. It’s about a 15minute walk to the plot…there they harvest all day in the hot sun and return with the days take (of course) on the top of their heads. Then they peel and dry and slice and chop and cook…it’s not an easy life. …What is it you’re asking??? What are the men of the village doing all this time??? Not Much.
The day ended with me being massaged by the swift current of the Upper Suriname River, watching the sun go down and the stars come up…life is good.
posted by Robert B. at 11:23 AM
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