The land of gold and diamonds

The last two weeks I was amidst miners in the land of gold and diamonds, the Upper Mazaruni. This land is divided into six parts: Paruima, Waramadong, Kamarang, Kako, Quebanang and Jawalla. Conquering them all with my two comrades Patrick and Nicholas.

Paruima
This part of the land is the most beautiful of all. Green, fertile, with lovely people. It is quite far away from where the gold and diamonds are. Although quite a number of people travel upstream to the mining camps for a week and come home during the weekends. The conditions in the mines are rough. Only tough men can survive.
I am surprised by the organized character of this village. In the morning at 5 a.m. I hear a crazy loud alarm. My first thought, war, natural disaster, with my sleepy dizzy head. Until it is followed by announcements. Why this happens at 5 a.m. is still a mystery to me.

Waramadong
In the dugout canoe on the way from Paruima to Waramadong dark clouds assembled above us. Until it came down, like cats and dogs. My newly purchased H&M poncho was deep down in one of my bags somewhere under a pile of other bags. By the time I reach it, I’m soaked already. All right, eat it girl. Drips coming from my eyelashes, hard to see the river and coldness, pure coldness, coldness I never felt in Guyana before. Trying to hide somewhat under half a plastic table cover, purple with flowers. Lesson: never step in a boat without rain gear in the rainy season.
In Waramadong we are offered a place to sleep in the Health Centre, patients room 7 is where I lay down my head. Not wanting to think about all that has happened in this room. I take a peak in the maternity room and close it again in an instant, to me it looks more like a medieval torture room. The walls of the Health Centre are covered in posters, posters to inform one about a balanced diet but also with pictures of people with horrible diseases. I do not like to go to hospitals or any place where doctors/nurses are found when I’m ill and certainly not when I’m healthy. I close my eyes and try to forget the scene around me.

Kamarang
The list of remarkable places to sleep continues, Kamarang library. A library without a system, books piled up everywhere. We spend the weekend here, mostly reading as you may presume. Occasionally being paid a visit by ‘the crazy librarian’. A short, rather skinny man with a slight hunched back. He wears blue shorts, a blue headband, no shirt, a purse under his one arm and a water gun under his other arm. He writes statements in every book with utmost precision. Statements that make less sense to the rest of the world but to him it surely does. He sings to us in half English half something else (maybe his local language Arawayo maybe gibberish I was not able to tell) and goes down on his knees, folds his hands together and prays every once in a while. He took me aside and told me, as quiet as he could, his biggest secret. Cinderella comes back in 2030. Mind you, hé is the one who is going to marry her then.
My rather cheaply purchased survival gear in the Netherlands (mainly from Xenos) seems to perform rather well by the way. My small and portable mosquito net came in handy several times already, the envelope travel sheets are comforting and warm. I only have a slight complain about the travel towel. It dries quick and all but starts to smell like wet dogs after a couple of days. Just a note on the side in case anyone knows anyone at Xenos.

Kako
A rather peaceful and quiet village. No showers, wells or other places to bath so the river it will be. Coming into this area by plane (which was an experience by itself, only 4 seats, sharing my leg space with quite a number of dead chickens and beef, rust in several places and a runway that started just after crossing a river. On the runway a damaged plane, right that one flew into the river. Good that I heard that story after landing) we could see the mines from above, the water that is being used in the mines is going straight into the river. In Guyana the way to clean gold is to use heavy metals including mercury. Not so healthy for the people that work in the mines and not so healthy for the people living from the river. So not bathing or thinking that a couple of times probably won’t hurt you. Since not bathing actually doesn’t seem an option in this hot and muddy land I tried not to think about it too much and took my chances.

Quebanang
A small settlement, the villagers hardly speak any English. The leader informs us that he doesn’t expect any people for the meeting. He blows his horn (in other villages banging a piece of metal with a metal stick seem to be more popular to assemble the crowd) we wait for a bit, nobody shows up, so we decide to start. After ten minutes a couple of people walk in, we start over. Ten minutes later some more, we start over. Until our story is told and being translated about six times. Sometimes I get impatient and find it hard to deal with this inefficient behaviour.

Jawalla
The last, at last. This is where the magic happens concerning gold and diamonds. The whole village is in one way or another concerned with mining and everything that comes along with it. Golden teeth prevail! The battle between money and health (mercury is not really something that someone would like to have in ones body) is constant. Money seems to win for now.