The Best Lime in Guyana

Sunday March 10

Blog Post by Tricia Fay

First, please let me apologize for the delays in our postings. Despite all the efforts of all sorts of people to keep the Internet up and running here in Yupukari, we are sharing electronic access space with the entire North Rupununi region. So even though we have our very own computer whiz kid on the trip (thank you Chris !) there are some limitations to our technological capacity, particularly when it comes to uploading pictures. And on top of that, with the Indigenous Wisdom Program in the morning, the Primary School Art Camp in the afternoon, and catching black caiman with the research team in the evenings (more on that tomorrow !) we have been wonderfully busy.

Sunday was a day of rest Guyanese style, with our group and much of the Caiman House staff traveling down the Rupununi River to the legendary Karanambu Ranch  for a half day ‘lime’ – a time of rest and community and dialogue and all over goodness. We stopped off on the way to gawk at the fabulous Victoria Amazonica lilies in Mobay Pond, with their humungous lily pads and white and pink flowers. Along the river there were of course a zillion critter sightings – endless birds, tons of black caiman (gators to you Florida folk), and even two capybara backsides disappearing into the bush (the world’s largest rodent). We reached Karanambu Landing and walked up the hill from the river to one of the most comfortable and welcoming spots in Guyana. 

For five generations Karanambu has been a cattle ranch, a balata rubber business, an acclaimed ecotourist lodge, a site for rehabilitation of giant wild river otters, and a global study center for many university and research groups. It is also the home of Diane McTurk – as amazing a woman as I have ever met – and we all descended on her for a morning/afternoon of laughing and storytelling, and an outrageously tasty vegetarian Italian brunch. This kind of Sunday ‘lime’ reminds me of all the things that I love about the Caribbean region, and all the reasons why I chose to bring my students and friends here. Ranch managers Andrea and Salvador De Caires told us wonderful tales about their connections to and encounters with Guyana’s most famous self-taught artist Phillip Moore; staff member Gerry Pereira and I resumed a years-old conversation about the pottery collections at the Walter Roth Anthropology Museum; Diane walked us through the colorful history of Karanambu; we saw eye-popping digital images of recent wildlife sightings on the property (jaguar, ocelot, anteater, harpy eagle, capybara, etc etc etc etc etc),and  ate until we could eat no more. After saying our goodbyes to all (including Diane’s hopelessly adorable new puppy Aster Lord of Luna), we rode back up the river to Yupukari playing games to see how many caiman we could spot lurking along the banks.

What a lovely day, and we spent the rest of it getting ready for school and working on art projects. This is an unforgettable trip, and I am so grateful for everyone who has made it possible.