it's over before it began!

alright... so we leave tomorrow. can you believe that?! i certainly can't. it feels like we just got here! i have more than 500 pictures to go through from the last two days alone, so it might be a little while before i get them up and on the blog. but for now, a short recap.  the past couple of days have been filled with excursions! we spent 12 hours in a power boat on the largest river in south america, next to the amazon. visited amazing locations, on the bank of this river (which could be a lake, if you just dropped me in the middle of it, i could never tell the difference...) and on some of the thousands and thousands of islands that collect in it's curves and dot it's massive girth.

today we visited Kaieteur... falls.  found out today that Kaieteur means "Old Man Falls" so when you say Kaieteur falls, it's like saying "Old Man Falls Falls" so i will try to avoid doing that from now on.  it's been a legend in our family.  back in their hay day, my grandparents hiked up the "Oh My God" cliff to get to the top of this whopping 741ft monster, but this time we took a plane.  and what a plane ride! the photos i have are amazing. if you can imagine a sea... flying over the ocean, an endless expanse of blue stretching to the horizon... then replace the blue with green broccoli tops.  an endless sea of green trees. someone today said that Guyana is the "lungs of the world"... ha ha ha... i believe it!  so much green... so very very very VERY beautiful.

that's all for now. we will eat dinner at Rudy's place tonight, which will be a real treat. apparently he is a "champion" cook, and i look forward to spending some more time with him, our intrepid driver, before we leave tomorrow.

i'm doing wrap up interviews with everyone tonight too.  we haven't made time to talk this week, since it has been intense and full of old impressions, re-lived like first impressions, for everyone.  so i thought i would let my family take everything in properly and reflect once we felt more "on our way".  we'll see how that goes, but i'm confident we have so many amazing images... i just have to find the essence of the story in all of it!

until the next time...

EXCURSION!

Grandma disembarking at Leguan dock

despite the shitty weather and constant threats (and delivery) of torrential rain, we decided to venture out to an island called Leguan (LEG-WAN).  it is situated in the mouth of the Essequibo river, which is by far the biggest river i have ever seen.  it looks like a lake. it's the most massive non-lake, non-ocean body of water i have ever come in contact with.

Grandma (Joan) waiting for the speedboat at Parika Harbour

we took the bus there. we are being driven around and escorted by two really awesome guys, Rudy and Rohan.  they are funny, typically Caribbean men.  love making jokes, gently at other people's expense.  they love food.  they love their families.  and they love taking care of guests.  so we have had lovely company from knowledgeable and courteous dudes all week.

Rohan and Rudy (with peace sign)

overall the day was full of amazing things.  we ate mango off the tree (i discovered i am a terrible mango catcher, once Rohan started knocking them down with a stick). we visited old schools, had lunch at the home of a friend's relatives, walked into an abandoned church (inhabited only by goats) and saw live crabs in a sack. i don't know why that last one tickled me so hysterically, but i thought it was awesome. video to follow someday.

we are home now at the hotel, will eat a little and then sleep. tomorrow a few of us will venture out on the same river again but for a full day's excursion deeper into the interior by boat.  i will finally get to swim. and there will be more photos, hopefully, if i make it back alive and if i am not too tired!

Rain Delay

Photo: Borrowed from Asya at http://www.wayfaring.info/2009/05/15/kaieteur-falls-guyana/

We were grounded today because of bad weather, so the trip to the interior will have to wait a little bit longer.  Possibly tomorrow, but most likely on Friday. I think it would be a huge disappointment for all of us to miss that trip, but I am absolutely grateful to fly in safe conditions (I think all of you out there are grateful for us flying in safe conditions too, right?).

Goodnight!

day 2 - memory lane

today we took a drive. it might have been a bad idea to sit in an un-air conditioned van, on plastic seats, with a hangover for 8 hours, but we did it nonetheless. today we toured all kinds of places.  from the old houses where my mum and her siblings grew up in, to her old high school where she said goodbye to her friends before flying to canada, and the house where my grandparents had their wedding reception in.

INTENSE!

i filmed most of it, but i am having a bit of a conflict here. i want to be the observer. i want to capture everything, but part of me also wants to be a participant. it would feel wrong also to be in my grandma's face all the time, asking questions that always seem to have an ulterior motive.  i want to be genuine and to share this time with them, and allow them the time they need to process all the feelings their having.  so we will have to see... i think this part of the project will be very much research oriented. gathering as much information as i can and then developing a project out of that.

so far though, it's only been amazing. tomorrow we head to the interior, near the Brazil border, to a giant waterfall where my grandparents used to hike when they were young.  we take a 12 seater plane, so you can almost guarantee i will be hanging out the side if i can!

good night from the chirping, buzzing Georgetown evening.

enter the wild country

we're here.

this place is wild. lush. gritty. dirty. wicked. green. beautiful. rough. aged. weathered and brilliant all at once.

it's completely surreal.  partially because i rode from the airport in a van with a low ceiling, loud calypso music blasting through the speakers, thinly covered metal seats and the wind tossing my hair every which way. it was 35 degrees today, sunny, humid, a welcome change from the Swedish summer, which can barely be called such.

i have a hard time deciding which part was the most surreal.

was it the part where we landed and walked down the airplane stairs onto the tarmac? or perhaps the part where my grandma went over to the flower bed at the airport and touched the giant tropical blossoms gently with her long fingers? or maybe when we rolled up to the house my grandparents built only 5 years before they moved to Canada? or maybe my mother's childlike hand writing, scrawled across the inside of a cupboard in the hallway, frozen in time 34 years ago...?

either way, this day has been full.  full.  full.

i will post some more photos tomorrow when we have settled into our hotel. part of the adventure of traveling here i gather is that things never really go the way you plan.  our hotel "forgot" we were arriving today, so we found another, quite lovely place around the corner for the night.  this was after our pilot was about to land, but changed his mind and took sharply off again into the sky. an aborted landing, because he couldn't see the runway through low cloud cover.

for now, you can all know we are safe and sound, about to hit the sack after a long, intense and incredible first day.

Leaving on a jetplane...

Today was packed.  Totally packed.  Grandma woke me up at 6am to do her interview, before the whole house woke up, before the day got a chance to tire her out.  So we sat down together for a good long talk.  Had such super bad conscience for cutting her short, but I really could have let her talk forever and ever.  That woman has sooooo much to say, and all of it, almost, is relevant.  Or at least it feels like I can relate to most of it.  Amazing.

Then I met my mum this afternoon.  The perspectives she lent me on things... wow.  Truly interesting to see your parent through a lens.  I had no idea she thought the ways she does about so many things, namely becoming a mother quite young in life and how that affected her.  Not to mention that she associates her leaving Guyana with the song "Leaving on a Jetplane".  New insight everywhere!

I don't want to give too much away, and I still have to pack.  Estimated time of departure is in less than an hour, so I'm really behind, but I'll make it!  I've been taught how to pack by the best in the world!

Wish us luck... more news when we touch down on the south side of the equator tomorrow!

Support from the Homefront

Because she's brilliant and has her hand on the pulse of basically everything going on within 100kms of her house in Kitchener, my bestest friend, Hilary has offered up her boundless resources, expansive network and offered me something which cannot be measured or value - her friendship and personal, heartfelt endorsement (both as artist and friend...) so I link you, with great pride and joy, to her fantastic blog, RQ Magazine.

Here is the story she just posted about my documentary, and you should most certainly check out the rest of her posts, because they will blow... your... mind.  Or at least make you think about stuff, encourage you to get out of your house and experience your city, all the while making you giggle a little bit... or a lot.

Second interview: Amanda da Silva

I have just landed... literally... from a high-flying, gravity defying early morning interview with my mum's youngest sibling, Amanda.  I arrived there just after 6am, and we ate breakfast together, and then started in with the interview around 8am.  Two hours later, I am absolutely reeling.  She is one of the most insightful, passionate, creative and intuitive people I have ever known.

Amanda da Silva, mum's youngest sister.  Youngest of five.

We have bonded over the years, we have most certainly conflicted and gone periods without communicating much, but when it comes down to it, I just have so much love for this woman, it's almost silly.  Ha ha ha... we essentially grew up together, her being about 12 when I was born.  In a house full of teenagers, I was like a new toy almost, but had the privilege of growing up with all my aunts and uncles more like siblings.  This is perhaps where my fascination stems from, a desire to have their voices heard, to listen to them in a way that I have never listened to them before.  In any case, having sat with Kirk, who I also have a strong connection to, and now Amanda (who has actually not had communication with the family for about a year and a half)...  well this process could not have started any better.  Here is a still from our talk today.  I have been blessed with a radiant, vibrant and beautiful family.

Landed with the camera rolling

okay, well not literally.  but i landed yesterday afternoon in Toronto, was picked up by family.  it seemed as though it was only a matter of moments before i had my equipment out and was trying to hang a boom microphone from a broomstick, wedged into a tv cupboard! ha! guerilla film making!

after we got my bags and left the parking garage, it was up to Collingwood (a town close to both a mountain and a large body of water, basically a dreamscape if i ever wanted to move back to Canada) to my uncle's place, where i got to hang with him amazing family (coolest wife ever, cutest, awesomest three kids ever... they have appeared many a time on my blog) and then finally to sit down with him to examine his head regarding his memories from the old country.

Kirk, my mom's brother.  Number 3 of 5 children.

as i have never "worked" with family before, and for my first interview, it went incredibly well.  and considering he's not used to being interviewed either, he did a truly awesome job! told great stories, and gave me a perspective that was uniquely his own. i promised him i wouldn't show anyone the video until he got to look at it first, but i think it's okay to put up a still here.  i'm so proud of him, and grateful for his time and openness with me!  it's going to be really exciting to see and hear what the other 5 folks have to say!  next one is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 6am (!!!!!!!!!) with the youngest sibling, Amanda.  maybe i'll squeeze in a chat with grandma before then.

On my way

Sitting on the plane now. Will send word when I have arrived in Canada! Wish me luck! The adventure has begun...

almost time!

a short update amongst the madness of cleaning up all my loose ends before departure on sunday!

SUNDAY!

can you even believe it!? really amazing.  I have to send a special thank you to all of those who have helped me along my way so far.  I promise to make you all proud, and i already have a swarm of ideas swimming around in my head.

spoke with my grandma the other day, and she is not at all bothered by the plane crash that occurred last week. (the airline we fly with had a plane skid off the runway, no one was killed thankfully) and she is so looking forward to the trip!

that's all for now, but will write more before i leave!

Hiatus = OVER!

Hello everyone!

Sorry for my prolonged absence from the blog, but I have been on holiday!  We just got home from Australia, and the wilds of the southern hemisphere.  Truly amazing place, which has become an easy favorite.  I can almost promise that we will be visiting the land down under again very soon.

As for the documentary, I'm sure you are all very curious about what has been going on!  Well, there is quite a bit of news!

First, my uncle will also be joining the expedition, as I might have mentioned.  He is a police officer, and has quite a bit of traveling under his belt too, having been in Sudan for 9 months on a peace keeping assignment, as well as in Kosovo many years ago.  He, my mother and grandmother leave on August 19 from Pearson International in Toronto, arriving in Georgetown, Guyana the following morning.  It's all starting to come together, which makes it all the more real, and all the more exciting!

I have also been graced with a barrage of donations, from far and wide, from so many generous and kind benefactors!  I will make a proper list and acknowledge everyone here soon, but for now, a HUGE thank you to all those who have contributed.  As mentioned in my earlier posts, as a way to thank everyone for their generosity, I will be volunteering my services as photographer to those who make a donation, in any amount, to the project.  Portraits, family photos, pet photos, baby photos, documentary photos... you name it.  There are endless possibilities and I am happy to trade my services in exchange for your support!

Anyway... for now, that's about all.  I am starting to collect my equipment, do laundry from our last trip and think about packing for the upcoming one!  I am beyond excited, and look forward to updating you all about it along the way!

First interview is my uncle Kirk, who will be traveling with us.  I will be with him and his lovely family in Collingwood, Ontario when I land on Sunday night, and have an interview with him then.  During the week, I plan to meet my mother and the rest of her siblings, as well as my grandmother for interviews as well.

Wish me luck!