I never actually got to talk about my May Term trip from last year, and a couple of days ago, one of my classmates posted a video from the trip that made me pine for the jungle again.

At a beach in Guyana

I have to say that the trip was hands down the most exciting, taxing, and eye-opening one of my life. Suriname and Guyana are two relatively unknown countries in the U.S.--some of my family thought that I was going to Africa instead of South America, which is really strange considering how much of an impact the U.S. has on these two countries politically, financially, and culturally.
Unlike most of Latin America, these weren’t Spanish speaking countries. Guyana in particular, was English-speaking for the most part, which made it easy to converse with the people there and listen to their opinions about the racial, political and cultural dynamic there. I can’t even begin to describe how much knowledge I gained just talking to the locals and walking around observing. It was fascinating being able to have open dialogues with the locals about their history and the history of their people in the area.

We even got to know the local wildlife

One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to visit a Bush-Negro (that’s what they call themselves) village in Suriname. The Bush-Negros were the former slaves who, before the abolition of slavery in the area, escaped into the jungle to live in isolation. They also called themselves “freedom fighters” because they often attacked plantations to free more slaves to join them. (Interestingly, they still like to be referred to as freedom fighters.) At the village, we got to see how modern technology has affected these people who have lived in the jungle for two centuries. They now have electricity, running water, cell phones, etc. But they still maintain their cultural identity and a strong sense of their culture’s history. I’ve never been more enlightened by a group of people. They even took us on our first jungle tour!

The children at the Bush-Negro village were fascinated by "the white people."

Our last 6 days of the trip, we hiked through the jungle and up a mountain to get to one of the largest single-drop water falls in the world-- Kaieteur Falls. I have to say, this was the most taxing but unbelievable part of the trip. May is rainy season in Guyana, and we were in the rainforest, so you can imagine our experience, right? We were wet and miserable, trying to hike on slippery moss-covered rocks in the pouring rain. I took a couple nasty spills, got bruised and scraped and cut, but nothing will ever quite compare to reaching the top of the mountain and seeing the incredible power of that waterfall.

Kaieteur Falls

I could write about this trip forever. I almost filled up an entire journal while I was there. In the end, I am just thankful that Transy and my professors who planned the trip offered me one of the most unique and greatest experiences in my life. If I hadn’t come here, there’s no way I would have gotten such an opportunity.

Some of the group hiking through the jungle