Well, I made it. It wasn’t easy. Hard might even be an
overstatement. But I made it nonetheless.
It started in Georgetown and after losing two compatriots to
illness, another two to a faster route which left me, this new Guy 27, Kristen
and her counterpart Andrea. This being the first time any of us had met each
other, conversation was sparse to say the least. That being said it was still
an interesting journey.
After departing Georgetown to the east, we found ourselves
in New Amsterdam after an hour and a half. Then we waited on a boat man who
would take us up river to Der Achstel, Kimbia, and Calcuni, the sites of the
new 27s. We found the boat man at the dock and as he guided us to the boat I
was initially a little shocked at the size of the boat meant to carry 4 people
and their luggage.
The hard, wooden edges of the seats cut into my butt and
lower back. Now, anyone that’s been on a fast moving boat knows it’s anything
but a smooth ride. The bumpy water plus the hard edges made the ride about as
uncomfortable as a ride down a South American river on a boat the size of a
large table can be. After an hour and a half of excruciating pain we reached De
Achstel. Der Achstel, and all the riverine sites, are very interesting. The
villages themselves are not what you would expect a village to look like in the
traditional sense. They’re essentially just a collection of homes that line
both sides of the river and the only way to get from one house to the next is
by boat. After quick stops in Kimbia, where Kristen got off, and in Calcuni we
powered toward Kwakwani just me and th boat man, Colin. It eas a race to get
there before darkness fell and after six and a half hours, we made it.
I dismounted the boat and caught a ride into Kwakwani Park
which is the main grouping of houses about a 5 minute drive from the river. We
stopped next to Shack’s Shop, a local landmark, on the way in to pick up the
volunteer that already lives in Kwakwani, David. He guided us the rest of the
way, at least, as far as we could drive. The road doesn’t actually run past my
house. You can’t just drive up to it, you have to get out and walk, not too
far, luckily.
The house itself is immense. It has three bedrooms, one
bathroom, and I’m suspecting a cat lives in it while I’m gone. Its décor
is…Christian. Lots of things decrying God’s love and love in general. It’s a
little unsettling. Also, there’s about a half dozen stuffed animals whose eyes
won’t stop following me. If I disappear suddenly, it’s probably the stuffed
Pooh bear.
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