And final post of this scattershot shotgun sandblast of posting. Look at me! I can alliterate! A little!
Anyway!
Several people have asked me about animal life here in the jungle. And man is there animal life...and bug life. Ants. Ants are the worst by far. They bite you and it hurts. And then they keep chewing! Seriously, they are bad. Cockroaches are a bit gross but not bad, same with centipedes and the like. Gnats and little annoying flies can drive you insane but aren't too bad, but let's get down to the good stuff - coolest animal encounters so far in Peace Corps.
1. The Sloth. You probably saw this story in an earlier post so I won't say too much, but basically I saved a sloth's life. Yup. Me (and several other people). Rescued it from death and dogs with broom sticks and dutch courage. Yup. Sloths are awesome.
2. That baby boa constrictor one guy almost stepped on. A fellow PCV was hosting me for a few nights and he was texting as we walked around his village at night (the future is everywhere!). He finished and turned on his flashlight just in time to NOT step on a beautiful baby boa constrictor moseying across the path.
3. Dead Electric Eel. Would be tops if it was still alive, but instead it was dead in a fishing net I set with my friend Edua. Less dead were the giant Piranha which are somewhere around 7 on this list. They are awesome and scary! There teeth are the size of our teeth and a big one could probably get it's mouth around your wrist. The first thing you do when you catch one is break it's jaw - even before you beat/stab/etc it to death
4. Scorpions. One was on my porch the other day and a while back we came across a family of them in the jungle while digging for mulch. As you may know, scorpions are like peppers- the smaller the more burney. Fortunately, my friend killed the mulchey ones with his machete and I killed the one walking across my porch with a bucket. Neither was bigger than my pinky and I don't like hot peppers anyway.
5. Dead Caiman. Caiman are kind of baby-ish crocidiles? Bigger than an iguana and...you know...crocidile shape. I passed two floating belly up in a stream I run by. They didn't smell good. Haven't seen any live or near any water I hang out in. I'm ok with that.
6. Jaguar. Why, you might ask, is the Jaguar number 6? Because I haven't seen one yet! It's the most famous jungle animal around here and I'm torn between wanting to see one...and not. I mean mostly I want to see one, but I don't want to fight one!
I'll leave it at 7.
Request #2
I've heard that some people have been wondering how I make delicious banana breads and cakes and what not. For Banana bread, I basically just Bmiss Ariel a lot and then squeeze really hard and out pops tastey goodness! Cake comes in a box, so I just follow directions. The doughboy lives here too, duh.
Oh but how do I bake suck tastedy goodness things? Why, in a Dutch Oven! Now, apparently, this is not a snicker-inducing phrase to many people. But it is to me and I'm only just starting to be able to say it with a straight face. It's a fart joke. We'll just leave it at that. I still can't say the Saramaccan word for cat. Just can't. In other news, can you think of a four letter word where the second letter is u? Duty!
So, whatever it is back home, out here a Dutch oven is a temporary contraption that you assembly out of items in your household when you feel like baking. Basically, I take my largest pot (all pots are relatively heavy metal here, so it works) and I put a baking pan inside that. I found a nice non-stick one in the city for SRD$20 that fits perfectly. The trick is, it can't touch the outside pot directly on any surface. Mine fits so perfectly that I had to bring my big pot to the the cake pan store to make sure it would work.
To keep it from touching the bottom, I made a quadpod of. legs out of folded/coiled aluminum foil. The lid of my pot has a tight seal which is necessary, but it loses a lot of heat at the center (maybe because of the handle?) Some PCVs recommend covering the pot with towels to reduce that and I've done that - I've also singed my towels. So now I put one towel just over the center and then put the lid of my other small pot on top of that - twice the fun, half the flammability.
And there you have it - a baking device for any kitchen!
And finally....Request 3! Food.
Food fantasies are a reality. When I would cut weight on the TKD team they generally revolved around quantity - leading to many silly eating challenges. Do you know how tired your jaw gets trying to eat 1.5 pounds of boneless chicken wings in 15 minutes?
Out here, you tend to get fixated on specific foods rather than obscene quantites of random food like objects. And thus, I started writing letters. I sent one to Oreo, Clif Bars, Odwalla, and Chipotle. Here's the one I sent to Odwalla, for your reading pleasure! As you can see it's half joking, half sales pitch, half cry for help, and half...well I'd say just plain over the top but I'm out of halves.
.....
Dear Odwalla,
I miss you so. I am a Peace Corps Volunteer currently serving in the Amazonian jungle of Suriname, South America and you are one of the pieces of home I miss the most. The tasty, nutrious joy that is your juices and bars knows no bounds - but unfortunately your sales territory and my budget do. I left you for a good cause and I'm proud to be a Volunteer, especially as a member of the 50th class of the Peace Corps, but I'm sorry I left you nonetheless and I hope you forgive me.
Most of my fellow Volunteers swear by the Clif bar as the king of the care package, but I know better. You are just as hardy and can handle the heat, humidity, and tough travel conditions of jungle life, but your taste is simply unmatched in my eyes (and mouth!) You are a luxury and a taste of home, as well as a blast of intense nutrition, in a life that often lacks these things. Though the rainforest is bursting with plant life, the local diet is often sadly deficient in fresh fruits and vegetables. As a Volunteer, I live at the standard of living of my community and it is my job to help improve that for all of us.
Care packages from home that contain little things like you go such a long way to keep me going and moving towards the goals of the Peace Corps - working together with my community on sustainable development while spreading peace and friendship. It's the little things that help you maintain that all-important positive attitude and one bar can make the difference between a tough day where you feel beaten down and a great one where you can recognize obstacles as opportunties.
So thank you for being there. I only wish you were here, because I miss you! I know I'm the one that left you, but still. If you are able to, you have no idea how big an impact a care package from you would make to me. And, if possible, maybe you could even throw in something for the other volunteers here to help me bring them to reason.
Thanks again,
Evan Delahanty
Peace Corps Volunteer
Pikin Slee, Suriname
c. 011 597 718 5227
Peace Corps Suriname
PO BOX 9500
Franchepanestraat 12-16
Paramaribo, Suriname
South America
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