Onward to the Rodeo

Longest bus ride of my life--check!

On Thursday night, I left with 25 other people to head approximately 13 hours to Letham, Guyana for the National Rodeo. We arrived at 5am Saturday morning…30 hours later! We experienced getting stuck in the mud,waiting for a truck to get unstuck from a bridge (for 4 hours) and a slow driver on very very bumpy roads.I was very grateful to get to Letham but the ride was really difficult. After a couple hour nap, we headed to the rodeo to experience horse riding and bull riding.

It was a really nice mix of Guyanese culture as well as Brazilian influences. I got to have my favorite Brazilian drink, a Caipirinha!We spent the rest of the day watching the rodeo and enjoying the atmosphere.

That night instead of going to the “after party”, I rested and got a decent night’s sleep.

Sunday morning, I took a nice walk around the area and then we headed to a set of waterfalls.

I spent the whole day relaxing in a pool of cold water straight from the waterfall. It was fabulous! That night, we got on the road to head back to Georgetown and arrived 18 hours later…sigh, a trip I will never forget but something I never want to repeat again!

It was really nice to meet some new people and to get to see a different part of the country. A funny story is that I met a girl on the bus that works for USAID who also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in TOGO! She was there about 6 years prior to me and lived in the regional capital that I frequented about once a month. It was a fun conversation and small Togo world!

I am still off this week from working at the school and am at the disabilities office where we are prepping for a teacher/parent training on Thursday and Friday. We are going to be presenting simple ways to present education concepts to students with disabilities by using physical objects. For example, using hands on materials to teach students with visual impairments how to count or making visual flashcards for students with learning disabilities. I’ll be posting pictures after the training so, everyone can get a better idea on what we have going on.

This weekend, I will be helping out at an Autism fair that the Special Needs Autism School is putting on to raise money for the school. I will be doing the face paint and should be a nice time celebrate Autism Awareness month.