The Day After Christmas

            The day started off with Carolina, my younger cousin, waking me up at 6:30 to play bonecas (dolls). I had spent the night at my uncle’s house the night before.  By 9:30 I was out the door and went home to a very uneventful afternoon.

Around 4 o’clock the day takes a turn.

             Since my step-dad has been back, he has gotten many invitations to be involved in different projects. Today we went to see two men who want him to be part of their fishing venture. Bissau is known for its abundance of fish(I can attest to that because I’ve eaten fish every single day since I’ve gotten here). They want him to become a partner in their project that would fish 3 tons every 3 days and sell their fish in the local market and eventually expand into selling in Senegal. My step-dad is very cautious about these project invitations, but so far he is looking pretty interested in this one.

My uncle showing us the edge of the property

            The meeting was cut short because my uncle showed up to take us to the ranch. The ranch is all my family has been talking about for the past couple years. It is 600 hectares of land that was passed down to my step-dad when his older brother passed away. We drove 20 minutes or so out of Bissau to Safim where we drove off the main road onto a small dirt road. After about 3 minutes on the road my uncle pointed to a tree and said, "the property starts here.” We continued to drive for  another 10 minutes until we reached the house.

            It was great to finally see what all the talk is about.  The ranch is huge and beautiful! We got to my step-dad’s house on the property and immediately people came up to greet us. There are lots of people living on the property. Marta Alice and her brothers, all who were raised by Avo Alice, were born on the ranch. From the little that I saw, there are rice fields, cashew trees, 50 hectares of wetlands, and lots of palm trees.  We didn’t stay long because it was getting dark, but we made plans to return soon after the new year.

My step-dad's house on his property

            As soon as I got home Isla, my neighbor and her boy friend, Waldir, come by and say “No Bai,” or “lets go.” Having no clue where we are going, but also just being excited to get out of the house, I got ready and we hopped on a toca-toca. We were headed to Barrio Ajuda, one of the neighborhoods in Bissau, where Waldir’s mom lives.

            Waldir’s mom was one of 5 of his dad's wives. He has a total of 16 brothers and sisters, 5 of which are full siblings.  I met a couple of his siblings including his twin brother. His mom brought out a plate of fish and rice, and as a courtesy since they were offering me food, I ate it. Before I came to Bissau my Aunt Elena advised me to never eat at someone’s house I didn’t know. However, from my experience so far, refusing food is like giving someone the finger. You just don't do it. 
         His mom brought out another plate. At this point I wasn't really not hungry, but I could not refuse without at least taking a bite. The meat looked like Goat, so I was excited! But after a closer look I realized it wasn't and when I asked what it was Waldir picked up a foot and said, “Its monkey!”

            Partly intrigued and surprised I picked up some meat and gave it a taste. Monkey meat tastes like how a monkey smells. Or the smell of a monkey is muscle deep? Anyways, after a bite I thought, “Cool, I did it and now I’m done.” Wrong! They kept having me eat more! No one was really eating, it was almost as if they expected me to eat it all. They kept saying “Come, come mais,” or  “eat, eat more”. When I tried to return the pressure to eat it, I received the, “ we eat this all the time so we are tired of it” response. There was no way I was going to eat any more. But Waldir’s mom was sitting there watching the back and forth of them telling me to eat and me trying to come up with reasons why I didn’t want anymore with out saying I didn’t like it.  I felt bad for not eating, but I just couldn’t do it! Then Waldir offers me the monkey foot. Mind you, I don’t even eat chicken wings, so a monkey’s foot is way past my comfort level.  At this point I had to switch to English and tell Waldir privately that I wasn’t going to eat it, but that I would eat another piece instead.  As I ate I received 101 comments on the way I was eating, “ Why are you picking at it, just bite it, put some more sauce on it, don’t look at it, just eat it, its good, why are you taking so long, use your teeth.”

            3 small pieces of meat later I was ready to get the heck out of there. I finally mustered up the courage to just say I was full, so Waldir and Isla finished what was left and we started to head home.

            Isla, Waldir, his twin brother and I were walking back to catch a taxi home when we passed by a discotech (club). They were say that it's a pretty cool spot and that one day we will go check it out. There were a bunch of people crowded in the street outside the club so we started walking over to the side of the road when we heared a loud "bang!".  I know a gunshot when I hear one, so I immediately started moving away from any line of fire, simultaneously amused that I was the only one doing so.  I turned around to see someone running with a crowd of people following. The guy running in front turned around and shoot the guy running directly behind him. I saw the spark coming off the tip of the gun and then saw the shooter take off running, still being followed by the crowd of people who were following him.  At this point I had made my way into one of the small vendor booths on the side of the road. Everyone else was just standing on the side of the road watching. “Does this happen that often that no one runs away??” I asked. Shortly after, another crowd came walking by from the opposite direction. 15 or so people were following the person who got shot, blood was coming down his shirt and dripping onto the street.

            At this point I was in shock at what just happened. Waldir and his brother motioned for us to move and so I, with no hesitation, put a little pep in my step and we made our way to the main road to catch a cab.  Once in the cab Isla and Waldir start telling the cab driver and the other passenger what happened. Their creole was too fast, but from what I gathered they were arguing about whether or not the guy who got shot will live and where on his body he got shot. They started to say that sometimes it’s the young ones who are the most dangerous. They are trigger happy and don’t understand the consequences of their actions.  After a while I stopped listening and just sat thinking about what just happened.

            I walked in the house just to let my step-dad know I was home, but was bed time. Once I got t home they could lock the gate in front of the house, so I walked Isla and Waldir out.  With the words unspoken written all over their face, they said goodnight and I went back inside.

Christmas

Ogenia gutting chickens

     It's 10 o’clock on Chrismas eve and we are anxiously waiting for midnight. Everyone can’t wait to dig in to the food we’ve been preparing all day.  But Christmas preparations started long before today. Almost a month ago Avo Alice purchased the Balcaho. 3 days ago she began working on the desserts, and 2 days ago they slaughtered the pig in the back yard. Avo Alice goes all out when it comes to cooking. Her ‘go big or go home’ mentality could be attributed to the fact that she was the Presidents chef. And even all this is short of the usual. From my understanding, things died down a bit when her husband passed away 5 years ago.

            The Christmas tradition here is very different from back in the states. At 9pm everyone heads to church for a service. After mass they head home and at midnight every one enjoys their Christmas feast.

             On Christmas day, the tradition for my family is to go to my uncle’s house. Its also his birthday, so we had lunch at his house and spent the afternoon and evening hanging out and talking until it was time to pull out the birthday cake. I had balchalau again, but this time it was made a little differently with milk or some kind of daily product. The pig that was slaughter a couple days ago was in attendance on the table as well.

Avo Alice catching the pigs blood to make blood sausage

            This will have been the 2^nd pig I’ve seen slaughtered in a month. But this one was way more intense. Pigs are big! And so a pigs life is a big life to take. At Islas house 7 chickens were slaughtered for their Christmas meal. Killing them was done so casually, I was the only one cringing when it came down to the final moments before the kill.

            A big part of Christmas here your look and attire. While people’s home’s often reflect the poverty in the country, the wardrobe of the people inside the home does not, and that is especially true on Christmas. The day before Christmas a bunch of the neighbors were doing each others hair in preparation for the holiday’s. I jumped in the mix and helped my neighbor Isla braid another neighbors hair in singles. A bunch of the other neighbors and people who hang out on our street came by to watch, in fascination, the American girl braid hair. I had mom’s and aunt’s coming by and checking my braids to see if I was really doing it right.  Fortunately I got the nod of approval, so hopefully that will at least change some of their opinion that American’s can’t do anything. No one has said that explicitly, but it’s just the sense I get from folks when they ask me questions about America.  

            Anyways, with everyone’s hair, make up (for women), and clothing looking impeccable, Christmas came and went successfully and happily.

Formosa

The Bijago Archipelago is about 30 miles off the coast of Guinea Bissau.  The Archipelago is made up of 88 islands, 50 of them are inhabited. The Capital of the Islands is Bubaque, which is the more touristic island.  The others are less so. My step-dad was born on Orango, which is known for its beautiful beaches. My uncle works for a non-profit called Tiniguena which works on three of the islands ( Formosa, something, and something) which have made an alliance called UROK. I went to Formosa for a week with my Uncle and his family as he closed up work on the island for the year.

           Formosa is a big island.  It is 20 miles long and completely covered in forest and savanna. Surprisingly there are few beaches on the island since the change in tides is so drastic.  There are no cars, so most people get around by foot, bike or motorcycle. From the ports there is a small dirt road that goes from one end of the island to the other.  Small villages or tabankas can be found along the main road. Smaller roads leading off the main road will lead you to other tabankas deeper in the forest. Village sizes range from 5 to 400 people, the total population of the island being 1,400 or so folks.

This is the house I stayed in for the week

            I was lucky if I could find anyone who spoke Portuguese. Most people speak Creole and the native Bijigo language.  While it surely was a struggle to communicate, since I’ve been back I’ve noticed a great improvement in my creole.  On the island I would go for bike rides along the roads and run into kids and ask them questions with the words I knew. My favorite question was “ Bu tene cabras?” or “ Do you have goats?”. As silly as that question might sound, it was a very legitimate question! There were goats everywhere! You could find most domesticated animals like dogs, cows and chickens everywhere you turned. I was surprised that no one was eating them since they were in such abundance. The reality is that there is an abundance because no one is eating them! Most get shipped and sold in Bissau or are kept for eggs, milk, etc. What people are eating is fish. That makes sense because it is an island, but once you've had the fish you quickly learn beef and chicken are no comparison. The fish is so amazing! You become pescetarian without even realizing it!

Contraption used to scale palm trees

This woman is making mats to be sold in Bissau

My uncle works on the island with a team of folks, but his main partner on the island is a woman named Sabado. Her 24-year-old son, Naidi, also works for the non-profit. I told Naidi I was from California and he told me his Dad and brother live in California as well. He wasn’t sure what city he was living in, so we left it at that.  When I got back to the main land my step-dad explained that I knew both his dad and brother and saw them both in Fresno this past October.  Little coincidences like this continue to happen here in Bissau. It’s such a small world! Anyways, when Naidi had time to spare he took my cousin and I around by bike to explore some of the nearby tabankas. I was on a honey search because I heard one of the nearby tabankas had pure honey from the forest. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any, but I did see women making mats, traditional skirts, and instruments used for climbing palm trees.  Everything being made was both to use on the Island and to sell in Bissau.  

My cousin Joao's birthday celebration

           One tabanka in particular, that was a 20 minute motorcycle ride away, is where I was able to try fresh palm juice. By fresh palm juice I mean a man climbed to the top of a palm tree and grabbed a plastic bottle that was filled with palm juice. What they do is tie a plastic water bottle below the palm where they have made and incision. They create a filter using the palm leaves and let the juice from the palm drip through the filter into the plastic bottle. Letting the 2 liter water bottle sit for half a day can fill the entire thing.  I was told that the longer you let it sit,  the stronger the palm flavor.  I have yet to try the wine, but to get to that point you just need to let a bottle of palm juice ferment to the point where you like it. The flavor of the juice was strange at first, especially to my foreign palate. But after a couple sips the combination of the sweetness and palm flavor made for an irresistibly refreshing treat.

      The non-profit Tiniguena is a pillar of sorts. I say this because Bissau is in the middle of a Military coup, so a lot of activist and other organizations ( the UN being one of them) are keeping a low profile due to the nature of their work and its political implications. My uncles work is funded by a Swiss foundation, so financially they are able to keep their work going despite the local politics. Since their work is on the islands they aren't in any direct or immediate danger. Therefore, they can continue working remotely while having impacts on the islands and the city of Bissau. Unfortunately I didn’t see too much of their work in action. It’s the end of the year so they were performing closing activities and closing things up for the Holidays.  My uncle and the crew will be back on the Island near the end of January. The invitation to go back with them was open, so hopefully I’ll have more to share about them soon!

Mortar and pestle used to separating rice grains from the plant