rootsandculture

The Parish of St. Elizabeth is country. It’s far away from the hustle and bustle of Montego Bay or Kingston. It’s a place for fishermen and farmers. Calabash Bay in the Parish of St.Elizabeth is even more country but also hosts the annual Calabash International Literary Festi val. As usual, I never plan too far ahead. So when a friend said, “Calabash Bay”, I booked a ticket. That was a Wednesday. When he said, “George Lamming”, I bought a T shirt. That was Thursday. Friday I landed in Montego Bay. The trip from Mobay to St. Elizabeth included many stops through Maroon country. In Middle Quarters that beautiful girl in the shop introduced me to a new drink: Hennessey and Nutrament. It’s the worst drink in the world. It still never digest. Distracted, I mistakenly paid her with a Trinidad and Tobago $20 bill. “How much this worth?” She said. “About three US” I replied. She smiled and I knew I was not getting it back. I left and went to Black River to buy a sim card. I. arrived in Treas

Deo came out a little flustered. Over the deafening noise of about a half dozen dogs, rice-eaters, he said, “Mawnin...”. Visitors don’t’ usually comes this early his eyes said. He looked me over carefully as he motioned for me to come around and through what looked like fishnet. No one enters the yard given the number of dogs. But I was from the 'Scheme', dogs need not apply. There had been some viol ence in the area; hence the dogs. He pulled a hidden string and the net dropped to the ground. If you came at night, and didn’t know, you would be all tangled-up in net and captured. “Come. Come,,, could I help you”. The Courantyne is a place full of history and mystery. It’s a place where governors and generals became famous, where captured Africans rebelled and won: some 40 years before St. Domingue. Its mystical an mythical. It’s that area, the eastern extremity of Guyana, which follows the Courantyne River: The river that separates Guyana from Suriname.