Every year, the 'deep south Rupununi' holds "August Games", a sort of local Olympics where all hte villages come together to compete in games for 5 days. The first days are traditional sports - football (soccer), volleyball, and cricket. The final days are traditional games - local practices. The ladies make and strain pari cari, the local alcoholic drink made from cassava. The men and women have drinking competitions, they race to the top of coconut trees, weave baskets, spin cotton and rope, traditional dances and music, and my favorite... fire starting without matches or fuel.

These are pictures from Aishalton's try-outs, a group of ladies straining the pari cari, which starts as a thick paste, similar to mud. The ladies add water and strain it so that it becomes a thick, milky substance. Traditionally, it is drunk from a bowl and you always fill the bowl and return a drink to whomever served you. After the ladies made it, the tryouts for drinking pari cari started, pictures to come.