August Games

It was an exciting few days. We left Aishalton, hammocks and mosquito nets in tow, for a smaller village, Maruranau. Here, the entire South Rupununi converged for one week, celebrating sport and culture. The 7 villages faced off in football, volleyball, and cricket Monday through Thursday, ending in finals on Friday. Aishalton girls won volleyball and football, and our boys won cricket. I was feeling pretty high and mighty, being ‘from’ Aishalton.

Sitting in the stands adeptly covered by thatched palm roofing, constantly dropping water purification tablets into my water and sipping on ‘cool-down’ (local juice with ice), I was still sweating. Dripping into your eyes-soaking through your shirt-not even cooling you off sweating. Unlike me, the team was NOT sitting in the shade, but speeding around on the field to make their village proud. Off the field they walk, glistening, needing only a small cup of water. “How do you do it??” I’m always asking the locals how they deal with the heat. “I’m accustomed”, they always answer. Is two years enough to become accustomed, I wonder?

Here are some pictures from the games, taken by Chris, who was brave enough to face the sun.

Other blogs to come featuring the cultural events from the evenings and all day Saturday.