On chasing waterfalls…

I’m reading this thoroughly entertaining novel right now where the protagonist lives for a bit in the Kaieteur National Park area and it got me feeling wistful and reflective about my own journey there 3 years ago. My memory is a bit fuzzy (should’ve started blogging since then dammit!XD) but with the aid of pictures allow me to recap.

The year was 2009. I had a tinge of homesickness so I decided to present the spouse (then boyfriend) with a trip to Guyana. To make it extra special, I looked into visiting the legendary Kaieteur Falls since neither of us had been there. Kaieteur Falls is only one of the largest single drop falls in the world and possibly the most famous tourist attraction in Guyana. It’s 3 times the height of Niagara and one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world by virtue of it’s water volume and height. The tale goes that the waterfall is so named by the indigenous Patamona tribe because the chief Kai paddled himself over the falls as a sacrifice to the great spirit, thus saving his tribe. Ever since I can remember, the image of Kaieteur has dominated my concept of Guyana’s ‘interior’ (the term for any land apart from the coastline of the country), and festooned many textbook covers and tourism magazines. I’ve always dreamt of visiting, but for the average Guyanese the trip costs about as much as a trip to a neighboring island, so unsurprisingly many people chose the latter. Recently however there have been special initiatives offering locals reduced prices so more Guyanese can actually experience this local gem.

I researched everything online and decided to go with evergreen tours. There was an overland option to get to the falls that involved days of hiking and scenic fabulousness I’m sure, but I was lazy and chose the plane option. I can’t recall the exact price but it was less than 200US per person – inclusive of return flight, meals and snack – not a bad deal at all! When we got to Georgetown we paid for the trip,  and prayed for good weather on the day of flight. The trip was scheduled for the hubby’s exact birthday. I choice I started having misgivings about when I reached the airport. I’ve travelled in small planes before but nothing as small as that plane – it was an eight or ten seater and looked like something time forgot. I reassured myself that pilots don’t normally have deathwishes so obviously it was air-worthy, but I had dark thoughts, I admit XD I had a recurring image of his mother killing me for dooming her son on his birthday XD We boarded the plane, nevertheless, and I was relieved to experience a noisy but non-tumultous flight, being especially fascinated by having a non-pressurized cabin and windows we could open (le gasp!). We soon left the coast behind and for the next half hour I was dazzled by the mighty Essequibo river and its many (supposedly 365) islands. Seeing the vastness of Guyana never fails to impress me and that was a great vantage point for impressing.

First stop was Baganara Resort, situated on the Essequibo River. I was struck by how well kept and tranquil the place was. This is somewhere I hope to return to within the next few years. No matter what ails your soul, it could be rejuvenated in a place like this. We had a scrumptious lunch there and wandered the grounds. A 2 hour stop went way too quickly and soon it was time to depart for the main attraction.

The Gazebo at Baganara Island Resort is perfect for contemplating the Essequibo river…

View of grounds and peek at GuestHouse

The flight from Baganara to Kaieteur was around 45 minutes, the majority of which was spent going over forest so dense it looked like so many heads of broccoli. The few spots of cleared forest both inspired pride in humanity having conquered that bit of the mighty forest and displeasure at the pockmarking it created. Soon however, it was just uninterrupted dense greenery of the sort that could hide a crashed plane forever…or possibly dinosaurs. It was humbling and majestic. At one point we flew past a ‘mini-waterfall’ that was so pretty it would’ve been the main attraction anywhere else. We landed on a patch of bare ground to the cover of overcast skies. Everything felt wet though any rainfall had been hours past. We were advised not to take anything from the park grounds and I surprisingly complied that one time 🙂 Our guide then started the short hike to the falls.

People say that Kaieteur can ‘call’ you…meaning draw you to it’s edge, likely for some fatal end. I scoffed at that of course, but confronting that large body of water thundering over a precipice is indeed magnetic. A few months later a young female tourist threw herself over the falls during an apparent bout of depression. The report saddened me, but I could relate to the sensual poetic pull the falls might offer someone with supposedly nothing to lose. I have a controlled fear of heights so I kept away from the edge, but hubby had no such compunctions and did several daredevil maneuvers involving the edge that caused me to walk away from him both as a supplication and a threat.  There are no guardrails or barriers of any sort at the site though you’re obviously warned of the dangers. You can literally touch the river a few feet before it leaps over the edge.When tourist volume increases this might change, but for now it’s an intensely sensory, immersive and unforgettable experience.

It turned out that two of our travelling companions were actually BBC reporters doing a piece on Guyana. The video belong is the result of their trip. But before you watch that feast your eyes on what my crappy camera captured.  🙂

View of the Valley of the Falls

Another view…

Daredevil boyfriend…

Sorry for the color XD

Yup, that close..

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Nasx

On Piracy..and sharing

As long as I can remember, my fellow countrymen have played fast and loose with Copyright laws. Very many people have made themselves very much money by profiting off of the intellectual rights of others. You’ll be hard pressed to find an original CD or DVD selling in a shop in Guyana. When you’re a poor University student subsisting on 50US per month, the lax morals of these businessmen is a boon, but you know deep down that it’s wrong. The rationalization is that you will pay for future music/movies when you’ve gained meaningful employment, and in any case, these artistes/producers et al are all rich already! Surely they won’t begrudge a potential customer who’s currently impoverished?
Throughout University I tried not to use ‘pirated’ versions of textbooks, and was for the most part successful. That did not stop other students from making the practice of photocopying whole textbooks a very lucrative one. Sometimes this was even done entirely on one sided pages and I cringed for the paper wastage involved. In all of this, there was a sense of necessity. No one, that I knew anyway, who could afford a textbook would choose to photocopy it instead. We were outlaws by circumstances and did what we had to do. Concerning the CDs and DVDs, the cost of an original CD was around 25US back then..give or take…whereas you could get 3 CDs for 10US…economics won over morals 😦

Today facebook was all atwitter (mixing social medias, sorry 🙂 with reports that the Government of Guyana has actually sought for tenders on supplying pirated textbooks and then defended this position. Yes, Guyana isn’t a wealthy country but to sink to such depths makes me both sad and enraged. There’s a sense that this means all pretense of caring about intellectual property rights are stripped away. It’s nothing short of state sanctioned thievery. It’s one thing when a poor student photocopies a textbook, it’s another when a GOVERMENT rewards and enables a company for blatant thievery. I say it again: thievery. It makes me sad because it means pirating has become so pervasive in the country that this is acceptable behavior. Yes, economics are a factor in the Government’s decision, but do I believe they even tried to negotiate a low cost deal with the original publishers? No. And that is sad and disturbing.

In a case of colliding worlds, today also happened to be the day that MIKA’s new album leaked online. Well,one of the versions of it anyways. This is 4 days before the album is due to be released in some parts of the world. Fans are divided as to how bad of a fan you are for downloading this leak. Which brings me to the grey area and semantics of words like ‘sharing’ and ‘sampling’…Yes I did download the leak. And yes, I’ve already preordered my copy of the deluxe version no less, from Amazon. Along with expediated shipping! And this is just the start – I fully intend to but at least 4 copies of the (non-deluxe) CD when I travel next month to give as gifts. So do I feel as if I’ve done anything wrong? No. The site I downloaded from was free. No one profited off of Mika’s hardwork without him being credited/paid and it’s not as if the songs were top secret – they’ve been circulating far and wide for months now as bloggers and music afficionados got to listen in order to do reviews and other ‘bloggery’ things. The lucky bastards! But I digress 🙂 I find this situation analogous to if my friend in Japan had gotten the officially released CD and decided to share it with me before mine came. Given that there are various release dates for this album all over the world I see this situation as very plausible and very likely to happen in the near future. ‘Pirating’ has been villified in the music and movie industry to the point where they blame it for every thing wrong with the industry, while the 9gaggers, 4channers and company fight back saying that this is sometimes the only way they get to know if they indeed like a song, which they then go on to buy.

My view? There’re many reasons why ‘good’ people pirate online – music retailers don’t sell the song in interest in their country; credit card or other payment limitation;, they really do want to sample the entire song/movie, or they are simply unable to afford it otherwise. There will, of course, always be people who pirate because they can, and people who do it for profit. These aren’t included in the ‘good’ people subset in my universe. I haven’t  downloaded a song online without subsequently getting the official MP3 or CD in over 2 years. Ever since I acquired a credit card. I will continue to partake in shared songs and I will continue to then buy the CDs of artistes I like and who have put much thought and effort into their creations. Does this make me a hair-splitter-of-piracy? A hypocrite because I condemn a Government and then “steal” as well? I don’t think so, I value the creative process and the dues owed for this process. I think the Government of Guyana has made it clear they don’t. Make of this what you will…

Nasx

On the Origin of Love..the short film

What follows below is a short film released by MIKA today. The description comes with a disclaimer: “A film by Mika & Cristián Jiménez. Shot in Santiago, Chile.
This film contains some nudity and scenes that viewers may find offensive. Caution is recommended. Not suitable for under 18s.”
About the film, Mika said:
“This latest short film is a collaboration with the Chilean director Cristian Jimenez. After seeing his film Bonsai, this seemed like an exciting match. I wanted to take the kaleidoscopic dreaminess of the song and pair it up with Cristian’s  more realistic, surreal and moving imagery. When making these films, I give complete freedom to the director we are collaborating with, in a way that is never possible with a music video. This short film was made in Santiago with Cristian’s close team and friends, and with a lot of love. I hope that watching someone else’s visual reaction to the song is as surprising and moving for you as it was for me.”
Here is what Cristian had to say on the project-“I was very excited when Mika got in touch about this. The song is fantastic, it almost feels like you can touch it. I tried to do something that adds more layers to that texture. It’s an urban, very contemporary piece, with a bit of humour and touches of a fairy tale feel. I hope Mika’s fans will connect and imagine a broader world beyond.”

SPOILER ALERT – watch the vid first if you don’t want to be biased by my biased review of it XD

So, what did I think of the video? Firstly it’s entirely the Director’s interpretation of the song set to film so I’m really critiquing Jimenez, i suppose…Some pros are – several images are intensely striking and very touching, ex. when she reconnects with him overlooking the city, or where the instruments are used to keep her eyes open..I wasn’t a big fan of them but no doubt they leave a lasting impression.

And I love the song.

Now the cons: I think the video is very non-synchronous with the song. Sometimes that’s a good thing, but this is not one of those times. The Origin of Love (henceforth referred to as TOOL) is a song about joyful transgressiveness…the singer knows that there are many things against this love – and yes I feel he’s talking about same-sex love, but as nothing explicitly states that, it could easily be an ‘opposed’ opposite sex love situation – but he doesn’t care. Loving the person is addictive,  may even be wrong in the eyes of some, but hey,  ‘the origin of love is you’….he’s celebrating that in this song. I can think of so many more ways the director could’ve put this concept onto film, even as a ‘dark’ or gritty thing (since that’s what he seems into) than what he chose to run with. I love nudity as much as the next person but here, once again, it’s the womon who gets completely unrobed (for what purpose??) even to the point of showing us her pubic hair, whilst the man bares his chest…wonderful. I also take issue with the (over) use of ‘instagrammy-ness’. Yes, I know artsy films were using the technique long before the app. What I’m saying is that I’ve overdosed on it! XD The kissing scenes seem lustful and devoid of any love, whilst the presumably post coital scenes leave the womon off staring catatonically…not sure where the origin of love is in all of that….

So because you pleaded with me for a rating :), I will reveal that I give it 2 stars (out of 5) and don’t think this is a video I will ever be watching again.

Enjoy! XD

Nasx

 

On words…

So i’m on the Editorial Committee of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners Bulletin. It’s not a position I gained by merit of anything, just merely volunteering the last time they called for such. I attended one meeting and was told I should submit some articles for the magazine, and left on fire with ideas! That was almost seven months ago. I still haven’t written any articles though I have 2 excellent ideas. Why? Initially it was meeting deadlines for assignments, then it was exams, then vacation, then…..earning my procrastinator title? It’s not that i don’t like writing, I love it. Writing and having to cite sources and having to make my writing style ‘more objective’ – that I don’t love so much.

One of the reasons I started this blog was as a form of practice for that novella I have in mind that is just itching to come out, but which I have no discipline to complete now. To that end, maybe if I train myself to start writing in somewhat coherent and possibly entertaining passages, I will work my way up to that ultimate goal.

I also spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet. Lots of that is in a chatroom where speed in typing has been gained at the sacrifice of fully forming words. I love the speed and efficiency of ‘net speak’ but I fear it has dulled any literary skills I may have once possessed. Times to start sharpening again…

Here we go!

Nasx

On choosing blog name

Wow. who would’ve thought that choosing a blog name would be so difficult?! The main idea I wanted to convey was that this would be a blog about ramblings…however the word ‘ramblings’ just doesn’t sound too attractive does it? I next thought of prettifying the word, but my top choice, ‘mentalemesis’ was sadly taken….by a blog about eating disorders i think. So i thought i would perform a sleight of writing and make readers think they’re coming to a blog truly focused and ‘tight’ in content, only to be roped in by my loquacious but delightful self XD….oh and yes this will be a blog with emoticons. I ❤ emoticons…deal with it.

And see you soon!

Nas