Given that Georgetown has an abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables, staple dry produce, fresh fish, chicken, meat and eggs;
and that because the heat and high humidity puts a strain on the body system;
going without water-but also going without food for any period of time is just not an option.
All the volunteers have experienced regular craving s not just for salt, but also sugary snacks, presumably to replace minerals that are sweated out.
For most people in Georgetown, and certainly for the walking or cycling VSO volunteers, shopping features in the daily routine.
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street market- Borda
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Fresh fruit and vegetables are best bought at one of the several street and covered markets around the town. Large fruits are sold individually, for example pineapples and melons. Everything else is sold by the pound, with items weighed on old style balance scales. Eggs are sold by weight in multiples of four, in little plastic bags, requiring careful carrying. During this week I have bought onions, garlic, ginger, potato, sweet potato, carrots (imported), tomatoes, aubergines, sweet peppers, pumpkin and fresh thyme seasoning. Fruit is a favourite offering to take when going to someone else's to eat- for example last Friday guests at a volunteer's leaving party were asked to bring fruit for the rum punch! Recently I have bought bananas- small, so that a "hand" really is the size of a hand,- pineapple, mango, sapadilla, gnips, and some (imported) grapes.
I have not tackled the meat and fish counters. Fresh chicken really is fresh- the hens and cockerels may be caged underneath the counter awaiting a customer. Meat and fish have been killed, but are in an unprocessed state, and are prepared for your kitchen after you have purchased. I made the decision when I arrived to eat vegetarian at home, but order meat and fish when out.
While dry goods, cleaning materials and the like are also on sale in the markets, there are several supermarket chains operating and offering surprisingly extensive ranges. Nigel's- my nearest supermarket- also offers a Customer Loyalty Card scheme- seems almost worth it for the card alone!.
Georgetown supermarkets are small, densely packed and employ many staff. Someone will open the door for you. Another will take and store any shopping from other places. There are plenty of floor staff who will take you to the exact place if you ask for a particular item. When you get to the check out, your basket items are placed onto the conveyor belt for you and as you take your turn to pay, someone else will pack the shopping into your bags. Finally, the exit door is swung open and as you leave, you realise you have said "Good afternoon" and exchanged pleasantries with may be half a dozen people you don't know in addition to any friends you bumped into- Georgetown being a very small place.
Bulk dried goods:- rice, beans, lentils, flour-are packed into simple plastic bags of various sizes with paper stick on labels. Among the unfamiliar labels of processed foods and goods there are a few recognisable ones, provoking those Peter Kay moments, when you see Hellmann's mayonnaise, Cadbury's chocolate and Lever Brothers laundry products. Great quantities of custard powder, waiting to be made into a milk based dessert, in a country with no dairy cows, serve as a relic of Guyana's colonial past.
To sample some true Guyanese cooking, VSO volunteers are offered a "Curry and Roti" session with Cecilia, who also rents properties to VSO.
One Sunday afternoon, I was one of four who had the privilege of watching while Cecilia prepared beef and potato curry, rice and beans cook up and four types of roti. After paying for the ingredients and her time, we could then take away the meal and eat it.
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In Cecilia's kitchen- with the finished curry and roti.
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The meal was delicious- and we all had a "carry out" to take away for the next day.
