Off The Charts In Guyana - Thanksgiving Provisioning

11-23-16

There are four boats left in the anchorage off Baganara Resort – 5 Americans and two East German Canadians.  Perfect number for a Thanksgiving potluck.  We decided on a rough menu but we knew we would need to wing it a bit – cranberries don’t exist in the Caribbean, turkey- forget it.  However, I had brought a frozen turkey breast from Trinidad.  We would just have to see what else we could come up with.

Bruce volunteered to take sv Wild Matilda back down the river to Bartica so we could all go shopping.  After the morning SSB Coconut Net the tide had turned so we weighed anchor and headed out, towing two dinghies behind so we could all get ashore. 

First stop was a food stand for morning snacks – egg rolls (hard boiled eggs surrounded by mashed cassava and fried up golden – yum) and chicken balls (same but with minced chicken inside).  Then we headed to the halal meat shop to get chickens and check on our meat order.  This place has fantastic beef tenderloin for $600 a pound - $3US.  Last week I ordered 4 pounds cut into 1 pound pieces.  Then we headed to the bank and then across the street to the local grocery store – small, crowded shop with an ok selection of canned and dried goods.  We had to hurry a bit because this little shop and many others close between noon and three because of the heat of the day.

One of the grocery stores

Soon we split up to get whatever was needed for our specific dishes.  I couldn’t find yellow cake mix so I substituted with the one white cake mix I found.  There was NO Campbell’s cream if whatever available anywhere for green bean casserole…..as I suspected, so I ended up making a béchamel sauce from scratch.  Same was true for the French’s Crispy Onions used to top this casserole.  I decided to try Brazilian Farina.  It’s dried cassava that is the texture of course cornmeal.  It is used as a coating, topping or mixed with water or milk to make a porridge.  “It expands in your stomach and fills you up.” Said the guy at the grocery store when explaining to me what it was and how to use it. 

Farina or Fariha in Portuguese

When we got to the fresh market, one door was closed.   Hum?  We were able to get in the other door but many of the vendor booths were closed up.  Hum?  However, enough were open that we were able to get the fresh stuff we needed.  “What’s up?  Why are some of the booths closed down?” I asked the lady I was buying from.  “Every other Wednesday the market closes at noon.”  It was now 12:30 or so!  “But don’t worry, you will be able to get out.”  I am not sure how we have been in country this long and not know this but we were lucky to be able to get our ingredients.  It would have been a sad little Thanksgiving had we been shut out of the fresh market. 

We all met back up at Kenny Rogers.  Kathy and I enjoyed a cold beer and conversation with the locals while the guys took all the stuff out to the boat.  They came right back and we went in search of lunch.  The streets were pretty empty (except an odd cow wondering the main drag) in the heat of the day.  Tummies filled, we headed back to the boat.  Despite threatening skies, the guys did two fuel runs.  We had light sprinkles but managed to dodge two major deluges.  Back on our boats, we all collapsed from a busy and hot day of shopping.