Our House, en el media de la calle

       So inorder to understand our home I need to explain in more detail the general layout of village.
       Our village is separated into three different sections. Section one is a series of about twenty houses that run parallel to our airstrip, plus a dozen or so houses that are scattered between the airstrip and the river and creek about a quarter of a mile away. All of section one is located on a small mountain that is surrounded by much larger mountains. So we are on a mountain in a valley.
       All of our shops are in this section, along with anyone who has some sort of money, which is to say they make at least $200 US a month or more. We are a mere three hour walk from Brazil which means that other than physically being on the Guyanese side of the border, we are basically in Brazil. Everyone, for the most part, speaks Portuguesa and over half the people in section one are Brazilians who came to Guyana in search of diamonds and gold.
       Section two is on the opposite side of the airstrip and on the other side of another creek (which is home to a beautiful waterfall) and then on top of a plateau. Section two spans from the airstrip and then at least as far as your feet could carry you in two hours time.
       Section three is on the North End of the East end of our airstrip and spans out at least 4 hours walking. Section three is obviously by far the most remote section and is home to most of the extreme poverty in our village. We are talking not enough money for shoes ($6 US) let alone a pencil ($.10 US). 
       Anyways back to our home. We live in section one at the top of the airstrip. So we basically live in the most central location of our village on top of the hill.
       Our house is a traditional Amerindian home in our village made with thick sticks cut from the local bush, or jungle, which are used almost like we use rebar back home. The sticks are then stuffed with mud. For the roof a type of palm leaves called eebies are cut from the forest and placed like overlapping shingles to keep the rain out. Roof leaks slightly on one side of the house but I think that is due to the wind blowing the rain in and not from an actual hole in the roof.
       The house is about thirty feet by twenty feet. Inside we have two small bed rooms and a main “living area” which is where we have our table, kitchen area, bookshelf and hammocks. It is exactly what we need and nothing extra that we don't.       
          You may be asking yourself what about a toilet or running water. Our pit latrine, a really deep hole with a roofed and covered structure around it, is located maybe fifty feet away. Twenty feet from that is our “shower” which is really just aluminum covering which we bring a bucket in to. I did attach a piece of wood that sticks into the air so I can hang our solar shower, which I’ve used twice I think. We get water from a pipe that runs from the creek up the mountain to our door step. In the dry season we may be fetching water from another pipe a ways away but for now the pressure is good. Occasionally during heavy rains something will clog the pipe and cut off our water for a day or two, but it will generally work itself out.
       And that is our first house. Enjoy the photos.