fish fish fish fish

Haute Guinea is a magical place. The rainy season is knocking on the door, the flowers are in bloom, the grass is actually green and the fish fetes are in full swing. What is a fish fete you ask? Pull up a chair... During the dry season most of the tributaries of the Niger River dry up, leaving only these giant lakes, called Mar's (sp). The fish that live in the Mar's procreate, creating a nice little population in preparation for the big celebration. The month of May marks the end of the dry season, and as we all patiently await the rains, we celebrate by catching fish. A third year volunteer, Cathleen, graciously invited us to her former villages fish fete, the village is called Nounkounkan (noonkoonkan). Adam, Ciara, David and I hopped in a taxi, in our matching outfits to Nounkounkan. We arrived dirty, and sweaty per the usual but hopped out to be greated by Cathleen's host family. We said hello to everyone and awaited the arrival of Cathleen, who was out and about in the village and the others arriving with Steve our Country Director.

The village quadrupled in size with people coming from all the neighboring villages, Siguri and Kankan. We spent the earlier part of the day waiting for the others and walking around the villages shopping, eating and even sneaking in a quick nap. The festivities began with a dance of all the young women who are ready to be married. They danced through the market with their swords, making their way to where the drum ceremony would be held. We made our way over and were promptly greeted by one of the drummers and he escorted us to our seats. The funny thing about being an etranger (aka stranger or white person) in Guinea is that you get to sit in what we like to call the Patron seats. The drummer led us through the crowds of people to our seats at the head of the ceremony, where all the important people sit. We lounged in our seats and drank our coca colas and enjoyed quite a view of the drum ceremony. Drum troupes came from all over Haute. The group from Baro (near Kankan) was my favorite. The danced in elaborate costumes, and we finally got to see the masks that we've been told are seen in Haute. They drummed until dark, and continued on through the night. After we ate dinner and did some star gazing we headed back to the drum circles then off to an all night dance party. We danced almost until morning, or until 2 am. I was exhausted, we left so early, had a long day and needed to get up early because the fete-ing was far from over.

We woke the next morning to the sound of women singing, tradition I guess but it was so early! The troops were rounded and we set out into town in search of caffine. There are bar cafes all over guinea where you can enjoy a nice cup of sugary lipton tea or even coffee, should you dare. After recharging we grabbed our fishing nets, Steve our Country Director and headed off to the drum ceremony (yes there was another one). The ceremony of course, would not start for hours so we entertained ourselves as well as about 200 Guineans by singing Row, Row, Row your boat, Down by the bay, and the DJ played some music for us and we danced in the middle of a huge circle but alas it was time for the ceremony. The 'facilitators' cleared out some space for the dancers and it began. The drum ceremony was the precede the fishing. The drum troupes came out and danced as well as some of my fellow volunteers and the the masses made their way towards the mar. There were nets, buckets and these bird cage looking things everywhere... we were reading to get fishing. The fishing begins with the firing of a gun and then everyone goes charging into the mar/lake/bog like thing. Its incredibly muddy and disgusting but I've never had so much fun in my life. Ciara and I started out with a net and finally got the technique down and we started catching fish! Mostly we caught mud, but there were fish in there. Adam and I ganged up with Kim another volunteer and tried to maximize net space, catching quite a few fish that way, and we even let a big one slip through our fingers. We fished until we couldn't fish anymore and made our way through the muck to the shore and finally back to our lodging. We were covered from head to toe. We unsuccessfully cleaned off, ate some rice and got back in the cab to come home. We made it back to Kankan in one piece, though exhausted. We looked through every last picture (there are over 1200!), recounted our favorite memories, laughed a David's sunburn, which looked like paint splashes all over his back and finally drifted off to a fish filled sleep. The next morning we all decided that were going to every last fish fete next year because it was so much fun, and because I feel like I can do the fete justice so I've posted pictures, be sure to check out my Picasa (where I keep all my photos)! Enjoy