Chasing the Ana

Taiguey to ALL our people,

This is to keep you informed as to the progress of Taino Almestica and voyage partner Derrick Mayoleth’s attempt to circumnavigate via Kayak the beautiful island of Boriken.

For those of you who may not know him, Taino has been involved with our restoration efforts for many, many years. He resides in New York, but his roots on the island are extensive. One of his goals is to bring attention to our existence as a people. Taino is a member of Guabancex Wind and Rain Society. Our organization is dedicated to learning, researching, and disseminating information on our material culture, folklore, language, etc to everyone. Most important, to our own Caribbean people on the islands, in the USA and wherever they may be spread, across the four directions.

Bo Matum
Jorge Baracutei Estevez

Tuesday, July 31, 2007
driving on the rooftop

Thanks to Carrie Medina of Kayak Scuba we had a great time on the beach at Punta Salinas in Levittown. I had my first chance to look at how my Alaw Bach survived the trip and sad to see a small bit of damage to the gelcoat in the tail section. The boys at American Airlines must have dropped somthing pretty heavy on it. Luckily it did not break through the glass and I could make a quick repair. With that done Taino and I took our kayaks out for their first dip in the warm Atlantic waters. Playing in up for the cameras and occasionally catching glimpses of the coastline disappearing into the distant west. We brought our kayaks up to the beach and prepared for the blessing. With a small candles and ritual smoke Uatibili Baez, the Spiritual leader of Movimiento Indigina Jibaro Boriqua, (movijibo.org) gathered us into a circle. Our hands reached out to one another's hands. Carrie, her children, Jose, Nydia, Taino, Yvonne and myself stood quietly on the warm sand as he passed around inside the circle performing a ritual blessing passed down through generations. When the blessing was complete you could sense everyone in the circle let go of a breath as if their engeries were pushing the blessing along.Later we gathered at Carrie & Jose's home in Levittown where we can bunk down for the night. Taino and I took a few moments to look over our battle plans for the first few days and discussed an interesting weather forecast that may force our first couple days short. But we're chomping at the bit to get moving.In a night of fun, good food, and laughter, Carrie took a few moments to paint her son's initials on my kayak. We paused just for a moment to take it in, before moving on to the party at hand. Taino had an early night and I am getting ready to sleep myself. But something unique. I'm setting up my tent on the rooftop of their house. Tonight I will sleep on a rooftop, under a bright full moon, litttle clouds and starts in Levittown, Puerto Rico. Tomarrow the sea calls. . .* sorry no pictures this evening. The bloody computer I'm on won't read discs. LOL! But hey, I'm happy for the connection!


Chasing the Ana:
Levittown Puerto Rico, August 1, 2007, 10:00 am, Team Post - Day One A slightly delayed launching of ''Chasing the Ana Puerto Rico 2007''

Officially took off as a communications radio announces afternoon predicted thunderstorms, and a small craft advisory with swells 5 to 7 feet. The launch, originally scheduled for 6 am, was delayed due to an inability to access the put-in until after 8:30am.''Great way to start an expedition'' said Derrick Mayoleth, as paddling partner Taino Almestica waits in calm waters of a protected bay for Mayoleth to secure his gear and get in the water.Almestica and Mayoleth met face to face for the first time just the day before at the home of José Quiñonez of http://www.kayakscuba.com/ where they went over ocean charts, discussed possibilities and shared a beer in anticipation of the next 28 days of sun and water.Ground support crew Nydia Kien of Wisconsin, Yvonne R. Le Guillou of Guayama, PR, Carrie Medina, and José Medina of San Sebastián, PR arranged for lodging, food, transportation, interpretation, last minute gear, and a blessing ceremony by Uatibili Baez of http://www.movijibo.org/ the day before.When asked why he was taking on such an expedition, Almestica said, ‘’ I am not doing this for self recognition, but for the Taino people… the younger people who will be watching this. I want them to say, ‘I saw his circumnavigation of our homeland, and I know my ancestors paddled these same seas, and I think I can do it faster or better’.’’ Almestica said, ‘’I want to inspire the Taino youth to reclaim their ancestral culture.’’ This expedition was originally planned by Mayoleth who has the hope of ‘’Bridging the cultural gaps between Puerto Rico and the USA.’’ From the words of ground support crew member Carrie Medina, ‘’It is doing just that, even before the launch day, as peoples from 3 differing cultures (Indio, Puerto Rico and midwest USA) and 2 countries are coming together developing bonds of friendship, enhanced by our differences.’’

Chasing The Ana Team Blog Day Two
Foto by Nydia Kein, ground support team Manati, Puerto Rico, August 2, 20079pm, Team Post - Day Two.

Almestica & Mayoleth have made it to the shores of the small city of Manati and are camping in front of the ancient burial grounds on Playa Esperanza. Mayoleth is a bit sunburned, but the men are doing well. 2 days of paddling in 5-7 foot swells has positioned them a bit short of the hope of reaching Arecibo by today, but the afternoon of the 3rd should find them at the mouth of Rio Grande de Arecibo. ''It's been windy and cold at night, so at least we haven't had a problem with mosquitos,'' said Almestica. To see a map of the possible and actual landing places follow this link. http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-_ZY.bRQycqSbUZInAGokcEs4xLS6pPA-?cq=1

Archaeologists discover slaves were wealthy; relations with Tainos

Friday, 27 July 2007-Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation:

Caribbean archaeologists say recent discoveries have forced them to rethink traditional views about the region's history. They have just held their biennial conference in Jamaica, where the role of archaeology in understanding the Caribbean history came up for discussion. The archaeologists say their findings are sometimes in direct contrast to what has been written by the "planter class", especially as it relates to the period of slavery. Roderick Ebanks, who chaired the Jamaica conference, is one of the archaeologists doing research into the Caribbean's past. He explained that they have come across the villages of enslaved workers and what they found is very different from what was written by contemporary planters. At an excavated African workers village in Seville on the North coast of Jamaica there were keys and large padlocks in the buildings indicating there was a lot of material wealth. As he pointed out the wealth is not surprising when you remember that the slaves create the internal marketing system. Many slaves were wealthy during slavery. Their wealth came not from handouts from planters but from their work in the grounds, their trading and their farms in the hills. From oral tradition it was known that there was a close relationship between Africans and native Arawaks who were called Taino. Now DNA evidence is showing that the maroons carry a lot of genes of the Taino people. The African male slaves who escaped took Taino wives and those were the people who became the maroon population.
Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation

Andy Palacio in Los Angeles

Thanks to CAC editor Cheryl Noralez for forwarding the following announcement:

Garifuna American Heritage Foundation United (GAHFU) is proud to announce that Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective will be performing a Benefit Concert for GAHFU’s 2ND Annual School Supply Drive/Fundraiser in Los Angeles, Ca on August 3, 2007 at the Latino Night Club located at 3054 West Pico Blvd. (corner of Western).
Please call (323) 898-6841 for information.

Please view for concert details: http://www.garifunaheritagefoundation.org/327.html

The concert will benefit the new NGC School in Dangriga and the children of Belize. The school supplies donated will be distributed by the National Garifuna Council (NGC). A percentage from the Benefit Concert will be donated through GAHFU, INC. directly to the NGC to purchase additional supplies. The president of NGC Michael Polonio has provided GAHFU with a “Wish List” of the supplies needed for the new NGC School.

1. Net workable computers with facility for internet access
2. Printers, photocopiers, a projector, a VCR, filing cabinets
3. Books of all different fields that serve as teaching aids at the pre and primary school level in all of the typical subject areas of Math, Language, Geography, Reading, Sciences and so on
4. Standard teaching and Learning aids such as pens, pencils, exercise books, folders, magic markers, erasers, coloring pencils and the like.
5. A speaker system for school announcements would also be nice.
   

Please arrive early the concert will begin at 8pm sharp with an opening performance by Guwie Posse.

View pictures of GAHFU’s 1ST School Supply Drive which benefited the children of Livingston, Izabal-Guatemala in August 2006.

Thank you in advance for your support and we hope to see you there.

More on Andy Palacio...

From The San Jose Mercury News:
Palacio uses music to keep Garifuna culture alive
By Andrew Gilbert
(2007/07/26)

"Everybody wants to be cool, especially young people," says Andy Palacio, 45, the moving force behind the Garifuna Collective, a band that's attracting international attention to the endangered, little-known Garifuna culture of Central America.

A native of Belize, the singer and guitarist has assembled a cross-generational cast of leading Garifuna musicians in an ensemble mixing traditional instruments and rhythms with electric guitars, bass and keyboards. The result is a galloping sound built on distinctive Garifuna punta grooves.

With the release in February of the Garifuna Collective's debut album "Watina" on the new label Cumbancha, Palacio is helping to spearhead a cultural renaissance in the Garifuna enclaves of Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, while introducing the world to a people whose origins are as dramatic as their music is soulful....(read more at the link above)

Andy Palacio: Diffusing Garifuna Culture Internationally

Andy Palacio, a Garifuna singer and songwriter from Belize and a former teacher and current government minister, has been recording a string of hits and making news across Central and North America. Recent coverage in the US press has included feature articles in The San Francisco Chronicle (see: "Music that could save a culture," by Chuly Varela, Wednesday July 25 2007, which appeared on page E-1 of the print edition), and The Wall Street Journal (see: "Black, Amerindian and Proud of Building on a Tradition," by Ed Ward, June 26 2007, which appeared on page D5 of the print edition).

In The San Francisco Chronicle article, Palacio speaks at length on the issue of the Garifuna language. He says: "I think my generation in Belize is the last to be raised where Garifuna was our first language in the home, streets and playground. But in the classroom, English was the language of instruction." He adds that, "in its essence Garifuna is one of the Arawak family of languages, with borrowed words from Africans, who intermarried with Arawaks and Caribs. The French also had a significant impact on the Garifuna vocabulary when we were relocated to the Central American republics."

Palacio also praises the role of women in maintaining Garifuna culture: "[It is] the women who have nurtured these songs and kept them alive [and the] men who have been beating these drums all along. Our mothers who have retained in their minds recipes for tasty Garifuna dishes. It is at their feet that I sit in order to learn."

The article in the SFC also notes that, "in 2001, UNESCO proclaimed the Garifuna language, music and dance Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Palacio played an important role in securing that recognition, and that led to his appointment as deputy administrator of the National Institute of Culture and History in Belize."

The Wall Street Journal article also reveals Palacio's concern for the loss of the Garifuna language, rooted in a visit to a Garifuna community in Nicaragua where the language had virtually disappeared: "This established a certain consciousness in me, that there was the frightening prospect that we could wind up in Belize like the Garifuna in Nicaragua."

The article ends on a note of ambiguity, indicating that while Palacio has generated a great deal of excitement at home and abroad, it is doubtful whether his success will help to preserve the language. On the other hand, as the writer of the article noted, similar efforts to revive Cajun music and Irish music in the 1960s and afterwards proved successful.

The Gli-Gli Carib Canoe: Final Report

Many thanks to Aragorn Dick-Read for sending the final report for the voyage of the Gli-Gli Carib Canoe of Dominica through the Greater Antilles which took place this summer. Readers can download a PDF copy of the report from:

http://www.centrelink.org/gligli_final_report_200722.pdf

(File size: 997 Kb)