The lighter side of Carifesta X...Wood for canoe making demonstration floats away

The lighter side of Carifesta X…Wood for canoe making demonstration floats away

Aug 27, 2008 News

– participants resort to cassava bread making

The Amerindian Village on which the government spent $20M to make a showpiece for Carifesta turned out to be a hearty laugh. The plans were numerous and the authorities expected great things.
Yesterday, while some were laughing non-stop, others were wondering whether the god of laughter was not keen to make even the most serious person end up in hospital with a strained jaw.
Yesterday, a demonstration of canoe making was to have been held at the Amerindian Village. This was not to be. The wood identified for this event simply was not there.
Yesterday morning when they were looking for the wood, the pieces of wood were gone. It had floated down the river, never to be seen again.

Demonstrating how to make cassava bread

This newspaper was told by one of the organizers that as residents from Region Nine were bringing the logs to Georgetown via the Potaro River, it floated away.
But one of the persons who was supposed to conduct the demonstration later told the authorities in Georgetown that they were actually towing the logs when it snapped and got away from them as though it had a life of its own.
The Toshao, in a panic, ordered the men to head down the river in their canoes and speedboats but this piece of wood must have had a very good head start because they simply could not find it.
One man said that it must have reached Trinidad by now.
When they returned to the village with the sad news, the Toshao ordered them into the forest to cut a replacement. Up to late last night the men had not returned and the view is that they may be back in time for the next Carifesta.
Fortunately, there was this group of women who had come to demonstrate the making of cassava bread. They managed to bring the cassava and the other things to make the cassava bread.
In the absence of the canoe making demonstration the women held centre stage. They split themselves into groups with one group peeling the cassava and washing it.
A second group set about grating the cassava which was allowed to sit in a large bowl before placing it into a matapee (a basket-like contraption that squeezes the grated cassava) and allowing the juice to drip into the said bowl from which the grated cassava is taken. This juice is converted into an intoxicating drink called piwari.
The women then set about drying the grated and squeezed cassava before placing it into a pestle and pounding it. They then sifted it and placed it onto a hot pan for roasting into the cassava bread.
This process helped ease the disappointment caused by the disappearing logs which still has people in stitches.