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More Photos from Guyana

Friday, March 17th, 2006

floating bridge
This is a picture of the floating bridge crossing the Demarara River in Guyana. The bridge consists of big sections that must be clamped together, but you can see the buoys (or whatever they are) off to the side that help it float.

georgetown cathedral
The only picture I took in Georgetown! This is St. George’s Cathedral, supposedly the tallest wooden building in the world.

guyana traffic jam
Just before I snapped this photo, this cow and another one were standing in the middle of the road blocking the car from going anywhere. The driver had to lay on the horn to get them to move.

tyrone and lara
Lara and Tyrone sitting in the hammock in her living room.

lara's kitchen
Lara’s kitchen

my bed at Lara's
My “bed” at Lara’s place

view from Lara's
The view from Lara’s veranda – looking down the street

my bed at windjammer
My bed with mosquito net covering at the Windjammer hotel in Georgetown, Guyana

view from Ian's window
Looking through the window of Ian’s minibus

bus on ferry
Looking down at the minibus loaded on the ferry – crossing the Essequibo River

in a mining town
A house in a mining village. The water has turned cream-colored because of the mining.

amatuk falls
Amatuk Falls – This is right by where we slept the first night of our overland trip.

first view of kaieteur
This was our first view of Kaieteur Falls. It’s way off in the distance. From here we still had a one-hour boat ride and six hours of hiking to get there!

tony and the vines
Tony, our guide, showing us the vines that grow alongside the trees in the rainforest.

old man's beard falls
Across from where we camped the 3rd night. It’s called Old Man’s Beard Falls.

the ramessar family on the bridge
The Ramessar family crossing a stone bridge on our big hike.

playing in the water at kaieteur
Nadina and Daniel playing in the water at the top of Kaieteur Falls. This is where we sat in the water so close to the edge. The actual edge is just to the left of the photo.

view away from kaieteur
The view looking away from Kaieteur Falls

stay away from edge
Tony and Melissa looking over the edge of the overhang!

standing right above it
Looking down Kaieteur Falls – you can see part of another rainbow too!

view away from KF at dusk
Looking away from Kaieteur Falls at dusk

falls at dusk
Looking down the falls at dusk

frogs going at it
At first we thought there was only one frog when we first saw it from behind, but then we got a better angle…

roots with moss
Some roots growing over the edge of a rock… they are all covered in moss.

shoes drying
All of our shoes drying in the sun at the Kaieteur Falls Guesthouse.

carnivorous plant 1
One type of carnivorous plant

carnivorous plant 2
Another type of carnivorous plant that Tony showed us.

carnivorous plant 3
Tony picked apart the 2nd carnivorous plant and found the remains of a bug.

tony sleeping
Tony taking a nap while we waited for our plane.

view of river from plane
Some islands we flew over in the interior of Guyana.

mosque in bushlot, Guyana
A mosque in Bushlot, ECD, Guyana

cow in rosignol street
A cow standing in the road in Rosignol

mark, mikey, and matthew
Mark, Mikey, and Matthew

melissa wearing my backpack
Melissa trying on my backpack – she even latched the waistbelt!

Alana with puppy
Alana, one of the Peace Corps volunteers I hung out with, with her new puppy

shanna in her house
Shanna, another PCV, in her house

NO WORRIES!!

Monday, January 16th, 2006

Thanks to everyone for their positive comments and concerned emails! I am doing really great. I don’t have a lot of time to catch you up on what I’ve been up to, so hopefully I’ll post again soon. I am in Guyana and moving onto Suriname by the 18th for sure.

Friday the 6th: I met up with the Canadian girl, Camilla, whom I met at the airport when I first arrived earlier in the week. We went for dinner at a restaurant called the Dutch Bottle, and then we visited 2 of her Canadian friends who are here in Guyana with VSO.

Saturday the 7th: Met at 8am to depart for the 5-day overland trip to Kaieteur Falls. There were 5 of us tourists on the trip. Richard, a 43-yr-old German, and a family group of 3, Melissa (23), Nadina (18), and their dad, Daniel (60). Daniel was born and raised in Guyana, and this was the first time he had been back to visit since leaving over 30 years ago. The group dynamics were great, and our guide was Tony, a 42-yr-old AmerIndian with years of experience and a great personality. We took a 7-hr minibus ride to Mahdia, a mining town out in the middle of nowhere. The first 2 hours were pretty tame driving on a paved road, but then we were driving on a red, rough dirt road. After a few hours, the minibus broke down. A bolt snapped and one of the back tires was pushing against the frame of the bus. Ian, our driver who drives this particular route a few times a week, gets out and finds a few big stones and a long board on the side of the road and begins to fix the problem. Then a jeep carrying 4-5 people stops and a big white guy gets out. The first thing he asks is, “Where did you find the white people?” (me and Richard). Ian says, “Same place we found you.” This big guy has been living in Guyana for 20+ years but is originally from Switzerland. He’s been living out in the bush mining (I believe) to make a living. The Swiss guy ends up having a few more tools to help us fix the bolt problem, and within 30 minutes we’re back on the road driving again. One more minor situation with the minibus was quickly solved with a little duct tape. We catch a ferry across the Essequibo River, and a few hours later we arrive in Mahdia and load up 2 4×4 trucks to drive a half hour to the river. The 30 minute drive was only 10 miles or so, but we were driving through some HUGE puddles, we’re talking small ponds. The boat gets loaded up, and we also meet our 2 “assistants” that were coming on the trip with us. They were our cooks, gophers, set-up crew, etc. For the first few days we called them Small and Smaller (not to their faces) because they were very small guys, but eventually we learned their names were Frank and Ronald. Anyways, we’re in the boat, and we go upriver about 2 hours or so. We get to our first campsite, and it’s flooded so we end up hanging our hammocks at the little information house. A little crowded but nothing we can’t handle. We fall asleep to the sounds of the rainforest and Amatuk Falls.

Sunday the 8th: We crossed the Potaro River by boat, and then portaged all of our things over the falls. Tony took us on a half hour hike through the rainforest. He announced to the group to step where he stepped so as not to fall through the leaves (you can’t tell what solid ground is when you’re out in the forest). About 3 minutes later, I fall through to my knee in the swampy water and leaves. Oops! Melissa wasn’t paying attention either and fell through in the exact same spot that I did about 25 seconds later. I’m sure Tony was very impressed with our listening skills at this point. We took the boat upriver another hour or two and then made camp for the night. The guys unraveled a HUGE tarp to hang over the already existing wooden frame, and we hung our hammocks. We spent the afternoon sitting around telling stories. Daniel told us a lot about why he left Guyana, and what life was like when he lived here. Tony told us some crazy stories about giant snakes, waracaiba tigers, and jaguars. I think we went to bed at 9:30pm just about every night because once it was dark there wasn’t much to do.

Monday the 9th: Took the boat upriver another 45 minutes or so, and Frank and Ronald dropped us off to do a 2-hour hike. The hike was over these huge rocks and across many little creeks and things in the rainforest. We even picked these weird stringy-looking mushrooms (Tony called them bush-chow-mein) to cook for dinner. Towards the end, we got to this really flooded area (right now Guyana is having a mild rainy season). Tony went out into the water and found a log for us to scoot across to get to the other side. We all took our shoes off and crossed the log in our socks with our shoes tied around our necks!! The water was about 10 feet deep where we were so we had to carefully balance all the way across and use some trees to help out. The next flooded area was fairly deep, but we were able to cross it wearing our shoes this time. The water did come up to our necks so we had to carry everything above our heads!! At the very last flooded spot, Tony took one look at it and knew there was no way out except to swim, so he swam out to get the boat. Back at camp, Frank and Ronald had put up the tarp and made lunch, and we spent the afternoon just hanging out and talking again.

Tuesday the 10th: the day of the BIG HIKE! Left camp just as the rain was letting up around 10am. I’m not going to say much about the hike except that it was one of the most unbelievable things I’ve ever done. We had to run across this one cement bridge so as not to get stung by the soldier ants. We saw leaf cutter ants carrying leaves to their home. The steep part of the hike was STRAIGHT up the hill. The “steps” were the roots of the trees. Once we got up to the top, Frank and Ronald had watermelon slices waiting for us. The last part of the hike was on flat ground (more or less) for about 45 minutes. We saw 2 cock-of-the-rock birds – indigenous to Guyana, they are bright red with a huge crest on their head. We saw monkeys in the trees. We saw a toucan. It was incredible. AND THE VIEW… AMAZING!!!!! Kaieteur Falls is the world’s tallest single-drop waterfalls, and during our visit it was at full force because of the rainy season. We got to see Kaieteur Falls from 3 different viewing areas, including this cool overhanging rock. There was a gorgeous rainbow out. After we spent an hour or so at the viewing platform, we hiked into the Guesthouse where they had an afternoon lunch waiting for us. After lunch, us girls put on swimsuits and went out to bathe in the water at the top of the falls. This is no Niagara, baby! No railings, no fences, no rules… except don’t get to close to the edge!! So we sat in wading pools about 10-15 feet from the edge of the falls, and then to dry off we sat right next to the water going over the edge!! You can’t get any closer than that. After a dinner of roti and curry (DELICIOUS!), we took a hike into the nearest “town” called Menzie’s Landing. It is a mining town that I don’t care to visit again. Tony took us to one of the two stores that were open for business at that time of night (probably about 7pm or so). Both stores had 19 inch TVs, and they were each playing a different movie. We walked into the one playing the Bourne Supremacy, and there were about 15-20 miners sitting on wooden benches. I had to sit between 2 of the miners because it was the only available spot in the store. One of them asked me if I knew why it was called “MENzie’s Landing”, and I told him I knew there were mostly men living there. Then he propositioned me to be the town hooker. What an offer! Um, NO THANKS. The other guy interviewed me: where was I from, was I married, did I have any children, is Bush still looking for the guy who blew down the Twin Towers. Hmm… Then back to the first guy who told me I should bring him back to the US, and he wanted to introduce me to him mom. “You like fried chicken?” What a pick up line! The entire time these two guys were talking to me, I kept thinking, “I can’t get up and walk away – that would be rude!” What was I thinking?? Like they weren’t being rude! I couldn’t wait to escape, and luckily, Melissa and Nadina were very aware of the situation so they found a little spot for me to sit near them.

Wednesday the 11th: We were woken up to some free-style singing at 6am. The Guesthouse cook (also the Warden’s son) had decided to serenade us while he made breakfast. This Guesthouse was similar to most Guyanese houses where the walls of the rooms only go up 10 feet and then it’s open air to the roof. So you can hear EVERYTHING. We hiked out to another viewpoint after breakfast, and then Tony took us to see a few different kinds of carnivorous plants before the plane was scheduled to arrive. Apparently the plane arrived and departed before we ran out to the airstrip, and since we didn’t know when he would return, we waited… and waited… and waited. The plane was coming “just now” which in Guyana means right away or maybe in a few hours. Eventually the plane did show up, and I got to sit up front to see the Falls as we flew over. We were only in the air about 20 minutes, and the pilot stopped at the “airport” in Mahdia to get more fuel. By airport, I mean red dirt strip. Taking off was interesting… I don’t know how the pilot managed to get the plane off the ground, but at least the view from the air was great! We arrived at the domestic airport in Georgetown, and there was a driver waiting for us. The day before the girls had asked if I would like to travel with them and their Dad for their last 4 or 5 days in the country. I accepted their offer as long as I wouldn’t be imposing on anyone. So we were dropped off at the house of some friends of theirs in Georgetown, where a wonderful neighbor lady named Vanessa made us every meal and made juice from the ripe fruits off the trees in the yard. That night we went on a cockroach hunt since a big one had been spotted running up Nadina’s arm!! Eventually we found it and smashed it, but he refused to die. After about 30 minutes, we finally flushed him down the toilet. I’m surprised he didn’t clog it… that bug was HUGE! (don’t worry, i have a great photo of him all smashed up)

Thursday the 12th: The 4 of us and our “guide” Naomi, Vanessa’s daughter, went into the center of Georgetown to do some sightseeing. We visited the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre (the Red House) which was interesting. Then I split from the group and went back to Lara’s to pick up my stuff since my new traveling companions were headed east. That night we stayed in Georgetown again.

Friday the 13th: Not a very scary day at all. Took a minibus into G-town to catch a cab to Bushlot (one of the 4 towns with the same name) to stay with the girls’ Uncle Maxy. The minibus into town was cranking “It’s Your Love” by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and I come to find out that country music is popular here!! The cab ride was briefly interrupted so that our driver could pick up a used transmission half way to Bushlot. 30 minutes later we were back on the road. We did a little shopping in Bushlot, and just hung out with their uncle.

Saturday the 14th: Took another minibus to Rosignol, to stay with Daniel’s sister Thelma and her extended family. Her grandkids were ADORABLE!!! We did a little shopping, took a nice walk around town, ate some sugar cane, and just spent time with the family.The shock of the day came when we were at a bottle shop so the girls could buy some Guyanese rum to take home, and this old Indian man came up to me. I just looked at him and said Hi, but he rubbed my arm before walking away…. yeah… still not sure what to think of that.

Sunday the 15th: I call up Shanna, another Peace Corps volunteer I had met at the airport, and she just happens to be at the ferry in Rosignol (about 2 minutes drive from where I stayed!!). I quickly say goodbye to everyone… exchange addresses and emails… hugs goodbye, and Leila (Thelma’s daughter) helps me to catch a cab. I get down to the ferry 10 minutes before it leaves, and Shanna is there waiting with another PC volunteer, Mike. They were super excited to hear about my trip, and we chatted the whole way across the Berbice River. We got to New Amsterdam and met up with another volunteer, Alana. All 4 of us went for lunch, and then stopped by two other Americans’ house. They’re here for World Teach. We sat around and chatted for a few hours, and everyone’s trying to convince me to just stay here for a couple more months since I fit in so well!!! hahahaha Last night we played some Clue and had a few beverages and then went to bed.

Monday the 16th: Just been hanging out. Went to Mike’s for pancakes. Did a little shopping and soon we’re headed to Crabwood Creek where Shanna lives. Alana and Mike are going to come down to make another night of it!

I’m having a GREAT TIME!!!!