A Girl in Guyana and Suriname

I am in Guyana. I can’t believe the amazing luck I’ve had since leaving my friend Heather’s apartment last night at 7pm. I walked up a block to immediately catch a cab to Port Authority which dropped me off right next to the bus I needed to take to JFK. I arrived at JFK to find myself the only white person in the line for the direct flight to Georgetown. No worries, but I just wasn’t expecting to be SUCH a minority. I set my backpack down to make a few adjustments before I check it through, and I look up to see another white girl standing next to me. We bond immediately as I find out she’s a Peace Corp volunteer and is returning to Guyana after spending 2 weeks at home for the holidays.

I start firing questions at this girl named Lara. She’s the first person I’ve met who has actually BEEN to Guyana. I asked her how safe Georgetown actually is. After we talk for an hour or so, she invites me to stay with her, about 45 minutes out of the city. She says it’s safer, and she would feel better about me staying with her. Lara was also being met by her friend Tyrone at the airport, so we had a ride prearranged to her village, Leonora.

The drive was INCREDIBLE. The first thing I noticed was all the people walking right along the edge of the road. So close to the cars! And lots of garbage in the ditches alongside the road. They drive on the left side of the road here, left over from their British colonization, I guess. We were in a taxi, but local travel is done by privately owned minibus. Every minibus has its own name and bright colored paint job. A few of my favorite minibus names so far: “Country Girl”, “Sunny”, “G-Unit”, and “Surprise”. And the driving was insane. People pass even if there are other cars coming at them because they are just supposed to move over. There are donkey and horse carts on the road. There are stray cattle, horses, and goats. We were driving through this one town, and we saw a car on the right side of the road with a HUGE dent on the front of the car. Then we looked to the left to see what the other car looked like, and we saw someone slicing up the cow that the car had hit!!

Lara and I made it back to her apartment which is the top half of a house. Below her live 2 different families. One with parents and a kid and the other is a couple, 1 or 2 of their children and one of the grandmas. Her apartment is very nice with beautiful wood floors and big windows. A hammock hangs in the “living room”, and I’ve already taken a few naps there.

Lara asked me a few times if I could understand Tyrone, and I honestly had a really hard time understanding what he was saying. He speaks “Creoles”… a Carib English Creole. I will get some examples and post them later this week.

Lara took me to Parika to exchange some money. This was my first experience taking the minibus, “Surprise”. It cost us each a US dollar (about 195 Guyanese dollars) for a 20-minute drive there. While we were in line at the bank, another white girl walked in… someone Lara knew, and she looked at me with such surprise. Lara explained that I was here from the states visiting some friends in Suriname, and I was a TOURIST in Guyana. Everyone is amazed about that!!

I have to get going. I have to walk the 3 blocks back to Lara’s, and it’s starting to rain again. Tomorrow I will go into Georgetown to find some sort of eco-tour to do this weekend or next week.

Tags: Guyana, Local Transport, South America, Travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006 at 5:41 pm and is filed under Guyana, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.