Georgetown and the Essequibo River

             Groups have their own dynamics.  They flow and ebb depending on the members and whether new members join, others leave, circumstances, etc.  So the last thing I want on a trip with total strangers is to be the last person joining the group.  The last one in is usually the hardest to assimilate because associations have already been formed, clicks made, friendships solidified (remember - this is a solidification for 10 days or so only), and passions shared.  As my husband and I were the last ones to get to the tour group and we didn't share the dinner on the previous night, we were left at breakfast the following morning by ourselves and had to guess which other people in the dining room might be members of our group.   In the end, it was fairly easy to determine who was part of the group as the tour leader ran from table to table checking on everyone to make sure they had all their "suitcases" in a row for pick-up and storage and small bags ready to go to the nature reserve.  

              Breakfast done - rather slow - but we had expected that having been warned that things happen at a much slower pace in these countries.  Head out to the hotel reception room and start introducing ourselves to people whom Chris (tour leader) has been running around gathering up into the group.  There are 16 of us, all from the U.S. or Canada.  We probably had to fly the furthest and some had gotten the impression that we were Brits - not just living in England, but once we opened our mouths, that notion was abandoned.   We are introduced to Eugene, a rather large local who will be our guide.  His voice is a large as he is so  he booms out when discussing anything making anyone standing in front of him sway in the breeze.   Plus he is as enthusiastic about his country as he is big so many of his lectures and comments are accompanied by loud guffaws and hilarious laughter and stamping his foot as he enjoys his own words and our reactions to his city and his country.  Sitting in the bus close to him was almost uncomfortable as his stamping shook those of us near to him.  But who better to share their country than someone who truly loves it.  Nothing boring about his talks and descriptions.

          We are all herded into the van and unfortunately, we are the last ones in so we are relegated to sitting in the front which has no leg room.  By the lunch break, my legs are screaming and Eugene's stamping is sending painful shock waves up my calves.  We never make this mistake again so it's only 1/2 day of torture.   The tour through the city is mainly a "bus tour" meaning we are seeing lots of good things but not getting off the bus/van to take photos or walk around.  I had suspected this might be the case when i read the itinerary and so wasn't too disappointed in it but I also happened to be on the wrong side of the bus for any meaningful photos but photos out the window of a car or bus are never very good - doesn't keep me from trying though.  

          We get out of the bus to go look at St. George's Cathedral - which Georgetown claims as the largest wooden church in the world.  It is huge.  It has flying buttresses!  No gargoyles though.  The church isn't in that good of shape. Some of the outer wooden siding shingles have been blown away or gone missing.  Inside, there are buckets placed strategically about the church to catch the roof leaks.  Still, it is a lovely church and it is indeed quite large.  We see some parishioners head into the back of the church - little old ladies barely able to walk but still manage to get to church. Inside is a lovely pipe organ.  Only a few people are there besides us.  

          We learn about Georgetown and Guyana's past.  It's been colonized by many and when the Dutch were here, they built wonderful canals to control the rains and dump the water into the sea during low tide.  There are locks and sluice gates to manage the waterways.  But after the Dutch left, some of the canals were paved over and planted as walkways for the city citizens to stroll and enjoy.  Sea walls had to be erected and maintained as the city is actually 6' below sea level.  Now during the rainy season, there is always flooding.  We saw many of the canals are overrun with water lilies and trash.  The worst thing about Georgetown and the surrounding countryside is no pick up of litter and trash and no re-cycling and no respect of the environment.  Many of the beautiful old colonial style houses are falling into disrepair.  Trash is everywhere and during the rains, it all washes into the sea or washes out and back into town.  Infrastructure is poor.  But the people are nice and lovely and kind whenever we had dealings with them so a bit of a dichotomy between how the people view and take care of themselves and how they view and take care of their lands and buildings.  

          We stopped by a craft market briefly.  Chris, our tour leader, has emphasized repeatedly already that it is not a shopping trip.  In fact, there are not many days when we have free time in a location where there would be any shops.  That's OK actually but I do like to have a bit of time to look around at the local markets and see what there is to be had and if there are new and different things to enjoy.  Having travelled so much in our lives, there's not really very much that we haven't seen and/or purchased.  With Globalization, there aren't a lot of things in whatever country we visit that are new and different.   Guyana is a diamond and gold producing country and I had truly hoped for a chance to see some of their gold and diamond jewelery but not today.

             We only had about 20 minutes to check out the 8 or so stalls, a lot of which had alligator-skinned bags and other leather products that most likely would not be allowed back into the U.S.   We did find a nice wooden bowl.  We have so many nice wooden bowls and nice vases from various places.  I think I need to dedicate a room in our retirement home just for the souvenirs we have from different countries.  We've been told already that our home is like a museum but I still love having all my gifts and souvenirs and 'finds" and "prizes" and "treasures' out where I can see and enjoy them.

          We are off again and round the corner and drive past the big market and DO NOT STOP!  OMG.  this one was certainly worth stopping.  It looked amazing with all the humanity and products and hustle and bustle and people shopping and wandering the stalls.  I love these kinds of markets.  The only problem with this one is that it was very, very trashy.  That made my husband quite nervous as if a trashy place is an unsafe place and dangerous place.  Maybe so in some countries but that appears to be the standard here so the market was not any worse than any market and keeping your wits about you would lead to a perfectly safe meander through the market.  BUT it was not to be.    

          Our next stop was the museum.  It was a good museum.  Small but very informative.  couldn't take photos inside though.  Located in a lovely old colonial building with the louvered windows to let in the maximum air flow and minimum streaming sunlight.  Some good handicrafts from the Amerindian tribes that once ruled the area.  And a good set of old photos of hunting and fishing with said Indians as well.   Then back on the bus and to the park for the zoo.   The zoo is small and like everything else, not in the best of shape, but they are proud of it and their collection.  Maybe 1/4 of the cages were empty and a few others rather difficult to see the animals but we had a great look at a harpy eagle enjoying its meal of something dead and red.  We tickled the tapir who came up to the fence for some head scratching.    The small ocelots paid us no mind and were more into their other caged buddies.    Various birds of various kinds, some foxes, some wild pigs, and a sleeping jaguar.  The manatee  was a no show.   There was a Tayra, a fruit eating member of the weasel family.  Never heard of it before and pretty sure haven't ever seen one.  So see - something new!  Couldn't get a good photo in spite of the fact that this guy was butting his head against the enclosure the whole time i was standing there.  

          There weren't a lot of people there besides us.  The park itself appears to be poplar enough that a few enterprising people come and sell balloons and trinkets for the kids out of their car trunks/boots.  As i passed one such vendor whose gig was taking photos of the kids and families yelled for me to take his photo.  So I did.  why not?  Nice to have a local want to have their photo taken without asking for money.

          Time to move on out of the city and head for our resort.   Stuck in a bit of a traffic jam as we need to cross the pontoon bridge over the river.  It's quite long and slow to get across but we finally make it and hit the docks where we will go upriver to Baganara Resort for two nights.  Baganara is a privately owned island in the Essequibo River.  it has been in this family's possession for a very long time.  The current owner lives in Toronto and comes down with his mother who is 92.  The mother was a young girl when the family got the island, from what I understood.  The Essequibo River is quite wide and has hundreds of islands in it.  The family that owns Baganara also owns several of the islands  around them because they didn't want noisy neighbors.  Solution - buy up all the property around you!   The Essequibo is the largest in Guyana and comes third or fourth after the Amazon.  As we travel up the river, there are small houses and landings and clearings in the jungle.  Sometimes there are people fishing and sometimes boats and sometimes people waving.  No other way to get to these locations other than flying.  Baganara has an airstrip and we will leave by plane but arriving by river was lovely.  

          Finally we arrive and are greeted with a nice drink and the owner.  Chris gets our room assignments and most of us are in the house that is about 1/2 km away from the main house - on the way to the airstrip.  The resort runs on solar power with a generator for when the sun is hiding in the rain clouds.  Eighteen staff live on this island to maintain it and take care of the guests.  We are the only guests for our two nights.  There is swimming and kayaking and walking in the woods on the island and relaxing.  We choose relaxing as it is so calm and peaceful there.  And as it is rather late in the afternoon, dinner comes soon and then we walk back in the dark to our room for a peaceful night.  The generator is running and we have a ceiling fan and a floor fan so we are comfortable and have a good night's sleep.

Heading out for new adventure - new countries - new friends

          Begin at the beginning so that involves arising at a very early hour to be driven to the airport to catch a plane for the good ole USA.  We're off for a trip to Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad.  Why?  Cuz we've not been to any of those countries before and seems like a good idea and time to go.   So, at the airport and that involves not much of anything these days because if you think about it and what travel used to be like, you'll be steaming and furious that flying is so much of a hassle.  Just go through the motions as quickly as you can and go chill once through security.   I do my usual ritual before flying - find the best face cream sample and moisturize.  Then go sit in the business class lounge and complain about the number of people in there with small children!  How do they afford it???  Oh well.  Maybe they won't be close to us in the plane (Yea, right, we never happen to be that lucky!)

 

          Finally on the flight which isn't too bad and into Miami in the afternoon.  It takes our hotel a long time to get a bus around to pick us up from the curb.  We see every other hotel bus pass by us three or four times or more.  Luckily we are close to the beginning of the terminal.  When the bus finally gets us, by the time it reaches the end of the terminal, people waiting are not picked up and must wait for the next bus from this hotel.  Good luck to them and I hope they finally made it to the hotel.   We had no plans for the day as we are still close to the airport, without transportation, and sometimes I just fall down on the job in micromanaging everything.    So around about 6, we walk down the street to the Latin Cafe for dinner.  It's quite tasty but somehow upsets my stomach anyway.  Hate starting a new trip with a bad tummy but I am fine the next morning.

          Our flight to Georgetown, Guyana the next day is not until 2:20 p.m.  Try as hard as we can, we cannot manage to sleep into the morning so up for breakfast and then nothing much to do until time to go to the airport.   Travel days are always the hardest because you are anticipating your trip and getting excited about being there and having a holiday or you are tired and can't wait to get home but it takes soooo long in either direction even if the trip to get there and back is only a few hours!.

          Finally we are on the plane headed for Georgetown.  We are flying Caribbean Airlines which is not a bad way to go except it seems to be a Trinidad and Tobago company so we have to stop in Port of Spain, Trinidad on the way.  As a result, we don't get into Georgetown until 9;35 at night.  I had made arrangements for a transfer from the airport to the hotel with Adventures Abroad, the company that is doing our tour.  We get into the airport, get our bags, get out and find our transport.  He tells us to try the ATM machine for local currency.  it is broken.   We go to the van and climb in and are ready to go.  it is 10 p.m.  Our transfer guide tells us we are waiting for another couple.  So we sit.  and sit.  and sit.  and sit.  We can't even see him inside the terminal as there are so many people greeting arrivals and waiting for people but as we sit and sit and sit, the airport empties.  I think we must have been the last flight in for the day.  Finally there are only a few people left inside the terminal.  The very last people out of the terminal is the other couple!  Oh my gosh.  The woman is in a wheelchair so I feel bad about being irritated that they took so very long to leave the terminal.  They also have 5 large suitcases to fit into the van.  Our transfer guide is climbing into the back of the van to move our bags around and stuff in their suitcases.  (we have one large suitcase, one medium, and two small carry-ons).  The lady in the wheelchair is seated outside the van next to my husband.  We are sitting in the front row of the van and trying to figure out if we have to be gracious and move to a back row for her when suddenly the woman gets up out of the wheelchair and walks to the back of the van to yell at her husband!  What the hey!?  OK, we don't have to be gracious.

          It is now 11 p.m  We have been waiting for one hour for them to exit the airport and get to the van to leave.  Now we drive into Georgetown which is over a half hour.  I am thinking it is going to be a very interesting trip - in a bad way - because this man and woman are arguing with each other - bitterly - for the entire trip into Georgetown.   They appear to be about 20 years older than my husband and I so my husband and i make a pact not to become that way - or at least not to argue so vehemently in public.

  

          Luckily when we get to our hotel, we are the only ones getting out!  This couple is moving on to a different hotel and therefore probably NOT on the tour with us.  What is irritating now is that we had to wait an hour for them to ride with us when it was a different hotel and different tour.  Oh well.  It only takes the transfer guide about 10 minutes to pull out our suitcases from the pile in the back of the van.

          Our tour leader is waiting for us.  Didn't expect that.  Usually when someone gets in so late, you just get a note on what to expect for the next day.  But Chris, our tour leader, comes out to greet us and welcome us and let us know what is happening.  Unfortunately, we can't hie off to bed right away.  Tomorrow we will have a morning tour and then boat ride up the river to the Baganera Resort.  As we fly back from there, we have to pull out what we will need for two nights and possible rain, and meds, and bathroom stuff, and sunscreen, and insect repellent and so forth.  Wow, the one thing forgotten in the literature was to bring a small bag for the over-nights at the jungle resorts.  Again, luckily for us, we have an expandable small bag so can pack it up with what we will need.  The rest will stay at the hotel until we return.   We also have to turn in our passports and passport photos so we can get the group Suriname visa.   Finally about 1 a.m., we are climbing into our bed and turning out the lights.  YEA, we are here!