Out and about

Saturday 17 Sept.  Feeling a little Georgetown claustrophobia we decided to take to the river system and visit Bartica which is up the Essequibo River.  The Essequibo is the third largest river in South America, so is quite big! 600 miles long, 20 miles wide at the mouth with some 365 islands.
So off we went at 7am to Stabroek market to catch the 32 to Parika which is around the coast to the north.  Of course the 32 doesn't set off until it is full to bursting,(and there are several other 32s all touting for customers, all insisting their bus is about to leave) so a 20 minute wait...  The locals, being inured to this, are incredibly patient, the europeans (us) not.
Eventually the bus fills and goes, and makes up for lost time by going at breakneck speed - best not to watch the road!
The first obstacle is the Demerara river - Georgetown is built at its mouth - which is crossed by means of the Demerara Harbour Bridge.  This is a floating bridge, reputed to be the world's longest.  View from the Bridge (taken through the bus window):

On the other side is a succession of small settlements - most of which have Dutch names, eg Vreed-en-Hoop, Den Amstel, Uitvlugt - more or less ribbon development with fields of what looked like cereals behind.  Arrived in Parika at 8.45am with the ferry due to leave at 9am.  However the buses stop by the "stelling" (landing stage) and the loading was still going on.  The gang plank was a large plank (no handrail) and to get to the passenger section involved clambering through the tightly packed vans and cars, carefully around the stacks of eggs, vegetables,boxes of groceries and live chicks, and past the seasoned travellers in their hammocks and the card school.

View from the ferry showing the stelling and the speedboats which also go to Bartica and across the mouth of the river to Supenaam:

The guidebook suggested that the ferry, though cheaper,  was "much slower" than the speedboats; more on that later.

Halina on the ferry:

Then off we went, very sedately.  Timber yards near Parika:

showing a speedboat returning to Parika.

The river bank is forest, with mangroves edging the water:

This is broken with a series of homesteads each with their small landing stage.  There is a lot of river bank.....  We were hoping to see lots of birdlife and some animals but only saw a few swift like blue birds and a collection of large birds of prey which circled lazily in the distance.  A young boy, Lonzel, was fascinated by our binoculars so we let him have a go - he'd been to Parika to visit the doctor.

About halfway, the boat paused and small boats came out from the bank and tied up to us.  This enabled some passengers to disembark and we took on some produce - large numbers of eggs among it.

We eventually arrived at Bartica - at 3.40 - six and a half hours later.  The guidebook did suggest bringing a book (or two?).

Bartica has a golden beach and it was good to see some children playing cricket:

The stelling boasts the evocative rubric: "Welcome to Batica" (see our Syrian experiences)

However, "one horse" is a bit of an exaggeration to describe the town, even the craft shop identified by the guide book has vanished.

So back to Parika - by the speedboat!!! But... they need to be full before starting, so it was nearly 5pm before we set off.  It gets dark at about 6pm, so we were becoming anxious.

The speedboat lives up to its name and really bounces along - memo to self "take extra cushion on speedboat trips".  And we were back in Parika by 6.20pm.  On to the Georgetown bus - wait to fill up - then hurtle through the dark to Georgetown.  Stabroek Market still buzzing, so we went for the 40 bus instead of a taxi and arrived home 7.45pm. 

Time for bed!

At work

Halina is working for Guyana Community Based Rehabilitation Programme (GCBR).  This is a non-governmental organisation that aims to ensure that every person with disabilities, whatever their age, type of disability or place of residence, is able to fully participate in the social, educational, economic and political life of Guyana, and can access high quality services in their locality that are appropriate to their needs. 

Here is Halina in her palatial office:

ie a corner of the meeting room.  However she does have internet access sometimes.

Kenneth, one of the other volunteers officially ended his year with the organisation and was given a send off party with speeches.  Everyone had to make a speech - even Steve who was only there to bring the camera!

Mr Gregory (Chairman), Mrs Thomas  (volunteer worker), Kenneth Opio (VSO Volunteer),  Ms Maison Halls  (Founder and National Advisor), Mrs Eastman  (Office Manager).

We signed up for free Spanish lessons with the Venezuelan embassy and had a very good introductory speech from the ambassador last night.  The first class is this evening, so we'll see how it goes.

Home Sweet Home

The problem with taking photos in Georgetown is that we have been warned not to show cameras or fancy phones on the street for fear of robbery.  Two of our party were mugged on the sea wall early one morning - they only lost a pack of cigarettes and a lighter and the robber offered them one of the cigarettes before wishing them a nice day!  Two young men also tried to snatch a bag from someone on a bike.  So be careful is the mantra ...  and don't walk around at night, and don't visit certain areas of the city... and use taxis to get around after dark.  That's not as bad as it sounds as taxi rides are £1 for up to 4 people to most places in the city - mini-buses are 20p per journey!

Meanwhile here is the full group at VSO Headquarters:

 We managed to get to the Botanical Gardens where there are manatees:

which are very hard to photograph!

We were unlucky to have to wait "a few days" before moving into our designated apartment so were billeted on a lovely Filipino volunteer called Miles:

  But her flat was very small and we were in a bedroom 7ft6in by 10ft6in with a double bed and wardrobe - we took turns to stand up.  So we moved in with a volunteer in our group - Carol - who had a bit more room.  Meanwhile the date of moving in to our apartment kept being put back and we were getting seriously stressed.

View from Carol's flat:

Nice!

Talking to Carol's landlady, she mentioned that there was another flat in the same block which was vacant.  Although it costs more than VSO are willing to pay we have taken it, agreeing to pay the difference. So now we have finally moved into our own apartment, in a lovely wooden house in New Garden Street, in the Queenstown area of Georgetown.

View from our flat - omitting the razor wire and building site.

Welcome to Guyana

Well, this is the first posting from Guyana.  It has been long delayed because we have been in temporary accommodation so far and still haven't unpacked our bags.  Hopefully we are about to move into our more permanent address very shortly.

Meanwhile here is our view from the Rima Guest House where we stayed during our induction:

As you can see, the Hibiscus bar was right across the road, very convenient for pre-prandial Bank's Specials.  It also had disco nights on Fridays and Saturdays - very loud music until 3 or 4 am.  We were told to bring earplugs to Guyana!

There were 14 in our group of volunteers, 5 from the UK, 1 from the Netherlands, the rest from Canada.  Some of us ventured out to the sea wall on the first weekend: