River, Mabaruma

Over the canal to get to the houseOn the river, Mabaruma

Mabaruma view

House with boat beside

Wet sports day, Mabaruma

Rainforest birds waiting for export .. sad

Downtown, Mabaruma

Night heron waiting for beetles!

Steps to our place, Lethem

Monkeys in the palms

Victoria amazonica

Victoria amazonica in a Rupununi pond

Into the jungle

Cowboy and anteater

anteater on the savanna

On the Rupununi by Cayman House

Our guides grandfather lives here, Cayman House

The Rupanuni is a gorgeous interior savanna surrounded by rain-forested mountains.  It is home to the giant river otter, the black cayman and to the giant anteater.  Slowly but surely the Guyanese government is declaring large parts of it protected and village owned ecolodges are being built.  We visited Cayman House, a research station where black cayman studies are carried out and Karanambu Ranch where Diane McTurc began protecting the giant river otters.  We watched the gorgeous Victoria Amazonica waterlily unfold; this is one of the few places where it is wild

Spinning cotton at Cayman House

Later we flew to Mabaruma, near the Venezuelan border

Sunset at Parrot Island

Tide's out

Toucan

In the village

Boat building

Under the house

Helens house

Amerindian village

Rainforest hike!

By the Essequibo River, Bartica

Old style house, Bartica

Third Ave, Bartica

Bartica is a town which exists mostly to serve the mining areas of the Essequibo and Mazaruni Rivers.  We took a bus and a high speed boat to get there and then another boat to Sloth Island.  We saw no sloths but there were plenty of parrots, aracari and toucans.  And howler monkeys which we didn’t see but heard each night. We walked in the rain forest and visited Parrot Island where parrots from miles around come to spend each night only to leave each morning with much clatter.

Machines in Bartica

The wooden buildings of Georgetown are quite magnificent.  Some are well kept up or restored but others are pretty dilapidated.  But then we have been in places that are beautiful inside but are purposefully kept looking run down on the outside to discourage thieves.

A hobby here is betting on your songbird.  Wild birds of certain species are kept in cages.  The owners meet and put their cages near each other and bet on which bird will chirp a predecided number of times first.  We often see men walking around with bird cages but have yet to get close to the chirping match!  As far as I know this is a Guyana original.

I couldn’t resist a photo of the plastic palms which are floodlit at night!  I am sure anyone from Georgetown can tell you where they are, 3v of them outside a very popular Chinese restaurant.  They are quite a landmark!

As if we needed plastic palms!

Lots of horses and carts about

Townhall

Biggest wooden structure, St Georges Church

Men with their competitive birds in cages

Canal, students by our place

Two houses from home!

View from the VSO offices towards the sea

Nice place to rideShade on a hot day

By the shore

Fishing boats by the river

The curry and roti gang!Grating cocoanut for the curry

Roti of various kinds

Half of our gang were invited to a neighbours to learn to make curry and roti.  It all looks a bit easier than it is!  The photos show the gang and the roti balls waiting to be rolled out.  There is also one our teacher grating cocoanut in the traditional way.

Note the rain water tank, washing and dish

Back verandah with hammock, chairs and washing!

We are now in Guyana spending the next 3 months talking to organizations which work with youth.  The weather is very hot and very humid.  In fact I cannot imagine being hotter!  I guess we will have to get used to sweating all the time!  We live in a middle class neighbourhood in a back house, that is the second house on a lot, one row back from the street.  The security is  good and the neighbours are  friendly and welcoming.  Last weekend,  we did a trip with a group of people we met through a friend of my sister to the southern border of the country  and that gave us a chance to see the undeveloped coastline in that area.  Like Namibia the population is small, less than a million and the diaspora is much larger than the population of the country .

Beach 63, With Suriname in the background

Beach 63 with Surinam in the background