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We had another 4 nights in Georgetown after Kaieteur. We would have loved to continue through the interior of Guyana, to the Rupununi Savannah or Iwokrama Rainforest, anywhere really except Georgetown. Alas there was no way we could afford it in the absence of a major lottery win.
We did very little each of the 3 full days we had. There is little to do, and its too fricken hot anyway! We were back in the land of sweat, poo smells, stagnant filthy canals and streets, car horns and taxi vultures (taxi's that circle the block hoping you will change your mind and do in fact want a lift).
On the first day back in Georgetown we first set out to find a laundry, which ended up being about a 3 hour task wandering hot dusty streets. We did find a nice café for lunch that day, but did nothing else.
The next day we visited The Guyana National Museum. We couldn't take pictures inside, but it had a few interesting displays, including some models of Georgetown before it was hit by fires, some old artefacts from the local area, lots of taxidermy local fauna including mammals, birds and reptiles and some geological maps.
Probably the most interesting thing was the model of the giant sloth. This creature resembled part bear, part sloth, and its fossilised remains have been found in areas of South America including in Guyana. It was huge!
That was pretty much the only activity that day except returning home via the St George's Cathedral, said to be the tallest wooden building in the world. Perhaps they need to discuss that with Paramaribo who have the tallest wooden building in South America?
The last day we spent in Guyana we went to the northern parts of the city. We started with the sea wall which protects the city from the sea when the tide comes in. Walking along it, we found some people receiving security training, shooting at targets with hand guns, rifles and shotguns out towards the ocean.
Next we went to look at Umana Yana, an Amerindian benab built in 1972 to host the meeting of non-aligned nations. We had been driven past it by Oma, but wanted a closer look at the traditional style building. Unfortunately when we arrived, all we saw was the skeleton of it, as it ad burned down the day prior!
From there we walked to the lighthouse and went to the top of that for a view over the city. From the top we could see the river and pretty much to the edges of the city, which isn't too far.
We realised we had missed a visit to the Starbroek Market so we finished up there, making our way through the chaos in front of the market and inside. The inside smelt rather interesting and there wasn't a whole lot going on, shopkeepers were mostly half asleep. Though visiting during the day felt much safer than when we had been in the area around dusk.
And that was it for Georgetown. Next stop Aruba, the cheapest way to get from Georgetown to Colombia bypassing Venezuela.
LAPFWT
- comments
elizabeth porter At least the church looks pretty! Mum/Liz