Up at 5.30 after a fitful sleep which saw me finishing writing yesterdays blog with head torch attached in an endeavour to tire myself out......it worked as I got another couple more hours sleep from 0330 to 0530. After a breakfast of eggs and bakes - with the now customary, for me, addition of peanut butter and jam all washed down with coffee we finished packing - a two minute job as most was done - and we headed to the landing to get on the boat.
We were off up the river before 7am - bird watching and endeavouring to make progress against the current. The trip took 3 hours and we arrived at the alotted pick up time of 1000am. We only had to wait a couple of minutes for the 4x4 from Rock View to arrive.
The trip had one major highlight - we got to see our first white faced saki monkey - it was a male with a really thick black tail and coat and a white face with a circle of more golden fur surrounding it-he looked a bit like a small howler monkey- and was eating fruit while looking at us and then he agilely jumped from tree to tree. Again a good view in the binoculars but I was far to far in awe for the short time he was still and in view to even attempt a photo......another siting for the memory banks.
The birds we saw on the trip included : black and yellow cassiques, bat falcon, roadside hawk, osprey, lineated woodpecker, lapwing, black skimmer, orange winged parrot, great egret, amazonian kingfisher and lots of coqui heron and white fronted swallows at intervals along the bank.
Having said goodbye to Ken and Levi we said hello to more of the Colin Edwards clan - his youngest son Stewart who was rejoicing in the fact he was now on 2 weeks easter holiday from the secondary school and Colin's brother in law, Orlando an Amerindian in his 30's - on the way back we discussed our trip and had a conversation in the universal language of football - he supported Argentina, watched the European league and supported Barcelona and the English premier league where he supported Manchester City.
On arrival at Rock View we settled into our room but my hope of charging my iPad etc and doing emails was dashed as the generator had broken and Colin had apparently gone to Boa Vista, Brazil to get some parts. Instead we had a cup of tea and I loaded up my photos on to my iPad - discarding the out of focus ones.
1230 was lunch - John, Colin's brother announced that the Prime Minister might be eating with us - it later transpired he was not arriving until 1330ish - apparently he was on his annual safari to this area of the country and was dropping in en route. A team involved in the Iwokrama conservation projects were at lunch and explained a little of the work,there were also a couple of well dressed Guyanese ladies who ate and left as they had a meeting -we were told one was the Minister for Amerindian affairs. Likewise we were introduced to a gentleman who was the local area Captain (leader) who chaired a council which put in bids to get funding for business ventures to sustain and drive the local regional economy - phew what an unexpected mix of people - not your normal tourists - but perhaps also explained the role of Colin and Rock View in stimulating the region and opening it up to eco tourism.
After lunch it was really hot and a siesta was called for, along with repacking our bags as we now had been reunited with our clean laundry left here 2 days ago!
At 4pm we decided to go to the dining area for afternoon tea - as we emerged onto the track I saw the lodge gates open and 4 4x4s drove in - one stopped right by us and 4 men got out - my initial thought was this was the Prime Ministers entourage (almost 3 hours late - but we were too close and going to be asked to go back into our room ) however I then heard the older gentleman in a green walkers type of brimmed sun hat with green cord under his chin say 'I must say hello to these people' - it was the Prime Minister who I now know is Sam Hines - striding towards us hand outstretched to shake our hands and asking where we were from while video footage was taken .....we told him he had a lovely country and we were enjoying his country - after all pleasantries and the pressing of flesh captured he jumped back in his car and went to lunch.....we abandoned the idea of tea instead I went for a swim in the warm afternoon sun.....and guess what John did another crossword! At 5 after the entourage had departed and I was freshly showered we joined the conservation project team for tea and rock cakes......we talked about their EU funded projects and sister projects in Gabon and Papua New Guinea. Interspersed was idle conversation about iPads, Samsung tablets and the Belgian guys children- the 16 yr old having just appeared on the front cover of Vogue in the Netherlands!
Although Colin had returned with the parts for the generator the fixing would have to wait a day as it was too late - so solar light but no wifi or battery charging.....my blog would also have to wait a day for completion!
Pre dinner drinks called for more of the lovely Demerara rum and lime juice together with freshly roasted cashews. Finally we headed off to a conversation filled dinner followed by bed at 9pm.