Tower Hotel Georgetown

... dressed, carrying rucksacks and other clobber, and about to set off up the mountain. We had learnt earlier that their mother was seriously ill, but had not realised that this was the reason for them coming along on the journey. They were basically hitching a ride, and were now off to the airfield at the Kaieteur falls in the hope of catching a flight to their mother's village. So that is why Wilfred was at the rum, it was his way of coping with the news. The climb itself was ...

... the largely empty streets near Rima were really all that dangerous, and managed to walk 200m or so to the nearby Chinese restaurants without coming to any harm. We even went around the Promenade Gardens, also designated 'do not enter!' but actually very lovely, with a whole posse of attendants keeping it safe. (In fact there were signs around it lauding the evidently quite recent 'refurbishment of the gardens' so the guidebook can be forgiven here.) Georgetown ...

... trees that have fallen in the road, all of this whilst it was pouring with rain. Needless to say we ended up having another night parked off the road. (N3.56.34.06W59.16.08.07. 5th - Of again and today the road is getting even worse, although the big puddles have stopped, for the last 150 kms the road is either very bad washboard or just full of holes. We are only able to travel at 20 to 30 kms even on the good sections and so it is another overnight on the road.N5.46.29.73W58.28.47.15

... wife who can't pronounce the English name 'George', I affectionately refer to it as 'Joshtown', anything but Jonestown, which happened not so many years nor kilometers away. It still makes the news here. For those of you too young to remember, thirty years ago some nine hundred US citizens committed mass suicide in Guyana under the influence of a bad Elvis impersonator. At first glance after dark Georgetown reminds me of nothing so much as ...

... rest of my life. So they're gonna have a library whether they want one or not. For the kids' sakes. All the same, I think I was as happy as the kids when the term ended. I did go to Suriname for a week and that was nice. Read on to the next entry for details on that. As always my loyal fans, please email me, leave comments, let me know that you're still thinking about me. I hope that I didn't depress you too much. But the Suriname entry is much better. Promise. Sal

... check the luggage, go through security and just everything that precedes the actual takeoff, I was more concerned with those practical matters. I wasn't excited even on the flight here, but as soon as the plane started its descent over the emerald jungles...I could not stop smiling. Of course I did lose most of my humor when we couldn't find our luggage among those from another flight that had just come in (when did Guyana start having more than one ...

... living and teaching in Guyana, the time just goes faster and faster. I am definitely enjoying each minute though, and have learned and gained so much from my experience here. Anyways, Term 2 finished out well, and my students did pretty well on my cumulative exam. I can definitely see progress in their critical thinking and ...

We had breakfast in the restaurant around 7 a.m. with Dr. Becky. I ate watermelon and a "sausage" omelette with hot tea. It was actually pretty good. Dr. Becky, Nicole, and I headed to the Georgetown public hospital while Dad went to the St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital to work on some equipment. We met ten of our female patients who are here to have surgery. They have all ...

So it has been about three weeks and I am really beginning to adjust to the Guyana life style. Allow me a few lessons. Walking: Having been a British colony, they drive on the left side of the road, which means you better watch out silly Americans. I have finally learned to look both ways before crossing the street-by both ways I mean Right and then Left. If you use your substandard US conventions ...

... we can adjust back into our old ways...so here are some of the interesting things that happened while traveling and on my first couple days back: First off, I was very lucky to have a wonderful traveling partner, Namisi, who is another WorldTeach volunteer in my region, and is from Buffalo, NY. We met up at JFK to catch the flight back to Guyana, which is about 6 hours. The minute we stepped out of the baggage claim at the Timehri Airport we were ...