TravelStream™ news feed for member guanohappens on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/guanohappens en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Fri, 04 Aug 2006 13:49:41 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/bolivia_8-2006/1154713680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/bolivia_8-2006/1154713680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/bolivia_8-2006/1154713680/tpod.html Fri, 04 Aug 2006 13:49:41 -0400 OU College of Nursing travels to Bolivia.

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Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States

Packed and ready to go!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1147706160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1147706160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1147706160/tpod.html Sat, 01 Jul 2006 11:17:46 -0400 OU College of Nursing travels to Guyana

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Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States

Up and at airport at 4:30 a.m.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148408880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148408880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148408880/tpod.html Tue, 27 Jun 2006 16:30:41 -0400 OU College of Nursing travels to Guyana

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Georgetown, Guyana

Toured Mercy-a lovely hospital especially as compared with the public one-it actually had mosquito nets over the patients' beds, unlike the public one where family must provide linens and food for patients. Has school of nursing attached. Got sick, maybe from swimming in black water creek yesterday? Good-rumors are if you drink from the Kumuni Creek, you will return to Guyana! The rest of group toured a girls orphanage and reported it was heart-rending. I {heart} Imodium! That and good old Coca Cola, bottled in Georgetown, got me through the day lying in my sultry room and throwing up in the sink because I couldn't make it down the hall to the toilets. I would HATE to have malaria here lying in the public hospital!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148322180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148322180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148322180/tpod.html Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:57:14 -0400 OU College of Nursing travels to Guyana

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Santa Mission, Guyana

Today we took a powerboat across the Demerara River to Kumuni Creek and an hour later pulled up at the Arawak Amerindian village of Santa Mission Reservation. Lovely, undeveloped village with beautiful Amerindian children in their British-inspired school uniforms playing on break and then returning to the school house where we could hear them chanting their lessons and singing the Guyanese nat'l anthem. Saw (heard first) macaws flying overhead, some who walked into the jungle saw blue and gold macaws in flight and a howler monkey. I saw a howler (heard first) jumping through a tree at the creek bank on the way in. Met with the PAHO healthcare worker at the clinic and toured the facility, determining needs (everyone in Guyana so far has needed test strips for unused glucometers-can't use meter without strips). Bought crafts, then ate breakfast, then went for a swim (no piranhas, we were assured). On the way back, FOUR TOCO TOUCANS flew over us at different times, as well as a banded kingfisher and many black-headed vultures as well as several sightings of the blue morpho butterfly. Lots of fun tropical foliage to look at. Very exciting and fun day--even the tour guide (wife of the guide for the Falls trip) said she had the best trip and thoroughly enjoyed us. Lovely to see the Amerindian children paddling their canoes alongside us as they returned home in the bush from their village school.

Yesterday toured zoo--some lovely habitats but mostly very old and substandard. Amazing that, without lawyers and safety engineers here, many animals, even carnivores, are readily accessible to "play with". My long-suffering straw hat was already on its last legs, and the tayra, fox, ocelot, and jaguarundi had a field day pawing at it and occasionally getting ahold of it, as did the various monkeys. It is now thoroughly shot, but not so bad that I didn't wear it on today's trip! I laugh about taking it back to Target and asking for my money back, saying it only lasted me a week (indeed, in Iowa I found the same hat at Target so now I'm back in business)! I got wonderful shots of a harpy eagle, because I could approach its cage and it was only about two feet away! Would never fly in the US...

Also amazing at the zoo--I took several shots of the hawkheaded parrot, and explained to an observing zoo employee that I have one at home. He said, "Next time you come, you let me know ahead of time and I get heem fo' you", pointing to the cage. At first I thought he meant get him out of the cage, then I realized he meant procure me one! Holy Cow--a ZOO EMPLOYEE! (Guyana still has legal quotas of some CITES listed birds, so I don't know if he was on the level or not. Either way, I'll take my parrots home-grown or rescued, not poached.)

Crazy place, but very beautiful outside of Georgetown, which we have all seen enough of despite its colonial tropical charms and crazy minibuses and taxis driving without any working traffic lights in town! Tomorrow the students will follow staff nurses at the public hospital, then we will tour a private hospital, then after lunch our last shopping and a tour of an orphanage.

We set out at 3 a.m. (not a typo) Wednesday for our long day of travel. Whew! Good times but ready for home. Taking an Ambien and turning in early for our last full night's sleep for the next 36-48 hours.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148149140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148149140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148149140/tpod.html Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:29:20 -0400 OU College of Nursing travels to Guyana

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Kaieteur National Park, Guyana

Kaieteur Falls today--Amazon River Basin, about 3 degrees north of equator. A LITTLE BIT sunburned despite diligent reapplications of sunscreen and wearing my now very sad straw hat. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RIGHT after we touched down on the little airstrip in our Trans Guyana Airlines one-prop plane and began our hike to the Falls, I heard a familiar noise--PARROTS!!!!!!! Malcolm, our pilot/nature guide exclaimed, "What was THAT?" but I had already spotted them--a mated pair of large macaws "buzzing" the airstrip. I believe I saw blue and gold macaws but Malcolm said they were "blue and red", which I had never heard of. Because they call hawkheads "red fan parrots" here, I wonder if it is called something else in US. WHAT an excitement--esp. because Malcolm had advised me (and I already knew) that we probably wouldn't see any parrots because it was midday. What a wonder--I took probably a hundred photos there and a couple of moving images of the Falls--Oh My God! The pictures won't do it justice and several of us want to come back and spend the night in the guest house back in the forest around the Falls on a subsequent trip. Oh, also saw beautiful huge blue Morpho butterfly twice and heard lots of activity under several "bush islands". Also saw golden dart-poison frogs living in the HUGE tank bromeliads. I was in HOG HEAVEN!

Trying to arrange river boat trip to Amerindian village--keep fingers crossed. Still to see Mercy private hospital to compare with the public hospitals. Very abject poverty--passed four minor boys asleep on park bench this morning on way to Post Office--same boys I gave PB crackers to the night before. Feral dogs everywhere in poor shape and obviously unneutered. SIGH. Georgetown is charming in many ways but not so in many others. THE FALLS, ON THE OTHER HAND.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148062320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148062320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148062320/tpod.html Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:13:00 -0400 OU College of Nursing travels to Guyana

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Georgetown, Guyana

We're still alive and relatively well-hydrated. No sunburns yet but some are getting mosquito bit--no malaria on the coastline so no worries until tomorrow with trip to Kaieteur Falls in the "hinterlands" as the interior is referred to here.

Last night reception with Guyana Nurses Association--same story, different continent. One of the nurses performed a skit that was basically a conversation between two nurses, one a GNA member and the other proclaiming that, "Da assoceeashun do nutin fo me". The other nurse replied with how the assoc. helps nurses..."mon". I hear two students behind me had movie cameras--ho boy I hope they got that on tape. What I hope is not on tape is the GNA nurses dancing and singing a folksong customized for us "Nurses Fire, So Make So" and pulling us up to dance with them. Julia V. from OKC chided us rigid old white women and "got down" which put our host from UofG into peals of laughter--she gave Julia a huge hug. Then we ate boudin sausage (actually, it was white pudding) and curried fish--very good.

We are having a very productive and fun visit--much more of both than I anticipated. We have been very welcomed as the days have drawn on and the Guyanese have seen our sincerity in wanting a collaboration.

We had a party for the U of G students and the director, hosted here in guest house with food provided by our students last night. We sang "Oklahoma!" and later the US Nat'l Anthem and they sang "This Land Is Your Land" substituting Guyanese references. I couldn't get them to understand that the song's writer was from Oklahoma--it was pure coincidence (or was it?)! They also sang their nat'l anthem. "Brudah" Owen J., one of the students (nurses are referred to here as Sister or Brother) told me that several universities have visited U of G, but none had done this for them. I could see that they all were genuinely touched that we SOCIALIZED with them! We had sung "Okla" to the director on the minibus on the way to New Amsterdam. She suggested we sing it to the students, and it was very culturally relevant to do so--there has been singing at every social event and it again touched the Guyanese students that we would extend ourselves in that way. There is a hopping sports (meaning cricket) bar across the street and of course all windows are open throughout Guyana at night, so I can imagine the spectacle we made--US and Guyana. Later a few of us went for the US$.50 rum shots (Yes, 50 cents for a [very nice] Demerara rum and $1.00 for a Coke to split into two drinks--drinks are not served mixed here) and of course there is the ubiquitous guard at the gate to the bar, so I asked him if he had liked the singing. He smiled broadly (a rare occurrence with the stern guards here) and said, "Yes, very much so!" Heh heh--we are getting quite a rep around here. Again today as we drove through town someone called out "NURSES!!!!"--third time now that something similar has happened (other times someone passing our van on his bike called out "What up, teacher girls?" and an old man we passed on the sidewalk bid us, "Good evening, sisters"). We stick out quite a bit--I am totally amazed at the lack of white people here. Have had NO TROUBLE at all, only neutral or, more usually, warm interactions. We greet everyone we pass on the sidewalk and they visibly relax--we are strangers in so many ways and I can see how we could make people uncomfortable. A toddler sitting on his father's lap in the waiting area in a clinic at the "squatter's town" of Sophia was really studying the face of one of the other faculty--60+ year old white woman, VERY strange to see.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1147880220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1147880220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1147880220/tpod.html Tue, 27 Jun 2006 14:56:25 -0400 OU College of Nursing travels to Guyana

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Georgetown, Guyana

We arrived safely but very tired from flying and airport lounging all day (Tulsa to Dallas to Miami to Barbados to Georgetown). The bus trip from the airport to the guest house was interesting even in the dark--of course a former Brit colony so driving on the left, honking at everything in the path to get out of the way (there are traffic lights in Georgetown-but NONE work!) Lots of colonial influence in the mostly white wooden architecture with fretwork and hurricane shutters. Lots of razor wire on every gate and guards posted at most establishments at night. The Dutch left a series of canals controlled by gates which are lifted by people living adjacent to them during low tide for drainage into the sea, then dropped during high tide to stem the flow back, every day, day after day. The coastlands are all below sea level, so lucky the Dutch were the first Europeans to colonize! I suggested to U of Guyana people that they send a contingent to New Orleans to share their expertise.

Saw parrots again this a.m. in the park out my room window. Sea turtle researcher/conservationist Dr. Pritchard staying on our floor told me that along the western beach the skies used to darken with flights of Amazon parrots. (I found as the visit went on that I didn't need to watch for these two mealy Amazon parrots each morning-I could go about my business and they would announce their arrival with Amazon parrot "donkey braying" I knew well from friends' pet Amazons.) BTW, we had the most interesting travelers staying with us off and on during our stay at the guest house! Belgian educators working in Suriname on holiday in Guyana, a very drunken Amerindian gold miner from the interior on holiday from the mines who took a CSW (not certified social worker, a "commercial sex worker") into his room for a few hours, the Ontario college students packed for all summer doing service projects in the hinterlands, a Indo-Guyanese now New Yorker who explained the game of cricket to us...

Met at airport by U of Guyana Nursing reps who have hosted us well. Took lots of pix at the public hospital yesterday--quite eye opening. Met with Georgetown School of Nursing--a diploma program that feeds into U of G baccalaureate. Met deans and directors of Health Sciences Center of U of G at reception last night--really great Caribbean/Indian food and plum juice. Learning a lot and getting ideas! Georgetown Public Hospital does 500 deliveries/month!!! Darlene and I dropped our jaws at that, also 10% C/S rate to our almost 30%. As one of the nursing faculty said proudly, they don't have to mess with any of that lawyer/insurance pressure.* U of Guyana was very much larger than I expected, with a large IT building, beautiful dorms that impressed our students, and a lovely "Commons Room" in which the reception was held.

Today we trek 3 hours to the east to New Amsterdam and the hospital there. More parrots? I hope!

Big news here is FIFA Trinidad & Tobago "SOCA Warriors"--red and black everywhere. ALso big is new Guyana stadium being built for cricket matches-the World Cup of cricket coming in 2007. Beautiful hotel going up next to it--probably with AIR CONDITIONING!

Will take many, many pix of the lovely old guest house for reference for future OU trips. Cold water only--quite a shock to the system yesterday but this AM much better. One student commented that she "kept turning it and turning it and it never got warm". Um--notice only ONE PIPE? Canadian college students staying downstairs--traveling all summer throughout South America doing service projects.

*Signs up in Public Hospital say, "Drugs are free to all patients" and "This hospital reserves the right to refuse services to anyone who misbehaves" (yes, we took pictures). I think that could solve US healthcare problems--give everyone free drugs and then refuse care to those who subsequently "misbehave". Built in quota system!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148495460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148495460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/guanohappens/guyana-2006/1148495460/tpod.html Tue, 27 Jun 2006 14:33:47 -0400 OU College of Nursing travels to Guyana

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Georgetown, Guyana

Up at 1:50 a.m. to be out the guest house door at 2:30. Good old Otis, our reliable minivan driver, there for us on time. His friend with a van for the luggage, however, arrived an hour later after being awakened by Otis. Now an hour late to the airport, and with VERY FEW flights out of Guyana per day, we were pulled over at a checkpoint manned by Guyanese soldiers wielding AK-47s. I wanted a picture, but the other passengers vetoed that idea! Once Otis cleared his documents with the soldier, we proceeded on. In hindsight, I probably should have been more afraid, as all it would take is for just one of our nursing students to be carrying drugs for all of us to be hauled in. At the time I blithely thought, "Well, whatever it is they are looking for, we ain't got!" Sheesh.

We made the flight with plenty of time for a duty-free rum run at the airport store. Demerara rum is the best in the world! I wanted to also haul back a 5 # bag of real Demerara sugar, but I got "turista" on my last day and couldn't make it to the market. A colleague gave me a couple of baggies of sugar from her bag, though. Just means I have to go back on a Demerara sugar run-what a shame! Lucky I got a little taste of Kumuni Creek to ensure my return!
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