Travel Diary - Day Thirty Seven

Day Thirty Seven – Even Hotter!!!
Monday 05 Oct 09
An early start to get into Georgetown to do some things before it got too hot. Just as well because by the time 9am rolled around I am quite sure we had the hottest day since I have been in the country. The heat was rolling in waves from the sun, from the road, from pretty much everywhere. As long as you keep moving its bearable, but as soon as you slow to a stop it is like being physically assaulted from every direction. Quite amazing! I was gift shopping and looking for a shirt for me. I want to get a Guyanese shirt that fits me - actually not an easy task since in most crowds I can see over the top of pretty much everyone in the crowd. There are some very tall Guyanese, taller than me, but they are rare and generally a fairly fine build.

Anyway, the first thing on the agenda was a hat - in two days I have lost two hats!! They are the only thing I have lost or left behind anywhere on my trip and to do it twice in two days is just annoying. It's not like they are all that expensive to replace, it is just the annoyance of having to go through the process, bargaining with vendors over what they are going to charge me for a little piece of material to put on my head. Finally I found what I was looking for at a price I was prepared to pay - sometimes you have to just call their bluff and walk away. From there I set out on my hunt. I found one thing I was looking for quite quickly before spending the next couple of hours going through shop after shop without coming up with anything I liked the look of. I did find a shirt I liked for me, but they didn't have my size, grrr. Then I found something I rather liked for one gift and worked out what I would get for the other and I was happy at that point. I found a cool place to sit and bought a Mango Madness from JRs. I rather like mangoes here in Guyana, they are soft, juicy, and the flavour is amazing. The Mango Madness is a smoothie with a heap of mango in it and it tastes great.

By the time I was done I needed to get back to Plaisance because I was being taken fishing. I got back, had some lunch and then wandered down to the church to meet Dwayne and the others. Just before I left I decided to get my umbrella. Good call!! I met Dwayne, Delicia, Eon, Gavin and Eon's little sister and we set off with our sticks with a little line, a piece of jandal as a float and small hook attached, an old dried milk tin for any fish we caught, a container of worms and a bit of flour.

The sun by now was just something else. The road is unpaved and very dusty and the heat is just unbelievable. Out came my umbrella to at least reduce the amount of sun I was getting. It helped, but not much. We only had to go about 2km but it would have to be one of the longer 2km I have walked. We went down through the cane fields, past the irrigation canals and finally came to a junction of canals and bridges. Fortunately there was a small tree there that provided a little shade. We put down our stuff got our hooks baited and sat back to wait.

Well it was just one of those sessions of fishing where the real pleasure was in being there because we never caught a thing. But we had lots of laughs, Eon and Gavin went fishing, Delicia, who hated the idea of a live fish flopping all over the place sat around and had an occasional go. I say occasional for all of them because there wasn't really any commitment to actually fishing, it was way more about the experience and just being there. Works for me - I had a lovely time :-)

After we had been there for a while the sugar cane punts began going past. The punts are small barges loaded with cane bound for the sugar mill. The punts are joined together by chains and pulled along by a tractor on the road next to the canal. The tractor is followed by a man walking along lifting the towing chain over various obstacles that come along over the journey. It is a slow and fairly inefficient process but seems to get the job done. I can't see how it would work if the volumes were increased significantly. If there is one thing Guyana needs to do it is increase the volume and value of its exports and that means sugar in the first instance. Quite frankly the infrastructure, and I suspect the desire is just lacking.

It was fascinating to see the process happening and a bit of a laugh, if a slightly dangerous one, to see Gavin and Eon jumping in the water behind the punts and getting a free ride - not fast enough for skiing but fun none the less. Of course the punts did nothing for our chances of catching any fish, and to be honest the middle of the day is hardly the best time to catching fish anyway. So one of the ways we amused ourselves was the boys grabbed some cane off on of the punts and we stripped it and chewed on it. Not bad, although I suspect the fresh cane before it is burnt would be a little better. (they burn the cane before it is harvested to get rid of snakes and rats) The cane itself is only singed but having seen the clouds of smoke from the fields being burnt I suspect the vermin have a rather rough time of it.

We finally packed up and headed back. By now the sun had lowered a little in the sky and it was nowhere near as hot as it had been. A definite relief. I stopped off at Harry's place to get some bits and then wandered down past the church to go to use the internet. When I got back to the church Dwayne was getting all excited about the bushcook we were going to be having. It was supposed to be supported by the fish we were to have caught but in the end it was a frozen chicken that provided the protein.

Ahhh, now bushcook, a Guyanese tradition. Take what you have, toss it in a pot and cook it up. But here's the kicker, you just grab whatever wood you can find around, grab some blocks and light a fire in the church yard. Don't worry about the possibility of fire spreading in hot and dry surroundings, or about the mess on the ground, or anything else. Sit around the fire, talk, joke and have a great time. One of the mothers came down to oversee the cooking, something I was most pleased about. She cooks professionally and definitely knew what she was doing. She was also a laugh a minute and constantly coming up with new and sometimes bizarre ways for me to experience the real Guyana. We had a hoot. Meanwhile the youth group were wandering around doing their own thing, waiting for dinner. Dwayne was clearly hungry and it was a hoot watching him trying to hurry the process along any way he could.

Having been days without rain the rain came right on cue, just as we were going inside to eat. It was good to feel the temperature drop a little, if only briefly before the humidity went through the roof. The food was great and the kids had lots of fun. I was really impressed at how Dwayne was with the young people - he is very, very good at what he does!!! I also got to watch one of the girls having her hair braided. What a process, but good to see how the girls get their hair looking like it does. It is really quite cool seeing all the differing styles and designs and something we see very little in NZ. I'm thinking Ian could get his hair done like that - its certainly frizzy enough :-)

By the time I got home I was wasted, not helped by having been walking all day on a sore foot and having a bit of a sore throat as well. But a great day and definitely ready for sleep.