Off The Charts In Guyana - The Quarry Falls

The quarry falls - pic by Nancy

"You like these falls (Marshall Falls), tomorrow I can take you to some other falls if you like?"  Sean said to Mark while soaking in the refreshing water.  "Okay."   And just like that we had our next adventure.

The circus

This time the bulk of our cruising circus decided to go.  Once again Sean, Victoria and Kevin picked us up at our sailboats.  And once again we stopped in Bartica to fuel up - blog posting coming on refueling....I promise.

The quarry

We headed up the Mazaruni River, past the prison island to a large quarry.  However, quickly we were shuffled back onto the pirogue.  It seems we landed at the wrong place.  We needed to go around to the office, so we did.  A manager was called and he huffed and puffed to Sean about protocol and proper this and that.  Then he turned to our circus of cruisers and said firmly "Who is the leader of your group?"  We all sat frozen and no one said a word.  We were each silently trying to decide "Should I volunteer or should I volunteer someone else?!"  After what seemed like 15 seconds or so, Tim finally said "Well, I guess I can be the leader."  He was sitting closest to where the manager was standing.  The manager once again nicely flexed his verbal muscles by saying some official mumbo/jumbo/blah/blah/blah and then the phrase that caught all our attention.... "private property so you don't all want to go to jail, etc....." to which Tim's eyes got big.....I bet he was thinking "Damned!  Why did I volunteer!"  Anyway, he finished showing us he was the manager and then called for transportation.  Five minutes later a nice, big, air conditioned bus rolled up with loud soca playing.  Woo hoo.....off to the falls we went in comfort!  Note - It seems the falls are on quarry property.  They allow the public to go but there is some protocol to it.  Sean had called ahead and all but this manager just wanted to be sure we knew who was in charge.

The circus soaking - pic by Nancy

The quarry falls are more like a cascade of water but still refreshing.  It had the same red tint as the water at Marshall Falls.  There was a food/beverage booth and shaded picnic stands.

Some of the circus in the shade of a picnic stand

Tom and Sean chatting it up

We all piled in the water for a cool soak.

Tom chillin' - pic by Nancy

Willie enjoying the water - pic by Nancy

It happened that today the food and beverage stand only had beverages...no food.  After awhile our tummies told us it was time to go in search of food.

Itaballi Community Center

Mark suggested the ferry crossing at Itaballi, just a cross the river and up a bit.  Bingo!  So we dried off, loaded on the bus back down to the office, loaded on the pirogue and then promptly got drenched by a passing rain shower.  Oh well.  As cruisers, we are used to wet boat rides of all sorts.

The main road in Itaballi

The cruisers circus comes to town

As I mentioned before, this small place is truly a crossroad in Guyana.  I knew it would be interesting the first time I saw it.

Susan's place

We wondered the main road and found a place we could all sit down and eat - Susan's.  She has lo mein and chicken, chicken and chips, and cookup and chicken.  FYI - cookup is a Guyanese dish of rice and peas cooked in coconut milk.

Susan - sorry it is blurry

Tummies full we piled back into the pirogue and headed home to our boats.