Off The Charts In Guyana - Diwali

Diwali float

October 28, 2016
Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights.  We all decided to go into the capitol of Georgetown to experience it.  First we had to get there, not an easy task.  We could fly via the tri-weekly commuter plane that services Baganara Resort.  Sv Inishnee opted for this.  We could take one of the daily river pirogues that depart Bartica frequently.  Or other.  We opted for other.  Our group had to get from Baganara to Bartica.  Once we started inquiring about that, we decided to take our own river pirogue directly down to Parika.  The resort's private pirogue is an open boat.  Not good in a country where daily rain showers happen even in the dry season.  The resort's assistant manager and pirogue driver arranged for us to go with Felix in his enclosed river pirogue.  First, we stopped in Bartica and picked up four local ladies.  So much for our “private” hire.  But this is often the case in the Caribbean, buses, maxi taxi’s, private cars all stop and pick up someone’s wife, daughter, neighbor or such.

Felix our driver

Pirogue drivers are 1/2 way out the top of the boat all the time

Soon enough we were zooming down the river towards Parika.  The river pirogues are an interesting design.  The driver stands in the back.  His lower body is in the boat, from the waist up he is above the boat.  This allows him to see without obstruction but offers little protection from the elements.  There is often an assistant that sits either in the back, or on the front of the boat outside or up top outside. 

We arrived at the bustling river port of Partika about an hour later.  This port is a central loading point for people and goods heading elsewhere in Guyana.  Our little “circus” stuck out like a sore thumb and soon we had a van hired for the drive 45 min into Georgetown.   Mohammad was the “loader” or conductor and Kevin was our driver.  We stopped midway for a refreshment break which of course was a chance to also visit with locals.  Along the way we crossed the Demerara River on what is the longest pontoon bridge in the world.

World's longest pontoon bridge

Busy bus loading intersection

Despite the size, this barber shop was BUSY non-stop

Once we arrived in Georgetown we checked into The Sleep Inn Guesthouse, tossed our bags in Dick and Deb’s room – the rest of the rooms were not ready and headed out to explore.  The first order of business for Captain Mark was to hit the local butcher shop down the street.  He purchased some meat and then the Sleep Inn stored it in their freezer for him until we departed the next day.  We wandered the busy street markets taking it all in.  We found a second floor restaurant and bar (we prefer the second floor for people watching) and regrouped.  Sv Inishnee along with Baganara manager Paul and owner Stuart joined us.  This place was on the corner of a very busy intersection so it was PRIME people watching.  Below was one of the all important bus loading stations.  Numerous conductors (loaders) worked the passing crowds to get their vans filled.  As we quickly learned, to be a good conductor, you can’t be shy.  A few were colorful characters – one would practice his dance moves (break dancing even) in between customers and another with neon sunglasses donned an “anonymous” mask for a bit.  It turned out that the restaurant didn’t actually have food so Mark and Tom went across the street and got a big bucket of fried chicken from Chruches and brought it back up to our second floor view platform.  I could have stayed there all day people watching but it was time to head back to the hotel in preparation for Diwali that night. 

Jim, Kathy, Rich, Stuart, Paul

Stuart and Paul have a house in Georgetown.  They invited us to come over that evening before the parade.  Sv Inishnee was staying with them.  We took two cabs from our hotel to their house – standard in town fare is $500 per cab or $2.50.  Their home is lovely with a big yard. 

Diwali gang

The sun set and we headed out on foot towards the sea wall.  Originally Stuart and Paul thought we needed cabs but as cruisers we convinced them to walk.  Many blocks later we arrived at the sea wall that runs for several miles protecting Georgetown from the ocean. Georgetown is actually built below sea level.  The Dutch were one of the first to colonize Guyana and thus below sea level technology – sea wall, levies, gates and such are employed in Georgetown and the surrounding areas to control the water flow.

See the young woman on top?

The crowds were already gathering with more people pouring in but we found a place on the sea wall and settled in, literally perching ourselves on the wall as a good vantage point for viewing the light parade.  Street vendors were selling food and drink.  Most of the group had hot dogs with the works (including shredded carrots – come on, people put all sorts of strange things on hot dogs in the USA.  Carrots are no weirder).  I found a couple of ladies selling cups of channa with sour sauce.  It turns out sour sauce is very popular.  It’s made of pureed mangoes or cucumbers, garlic, hot pepper, water and seasoning.  Oddly I really like it but I don’t like cucumbers – go figure.  These ladies were also selling polourie – fried dough balls topped with sour sauce.  I bought a bundle to share with the group.  Another vendor came along selling what looked like long breadsticks – it was dark.  These turned out to be two foot pieces of raw sugar cane.  Captain Mark has quite a sweet tooth and happily crunched away on one. 

From our perch, we had the perfect people watching station as we waited for the light parade.  Finally it started.  The parade consisted of cars, trucks and floats covered in lights.  Many were from various Hindu temples or family run businesses.  The Hindu religion is still a bit of a mystery to me but a few common themes in this parade seemed to be a waterlilly, a cobra snake and some sort of Poseidon type tale.  One curious thing was that all the pretty young women on the "floats" didn't smile.  None.  I don't know if it is a cultural thing or a Hindu or Diwali thing.  Perhaps it is not politically correct to smile if you are on a Diwali "float".  In the USA, most young women that end up riding in parades think they are going to be American's Next Top Model or Miss Teen USA so smiles are abundtant.

Many floats had young women in front of the cab or on top of the cab

Check out the front of this truck - how does the driver see?

After the parade we walked back to one of the main streets.  Stuart, Paul and sv Inishnee headed back to the house.  The rest of us caught cabs back to the hotel.  FYI - Our cab driver asked where we were from - "Kansas."  "Ah.....I know of Kansas State University."  We were blown away.  Seems he wanted to be a pig farmer and got a bunch of information online from KSU.  It just goes to show EMAW (Every Man A Wildcat) even in South America.

Power plant

Power plant is attached on this float

For the ride home the next day, Tom and I opted to take the Sunday communter plane back to Baganara Resort with sv Inishnee.  The rest of the group took a standard river pirogue from Parika to Bartica.  Tom and I walked around a bit more, although being Sunday, there was not a lot going on.  We did have a chance to sit in the shade and visit with the local security guard at a pawn and gold mining shop.  Oddly enough, it took a full 2 mins for us to notice the sawed off shotgun in his lap.  But hey, we are Americans!  More on this later when we talk about the mining industry.

The flight home to Baganara was interesting.  It was 35 mins of air time.  We flew over the city of Georgetown and then an area filled with numerous rice fields and finally rainforest.  I was surprised at the rice fields but apparently Guyana has quite a lot of rice production.  Of course after seeing that, I started taking note in the grocery store that all the bags of rice were stamped Product of Guyana.  From a low flying plane, the rainforest looks like clusters of broccoli.  Really!

Flying home to sv Honey Ryder

    

Off The Charts In Guyana - Farm Pond Anchorage

Farm pond anchorage

sv Larus heading out one morning

We are all anchored off Baganara Island Resort.  The river is probably a 3/4 mile or so wide here.  The tidal flow turns us around twice a day.  While we do get some breeze, it is nothing like the average Caribbean anchorage we are used to.  Early morning and late night it dead calm, like a farm pond.

Sunset

Another sunset

OMG – millions of stars.  When was the last time you could really see the Milky Way?  And they twinkle with multiple colors like a small disco ball.  No really.  You can even see the colors with the naked eye.....through the binoculars, it’s disco time!  At first I thought perhaps the star I was watching was a satellite because it was flashing such bright colors.  Then I thought no, maybe it is something else.  “Maybe it is a drone.”  Not your average Joe drone but like a military one.  Hey, it could be.  However, Guyana and surrounding countries are not wealthy countries so chances of a military drone are probably low.  Ok – twinkly star it is.  But why and how?  Not the scientific specifics but in general.  Of course I turned to my brainy, science friends.  “Bruce, why do the stars down here twinkle like disc balls?”  The answer was low light and other pollution along with something about heat radiating up off the rainforest.   Kewl!  Brake out the disco tunes – “Boogie fever!”  

Sunrise

Which brings me to another point, there is very little light pollution at night, even with the resort just ashore.  When the main building (we have taken to calling this The Clubhouse) with the restaurant and bar closes down, they shut off ALL the lights.  And I mean ALL.  Think about that.  When was the last time you drove past a business, any business at night and ALL the lights were shut off?  Never!  Most business are still pretty lit up even when closed.  I bet even your house at night is a series of electronic lights showing time (oven, microwave, coffeemaker) status (satellite or cable service in sleep mode) and a plethora of lights from charging devices.  Well not here.  When they shut down The Clubhouse for the evening, they shut everything down.  Of course power is precious on a remote island and therefore monitored constantly and carefully used.

The Clubhouse

While the water is "fresh" it is not really "fresh."  As I mentioned before, there is runoff, silt and such.  Additionally, there are "creatures" in the water.  The Baganara staff assured us that caiman (alligators), eels and parana are not common around Baganara waters, however we still opted to keep our dips in the river brief since we couldn't even see the third step on our swim ladder let alone our own feet.

    

Off The Charts In Guyana - Our First Adventure - Camping II

We arrived at Rockstone fishing camp mid afternoon.  It was.....rustic.  Actually, it was fine with the exception that the regular bathrooms were Out of Order and as we soon discovered, the backup bathrooms weren't fully functional either.  D-oh.

Do you see Willies fancy mozzie netting?

But regardless, we checked in and set up camp.  Hammock camp.  Yes, we would be sleeping in hammocks.  We knew this might be a possibility before we came to Guyana so I ordered special hammocks with mozzie netting off the internet.  There were two choices for hanging our hammocks 1.)  In the trees 2.) under a house built up on stilts.

Captains Randy and David - boyz camp in the tree

Our hammock camp

Captain Randy and Captain David immediately chose the trees.  The rest of us were unsure.  I was leaning towards the house option because it had a concrete floor and somehow I thought under a house would potentially mean less creepy crawleys.  "Ask Paul.  See where he recommends." I said to Tom.  He came back and said "He is going to put his hammock up under that other house over there.  I say we take his lead and opt for the house."  Okay.  We will do the same.

Willie trying out her hammock

Tom grounded bottom in his hammock

Captain Mark, Admiral Willy, Dick, Deb, Tom and I all headed over to the house to set up camp.  We rearranged the tables and benches and then started setting up our hammocks, most of us for the first time.  Dick had a very nice hammock with complicated mozzie netting.  Tom and I got our hammocks too low the first try.  Captain Mark had purchased fancy mozzie netting for Admiral Willie so that took some doing as well.  In the mean time, a local woman, sort of the caretaker of the camp sat on the steps breastfeeding her child and watching us set up.  I can only imagine what a circus we must have looked like.  FYI - hammocks are a common mode of sleeping in Guyana and I think the rest of South America.

Mozzie netting in place and ready to go

It was all too funny

But soon the hammocks were up.  Then came the real test - we all had to practice getting into and out of our hammocks with their various mozzie netting.  The getting into wasn't the tough part.  It was the getting out of that was a struggle.  Many grunts and groans were heard!  And it was daylight.  What would happen tonight when we finally went to....bed hammock?  It was all pretty funny as we each tried.  One odd note -When I purchased our hammocks off the internet, for whatever reason, most of the pictures of hammocks showed pretty, tiny Asian women as the models lounging in them.  "Awe, don't they look comfortable.  I think I will get that one."   In reality, as I tried to learn the best way to get into and out of my hammock without bodily harm to myself or others, at no point did I ever feel pretty - tiny- or Asian!  Fooled again by marketing.  Go figure!!   

Camp limin'

Camp fire is a MUST regardless of the outside temp

Next we limed/chilled for a little bit, taking it all in.  However, soon it was time for a camp fire.  What?  We were at 5 degrees latitude and 30C+ in temp and we are building a fire?  "Of course!  We are camping.  We must have a fire!  Plus how else are we going to cook our food?"  Good point.  A whole range of fire building activities ensued.  Once the fire was going, Dick and Deb started prepping all the veggies for Captain Mark's brisket and veggie campfire stew.

Sous-chefs Dick and Deb

Road to the crossroads bar

"Hey Paul.  Is that little bar still down the road?" Captain Mark asked.  "Yes."  Six of us plus Paul opted to stretch our legs with a walk down the road to the bar.  It was really just a small shack with a covered area at a dirt crossroads.  A couple of times while we were there,  big army transport type trucks pulled up covered in red mud with the driver dashing in for a couple of roadies to go.  A torrintial down pour kept us for another round.  As soon as it cleared, we departed for the muddy walk back.

Willie told Mark to bring back firewood - nice try Mark

Brisket stew

When we returned with the firewood, Dick and Deb had dinner in the pot and on the fire.  We all sat back from the fire enjoying sunset.  Captains Randy and David had opted for steaks and potatoes for their dinner.  The campfire brisket stew was yummy.

Tom and Mark lay out dinner

Mark fast asleep in his hammock

Captain Mark was the first to hit his hammock.  The others soon followed suit.  It was around cruisers midnight (21:00).  Tom and I don't really do cruisers midnight but rather real midnight so we stayed up, looking the fire, stars and solving the worlds problems.  Finally around midnight (when the rum was gone) we headed to bed hammocks.  We struggled a bit to get into them.  The others were awake and then the giggling started.  It soon turned in to full laughter.  It would die down and we would all be quiet for a minute or two and then someone would chuckle and the giggling and laughing would start all over again.  Hammock camp had turned into Camp Ha Ha.

Tom stiring the fire

Tom crawling out of his hammock the next morning

I slept....okay.  It turns out our hammocks were still too low.  The line stretched and I woke up with my bum touching the floor.  Tom woke up solidily grounded.  It was also a bit weird to sleep with my legs SO straight and slightly up.  The hammocks are slick nylon so they pack up tight as opposed to the big cotton ones, but it also means they are a tad slipperly to sleep in.  There was also a fair amount of snoring going on among the hammocks.  The next day Dick tried to tell me that I was one of the ones snoring.  I told him that might be a possibility but I only believe when I hear myself.  To date I have not, so there you go, I don't snore.

Early morning on the river

Early morning on the river

Captain Randy and David had scrambled eggs with leftover steak and potatoes for breakfast - cooked on the last of the camp fire.  The rest of us had bananas, energy bars and cookies for breakfast.  We enjoyed the morning and then started breaking camp.

Randy cooking breakfast as Mark watches

We loaded back into Paul's boat and headed back down river to Baganara and home to our boats and solid sleeping berths....well sort of.....they move with the boat but less than a hammock....well sort of.

Loading up to head home

Bass Tracker - long way from home

So check out the above pic.  This boat was at the launch when we docked.  Bass Tracker headquarters is in Springfield Missouri.  They are made at several locations around southern Missouri.  Pretty crazy to see one 65 miles up the Essequibo River in Guyana South America.  I sent the company an email with this pic.  I thought they might like to know.  I would if it were my company.