Cricket, tea, crime and manatees

Lethem Highstreet

The 'guesthouse' Jimmy recommended turns out to be a little wooden dwelling, owned by two elderly black ladies who seemed more than a bit bemused to have a couple of gringos pitch up at their door. Although they were game enough to say yes they had a room Marilyn suddenly became assertive and demanded a proper hotel.

Met Terry V in the bar, a business man waiting for his lorry to arrive from Brazil - it was already a week late. Terry knows Jimmy and told us that the hotel he recommended in George Town rents rooms by the hour. Terry was not only great company but picked up the bar bill, booked us a good hotel in George Town and seemed to know everyone. The next day when everyone was having their bags searched the customs guy said 'you are Terry's Friends' and waved us through.

The 13 seater plane for Georgetown was full for the next 5 days so we decided to go overland. There is only one road, little more than a jungle track.

14 of us crammed into a Toyota mini bus together with our luggage and lots of strange boxes. After driving all of 100 yds we get out to be questioned by the police. Another 100 yds and everything has to be taken off for customs. Its taken an hour and we are not yet out of town

While are waiting a strange guy appears as if from nowhere. He looks as if he has just come out of the jungle and probably has. He has trinkets made out of endangered animals including a necklace made from Jaguar teeth. When I say something about killing animals he says. 'I don't I just buy from the people who do the killing' As if this makes it OK

After 4 hours driving we stop, rent a hammock and set them up in a clearing in the jungle. We have to wait until a river ferry starts at 6am.

We eventually arrived in Georgetown at 9pm, 27 hours after we started out.

It was an exhilarating journey through isolated, stunning countryside - for 10 hours we didn't see another vehicle. We have to go to 6 different police checkpoints.

Fuel stop

The other passengers were good company. At one stage we had a Carib evangelist christian debating with a jew who is married to muslem, while a hindu snored loudly between them

Marilyn spent her birthday in a van

Georgetown is a fascinating place. Full of wonderful, colonial buildings. Most of them falling to bits but some of the Government buildings are beautifully restored. The cathedral is the tallest wooden structure in the world.


Georgetown's big problem is crime, its a very dangerous place. The locals get taxis at night, even if they are just going a couple of blocks from a restaurant to a bar. Added to this is the climate of fear generated by Rondell Fineman Railings and his gang. He has attacked two police stations, killing the police and stealing weapons. They then go on a shooting rampage killing over 30 people so far. No one knows where they will strike next.

The army found an illegal air strip used by Fineman but had to borrow a helicopter from Trinidad to get to it. This really is a very poor country. One of the papers had an article about the need to boost the air force. Apparently they have plenty of pilots but no planes.

Guyana is a strange place. Very English, they drive on the left, drink tea, play cricket and sell Marmite but also very alien. We can actually understand more Spanish than their version of Creole English

Although we loved Georgetown and its people we felt that after 3 days it was time to leave before our luck ran out

Finally got to see Anacondas but only in a zoo. They are frightening creatures. I cant believe we stood in water while a guy poked around with a stick

In a pond outside the zoo you can actually feed manatees by hand

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