Too Dangerous!?

A friend told me about a documentary that was on television in Australia, recently, that was all about Guyana. When it came to Bartica, they didn’t venture here because they considered it to be too dangerous. Well I have been living in Bartica for about six weeks now, so let’s see what impression I have of the place.

Bartica is like many places around the world with a fascination for cows. The only difference here is that the cows are real! Yes, the animals are one of the first things that make an impression on you, especially the cows, as they roam around the town. At night you have to be very careful where you walk because you never know what you may step in. The morning after, you quite clearly see the evidence of where the cows must have been having a party the night before. I even saw a cow and a bull coming out of the outside seating area of a local store, having, well, a ‘good time’ is one way to describe it. But cows aren’t the only animals to watch out for. There are the goats, cats, donkeys and horses (but not pigs strangely enough) but it is the dogs at night you have to watch. Quite placid during the day, at night they form gangs, making sneaking home without anyone knowing next to impossible.

Then there are the cars. The volume of traffic is a recent phenomenon, I have been told, as has been the sealing of the roads. Generally things move slowly, partly thanks to the animals, but generally aren’t any real footpaths, so people walk along the edge of the road. That doesn’t stop the usual ‘young fellas’ you get anywhere, who like to speed around way too fast. At the moment, I would have to say I am losing the game of chicken as I keep getting off the road as cars approach, but slowly I am gaining more confidence to try to stay on.

And so we move on to the nightlife. At this stage, I have not been able to determine whether there are more places of worship of the religious sense, or places of worship of the ‘looking for a good time’ sense. Up along Third Street, which I have also heard referred to as ‘Stelling Street’ as it starts at the stelling, but that could be a volunteer thing – yet to determine that fact as well (Note – Stelling is the port area – I have never heard the word before and yet to find any reference to it.), seems to have a lot of action with a number of bars pumping out music, bench seating and Banks beer – 4 or 5 for a thousand dollars. We do in fact buy our beer in bulk when we go out, which usually means you have to go a few rounds to get it all even. Going out for one beer, can quickly turn into five (which I am now calling one Bartician beer!). The matter can be further complicated by someone on the other side of the bar, shouting your whole group a round (which has also happened a number of times in Georgetown). So things can quickly spiral out of control. It’s no wonder this is known as ‘party town’. You certainly know when you have arrived in Bartica!

But not everything happens at night. Your days can also be filled with music, as people in their cars, houses, and even walking along the edge of the road can have some sort of music blaring, perhaps a little too loud with some of the distortion you can hear. When it is local styles, such as Soca or Chutney (yes that is a music style, check out VSO Raquel’s blog featuring Dan as a guest blogger http://raquelvso.blogspot.com/ for the in’s and out’s of it all), it is fine, but I am struggling with the 80s power ballads and Canada has a lot to answer for, thanks to Celine Dion! (Please don’t let her die while I am here – the tributes and constant ‘turnstiling’ would just be too much!!). And the locals just love to sing at the top of their voices. It does not seem to matter who is around, or whether you can actually sing.

Finally there is the location, where the Cuyuni flows into the Mazaruni, into the Essequibo, and the river is wide here. Looking downstream you can see islands covered in lush rainforest of in the distance. It’s the river equivalent of Thailand’s coast. In fact, despite being an hour-and-a-half from the coast, by speedboat, the major way to get here, the river is actually tidal here. If I am ever having a bit of a downer, I just need to look at an island in the river to realise that I am somewhere special.

So ‘too dangerous’? I might be naïve but I aint seeing it!!