The journey begins...

Greetings from Guyana, as I write my first blog entry. I was actually going to go shopping but the breeze has just picked up, blowing everything around my room meaning a torrential downpour is imminent. We were hit by a torrential downpour, yesterday, as we drove in from the airport. The surprise wasn’t how quickly and heavy it set in, but rather, how quickly and suddenly it stopped.

So it is Day 2 and I feel a bit more awake after 15 hours sleep. It was a long trip over from Australia with three flights, Melbourne to LA, LA to New York and then finally New York to Georgetown. There was another volunteer on the flights plus another couple of friends ‘just happened’ to be on the flight from Melbourne to LA; not that we got to talk that much as the aisle was not wide on the plane and I kept blocking it, to the frustration of the crew.

The trip over resulted in a movie marathon (seven movies) and only about two-and-a-half hours sleep. Yesterday, I tried to stay awake until the evening but by four, I crashed, was woken up at six in the evening, ate something, and then crashed again. Initially I woke up again at midnight, much to my frustration but was soon back asleep. At four-thirty I was woken up again to the sound of what I thought was construction at the site next door to my room, but it turned out only to be a pile of wood falling, much to my relief. From then on, I slept through. It was nice to be able to be flat and stretch out again.

The highlight of the trip was definitely the stop in New York. We had about six hours to kill, so my friend, Chris, came out to the airport. After checking in for the next flight, we made our way into town.

So a quick tour of New York was on the cards: dinner at a vegan Korean restaurant (never thought I would put those words together), seeing the Empire State, Chrysler Building, a walk through Grand Central Station, along Broadway and down to Times Square. We even got to see a real crime scene, which they were sealing off with genuine yellow police tape. You get it all in New York. After saying our good-byes to Chris and Walt (her husband) we made our way back to the airport but got stuck in a traffic jam, so a half-hour trip took about eighty minutes. We were entertained by a series of advertisements, comedy sketches and news items in the cab (a screen in the back for passengers) but it was on a short cycle. We quickly new all the answers to the jeopardy questions and the comedy sketch, wasn’t so funny, the seventh time!

Okay, so back to Guyana - what is my first impression? It is very, very good. Yes it is hot, but there is generally a breeze, which keeps you cool. You just need to remember to move at a slower pace. There is a lot less rubbish around then I was expecting as well. Interesting architecture in Georgetown, where I will be based for the next week as I complete my in-country orientation. There are lots of wooden buildings about three stories high (we are staying a couple of blocks away from the very impressive, wooden St George’s Cathedral, the usual shot you see when reference is made to Guyana, especially Georgetown) and beautifully lined streets with tall flowering trees and the footpath down the centre. This is referred to as a garden city after all. ‘And the food’ you may be asking? It’s sensational. Yesterday, we had this chickpea dish that had so much flavour and we sampled some fruits we had never had before (local cherries – used for juice with lots of sugar added – sugar is essential, it’s very sour – and a mammy fruit - it was very, very, VERY good). Being vegetarian will not be very hard, although I am surprised to find soy milk from South Africa. So all up, I am extremely happy to be here.

Well the rain seems to have died down, so it is time to do a bit more exploring…