Bon Success!

A week after our arrival in Georgetown, our supposedly imminent departure for Region 1 was hindered by the freakish, London-bus like gathering together of public holidays. Guyana is a very multicultural nation, with the public holidays reflecting this - from Thurs to Monday there was a succession of Islamic, Hindu and Christian holidays, all of which were celebrated.

Declining the opportunity to fly kites, eat hot cross buns and throw coloured dye at each other, we accepted instead an invitation from our very new friends Kathy and Nigel to drive to the south of the country to visit the legendary Rupununi savannahs. The trip started in the small hours of Thursday morning; it took us 13 hours driving at full pelt to cover the 400 miles to south Rupununi. There's only one road running from the north to the south of the country, and currently, south of Linden (a bauxite mining town a third of the way down) its packed red earth with crater like potholes from the massive logging trucks which run up and down it, and which turns to an impassable mudslide in the rainy season.

Historically some of the road's route is based on the cattle route from Dadanawa ranch in the south (where we were headed) to Georgetown. As a route, this was heavy going, with up to 40% dying in the rainforest on the way. In terms of the road's future, Brazil is just completing a major bridge at the border in Lethem, and has plans to get funding to tarmac the road through to Georgetown, as a means of export. This will mean huge changes for Guyana, with maybe a big shift in continental outlook - currently its strongly aligned with the Caribbean.

Dadanawa Ranch has been managed for the past four decades by Duane de Freitas and his wife Sandy, who regaled us with some amazing stories about their lives there. Its absolutely huge - 1,700 square miles - and farms thousands of head of cattle, which basically roam free on the ranch, rounded up twice yearly by the vaqueros (cowboys) for a head count. The ranch is not at all South Fork - its truly wild, wide open savannah with cattle roaming freely for miles on end. The houses (like many in Guyana) are on stilts - good for the floods in rainy season, and very elegant looking and airy. Its a real outback lifestyle - the nearest town, Lethem, is 2 1/2 hours away by track, if the road is good.

Sandy and Duane are real children of the 60's, living sustainably raising what is effectively free range, organic beef (absolutely delicious, Sandy served us filet with very fancy farine on our first night), running an eco-friendly tour-guide business on the side (Duane knows the rivers of the country like the back of his hand) and both disdaining to wear shoes in some of the most unhospitable terrain imaginable. Quite strangely, there is a huge divide in the country - almost no-one in Georgetown has visited the Rupununi, or Mabaruma in Region 1 where we are posted. This is partly economics and logistics - travel is hard and expensive, which makes it difficult for many - but also its cultural - Georgetown is seen as the epicentre of all that is happening, which is a shame, as what we saw of the savannah was just beautiful.

We spent 2 days on Dadanawa; over breakfast on day 1 we had a tornado, followed rather magically by the arrival of an "anthropologist" who had "run out of fuel". Theories abounded as to the power of satellite technology tracking our diplomatic plates heading where no cars go.... We concluded that "Jo" from Hawaii University (!) was actually a spy. Maybe we were a little paranoid, maybe the solitude was getting to us, but it did seem a little weird. Other highlights - Duane showed us some petroglyphs (rock etchings) in the middle of the savannah; we climbed Shea Rock, the Ayers rock of the Rupununi; we met Duane's pet otter (he's raising it for the Florida Zoo) and we saw the pelt of their pet jaguar which just outgrew them... Duane showed us what was more disgusting than an anaconda ingesting a boa constrictor - and thats an anaconda spitting it out again. Just some footage he shot while out in the bush. The stuff of nightmares, truly.

We drove home taking in the rodeo at Rupununi - where we unfortunately saw one rider take a really painful fall, face first into the dust. Next morning we visited the canopy walkway in the rainforest at Iwokrama - a rope and aluminium walkway hundreds of feet above and in the canopy of the rainforest, very beautiful and peaceful and also a bit alarming as it sways and creaks under you.

In case you're wondering, Bon Success was the original name for Lethem, the border town with Brazil. We gleaned this from Evelyn Waugh's very funny book, 92 Days, where coincidentally, he follwed almost precisely the route we just did. It took him a lot longer, but quite amazingly, so much of what he wrote about the environment and the culture here still remains true today.

Our love to you all, we're having fun, but we miss you XXX

Who are the Amerindians?

"....the more I saw of Indians, the greater I was struck by their similarity to the English.
They like living with their own families at great distances from their neighbours; they regard strangers with suspicion and despair; they are unprogressive and unambitious, fond of pets, hunting and fishing; they are undemonstrative in love, unwarlike, morbidly modest; their chief aim seems to be on all occasions to render themselves inconspicuous."
Evelyn Waugh, 92 Days - Travels in Guiana and Brazil, pub: 1934

Getting thru'

Welcome to our blog! Here's a little introduction to what we're aiming to do here....

Sam: A year ago I completed a 3 month course in Tropical Medicine at the London School with the aim of using it- with my GP knowledge- to work in the developing world. Aim: part altruism, part academic interest, but largely just a great way to immerse oneself in a foreign culture without having to open a beach bar.

Becs: Through a process of four degrees of separation (thanks Fania, Maradowa and Sarah) we found Guyana welcomed us with open arms. The combination of Latin American climate, Carribbean culture, English as the first language and the serendipity of the regional arts festival 'Carifesta' being hosted here this August made for an irresistible prospect.

Sam: Fast forward months of preparation and 10 days of intensive meeting and greeting here's where we're at: next week we will be flying out to Mabaruma, a settlement in the North West region. Though only 200km as the crow flies from Georgetown we are told it is very remote, with very limited transport (some journeys require all 3 of car, boat and foot). It is populated sparsely by Amerindian peoples.

Becs: What we'll be doing: Sam has been tasked by the charming Minister of Health (Dr Ramsammy) to spend his time working with local healthcare practitioners- called Medex's. He will spend his days as a roaming GP conducting outreach clinics in tandem with the local Medex and skill sharing. We're hoping his daily commute will be by dugout canoe, which will make a change from London cycling.

Sam: As for Becs, she will be working with local Amerindian groups to develop their own 'edutainment' pieces, the aim being to transmit public health issues to their local communities through theatre, dance and song. It's going to be a bit of an experiment in a something called Applied Theatre, and there are plenty of thorny socio-medical issues to base it around.

Becs: Before the hard work begins, though, we have been invited to visit a vast cattle ranch near Lethem on the Brazilian border. The scenery and wildlife are said to be spectacular, so we'll try and get some pictures up for all to see.

Bless up xx