Georgetown

We had a bus tour of Georgetown, getting off at various points such as the sea wall and the mudflats at low tide with scarlet ibises, great egrets, and herons. In the National Park, we fed manatees. In the Independence Park, we saw a monument to the 1823 revolt by the slaves which King Charles visited a few weeks later. He and we also saw the Victorian bandstand near the Seawall Esplanade.
We went inside the Museum of Natural History which is housed in one of the stylish colonial buildings. We also visited the Museum of Anthropology which had an interesting display of maps showing the different claims by Venezuela and Britain to parts of Guyana and Venezuela in the 19th century.
We walked past the impressive cathedral which claims to be the tallest free-standing building in South America. We drove past the busy local market where many minibuses were parked, waiting for passengers, there being no public transport.
I bought the same postcard of the Kaiteur Falls for three different prices; 200, 300 and 500 Guyanan Dollars plus stamps at 120 each. The Pound was worth 265 Dollars.
I had a beer in the Members' Pavilion at the historic Bourdha Cricket Ground, one of many grounds in Georgetown. There is a photo of Gooch bating at Chelmsford, and Hutton, Snow and Atherton appear on the honours' boards. There hasn't been a Test Match there since the early years of the century but local cricket is still played there in front of the stand named after Rohan Kanhai. Hockey is also played there. There is a small astro practice area but there is no astro pitch in the country.
We had lunch at Shanta's, and I had a snapper curry with dhal and sorrel.
I had a salad for dinner at the Cara Lodge.
There were many traffic jams, having a car being one of the first item people buy when they can afford it, and more people can now that Guyana is an oil economy although there was little sign of this in the city. There are few pavements to cover the open drains which flow into the canals which crisscross the city.
The slogan, One Guyana, was prominent, part of an attempt to bind the different communities together. Guyana is a Cooperative Republic in which all communities should cooperate.Read more