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Five of us went ‘camping’ to Hot and Cold Lake last weekend, and I think it was one of the most peaceful and relaxing weekends that I’ve had since we’ve been in Guyana.
It was about a three hour trip to get there by minibus-speedboat-minibus. The speedboat ride took us across the mighty Essequibo river, which is 20km wide. There are around 365 islands in the river and I kept having to remind myself that we were actually on a river because it is so huge. I can’t imagine what the Amazon would be like. We were a bit concerned because it rained for the whole boat ride, but that was the only rain that fell on the weekend.

We set up our hammocks in the benabs and spent the day swimming, reading, and relaxing. We gathered wood in preparation for the evening campfire. I think it was the first time ever that I sat around the campfire and had to move away because it was so hot outside! Surprisingly there were very few mosquitoes – Nick even slept in his hammock without using his mosquito net. What there were a lot of was ants. We interrupted ant highways and tunnels all over the ground, the benabs, the chairs, tables, everywhere!

I’ve never slept in a hammock before and, though it was reasonably comfortable at the time, my low back was sore for a couple of days afterwards.

We were disappointed to come back to the hussle of Georgetown, but made good time on the trip home. Our minibus (15 passenger van) was packed to the nuts with 21 passengers and a live chicken!

We’ve officially decided to do a 5 day trek in March to see Kaiteur Falls, the tourism highlight of Guyana, so we’re excited to be organizing that. 7 weeks to go in Guyana!

Love DawnO

Hello everyone. As promised here is my birthday blog. Saturday started in a normal fashion. We did our shopping and spent the majority of the day in the kitchen. Dawn was busy making salads and my cake. I purchased a gigantic 1.5lb sirloin steak for only $340 which works out to about $1.75 CDN.

The party started at 4pm at Nick and Meg’s. Nick was in Miami so Meg took charge of the grill. People arrived, rum was poured and food was grilled. Unfortunately my steak wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever had (not due to cooking, due to cow). It seems Alberta beef has spoiled me. The rest of the food was fantastic, and the cake was no exception. Well done, DawnO.

At 9:30 people started to disperse. The ones that were in for the long haul accompanied me to “Nuclear”, the karaoke bar. When we got there we discovered that it wasn’t karaoke night, so we persuaded them to break out the hardware anyway. DawnO rallied the female troops together for a rendition of “Girls just wanna have fun”, and I tried my luck at a Beatles tune.

Afterwards we headed back to Meg’s for a late night Chinese food order. At 3am, I fell into a cab and headed home.

Here are some more pics.

Hi everyone!

This is just a quick note because I really don’t have much to say but I feel like I need to post something new. I had big plans to post a new video of me riding to work. The video was made, but upon further review, I agreed with Dawn that it was quite boring. Instead here’s an update on what we’re up to this weekend.

Tomorrow is my birthday! I’ll be officially in my late twenties. That’s right, I’ll be 29. So to celebrate we’re having a party and Nick and Meg’s. Nick made a BBQ out of bricks and things. We used it last weekend and it was quite brilliant! Unfortunately, Nick won’t be here as someone found him a ticket to the Superbowl. Afterwards we’re heading to the karaoke bar for some entertainment.

Anyway, I promise to post pictures of the big day. Hopefully I’ll have something more to blog about.

hello,

as mentioned before, one of the projects that i initiated here in Guyana was to try to make the bathrooms and dining areas of the Palms Geriatric Home accessible for the residents. i am pleased to say that yesterday i did the final walk through and paid the contractor for the work, so it’s officially done! i have heard lots of positive feedback from residents and staff about the changes, and it has been really amazing to see people sitting outside for the first time in years.

The final count of changes is:
– 3 new ramps built
– 3 ramps reconstructed or repaired
– 13 handrails installed
– 3 bathroom entranceways repaired
– 4 shower grab bars installed

the funding for all of these renovations came from the Guyanese Canadian Cultural Association (GCCA). thank you to them for making such an amazing contribution to the lives of the residents at the Palms.

here are some highlights of before and after pictures:






as for other work news, i just had my mid-way evaluation, and am feeling really on track for all of my goals and objectives here. i just started running cardiac education groups for patients on the wards of the hospital, weekly exercise groups have been going for 11 weeks now at uncle eddie’s geriatric home, and yesterday i did an inservice on arthritis, energy conservation, and joint protection for the rehab assistants. lots more to come!

we don’t have any big plans for this weekend – a couple movies to watch, visiting with friends, nacho night, maybe a trip to a black water creek. we’ve been working on planning our travels for when we’re finished our volunteer placement, which has been really exciting!

hello!
it’s been a long time since i’ve gotten the chance to blog. i was tempted to call robO a blog-hog but it is much easier for him to blog, given that he has internet access at work.

i thought i would fill you in on a typical day here in Georgetown.

i would never have called myself a morning person in Canada, but here in Guyana i am a classic morning person (and i love it). each morning we are woken up about 6:15 by a variety of things:dogs barking, the bright sunlight, sweat-inducing heat, the neighbour sweeping the cement or ‘cutting the grass’ outside with a machette, etc. i have been jumping out of bed and doing a morning yoga practice.
we’ve got enough time to have a nice breakfast and an icy shower, and robO even irons his shirts before we head to work.

it takes 5-7 minutes for us both to cycle to work, avoiding crazy drivers and mini-buses along the way. it’s been the rainy season, so sometimes it’s pouring when we are ready to leave. in our initial months here we would have rushed out with our raincoats and umbrellas to be sure to arrive at work on time. but now, we’ve adopted a few of the Guyanese strategies and we wait until the downpour has tapered before we leave. rain is a very reasonable and acceptable excuse for being late for anything here.

we get home from work anytime between 3:00 and 4:45, depending on the day. i have been loving trying new recipes and cooking Guyanese food for supper. after a really fast clean up (a futile attempt to deter mice and ants), we’re ready for our evening activities.

mondays i have been teaching a beginner yoga class for fellow volunteers. robO goes to no-ga, a rum and discussion group. thursday nights we go to sign language class, also run by our volunteer friends. other nights are spent reading under the mosquito net, watching illegally copied movies on our laptop, going for drinks with friends, or trying to learn some spanish.

when we stay home in the evenings, i’m embarassed to say that we have a bedtime of 8:30. there are many reasons for this: it’s pitch black at 6pm, so it seems later than it really is, the sun and heat are exhausting, most of the time we are under the mosquito net anyway…
one of my favorite parts of our week is saturday mornings when we go to the market and grocery store. the grocery stores are sort of like what we are used to at home except for the high prices for imported american foods and the lack of organization and order. i’ve learned that if i see something i want i should buy it right away because who knows if it can be found anywhere in Georgetown the next day.

the market was overwhelming at first, but we’ve definitely gotten the hang of it. there is some bartering involved, and it’s always interesting to see what fruits are going to be in season (and therefore super cheap) each week. this week we got 7 mangoes for $200 (about 1 US dollar).

now for a brief mouse update. up to this weekend, we had caught 4 mice in a trap and found 2 mysteriously dead in our kitchen. though we had not seen any evidence of more rodents, we bought a pack of poison ‘in case’. over the course of 2 days ALL of the poison pellets had disappeared, including when we used them as bait on the trap. yesterday i bought that sticky paper, and we set up an elaborate triple threat: poison as bait on the trap, surrounded by sticky paper. within 5 minutes we had caught a mouse on the sticky paper. the celebrations didn’t last long when we realized that we would have to deal with disposal! luckily our neighbour was willing to assist. today we have so far been outsmarted, though we have each seen the enemy (rob actually saw it jump over one sticky paper trap). Aarggggh.

stay tuned for an update on my renovation project!

One of the best things about being here in Guyana is the friends that we’ve made. This blog is a story about our friends from Chicago, Nick and Meg.

Nick is a Chicago Bears season ticket holder and would go to every game with one of his brothers. When he left home for Guyana, his other brother took over his ticket and Nick had to follow his team by either talking a bartender into finding the game on the satellite, or by listening online at an internet café. Last Sunday the Bears made it one step closer to the Superbowl and this sent Meg into action.

Monday morning found Meg writing her old colleagues and friends, just to see if it was even possible to find Nick a ticket to the next game (which will determine if the Bears are in the Superbowl or not). Tuesday morning she got her answer. Her old boss had come through and a ticket had materialized. As Meg frantically booked Nick a flight home she received another email from her friend at the Chicago Sun-Times. Not only would Nick be going to the game, but the newspaper was interested in writing a little story about him in Friday’s paper.

With everything booked and ready to go she waited until Wednesday night to tell Nick that he wouldn’t be going to work on Friday or Monday. Instead he would be flying home to spend the weekend with his family and go to the big game with his 2 brothers. She was going to wait until Thursday night to tell him, but he had a phone interview to do for the Chicago Sun-Times so she thought he should be prepared.

Last night Nick found out that another volunteer, Blake, had used his airline points to upgrade his American flights to first class. Could it get any better?

This morning at 2:00 am, Nick, who probably wasn’t sleeping anyway, got up and headed to the Georgetown airport. I can picture him right now in his recliner, sipping his champagne, enjoying the feel of his airline slippers and wondering just how the hell he’s going to repay his wife. It’s at this time the flight attendant will slip him a copy of this morning’s Chicago Sun-Times to look at. Staring back at him on the front page will be the headline, “Wife of the Year,” and a picture they took in their backyard only yesterday.

To read the news article, click here

To watch the NBC5 news broadcast, click here

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about the Canadian High Commission Party. Well, it was really great. We were one of the first to arrive to the gates which had 2 guards. The house itself was very large and very fancy. They had people in bow ties serving drinks and appetizers, but the fanciest thing of all was the fact that the bathroom sink had working hot water. It was magical.

We met a lot of great people including our “internet stalker,” Catherine. A while ago Catherine had commented on our blog and has been a faithful reader throughout our time here. It made for some very awkward conversation because she knew all about us and we knew very little about her. We laughed about it because it really is a silly thing. To read what she thought of our weird encounter, click here and find her January 12th blog titled, “the reception”.

Over the weekend Dawn, myself, and the rest of the VSO volunteers went to Corriverton for a birthday celebration. Our friend Cheryl is doing her placement there so we all decided to go for a weekend getaway.

The highlight for me was definitely the beach where we spent most of our Saturday. I played cricket for the first time ever and it was a lot of fun until I rolled my ankle and had to wrap my foot in ice. I did score points on the play, thank you very much. It wasn’t until later I realized, we weren’t keeping score anyway. The good news is, this newly acquired disability afforded me time to take pictures!

Tonight we will be at our first official Canadian function. We have been invited to the Canadian High Commissioner’s house to rub elbows with fellow Canucks. Apparently some Canadian politicians are in Guyana so they’re throwing a bit of a party. The dress is “Elegantly Casual” so I am at a loss of what to wear. I’ll probably just bust out my Jesus Tee and borrow a sun dress from Dawn and everything will come together.

We will be in the mood for a good celebration because today also marks our halfway point in our VSO placements. We still have a few months of traveling to look forward to before we head home though. We’re starting by going to Trinidad/Tobago for a week or so before heading to Venezuela to meet both sets of our parents. Afterwards we’re going to Peru and Ecuador (including the Galapagos Islands). It’s as if there’s already a plan or something. Hmmmm. The first 3 months has been a blur and I have a feeling these next 3 are going to go by just as quickly.

In other news, Dawn surprised me the other night with her super date for me. She got people from home to send supplies, and from what I understand it was quite and elaborate process that started in November. In the end I was treated to an episode of Hockey Night in Canada featuring my Vancouver Canucks. They beat the worthless and weak Minnesota Wild 2-1. She also managed to create a Skor Blizzard for me to feast on while we watched the game under our mosquito net. I was enjoying the low-fi Medicine Hat commercials almost as much as the game. Best date ever.

I don’t have any pictures of my own to post so I scammed one from fellow volunteers who did a 5 day hike over Christmas. Dawn and I are planning on doing it ourselves in May. I wasn’t into it until I saw their pictures. I feel I need to go and take my own. Here’s Mt. Roraima.

You can check out more of their pics at megandnick.spaces.live.com their blog is www.megandnick.com, Dawn makes a cameo in their cricket video. I will be adding more of our VSO friends’ blogs on the right hand column under links.