The journey into Georgetown passed through many small communities with wonderful names like New Hope, Friendship, Garden of Eden each with their church and wooden buildings painted in pastel colours that are characteristic of the Caribbean. The advertising boards often contain a moral message and are reminiscent of advertisements from back in the 1950s and 1960s.
Georgetown contains many old wooden buildings, many of which are in need of some serious loving care. Where they have been maintained, such as St George’s Cathedral, they are very beautiful and excellent refuge in the hot weather. Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and many of the old buildings contain various Government Ministries, embassies and the other trappings of a modern state.
The Stabroeke Market is an old iron structure that was probably made in Glasgow or one of the other industrial power houses of the UK. There pretty much anything can be purchased, and the quality of the fresh fruit and other produce is excellent. Like all markets all life is there and many of the different communities that make up Guyana.
Queen Victoria sits majestically outside the main Law Courts as a permanent reminder to the country’s colonial past. There is still a strong connection with the UK and during our visit we saw several games of cricket being played. Indeed the sports grounds right across the town were well used, for athletics, cricket and other sports.
The Town Hall which is next door to the Law Courts is potentially a very elegant building in its blue paint. However it is in such a state of disrepair that it looks unfit to be used without a significant amount of money being spent on it.
Much of the historical wealth of the country was built up from the plantations growing sugar, rice and other crops and much of that flowing to the foreign plantation owners. However today while there is money in the country, as evidenced by the number of cars, which effectively have a 100% import tax, it is clearly in need of money, especially the state of the public buildings and the number of people living on the streets or scratching a meagre living. There is a growing Chinese community in Guyana as they look to take advantage of and exploit Guyana’s natural resources.
From Georgetown we took a day trip flight to one of Guyana’s world class sights, the Kaieteur Falls. These are marketed as the highest single drop waterfalls in the world. The journey up country is by light aircraft flying over much virgin jungle, interspersed with the evidence of crude gold and diamond mines, which leave a number of clearings, water pools and brown exposed soil as their footprint. Ultimately the jungle should reclaim the ground once the mines have closed. The falls themselves sitting in pretty much unspoilt jungle are quite stunning. Their remoteness is a great protecting factor, given that they can only be reached by plane or river through many rapids. The Guyanan authorities are looking after the surrounding area well by limiting access to all and a policy in the National Park to protect it from any development or exploitation. The surrounding area boasts the full range of prime South American wildlife and there we saw the famous red cock of the rock bird, which is Guyana’s national bird.
The Guyanan people of all races we met were incredibly friendly and extremely polite. Their values, in respect for elders, the importance of the church and the formal clothes many wear were a throwback to more innocent times. Their spicy food and accents were also a very welcome reminder of the Caribbean community back in London.
Date: 02/10/2018 to 06/10/2018