Adventures in South America: Georgetown, Guyana

From Barbados my family flew home, and I caught an interCaribbean flight down to Georgetown, Guyana. 

I arrived in the evening on Sunday at Guyana's surprisingly modern, albeit quite bare, Cheddi Jagan International Airport. I took a cab with another passenger who is here on business--the main reason, it seems, for anyone to be visiting Guyana right now. I have not identified any other tourists, and everyone I interact with seems to assume I am here professionally as well. I am staying at the Duke Lodge, which is in one of the many old, large, wooden houses around Georgetown.

It was late, but was able to get some great curry for dinner on the lodge's balcony.

Duke Lodge is across the road from the US embassy . . .

. . . and around the corner from the Canadian High Commission.

On the way in from the airport the cabbie told me that on Easter Monday (yesterday) I would see a lot of kite flying, which is an annual tradition. This tourist literature in the hotel confirmed this: "children and even adults buy coloured kite paper to make the kites or purchase one from the many sellers."

I saw my first kites yesterday when I went to the botanical gardens.

It would take someone better at photography than me to capture good pictures of kite flying, but it was quite the sight! By the end of the day I had seen hundreds of kites, of all sorts in terms of size, colour, design, etc. 

But, back to the Duke Lodge. Partly why I chose to stay here was the owners, the Gouveias, also own Roraima Airways, which runs tours to Kaieteur Falls. I gather that pre-COVID tours to Kaieteur Falls ran quite regularly, but I had no success trying to confirm a tour before arriving in Guyana, and was still hoping to be able to join one. So, I was very happy on Monday when I was told that there was a tour running Wednesday that I could join! That was great news, so I extended my stay accordingly and paid up for the ticket. That meant I had Monday and Tuesday to explore Georgetown.

On Monday, besides watching hundreds of kite flyers, I did 18 kilometres of walking around the city. I found Georgetown quite interesting, although not at all tourist friendly, and it was difficult to feel comfortable, because my hotel had warned me to not walk around, even during the day. I never felt the least bit uncomfortable based on any interactions with people I had, but that warning was in my head, plus I did feel uncomfortable with traffic (coming in from the airport we had passed two fairly serious-looking car accidents, which was hardly surprising given road conditions and driving behaviour). Anyway, more or less, my main, long walk took me down through my immediate neighbourhood:

And then down Main Street . . .

. . . past the President's residence.

By the way, the President and his family were promoting the Christmas Village, albeit four months after it had taken place!

Also, only two months late, "Love in the Avenue" was being promoted, albeit without the benefit of the President's picture.

I bought some water from a lady with a little stand. She also sells traditional remedies!

Sacred Heart Church is also along Main Street.

Main Street dead ends at the Bank of Guyana building. 

The Guyana National Museum next door was unfortunately closed, so I carried on, past the National Library.

I headed east on Church Street, and found the "non-aligned monument" interesting.

St. George's (Anglican) Cathedral is famous as one of the largest wooden churches in the world (and I think I read the largest [or tallest] wooden building in all of South America). Unfortunately, it too is closed.

I moved over to North Road, which runs parallel to Church Street, to carry on east.

The fact that there is a mosque on Church Street is indicative of the religious diversity of Guyana, a fact that they are very proud of.

Despite the fact that this is the middle of a (quite polluted) city, birds were everywhere.

The cricket club looks like it has seen better days, but cricket is still a very popular sport here.

It was past the cricket club where I came into the botanical gardens. There were many, many families here enjoying the holiday Monday. I focused my pictures away from the crowds, and walked the length of the park, and back.

After the botanical garden, I walked north on Vlissengen Road. I passed KFC, and then this building next door, presumably the old KFC, and somehow I found these "ruins" amusing.

At the intersection with Lamaha Street I was also amused to see cows on the median.

I stopped at the Herdmanston Lodge for a couple of Banks beers, which really hit the spot after the long walk in the heat. Then it was back out towards the National Park, where there were more crowds and lots more kite flying.

Exiting on the north end of the National Park and past another cricket club . . .

. . .  I was close to the sea wall.

I ate lunch at the Marriot, which is right on the seashore where the Demara River meets the ocean, and is fairly close to the Duke Lodge. After lunch, I went back to the hotel to cool down and rest, eventually jumping in the backyard pool.

In the later afternoon, once it was cooler, I went back down main street, further south past the Bank of Guyana on Avenue of the Republic, to see City Hall. Unfortunately, not only was it closed to visitors, it was completely surrounded by scaffolding!

Well, not completely; the rear was still exposed.

Nearby I saw this sign, which interested me:

Having seen so much yesterday, I felt less ambitious today. After breakfast (which is included at the Duke Lodge), I started my day at the lovely Oasis Cafe, somewhat nearby my hotel, with a coffee and piece of cake.

Then I headed to Stabroek Market, which probably rivals St. George's Cathedral for Georgetown's famous building. Of course, Stabroek Market is much more than just a nice looking building, it is a bustling, vibrant place, full of interesting things for sale and people selling and buying.

Unfortunately, between warnings from my hotel and comments I had read online, I actually did not go inside the market building itself. I have no way to know whether this caution is truly warranted or not, but I played it safe. Anyway, there was plenty to see outside of the market, including this "Thousand Dollar Store". . .

. . . and cricket bats for sale straight from their carver!

Also, the main Post Office was nearby and open today (it was closed yesterday for Easter Monday), so I could buy and mail a postcard.

From Stabroek Market I walked east for another coffee stop, this time in the courtyard of the gorgeous Cara Lodge.

The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs was close by here.

I had a meeting to attend virtually this afternoon and some other things to take care of, so not much more touring took place today.