Sue's Travels: Georgetown, Guyana

We cleared customs and loaded into the buses for the tour of Georgetown, Guyana. Our first stop was at the monument to the slave uprising in 1763. From there we went to the Botanical Gardens, where the past presidents were buried. There is something called the Seven Ponds and the presidential graves are around it. We also stopped to see the manatees. One of the guides threw some of the cut grass in the water and the manatees came to eat it. They were quite calm and docile. The next stop was the reconstruction of an Amerindian building. A new bank is being constructed across the street. Our next stop was the anthropology museum, where pictures were not permitted. For a small probably underfunded institution, they are doing a good job. St Georges Cathedral, an Anglican Church, was our next stop. The claim was made that it is the tallest wooden structure in the world. Yesterday that claim was made for the cathedral in Paramaribo and when I was in Kazakhstan, the same claim was made of a church. Our last stop was at the National museum which had a natural history type collection. It started raining so I had to use the umbrella that I had taken. There were some shops across the street from the museum. I was planning on buying some Guyanese dolls, but I felt $19 was a bit much. I wound up getting two small change purses, which I can give to Sara and Rebeckah.

I asked the tour guide how many ships come in to port and he indicated 4,000 tourists a year.

After lunch, I went down on the dock and bought a wooden bowl, which I will probably give to Marla. I took a short nap and then joined the group for tea. I made the mistake of taking the lemon merague pie, but at least I didn’t finish it! At 5:00 PM we went upstairs for the musical entertainment. It was very pleasant sitting on the deck with the music playing. At one point, dancing started. A young lady was singing and some of the dancing became energetic! I went to my cabin for a quick shower and a change of clothes.

After dinner, I went to bed slightly disappointed because I was scheduled to go to Kaiteur Falls with the later groups which would mean that I would not go into Georgetown for lunch.