Hot and humid

Well here we are in Guyana after an easy but long flight arriving at 5.30 am in brilliant sunshine. I am using a friend's computer and I do not seem to be able to Load my pictures so will add them later when I am sorted in my own house which is likely to be on Station St. in an area called Kitty by the end of next week.

We have had a most interesting orientation week and we have one more to go before we start our 'work'.

Customs and Immigration seemed pretty efficient and with the magic words 'We're with VSO' to every question asked we were soon whisked through. Terri and Jim , two volunteers here from Alberta (she is a physio and he is business man doing advocy work with the Community Based Rehabilitation network here,) came to collect us and another Canadian couple from Calgary -(Dawn and Rob Olsen, she is an OT and he is an IT guy)
After some fiddling around with seats and cases we all managed to fit into the van and off we went for the 45 mins drive to Georgetown from the airport.
It was an education in itself as the roads were narrow and the traffic fast. Closing my eyes helped a bit but I was too interested in my surroundings to do it for long.
Guyana means Land of Many Waters and it is. Water is everywhere, in rivers, creeks and ditches hence the reason they can grow so much rice and sugar cane. Certainly it is a poor country and like all poor countries things look unkempt and a bit squalid. We saw many housing complexes en route to Georgetown but because they are built of slatted wood with zinc rooves they looked a little derelict.

Amidst the cars and vans and trucks are bicycles and horses and carts. There appears to be no Highway Code and it is all a bit hit and miss.

The one area of development we saw amidst the many bayoux and lush green hillocks on the way was on the edge of Georgetown at a town called Diamond where houses with a more modern appearance were being built. We soon saw the reason for this as we ventured farther along - the huge big new stadium that is almost complete. and on the roadway a huge billboard advertising the World Cup of Cricket to be held in Guyana in April 2007. I think cricket must be their favourite pasttime and sport as it is everywhere. We have already seen it being played on the streets, in the sports grounds and on the television. Mick is in his element except that we don't know all the 'important' names. I am determined to learn them before I go to work as I am sure I will impress them all if I know who the cricket heroes are!!!