Front seat in an aeroplane!

Our first ever Roti Hut meal (apart from Jess) was sooooo lovely. Roti is our new favourite and we cannot wait to have it again. Unfortunately we were unable to watch the film because it took longer than expected to download. Instead, we entertained ourselves by playing cards and games of eye spy. One of Deborah's was very hard to guess and so the rest of the team got very creative; the object began with "m" and we were guessing things like "mmmmblender" (a Miriam special) and "mmmmpiano" (Amelia following her lead). It was very entertaining!

We went to bed fairly early because we knew that we had to get up to be out of the house by 6 am to catch the bus to the airport. Miriam and Amelia got up ridiculously early-4.30 am to be precise- so that they could have a shower. Everyone else had time to do it last night. We hurried through breakfast and we were soon ready to leave. We were very surprised to see so many people out in Georgetown so early on a Sunday morning. We got a very different impression of the city than we had when we have been out in the middle of the day.

Our lovely bus driver took us to the airport via his house so he could drop some shopping off for his wife. The music he played certainly woke us all up and we became increasingly excited about the prospect of our visit to Kaieteur Falls. :D

When we arrived at the airport we were ushered through security and into the executive lounge. It was very posh and air conditioned, to the team's delight. There was also free food- amazing! We met the other people on our flight- a family of three from Trinidad. They were lovely and wanted to know all about our trip to Guyana.

Our plane was very very small- space for 9 passengers and 1 pilot. We crammed ourselves in with our bags and Amelia had to sit next to the pilot! We were all a little bit jealous. Deborah had a moment of concern when she realised that her seat belt did not buckle properly. thankfully the pilot just happened to have a pair of pliers in his pocket and he fixed the problem within seconds. This was to the relief of everyone, especially Deborah.

The take off was quite bumpy but really fun! It was amazing to see the rainforest stretching out as far as we could see below us. Amelia's considered opinion was that the trees looked like broccoli! The rivers snaked through the green landscape and we could see small communities dotted about. It was crazy to think that the people that lived there were so far from civilisation. Eventually we saw Kaieteur. It was truly breathtaking!!! The pilot circled above it so that we could take it all in and take some great photos before he landed the plane on the teeny tiny strip at the top of the hill. It was a little bit hair-raising but it was over very quickly.

We met our guide for the morning- an Amerindian called Leroy who had been working in Kaieteur National Park for 8 years. He lives near the visitor centre in a community of 10 people, 3 of whom are his wife and children. He was really nice and answered all of our (many, many) questions.

We set off for a walk through the rainforest to visit different viewpoints of the waterfall. It was a surreal experience for us all; we couldn't quite believe we lived on the same planet and their were several moments when we thought we were in the Eden project. We saw some beautiful flowers and lots of bird life, including a bright orange bird that is apparently very rare. We are not quite sure what it is yet, but we are asking around and seeing if anyone knows. There were also some rather unexpected guests including a stingy thing that stung Amelia and a very poisonous snake which that Leroy was quite concerned about. He dealt with it very swiftly and we were soon as close to the waterfall as we could possibly get!





The noise was incredible and it was one of the most awesome things we have all ever seen. We took lots of photos and asked Leroy to take lots of us as a group too. Clare, Miriam and Jess were feeling very brave and climbed down onto a small ledge right next to the water with Leroy. Deborah was feeling concerned about us, but Jess assured her that last year's Gold team did a similar thing when they went. The girls on the ledge had to scramble back up, which involved clinging onto some little trees and using brute strength. It was a lot of effort but something they would all do again if given the opportunity!

All to quickly our Kaieteur adventure was over and it was time to get back onto the plane. This time Miriam sat in the front and the other girls rearranged themselves so that everyone could experience sitting directly by a window. The plane journey was a bit more bumpy this time because we had to fly through lots of clouds. There was a little bit of alarm when the pilot opened his window and started driving the plane with his arm hanging out. However, we soon realised that it did not affect his piloting skills- thankfully! It was quite sad to see the effects of deforestation and mining on the Rainforest on the return flight.

We landed safely and had a picnic lunch on the way back to 253 Foreshaw Street. Some of us tried to have a sleep but the nature of the driving made this a little bit difficult!

This afternoon we have done yet more washing and chilling in the garden. It has been very hot today and so it was nice to just sit and do pretty much nothing. We need to plan for tomorrow and cook tea. At the moment, the Chief Commissioner for the Guyana Guides Association, Berle, is confirming plans for the rest of the project with Jess. We are looking forward to hearing what else is in store for us. We have a feeling it is going to be a very busy week...

LOGL

Team Guyana
xxxxxx