Party at Mrs P's

This morning Bec, Jess, Clare and Miriam got a lot of washing done whilst Deborah and Amelia got the breakfast things ready. Before breakfast we sat outside in the garden and planned our evaluation session with Berle today. We came up with several discussion areas, with lots of questions and discussion points for each one, covering all areas of our GOLD Guyana 2013 project. It took quite a while to organise our thoughts but as we were chatting the rain came. It rained an awful lot, but we got surrounded by lots of water which gave us the opportunity to finish what we had started and do it really well. We felt that we had a really focused plan of action so we were very happy :D

We were back on the Frosties for breakfast which we were all fairly happy with. Then we quickly organised our bags and got ready to go shopping in the market. We left 253 Foreshaw Street in relative sunshine but pretty much as soon as we left the gate the rain came again. It poured and poured and poured and we all got completely soaked. We ran to the bus stop and quickly got on a bus, but there was not a lot of room and we were very wet. The result was large puddles on the floor and a lot of steam. We are very surprised that the bus driver could see where he was going because we certainly couldn't. However, he used his horn a lot and we did not hit any cars or pedestrians- phew!

Once in the market square we were rather surprised at the immense floods but had to walk through them because they covered everything. Our first stop was the money changing shop. Unfortunately, just outside the building Bec stepped in a very large hole, that was disguised by the flood waters, and got flood waters up to her calves. The water caused her flip flop to fall off and float down the road. Bec got out of the hole and Clare chased the flip flop and all was good until Miriam also fell into the hole and got water up to her knees; it was  larger than we had initially thought! After all of this excitement we took shelter in the shop and waited for the rain to subside. This did not happen so we had to once again venture through the rain.

Next stop was the fabric shop. The patterned fabrics were beautiful and Miriam and Amelia bought some lovely yards of them. After this we went to the Guyana store and then the little souvenir huts close by. By the time we got here the rain had stopped and the sun came out. Our last port of call was the sandal shop in the indoor market. We spent ages choosing and trying on but the man at the store was very helpful and eventually we all made a decision. Then it was back to the bus rank and onto the nearest one we could see. On the way back to the house we saw just how bad the flooding was- it is hard to believe that a morning of rain could produce so much water. Jess made a friend called Mark on the bus and he was very interested in our Girlguiding project.

Back at Foreshaw Street, Bec, Clare and Jess went to pick up lunch supplies and juice from the fruit man. Lunch was lovely- we had some toast- and the juice was amazing. We had a really tasty local fruit called Marmi too; it tastes a little bit like peaches.

After lunch we were expecting Berle to come and evaluate project with us but when Erin arrived she received a phone call which said she wasn't coming because she had a headache. This was a little bit frustrating but lots of the young leaders came to Mrs P's and we evaluated all of the aspects of the project that they were part of with lots of tasty snacks-including sugar cane- thrown in for good measure. They gave us some great feedback and it was really lovely to spend some time with them. We really wish we had done this much earlier in the project because we really bonded today. This is something that next year's team might want to think about.

When the girls left, we went to Nigel's to get some bits for tea, although we are mainly using up left overs tonight. We have also just had a phone call from Berle to say that we can evaluate with her tomorrow. This has made everyone feel really happy because it is a fairly important part of the project!

LOGL

Team Guyana
xxxxxx