Our triumphant return to Georgetown

On XMas eve Nadine and I departed the peaceful nature of Surama to the hectic world that is Georgetown. The weather was not great which made for an interesting hour and a half plane ride on those "spacious" 12 seater planes (you can't exactly go over the clouds as there is no pressurized cabins in those planes).
Upon our return we made our way to our new place. There is a good chance this place we are living in is the biggest and nicest house I will ever live in. It's a huge victorian/colonial house with a massive living room, two "smoking" rooms, and two kitchens (one the landlord referred to as the Breakfast Room, my apologies). The upstairs has 4 bedrooms, 3 of which have king sized beds, one has a living room, one has a seperate bathroom. Ridiculous, all of it, if you compare to other VSO places including some of the ones we lived in. The landlord to this place wants us to put no less than 8 lights on at night for security purposes. He also pays security guards across the street to look after the place. He also invited us over for XMas eve dinner which his daughter cooked. Big ham dinner (sorry fellow Jews), with potatoes, stuffing, etc. Quite a good dinner however I'm pretty sure he was drunk prior to dinner starting.
XMas day we had a bunch of the VSOs over for a XMas lunch/dinner (in the UK they do a lunch.) The party was supposed to be at another ladie's places but she had seen ours the night before and made the switch. This lunch was a chicken and duck dinner and had a ludicrous amount of food.

Not much else to report for now.

A week's worth of events

So our last day in Manaus didn't go exactly as planned. The weather did not cooperate at all so the beach and big zoo were out of the question. We decided to go to the Natural Science Museum. We hopped on the 519 bus north and told the lady in broken Portuguese where we were going. She told us to get off at a stop and go back and turn left. We did so arriving at INPA which is not what we were looking for at all. So we asked where the museum was and were told to walk that way until we saw a sign. We walked for probably 2km until we hit the sign. Turned left walked to the end of the street and saw no other signs. Asking again for more directions we kept getting told to go to INPA. In the end we did not find the museum and ended up in another mall, than took the bus the wrong way. Not a great day as a last day in Manaus but the trip overall was a great success.
We left Manaus the last day barely escaping the death cab ride to the airport. We got into Boa Vista and took a two hour bus to Bonfim before cabbing to Lethem and getting picked up on the side of a road by a random who dropped us off at our house (that's what it's like around here).
Our last weeked in Lethem was relatively uneventful except for a birthday party for the 6 year old who lives in the same compound as us and finding one of his friends running through our house.
We hit the road for Surama on Monday and in true Guyana fashion took off at 11am even though the bus was supposed to leave at 10am. We had to be 3 days in Surama for me to do some interviews so here is the difference between a 3 day conference for Deloitte versus VSO in Guyana. For Deloitte I would usually get a paid for cab to the airport, get on the plane, take a cab to a pretty nice hotel, and have all the meals paid for and transportation and everything arranged. For VSO, as I mentioned I hopped on a bus that was an hour late, went on some pretty awful roads for 4 hours, got left on the side of the road into Surama, my ride wasn't there, waited for someone (anyone) to show up, got picked up, put in the back of a pickup truck, drove half an hour to an eco-lodge (actually a really nice one), my interviews hadn't been scheduled, and I had to figure most of that out. It's definitely all in the experience and you get so used to it that you smile as it's happening but nonetheless that's a taste of the worklife difference here.
Surama however is a beautiful place with huge forested mountains and is the most peaceful place I think I've ever been to. We did a two hour hike in the forest and went to the animal sanctuary mixed in with the interviews (our tour guide is really quite unbelievable at spotting animals in the forest that I could barely see with binoculars. You kinda feel like you're in the army as you are walking in a straight line and he'll put up his hand for you to stop when he thinks he hears or sees something). Really quite a spectacular landscape.
The interviews went really well as well. The only thing is that I have decided that being on the back of a motorcycle here, on these roads, at these speeds is the most faith I have ever put into another human being.
Met a nice couple from Holland who are living in Suriname so if we have time (and money) we might try and make it there.
Tomorrow we are off for Georgetown for the final stretch of this placement.

Speak to you later.

PS I ate chicken hearts in Manaus, not bad!

Manaus (days 1-3 of 4.5)

We hopped on the 12 hour overnight bus from Boa Vista to Manaus at 830pm Sunday night. The bus was pretty nice with seats that reclined to almost 180 degrees which is sweet for the lie back but not good for the legs when the person in front does the same. Also I think because developing countries are just getting used to A/C they don't understand temperature control and I'm pretty sure it was -5 degrees in that bus. Nonetheless we arrived none the worse for wear at around 900am. Our hostel is in a great location in the heart of downtown and Nadine and I got a private room with a double bed and bunk beds (which Nadine would not let us sleep on!!) and no windows. Again with A/C and no temperature control.
Our first day we went to San Sabastia square which has a great monument with the four big continents outside South America representing the ports of the rubber trade (Australia is not included, and don't even get me started on the Antarctica B/S). The square is also home to the Opera House which is an unbeliveble building both outside and in (Nadine and I took a tour). It also has a ballroom inside in which you must wear oversized slippers on top of your shoes to not muck up the floor.
After the Opera House we walked to the main cathedral (which as it turns out is not really the nicest one, it's not bad but not the best). We then went to the floating harbour and the municipal market which is build like the Halle market in Paris.
We went for dinner that night back in the square where there are a few restaurants. The square at night honestly looks like a fairy tale as it is all lit up, including the Opera House, for Xmas. We ate their and just hung out for the night (which we also did Tues night). We went to see a much nicer Cathedral in our opinion just on the outskirts of the square.
During the day Tues morning we went to the Indian Museum, Rio Negro Palace and Jefferson Park. All were pretty interesting but could've used some more English for us Portuguese-challenged individuals. We shopped around the main shopping district in the afternoon which is an absolute zoo. The strip is built on a hill and a rainstorm hit when we were at the bottom and we waited under an awning for 20 minutes hoping it would stop. It did not and when Nadine and I made our way back uphill, all the rain had made its way down making for puddles about a foot deep. My shoes and socks were drenched and they hitched themselves a one way ticket to the garbage as I immediately bought new sandles.
Today we did the city tour which takes you to the rich area (average house price US$1.4MN) and to the Ponte Negro Beach. We did not get a chance to go around the beach but we plan on doing that tomorrow. We walked around the mini-zoo at the rich hotel (the big zoo we also plan on doing tomorrow). Later on the tour we drove by the smallest church in Brazil (holds 15 people, opens once a year on St Anthony's day which is June 13). Couple interesting tidbits: The largest motorcyle producing city outside of Tokyo is Manaus (Honda shop) and the only Harley Davidson producing plant outside NA is in Manaus.
After the tour we went to the Provincial palace where they had some great exhibits including a coins exhibit that had coins from all over the world dating back as far as 575BC (that was a Roman coin). We then went to the most modern place we've been too since leaving for Guyana, a shopping mall. The reason we went was because it was supposed to contain come of the jungle in it but it wasn't that interesting and we just took to some of the shops instead (found a Subway and McDonalds, didn't eat at either).
Went for dinner at a nice meat place. Pretty much my dream as it was all you can eat salad bar folllowed by waiters coming by every 3 minutes asking if you want different meat (including a chicken's heart which I ate). Got a little ripped off since we thought the desert was free and it wasn't but that's okay (I guess Portuguese would help).
Tomorrow's our last full day with trips to the Zoo, Science Museum and the beach planned. We leave back to Lethem via Boa Vista Friday morning.

Speak to you all later.

Off to Brazil

Yesterday Nadine and I began the first leg of our trip to Brazil. We got a lift from a friend into Bonfim (which is where we walked from last time). After signing out of Guyana and into Brazil we caught the bus to Boa Vista which is the biggest city we´ve been in since leaving Toronto (500,000 people). The bus made two stops on the way. First stop was to let the driver´s associate off at the other bus coming in the other direction and the second stop was to literally pick up a guy on the side of the highway who had appeared out of the corn fields a la Field of Dreams (seriously).
We arrived in Boa Vista where we took a taxi to a friend of ours who lives here. The cab driver had no idea where the house was and before we left he took out a map the size of his hood, got 5 of his taxi friends who huddled around for the better part of 10 minutes to figure out where it was and still got lost for 15 minutes.
After that we hit the town. We took a bus with a friend of our friends and went to the city center where we walked to the waterfront which was amazing, checked out the first church in Boa Vista which is on this walkway that looks like European city. We then checked out some of the shops which looked more North American.
We went for dinner at this place that makes Big Joe hotdogs which are made with hotdog, chicken, peas, cheese, corn~. It´s actually really good.
We all tried to go see New Moon for Nadine but alas it was in Portuguese so our friends went and we went to see some movie with Jamie Foxx.
We then walked around the city square of the waters which has a great archway that looks like the champs elysee and had a drink at one of the bars. They have this christmas tree that is lit up but is made entirely of old 2L plastic bottles. Pretty neat for all you environmentalists. This guy sold us a burnt copy of New Moon, said it was in English but this morning we checked it out and again it was in Portuguese, poor Nadine!
Today we are off to Manaus, a city the size of Toronto. We are taking an overnight 12 hour bus so good luck to us.
Speak to you all soon.

Awhile Since We Talked

It's been awhile so here is what we've been up to of late.

Last weekend was the Rupununi Expo in which there are a ton of booths of people selling different things. Red Cross had a booth to advertise some of their work and so we went for the two days. There were some interesting events at this Expo such as the Miss Rupununi Pagent in which 16/17 year old girls from the surrounding area compete for the crown in events very similar to the Miss America pagent (though not quite as professional).

So on Friday, I'm sitting at the air strip here in Lethem waiting for my power chord for my computer to arrive (it has been sitting in customs in G-Town for 2 weeks now). As I'm waiting I see these two guys sitting awaiting to go on the arriving plane back to G-Town. They were wearing nice clothes and looked like two normal guys. It did appear however that they were holding hands which I found a bit strange here in Lethem (trust me on this). After about 10 minutes I realized they were in fact handcuffed to each other. They were about to enter a 12 seater plane back to G-Town with 10 other normal passenger handcuffed to each other by a single hand that is all. I can tell you what my reaction would've been if I was headed back there on that plane (AHHH I am not going on that plane I'll wait thanks!)

Yesterday Nadine and I decided we wanted to go to Brazil as we are right on the border. So we walked to immigration and took a cab across the bridge to Bonfim, Brazil. The town wasn't that exciting but it was still interesting to see the the differences in the two cities in two different countries seperated by a little bridge. To show you how close it is we actually WALKED back from Brazil to Guyana! We ducked through a little fence on the bridge and walked to our house in Lethem.

One last thing that I found funny, this is a conversation I had with a taxi here:
Jer: "Can I have a pick up to Middle St and Tabatinga St."
Taxi Guy: "Yeah sure, where is that?"
Jer: "It's near the school"
Taxi Guy: "OK see you soon"

20 minutes later
Taxi Guy: "Where is that house"
Jer: "Across from the Dental clinic"
Taxi Guy: "Is that where they fix the teeth?"
Jer: "AHHH yeah"
Taxi: "Oh ok why didn't you just say that?"
Jer: "Sorry"
Taxi guy shows up 10 seconds later.

That is all.
We are off to Brazil again to some of the bigger cities like Boa Vista and Manaus next Friday so if we don't blog before then we certainly will after.

Take care people.

Work

I figured it was about time I described to all the onlookers exactly what it is I am doing here in Guyana (workwise).
So here it is for your viewing pleasure.

For the previous 2 months I have been working in Guyana on two different but related projects. The first of which is to interview Amerindian women in Georgetown (the capital) and Region 1 (a rural region). The purpose of the interview is to evaluate three different themes.
The first thems surrounds the challenges and opportuntiies to Amerindian women who want to participate in the workforce at any capacity: as entrepreneurs, nurses, teachers, or simply as employees of a business.
The second theme looks at women's groups (a staple of poor country culture) and what some of the challenges are for these groups, as lately many have been sputtering and losing members.
The final theme looks at the additional burden women who want to work but must also look after the household. This theme certainly relates to the first two themes.
What I have discovered in the process of my interviews is that women are constrained by many factors. Probably the larges one is the lack of opportunities for women, especially in the rural areas where more Amerindians are found. Many of the men here are not supportive and believe the women should be at home taking care of the household and the children. Those who try and fight them men will be beaten. Many of the men also believe the women will go off and meet other men and thus jealousy plays a large role. Educating the men is a vital process in the solutions we are looking at as is explaining to women their rights.
The women's groups here tend to be structured like co-ops where all the women just split whatever profits are made. We do not believe this is a successful structure as it does not provide any incentive to work hard and makes people frustrated when there is not a lot of profit coming in, which is often. We are working on structuring the groups more like a business where salaries are paid and profits are split like dividends quarterly. We are also looking at starting nurseries where women with children can drop their kids off for the day so they can work.
My other role, which I am currently doing for the next month or so, is to work directly with a women's group in Region 9 (another rual area) as they are in a financial crisis. Helping Hands is a peanut and cashew business but both prodicts are going to be in shortage this year and thus next year does not look promising. We are working on a cassava and farine business to complement the other two as they work countercyclical to the weather needed for peanuts and cashews and will work as a profitable safety net.
At the same time, I am expected to teach them some important characteristics of successful businesses and businesswomen. The biggest issues here are a lack of financial skills and confidence of personality to go around marketing their products. Some secondary problems are transportation and negotiating skills. However, we are working hard to improve on these issues and I hope to put the group in a position to be successful going forward before I leave.

Anyways for those that asked there is a snapshot.

Take care

A Night out in Lethem

After saying goodbye to the little cousin of the family we are staying with, whose name is Enron (he was introduced to us as "Enron...like the company") we made our way to the Brazilian Restaurant and Bar for some dinner and some drinks. We were joined by a peace corps girl, two guys who run a trip called Bushmasters, where they take a dozen people into the bush for 10 days, train them to hunt and live on their own, and then leave them with nothing and tell them to survive for 2-3 days, and a couple locals. At the end of dinner and drinks we were handed our bill, written in pen, with what we ate, the amount, and the label of "2 White People" (I assume that's how she remembered). We then went across to an outdoor Karaoke Bar, where the transvestite "Roger" (who was a man dressed as a woman), serenaded us, quite well in fact, to many songs sung by women such as Celine Dion. This was followed by a trip to the Disco where we danced and drank rum. The dancing consists of pairing off and doing some interesting grinding moves.
Quite the evening.

That's all for now.

Lethem

ss and a frSo after a few quick days in back in Georgetown we were off to the very south of Guyana to a town called Lethem. My boss, his friend and our big boss (along with Nadine and I) drove overnight (starting at midnight) to Lethem, which is about an 11 hour drive. We left in the middle of the night so we could hit the 6am ferry. After this exhausting, bumpy trip we arrived. Now Lethem, which looks like the Wild West and Texas mixed together is much different than Mabaruma. It's like a large savannah with huge mountains in the backdrop. Again the scenery is real nice. We all went out for some drinks and the local hangout before my boss got up and drove all the way back the next day. Nadine and I have our first house in this whole adventure with full kitchen (though the fridge took quite the scrubbing and cleaning to be working in our estimation). We bought a hammock for the front porch which is amazing!
My job here is to help this woman's group, Helping Hands, out of their current financial crisis. It will be a large challenge as the climate this year, along with their financial education, does not work in their favour. Nadine has some organized colleagues here in Lethem, more so than in Mabaruma, so she seems to be quite busy.
We bought a bike to get a round and it has broken twice in the first two days (you can imagine how happy that makes me). First day the pedal and the tire broke on my way to work and than this morning the new tire had a puncture. Some random "helped" me find a repair shop and after an hour and a half I finally got to work.

Anyways that's all for now folks. Speak to you soon.

Our Last Few Days in Mabaruma

Last Friday we went to Shell Beach by speedz boat to where a group of vets had flown in from the States to basically stop the dogs from stealing all the marine turtle eggs from the beach. The beach is literally sand and some really crazy shells (don't worry mom we took some back for you). The water was really warm so we swam in there for awhile until the salt made it impossible to stay in any longer. We also tried our hand at cricket and as Nadine will attest her performance was better than mine!
We moved on to a community called Waini where we stayed over Friday night in a little room in a multi-purpose factory of the brother of the couple that was taking us around (kind of random).
Saturday night we gave a tutorial to the couple on how to use the computer. Made them promise that their first email would be to us. Guess we'll see.
Sunday we went to a community called Wauna. I actually saw a kid wearing a Brett Favre jersey with the Packers!! Made my day. We had a moment.
Monday we went to the Tiger Caves in Mabaruma. Now they failed to mention that there was no path and our guide had to find three Amerindian kids with machetes to trailblaze a path to the caves. After about an hour and a trek about as grueling as I've been through we made it. Caves were great but hard to enjoy as much after that experience.
And today we have returned to Georgetown. Just for a few days as we head to Lethem in Region 9 on Fri night/Sat morn (we leave at midnight and we get there around 11am).

Anyways that's all for now. Speak to you later.

A few interesting notes

So on Monday we went to the Hosororo Falls, which is really just a nice downhill running stream but still pretty relaxing. Than we went to the Cocoa Plantation and we were trying to go take a tour and walked into the office only to see what we believe to be the owner and her husband fooling around on the desk chair and we quickly exited the room, thought about going back, and then heard some loud thuds and at that point figured that was enough for that little trip.
We went to a village called Kumwata today and my interview went really well with some interesting answers from the ladies and it was the first time that it made me upset that I won't stay to see all the implementation of my recommendations.
Back to another sexual story in nature. So at the place we are staying there are 4 channels that are controlled by one of the guys and basically what the channel is showing is at their mercy. So last night around midnight we turn on the tube and what's on....the Playboy channel! Really no good way for them to watch porn if we can all see it.

Anyways, thought I'd share those thing with you all.
We're off to the Beach here and a couple of other river communities.
Speak to you later.

Trip to Arukamai

Today, we went to a little village within the little town we are staying in. The name of the village is Arukamai. To get there we took a 48 horse power speed boat on relatively calm waters which took about 45 minutes. The ride had some pretty spectacular views.
When you arrive, the fun begins, as basically everyone who lives there has their own tiny river bed that you have to take a dug out canoe to get to. The dug out canoes are made by the locals out of fallen trees that they use a chainsaw to create. It is pretty amazing that they can make these things.
I had a counterpart here in Region 1 that was taking me around and helping me out with the interviews as apparently my English is difficult to understand and even though I understand everything she repeats to my interviewees they still cannot always understand me. She is from Arukamai so she took me to her place which is this little cottage looking house that has a few rooms with tin roofs and a separate kitchen with husk rooks. The lifestyle is SLIGHTLY different than what we are accustomed to.
We went to the school to hold the interviews which is one room that has 9 grades split into 4 classes. Not sure how they can possibly learn there but I guess they manage.
After the interview we went to my counterparts house again for lunch and her husband (who is supportive of her working, they are not all) cooked us an amazing curry chicken lunch.
After lunch there was a huge BINGO game at the school with the grand prize being 10,000 Guyanese dollars which is about 50 Canadian. The best part was, the pieces you had to use to cover the spaces were pebbles (that you had to go pick up by the river). The third prize was 3,000 Guyanese dollars in which two people said BINGO at the same time and there was some pretty heated moments over who won the prize.
After that we returned to Mabaruma, which is the big city here in Region 1, there might be 800 people here.

Anyways that’s all for now.

The Trip to Mabaruma

Hi everyone,

So on Sunday we left for Mabaruma which is in Region 1 in Guyana (Guyana is split into 10 regions by no organizational method whatsoever other than some dude who drew a line with what appears to be a bendable ruler).
We flew out of G-Town at 7am but I am going to take you through this experience. First we had ordered a cab through work for 530am that never came. Than we ordered from one company and another company showed up to take us (little sketchy). Than we show up and I think I almost wet myself when I saw the 12 seater plane we were taking. Your alternative for coming here if not by plane is to take a 24-hour steamer in the Atlantic Ocean that basically guarantees sea-sickness, not going to happen. As we were waiting in the line up to weigh the luggage and ourselves (yes ourselves!) a woman finished signing in her kid then turned around and asked some white guy she didn’t know if he minded taking the kid on the plane to our first stop in Port Kaiteur to drop the kid off with his grandma. (unreal!) Furthermore, half way through the flight I look up at the pilot and he is READING THE PAPER while having his coffee.
As a little side note there was no bathroom on the plane, and yours truly with about 15 minutes left all of a sudden had the worst sensation ever of having to pee and nearly passed out from pain awaiting to get off the plane. Anyways…
Mabaruma is a beautiful forest town and you can actually see into Venezuela from the top. We are staying at Broome’s Guest House which actually has TV and 4 channels that are controlled by one of the guys so if you want to watch a certain station you ask him to change the channel to the station you want. There is only power from 6-11 at night except some places that have generators so that takes some getting used to. But lucky for us at 6am the two guys who own the place get up, blare the radio and start yelling each other. Hilarious guys but 6am is a little too early for me and Nadine.
As for work today I was going out to a little village on the top of a hill called Tobago that used to be a river community but got flooded out and moved. To get there we had to take a mini-bus which takes a bunch of people by “road” each day a certain amount of times throughout. The man piled in 14 people and luggage into what at most could really carry 9 people. On the hill up we couldn’t go more than 5 miles/hour.
Anyways, that’s all my stories for now.
Speak to you soon

Some nicknames and a "wild" party

Nadine and I were walking yesterday in one of the outdoor markets here in Georgetown and were called the following nickmaes any of which I will accept starting today:
1) Rosemary and Chuck (for Nadine and I)
2) Mel Gibson; or my favourite
3) Dick Johnson (if anyone knows who the hell Dick Johnson is I'm all ears).

Saturday night we went to a birthday party for one of the British women. Now I need to explain to you the way the people here are divided. There are basically British, other European and Canadian volunteers and American peace corps. The age divide is even more severe as it's half people my age and half retired people. So last night's party was a party for an older British lady. The invitation for the party told us to bring food and entertainment. We brough cards as we figured we'd start some drinking games. That did not work. The entertainment involved teaching us some songs and some line dancing. Given my love for line dancing let's just say we didn't participate all that much. Still though, maybe the funniest party I've been to in a long time.

Anyways I've figured out a way to still watch football on Sunday to Nadine's dismay.
Speak to you people later.

week in review

So as I'm heading to one of my interviews with the CEO of the Institue for Private Enterprise Development I'm taking this cab with this rastafarian who turns to me in mid-drive and asks me if I like black women. So I think to myself I'm not really sure how to answer this so I say "Man I like all types of women" and apparently that was satisfactory as he laughed for the rest of the trip.
That night Nadine and I went out to a place in Georgetown called Kitty where one of the VSO landlords gave us a cooking lesson in Roti Curry Chicken. On her fridge was a giant sign for Sobey's in Toronto (just thought that was a bit strange). Anyways we had a mix of experienced and completely non-experienced cooks so it was an interesting blend. We got to eat all the food after which as most of you know made me extremely happy.
Tonight was Diwali which is the Hindu festival of lights so there was a pretty big party downtown with a bunch of floats that were full of crazy lights and Hindu women sitting in the floats waving to the crowd without moving their bodies at all. Really interesting but also slightly terrifying.

Well that is all for now.
You take care people.

The Beginning of Work

Well I guess my first entry for this blog was so brilliantly written that we were able to get 4 new followers :)
Our first weekend in Guyana was certainly an interesting experience. We went out both evenings to "bars". I put the quotations there because they are not exactly what we imagine them to be back home. Let's just say there was not much fighting for seats. That being said it was still nice to get to know the other VSO volunteers and they were both patios which made it even better (kinda hard to be inside when the temperature is 45 degrees outside).
Saturday we walked around the outdoor markets at Stabroeck and Bourda which are an absolutely crazy experience on a Saturday morning when everyone is walking around shopping for groceries. We also passed by the only escalator in all of Guyana in one of the only malls.
Sunday we attempted to go to the botanical gardens and the zoo but it is COMPLETELY dead on Sundays and we got a little nervous walking around and ended up missing the really good stuff at these places and will thus have to go back.
On Thanksgiving we celebrated the festivities here by ordering Pizza Hut!! Delicious.
Nadine and I both started work on Monday and my desk is right beside the air conditioning which might be the greatest things that's ever happened to me. Today was the first time I've been cold in the 8 days we've been here.
I think my job is going to be a great learning experience and the interviews and report are going to be a real challenge.
Tomorrow we have a Guyanese cooking lesson so with that I will leave all of you.

Speak to y'all later.

Arrival to Guyana

Alright followers (my mom and jess clark!) here is the initial blog of the long awaited world travels of Nadine and Jeremy.
It started with a unique flying experience courtesy of the world renowned Caribbean Airlines. Upon our arrival into Trininad and Tobago we expected to be taken off the plane to catch our connector to Georgetown, Guyana. To our surprise we were told it was the same plane taking us on to Georgetown and thus we did not have to disembark. So while the crew cleaned the plane, Nadine and I switched seats (yes we had different seats for the second flight) and slept for an hour and a half.
We then got off the plane to a stifling 32 degrees celcius at 8AM. We took an hour trip into the city and got our at our guesthouse. How do you know you're in a developing country? Here's how: the slogan for this guesthouse is "cleanest guesthouse in Guyana." It is a nice place all things considered however the lack of air conditioning is definitely gonna take some getting used to.
Nadine and I got a gym and pool membership at the 5 star resort in town which we utilized this morning as we needed a break from the violent sweating.
We've only had bits of training on the jobs we will be doing but it does sound exciting and we should be learning more soon.

Anyways, that's all for now.
You followers stay classy (Jess that is more for you! Mom you are already classy)

Jeremy and Nadine