Big City Life

Hello my lovelies, I hope you had a good week. This past week I enjoyed my week off 'turn around' in Georgetown! It was fabulous to be in a room with air conditioning, sleep in past six am and drink fruit smoothies. It was also refreshing to have no set travel plans and plan each day on a whim.

Georgetown Highlights

I visited Georgetown's main market, Stabroek Market where I enjoyed a snack of mini bananas called bananitos (super delicious, try them if you get a chance!)

Bustle of Stabroek Market on Saturday, main shopping day

 We also visited the Georgetown Cathedral where my friend's grandparents got married in 1937 :) This Cathedral dating back to 1889 is said to be one of the tallest wooden structures in the world. This is a great maintained example of Georgetown's colonial past.

view of front of cathedral

all wood!

Angel statue inside Cathedral

 I also took a day drive along Guyana's eastern coast to see the small coastal villages which make up the region of Berbice. We stopped by an old sugar cane plantation which is still running today. Here is an ancient cart among many other items still used. 

 This week I enjoyed a lot of socializing with my new Iwokrama friends (many of which who are leaving by the end of the month, tear!). We had a delicious potluk one evening at one friend's house that had an incredible assortment of Guyanese cuisine. We wined and dined at restaurants like the Dutch Bottle Cafe and Cara Lodge where I attempted to eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible :). During an especially hot afternoon, we relaxed at Georgetown's popular and only coffee bar, Oasis Cafe. We also took a lazy stroll through the Botanical Gardens and Zoo where I saw an anaconda, manatees, a jaguar, harpy eagles and tyras to name a few.  I felt like I was cheating, because I want to see all of these animals in the wild! 

cute little Manatee!

All in all it was a fantastic week off filled with refreshingly lazy activities. After an extremely bumpy trip back to the interior in a poorly suspended 4x4, I am looking forward to my three week work term in the field station filled with more adventures at Iwokrama!

xo S

PS: Sadly my camera died after the first day, but I will post some more Georgetown pictures from my friend's camera in a few days!