Welcome to Bartica

Bartica, (pronounced BAHR-ti-kah), a small port town of ~15,000+ people, is located on the Essequibo River, at the confluence of the Cuyuni and Marzaruni Rivers, about 50 miles upriver from the Atlantic. It's called the “Gateway to the Interior” as it's the key jumping off spot for freelance miners, known as pork knockers, that scour the alluvial fields of Guyana's interior for gold and diamonds. More about pork knockers later.

We arrived just before Noon, launched the dinghy, and after feeling comfortable with our anchorage and holding, headed into town to check-in. We dinghied up and down the wharf to determine a place to tie up. No place was immediately evident. At the fast ferry dock, we asked and were pointed upriver to a raft of boats tied aft and stern not far away.

We nudged our way between the nestled boats up to a ramshackle hut with a wooden loading ramp that was missing about every other plank. A young black fellow grabbed our painter as we gingerly climbed out of the dinghy and made our way up the steep, rickety ramp, over a cement embankment and onto land. He would tie up the boat and we'd pay him later. Good, since we didn't have any Guyanese currency yet. The narrow muddy trail along the shore led to an alley which finally dumped us out on the main street, First Avenue. We made a mental note for our return that the little alley was next to a Digicel Top-Up sign.

Our first stop was Immigration on First Avenue. It may be a small town, but it seemed everyone was out and about either walking or driving. We arrived just after lunchtime (Noon-1pm) at the Immigration office, but no one was around. We waited a half hour and finally checked in with the police next door. They promised to give the guy a call. He showed up about 10 minutes later, apologetic, and after completing our entry forms and showing him our paperwork, he stamped our passports and directed us to an ATM in order to be able to pay our Customs' fees

We found the Scotia Bank on Second Avenue without much trouble and withdrew G$30,000 from the 24/7 ATM . It's an affiliate bank of Bank of America … no withdrawal fees involved. (Hooray!) Seemed like a lot of money (~US$150) and it was dispensed in all crisp G$5,000 notes. There's always a sigh of relief when our ATM card works in a new country. We headed immediately to Customs back on First Avenue across from Immigration. The office was located down an alley with no signs, next to Church's Chicken and up a steep cement staircase. We completed more forms and paid our G$2,500 incoming fees. We were legal in Guyana. The whole process took about 90 minutes … most of it spent waiting.

It was mid-afternoon now, hot and steamy. David had read that Digicel offered prepaid data packages here in Guyana and throughout the Caribbean and they had an office in Bartica. We found it at the other end of First Avenue and waited our turn in line. No complaints … the shop was air-conditioned. After much discussion, it was determined that Digicel did not sell dongles/digital modems for the computer … at least not in Bartica. If we could get our iPad unlocked, they could sell us a SIM card and we could then buy a prepaid data package. Though this wouldn't be optimal for transferring blogs and pics, it was doable and better than nothing. We went in search of the “unlock” guy, but his “office” was closed on a Friday afternoon.

We decided to check out the Central Market, a couple supermarkets and generally get the lay of the land. The Central Market was pretty much done for the day...early morning is best, so we'd return another day. There were several small supermarkets with basic supplies. We noticed lots of American products … Bush's beans, Heinz ketchup, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. Brazilian products were plentiful as well. The prices were horrendous, but considering where we were, probably reasonable just for the effort of getting the products here. Demerara sugar, produced locally, was a bargain, however, at G$240. Rice and beans seemed plentiful and were sold in quantities from huge 25kg (55#) sacks down to individually packaged small plastic bags.

Mike and Tessa's General Store on First Avenue has been around quite awhile. We poked our heads in … five cans of this and four cans of that on the shelves. They sold lots of bulk products like flour, rice and beans. They still weighed everything on an old-fashioned balance scale. Rubber boots hung from the ceiling and we imagined during the rainy season, they'd be in high demand.

There were bars and drinking establishments on every corner and several in between. We saw cases of the local Banks Beer being unloaded. Some men staggered along the streets and we figured they'd begun their drinking early.

The Morocco offered three beers for G$1000. Three beers for a thousand dollars … even for Guinness that seemed high until we did the math … ~US$1.50 each.

It was late afternoon when we tried to find our way back to the dinghy dock. It seems that our landmark, a Digicel Top-Up Sign, was one of many along First Avenue. We finally managed to find the right alley and retrace our steps to retrieve the dink. Heading over the cement embankment and down the steep, now slippery, every-other-plank-missing ramp was a bit awkward, but we managed. Our dinghy parking valet brought the dinghy back to the edge of the ramp. We paid our G$500 fee and nudged our way back out of the parking lot and back to Cups. Enough exploring for one day. Time for dinner, a cold beer and a movie. Tomorrow's another day and we're looking forward to it.

About Guyana

As usual, we've done our homework in advance and have some feel for what to expect when we arrive in Guyana. We're kind of excited about the trip; it's the only country in South America we haven't visited and it'll be a good tick on our bucket list. Guyana is a small country, a bit larger than the state of New York. Formerly British Guiana, it became independent from Great Britain in 1966. It's proper name is the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Nestled between Venezuela to the west and Suriname to the east, it borders Brazil to the south and the Atlantic sweeps its shore on the north.

Guyana is an Amerindian word translating to "land of many waters." It has a huge network of rivers, the three largest of which are the Demerara, the Berbice and the Essequibo. It's the Essequibo, Guyana's longest river, that we'll tackle. From what we've read, the climate is pretty much identical to that of French Guiana and Suriname … hot and steamy this time of year with frequent showers. Like the other Guianas, Guyana is more Caribbean in culture than South American. We aim to find out.

Lonely Planet provided a list of Guyana's key attractions. Kaieteur Falls tops the list. LP describes it this way … “Watching 30,000 gallons of water per second be shot out over a 250m (820ft) cliff in the middle of a misty, ancient jungle without another tourist in sight is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” Something we'd love to do. We'll see how it works out.

The Guyanese currency is the Guyanese dollar (GYD – G$). The exchange rate today is about US$1=G$200 which means we'll be doing higher math to figure out our true cost of things.

A little Guyana trivia for you …

Guyana is the only country in South America with English as its official language although Creole, Hindi, Urdu and several AmerIndian dialects are frequently spoken.

Guyana is probably best remembered as the site of the mass suicide at Jonestown in 1978. Jim Jones, the leader of the People's Temple Movement, convinced 900 of his followers that it was “time ... to meet in another place”. They all drank cyanide-laced red Kool-aid and were dead within an hour.

Georgetown, Guayana's capital and only large city, lies 13 feet below sea level at high tide. A sea wall and an early Dutch canal system keeps the town from flooding and provides drainage.

Demerara sugar, a brown, raw cane sugar, gets its name from the Demerara River in Guyana. The Guyanese sugar industry, with a 300-year old history, is nationally controlled (Guysuco) and huge. Logging and mining (gold and bauxite) are also important contributors to Guyana's economy.

The Guyanese national flag is called “the Golden Arrowhead”. Whitney Smith, an American, is credited with the design. Our friend Doris in Namibia made ours for us and we'll have the chance to use it now.

Guyana's first Olympic medal was won by Michael Parris who got a bronze for boxing in 1980. Cricket is a national sport, introduced by the British and played religiously.

We're looking forward to our time here. We hope you plan to come along.

Up Guyana's Essequibo River

It poured cats and dogs during the night. We were up at quarter to dawn to catch the early morning flood tide 40 nm up Guyana's longest river, the Essequibo. The rain had mostly stopped and it was cool, misty and grey at first light. The decks were wet, but clean. We hauled the anchor, heavy and thick with clay and mud. Smoke, sawdust and rich earth smells filled the air.

From the get-go, the passage up the Essequibo was interesting, but required lots of concentration. We had what we assumed were good waypoints (23 of them!), but even the few navigational aids shown on the chart were missing. In the entire, circuitous 50nm trip, we saw only three markers. To add to the challenge, our Navionics charts were off by about 700' N/S and 300' E/W, making it appear at times, as if we were sailing over land.

Sights along the river were colorful and diverse. We saw an array of Hindu prayer flags on a beach and

lots of abandoned, rusting hulks. Several large motor vessels were high and dry on the sand, hopefully using the low tide for repairs and maintenance.

For a good portion of the trip, we had one foot on land and one in the water, i.e. we were very close to the river shore. This afforded the opportunity to observe shore life and take lots of pictures.

The largest port on the river is Parika, low-lying Georgetown's primary port. We watched the ferry from Bartica pass us as it headed to the stelling (a new word for us), the commercial wharf/terminal for ships.

The wharves of Parika were busy with trucks and boats loading and unloading market produce. Bananas seemed to be a bumper crop.

Fishermen, in tiny open boats, worked hard pulling up their nets. We watched men wrestle fuel barrels off riverboats onto small boats. Fast river taxis whizzed past and slow heavily-laden barges, nudged forward by tugs, shared the river with us.

Logging is big industry in Guyana as evidenced by the number of sawmills, mountains of sawdust and volume of cut logs piled along the shores. The distinct, pleasant smell of freshly cut wood permeated the air.

Houses dotted the shore with boats moored nearby, some barely visible through the dense foliage. There are few roads in Guyana, but lots of waterways. Boats are essential transportation here as they were in the other Guianas.

Numerous private piers extended into the river from the shore for ease of loading and unloading. Some were very elaborate and some basic, but all seemed to do the trick. The tidal range here is about 8' (2.5m).

By mid-morning, the grey overcast cleared and white puffy clouds appeared in a blue sky. We motored on a milk chocolate river.

We passed Fort Island, location of the British Guiana's first capital city, and could make out the ruins of the 18th century Fort Zeelandia, built while the Dutch ruled the colony. We noted that this might make a great stop for exploring on our way back downriver. The Dutch were not very imaginative with their fort names evidently. Wasn't the fort in Paramaribo named Fort Zeelandia, too?

The foliage ashore was thick and verdant. There seemed to be a thousand shades of green, accentuated by random streaks of yellow, red and purple blossoms and brightly colored parrots and macaws squawking and flitting between trees. I spotted a toucan, perched high on a dead tree. Our first toucan in the wild ... far away, but easy to identify in profile.

Moths, butterflies, bees, dragonflies and welcome swallows darted by, traveling significantly faster than our 7.5-8 knots. They all eyed us briefly, but obviously discovering nothing of interest, continued on their way. Several of Eddy Egret's kin crowded on the riverside mangroves.

As we neared Bartica, we passed close to Two Brothers Island where musician, Eddie Grant, has built himself quite a palace.

The current provided about a 2.5 knot push for us. The further up the river we progressed, the later the high tide, and the 40 nm quickly passed. A few sharp turns, an adrenaline moment as we transited Rattlesnake Pass and saw the depth meter dip quickly to 9' (2.8m) and there was Bartica. We motored past the Bartica Stelling and were anchored comfortably off the town by Noon. A new country and a new adventure lie ahead.