Georgetown, Guyana

Guyana is located on the north coast of South America just east of Venezuela.  It is a poor country with only 750,000 people.  Georgetown is the capitol of Guyana, located at the mouth of the Demerara River.

I visited on business, so my touring time was limited to a 2 hour drive around Georgetown (including crossing the interesting floating bridge to the west bank of the Demerara).  Our town tour was compliments of Terry (Galaxy Electric) - a local electrical contractor.  Other than that, it was two 45 minute airport drives in the dark with a security team - aka the Glock Brothers.  One of these drives was done at a fairly speedy clip since they were 45 minutes late picking us up to catch a 5:40 AM flight to Trinidad.  We were stopped by a 10-man team of well-armed police in the outer suburbs to further enhance the moment.  They were stopping both directions searching for drug runners & associated evil doers.  A quick glance in & we were waved on with a smile.  As we hurtled along the rest of the way in the dark - on the wrong side of the damn road British-style - I just hung on & enjoyed the reggae the driver was playing.

We were ensconced for 2 nights in the aging Meridian Pegasus which is located on the north side of Georgetown adjacent to the seawall, a short distance from the mouth of the river.  Rooms were OK.  Clean with sat TV & room service & good security.  Breakfast buffet, a 'fine' dining room (that's actually not so fine & worth a pass) & a poolside menu including daily specials & sandwiches, burgers, pizzas etc.  And rum.  Lots of delicious Demerara rum.  We ate at the hotel since we were dog tired & totally unadventurous.

Speaking of unadventurous, we had been warned (and this was confirmed with a further internet research), that Georgetown suffers from a lot of crime.  Our host arranged for everything:  the Glock Bros, Terry & the hotel, so we really didn't venture beyond this perimeter.  Along the way, we did hear some stories involving jewelry snatching on the street & the problems Guyana faces as a drug transit area.  Many homes & businesses sported guarded gates & fences or walls topped with razor wire.  The police were very visible around town & we had absolutely no problems.

It is a very vibrant town with people everywhere. The markets were packed with shoppers. The roads were a jumble of cars, trucks, motorcycles & horse carts. We saw numerous schools & groups of school kids - each school has a unique uniform - on the streets, waiting for rides etc.  I would have liked some foot time actually - as long as I had a local guide.

As an aside, we noticed a new hotel on the south part of town called Buddy's that looked pretty decent if you need an alternative from the Pegasus.  

Now the pictures can tell the tale . . .

December 2008

The morning view from the 6th floor of the Meridian Pegasus Hotel looking E/NE toward the mouth of the Demerara River.

The view from the same vantage point but looking south 
into Georgetown.

The pictures below were all taken from the backseat of a car as we toured Georgetown.  Please excuse the blurriness in some.

Cows on the road.  They were all over the town.  We almost hit one in the dark coming from the airport.

A shrimp fisherman beyond the seawall.  
Built by the British, it keeps the sea from flooding the town - almost.

A lot of garbage, water & livestock in Georgetown.  It had just rained (and did rain) so the roadside ditches were half full.

The multi-colored van is the main transportation method for many with 15 - 20 people crammed inside.  A horde of vans were waiting downtown for pickups to places all over Guyana.