Not-so-City Slickers
We were quite pleased and proud that we survived the night in the benab, with no electricity and surrounded by bats, hornets and snakes. We had a relatively good nights sleep despite being woken by the rain at 4am. Sarah was pleased that the snake didn’t find our room! We left Surama at 9am for the 1 hour drive to Rock View. Making use of a vehicle travelling between villages, we were joined by an Australian girl called Rachel, who worked at a research station near Rock View. Sidney, our guide, said that he had seen a jaguar at the Canopy Walkway the previous evening – quite frustrating as we had been there the previous day. We stopped at Bina Hill and saw the research centre (where Ben works) and the secondary school that is attended by children from the surrounding villages (some of which are several hours walk away) and then we went on to Rock View. Rock View was established by a Brit, Colin Edwards. Think public school, colonial governor who built the country single-handedly and you get the idea. He’s lived an interesting life and is happy to share a story or two over a glass of rum after dinner.
Rock View is more luxurious than the other places we stayed. It is well designed with nice rooms, a small pool and bar. It is self-sufficient and we had a tour around the fruit trees and animals. After lunch we were shown how cashew nuts are roasted. It is really hard, hot work. You have to roast the nuts to burn off the oil otherwise it would burn your lips and cause blisters. We felt a bit guilty that someone had spent all that effort just for us to try a couple of nuts. The cashews did taste lovely, especially as they were hot.
After the exertion of watching someone else roast cashews and crack them open in the boiling sun we needed a rest so relaxed in our hammock. At 3.30pm we went for a horseride around the grounds. It was my first time ever on a horse! My horse was called Normandy and Sarah’s was Chestnut. Luckily both horses knew the trail route and we didn’t have to worry about steering them. We saw the hills and the villagers’ homes and got back as it started raining. Castro, the horseman guide showed us how to round up cattle using a bull whip. It sounded like a gun going off. We sought shelter from the rain in the cowshed, which had further proof of Rock View’s self-sufficiency as there was a bloody cowhide drying out.
When the rain had passed, we went for a nice swim and met Aubrey and his grandson Daniel. Aubrey is Guyanese, but has lived in Cheshire since he attended school in the UK. At dinner we met Mr Prince and Archie, Guyanese engineers working for the water authority. After dinner we had drinks with Colin and the other guests. There were only the seven of us. It was set up perfectly for an Agatha Christie novel…but who had the guilty secret and who would be the victim?
After drinks, Sarah and walked to the airstrip with Daniel and Aubrey to do some star gazing.
Rock View is more luxurious than the other places we stayed. It is well designed with nice rooms, a small pool and bar. It is self-sufficient and we had a tour around the fruit trees and animals. After lunch we were shown how cashew nuts are roasted. It is really hard, hot work. You have to roast the nuts to burn off the oil otherwise it would burn your lips and cause blisters. We felt a bit guilty that someone had spent all that effort just for us to try a couple of nuts. The cashews did taste lovely, especially as they were hot.
After the exertion of watching someone else roast cashews and crack them open in the boiling sun we needed a rest so relaxed in our hammock. At 3.30pm we went for a horseride around the grounds. It was my first time ever on a horse! My horse was called Normandy and Sarah’s was Chestnut. Luckily both horses knew the trail route and we didn’t have to worry about steering them. We saw the hills and the villagers’ homes and got back as it started raining. Castro, the horseman guide showed us how to round up cattle using a bull whip. It sounded like a gun going off. We sought shelter from the rain in the cowshed, which had further proof of Rock View’s self-sufficiency as there was a bloody cowhide drying out.
When the rain had passed, we went for a nice swim and met Aubrey and his grandson Daniel. Aubrey is Guyanese, but has lived in Cheshire since he attended school in the UK. At dinner we met Mr Prince and Archie, Guyanese engineers working for the water authority. After dinner we had drinks with Colin and the other guests. There were only the seven of us. It was set up perfectly for an Agatha Christie novel…but who had the guilty secret and who would be the victim?
After drinks, Sarah and walked to the airstrip with Daniel and Aubrey to do some star gazing.
posted by Ian @ 10:22 pm
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