Guyana -- Day 9

We woke up this morning to the sunny skies and went downstairs to the restaurant in the hotel to have breakfast. After getting ready for the day, we took a taxi out to the Demerara Distillers Limited, Diamond Distillery. This is the where they make their famous El Dorado Rum, as well as other types of alcohol. Their rum is aged for different lengths of years, from 5yrs to 25yrs. The El Dorado 15 Year Old Special Reserve Rum has continuously won awards over the past decade, including "best rum in the world".

We had a 10am appointment for a rum tour of the distillery. Our guide took our group around to explain the whole fermenting process and described how the rum is made, including a 400 year old wooden still that's used as part of the process. After the tour, we were provided samples of several different rums -- at 11am. Usually a little early for us to sample rum, but since we were in Guyana and lucky to be on this tour, we couldn't give up this chance.

After the tour, we headed into town to grab some lunch and walk around Stabroek market for the last time before going home -- today was our last day in Guyana :(

Our cousin came by the hotel in the evening after work and we had dinner at the hotel and talked to him about the last couple of days. We were pretty spoiled during the week by having him or someone else touring us around and showing us the ropes. The past two days were on our own, and we turned out okay :)

Our flight back to Toronto was at 6am Saturday morning, so we left the hotel in the middle of the night at 3am. Our Aunt, Cousin, Granny, and their two neighbours came along for the ride to send us off. It was a sad, yet happy moment to say goodbye. Although we were only there for about a week, it felt like we had known each other our whole lives.

It was such an inspirational week being in a different country and being part of their culture and their lifestyle. After spending only a week there, going back to Toronto seemed overwhelming with everything that was going on. We went from 30 degrees to 0 degrees, from sun and trees surrounding us where ever we went to gloomy weather and a concrete jungle. Obviously it's two different countries, two different ways of living, but traveling there was educational and life changing. This was a first time for me being there, but it will definitely not be our last.

Guyana -- Day 8

We woke up at a good time this morning and headed out to the Parika market. This market is open on Thursday and Sunday, with the latter being the busier day. That being said, it was Thursday today and it wasn't that busy. It was nice to see the variety of items that were available though. We spent a couple of hours around the market and walked down the street to a couple of other stores before heading back home.

We had some lunch and sadly enough, finalized packing our suitcases. We wanted to stay in Georgetown for the last couple of nights of our trip, so today was the day to check in to the hotel in the city. We also wanted to give our Aunt and Cousin a little break from us :) We spent the afternoon packing up our things, eating lunch, and playing some cards and Snakes and Ladders with Kevin and his Sister.

We left at 3pm and took a taxi in to the city. We checked in to our hotel and settled in before heading out for a brief walk around the area. We grabbed a taxi and went out for dinner, sitting on the balcony/patio part of the restaurant which was nice and relaxing. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, grabbed a drink at their bar where an 80 year old mango tree lived, and turned it in early for the night.

Guyana -- Day 7

Today was a more low key day for us.

We spent a couple hours in the morning and went to Stabroek Market in Georgetown, one of the largest markets in Guyana that provides fresh vegetables, seafood, clothes, and jewelry. It's an enclosed market and known for the giant clock at the front entrance. Although it was the middle of the week, the market was abuzz full of locals selling and buying. We picked up some fish and also fried fish sandwiches to bring home for lunch.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and enjoying the bright sun and warm weather. My wife helped our aunt make some food as well, which I thoroughly enjoyed eating :) After dinner that night, we had the longest Snakes and Ladders game in history! We played with our cousin, Kevin, and his Sister and we had some extra rules that kept on making us start all over!! It was a fun and one of many memorable times during the trip.

Guyana -- Day 6

The first day of 2013, and we're in a different country! It was nice waking up this morning and knowing that we're traveling and doing something different this year; maybe this was a preview of what the year has in store for what we hope to be a fortunate year filled with great experiences.

We left this morning destined to the Parika Ferry. Our original plan was to go to Bartica, a town south of us, but it would take about 4hrs if we traveled on a regular boat. The ideal way to travel is by speed boat, taking less than an hour, but the waves were too choppy that day to travel at a fast speed. So we did plan B; a day trip to Leguan, another little town on an Island.

We took a ferry across to the Island, a 45 minute ride. We met one of Granny's family and he was nice enough to take us around. There was only enough room inside the truck for three, and since there were six of us, that meant the other three got to stand on the back of the pick up truck! Sounds exciting, doesn't it?! It was indeed, but only for the first ten minutes. The hot sun blazing down on us didn't really help the rest of the ride :)

The gang made stops to visit family, each happy to see everyone and providing drinks and snacks to us even though they didn't even know we were coming. It was enjoyable to meet everyone for the first time, and each and every person was so nice and pleasant to talk to.

After an afternoon of visiting family and riding on the back of a truck, we took the 2pm ferry back to Parika and made our way home. We had dinner and took it easy for the rest of the night.

Guyana -- Day 5

Today was Monday, so our cousin/tour guide went to work. To replace him for the day, their neighbour from across the street took the liberty to tour us around their area. Kevin, 12yrs old, is a bright and funny little guy who walked around with us and showed us the ropes of the neighbourhood. He provided us with some good facts and also many laughs. At 12yrs old, he already has dreams of becoming a doctor, and we could see this coming true as he's a very smart kid. But before that happens, there's still some growing up to do and with that, we purchased a Snakes and Ladders board game at a store down the street, which was played for many hours during the trip!

We took a walk around my Wife's old house as well which was a 10 minute drive from where we were staying. She was very young when she left, but still had a couple of pictures of her childhood. We brought one particular picture with us to do a Dear Photograph style picture -- I think we were successful! It was surreal to be back to the exact same area, and as you'll see, the picture does not show many clues as to where it is, but her Mom knew exactly where it was taken.

Today was New Year's Eve -- or Old Year's Night as the locals called it. Local time was one hour ahead of Toronto and we were physically missing from the annual get together with our friends, but that didn't stop us from joining! We love our friends, they're the best -- we coordinated a web chat a couple hours before midnight so we can say hi and wish them a new year. It was great to see them although we were in different countries.

We rang in the New Year at midnight outside their house along with fireworks. Everyone went crazy with music and fireworks; it was such a different experience than what we do in Toronto, so it was a nice way to start off the New Year!!

Guyana -- Day 4

Our water was packed and we were ready to go; today was a day trip to Kaieteur and Orinduik Falls!

After meeting with the tour group at a predefined location, we hopped on a bus to go to Ogle Airport. From there, we boarded a (tiny) plane that fit 14 people including the pilot. The flight there took just about an hour to reach, and what a view it was from the top. The scenery surrounding was lush and full of trees and in the middle was the spectacular sight of the 741ft drop waterfall. The view was breathtaking from the top and we couldn't wait to land and get a closer look -- literally. Kaieteur does not have any man made barriers at the edge of the falls, so it was up to you how close you wanted to get.

Kaieteur is known for one of the most powerful waterfalls in the water due to the height and water volume (for more info about Kaiteur, click here). To quickly do a comparison, Kaieteur is about three times higher than Niagara Falls. Since it was dry season, the amount of water flowing over the drop was only at 40% of its regular flow. We walked to three different look out points of the falls, and also got a glimpse of Guyana's poisonous Golden Frog. The view of the falls from up close was amazing. The amount of water flowing over the edge was powerful, even at 40% of its volume during wet season. You couldn't help but be mesmerized by the flow of the water and the panoramic view of down below -- made you want to take a dive :)

We had lunch back at the cabin and got back in the plane for a 20 minute ride to Orinduik Falls. This was was not high at all, but it was just as scenic. We were given the chance to walk in the water and underneath the falls if we chose to. We decided to just walk through the flowing water as we didn't have swimwear on, so we didn't go underneath the falls itself.

The day had ended and we took the 1hr 30min plane ride back to Ogle Airport. The sun was on its way down while we waited for our ride back home. We had dinner when we got back, and relaxed for the rest of the evening as we all had a long day trekking it through the jungle in the heat.