After an action packed week in Charity being all environmental, it was time to explore again! Today (Sunday), we decided we would visit the Lighthouse, the Umana Yana, Seawall and even get some geocaching done. Tall order I hear you say....well be surprised we managed all that aaaand had a 'ladies that do lunch' moment in a posh hotel!
We started the day by heading towards the Lighthouse, which is based in a suburb of Georgetown call Kingston, our first adventure was finding the bus - you need to head towards city hall and just shout 'Lighthouse' and they will come a'running!
It was a short journey, and we just stopped short of the Prime Minsters residence on Main Street. It was a short 5 minute walk to the Lighthouse, we even went past the USA Peace Corp residence. They definatly had more air con, mod cons and more bars than us Guides!!
We visited the Lighthouse at the request of Sara and myself, I had even got a geocoin with the challenge to visit as many lighthouses in the world as possible. Mission complete for Guyana, next stop United Kingdom!
The Lighthouse itself is built near the mouth of the Demerara River, the original wooden lighthouse was built in 1817 by the Dutch but was replaced by stone in 1830.
Next stop was the Umana Yana, this is Wai Wai for 'meeting place of the people', it is a 55ft tall thatched roof hut (known as a benab) built by the Wai Wai Amerindians in 1972 to host a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement of Third World Nations. The hut was constructed using traditional methods and tools. It is now used as a venue for art shows to heritage festivals.
In the grounds of the Umana Yana is the African Liberation Monument, this is a sculpture consisting of five greenheart poles which commerates the African Freedom Fighters. It was built in 1974 for the United Nations Commission.
It was now approaching lunchtime, so we went posh like into the Le Meridan - Pegasus Hotel and enjoyed a slap up meal in the air con :)
After lunch we went to the Seawall, this was where the 2010 GOLDies completed their environmental project. We spent an hour playing in the sand and enjoying the emptiness of the beach in comparison to the crazy bustle of Stabroek Market.
On the way back we attempted to find the 'Wilderness Explorer' cache in Georgetown - located near the Promenade Gardens and Independence Park. Unfortunately, it is looked after by someone within a building and that building was closed on Sundays!! We confused the next door neighbours though!
All in all, a lovely day was had and our next day off will be spent at Kaiteur - so watch this space for more Queens Guide Exploration updates!
Lizzy
P.S. just to annoy Sara...OVER and .................OUT :P
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