THE DAY has finally arrived!!

We were booked on the 10:30 flight out of Ogle (airport) to Lethem, with two stops in between. First stop is Annai, and then on to Karanambu. Both of us have taken this flight many times, alone and together, but today was different, we were not going on vacation to visit Diane, we were going to our new home to work with Diane. We could hardly believe that we were actually on our way to the airport.

You are only allowed to travel with 25lbs each on the 12 seater plane, but we had called ahead and booked 200lbs in over-weight. We took 2 of our 4 suitcases, the alternator for the generator at Karanambu (which weighed over 100 lbs by itself), 2 backpacks, a rain gage, 4 bougainvilleas plants and some orchid plants that had originally belonged to Granny (Salvador’s Mother). By the time we got to Ogle we were in a mass of confusion. IF we had to leave something behind what would it be??? Fortunately for us, everything got on the flight.

Loading the plane

 

 watching from inside

When you fly over Guyana it all becomes very clear. 95% of the population live on the coast. So, first you see the houses of Georgetown, then the sugar cane fields,

then the Rain Forest which looks like miles and miles and miles of Broccoli...

 

and finally come the Savannahs. 

9 months out of the year the Savannahs are dry dry dry. Sand and brush. But three months out of the year, in the rainy season, they flood and the dessert fills with water. The roads become waterways. Where landrovers once traveled comfortably, now only boats can manage to get through.

The plane landed and there was Di and Royell and the BLUE landrover (the fancy one! This one has a windshield!)

We went by land rover from the airstrip as far as we could go.  The boat was waiting to take us the rest of the way home.

It is a 3 ½ mile trail that we easily did in 15 – 20 minutes by landrover in March. This time it took us a good hour by boat. Traveling through the trees in a boat on water is a special thrill.

The welcoming committee was in full force! Everyone was so excited to see us! Both the staff and management greeted us with hugs. Neighbors made the long trip to greet us and wish us well. We were thrilled to be so warmly received. But our celebration ended quickly when Royell announced that the water pump had seized up. The water pump is essential, because we pump water from the river to fill the over head tanks. We have two 500 gallon tanks, four 450 gallon and one 1000 gallon tank. Without a pump we had no water for bathing, dishes, toilets, cooking….you get the picture. We all immediately went into RATION MODE:

“Don’t flush unless it is absolutely essential”.

“Soap yourself up GOOD before you rinse”

Early this morning I emailed the S.O.S. and we were able to get a new water pump purchased on our behalf and put on stand by for tomorrow morning’s flight to Annai. The only problem is, because of the rainy season, the roads are washed out and there is a shortage of gasoline.

But, we'll figure it all out!