E is for Electricity and Ecotourism

... Electricity

It was surprisingly easy to get used to no electricity during the day. Roger has a big generator that produces electricity for Mahdia from 6pm to 6am. Thanks Roger!

I had never given it any thought before deciding to move to Guyana, simply because I was used to having electricity any time any place; But the truth is that one needs electricity mostly at night, which is when I have it, generally.

I have some lamps and torches around the house, ready to be used when electricity fails. When that happens, I close the book, find my way to the closest lamp, turn it on, turn on the ipod and wait. It’s great to take a break!

Talking about ipods, I’ve wasted all the batteries I brought for the speakers. The ones on sale here are as powerful as the ones you throw away (what do you call a battery disposal place, like the “pilhão” in Portugal?).

All in all it’s easy to live with controlled electricity. It’s all about managing the electric points.

Before arriving, the biggest mystery to me was the fridge; I wondered if people could live without one in such heat. It turns out that most of them do, but I am part of the lucky bunch who has a fridge in the house. Well, fridge during the night, big cold box during the day. Keeping bottles of water in the freezer overnight does the trick for having cold water during the day and even some ice. Neat, ha?

... and Ecotourism

Tourism in Guyana is like Sundays: you can either have a beautiful, unique, magical experience, or you can end up disappointed, frustrated and finding all doors closed. To me, that is the biggest problem in doing tourism here, especially when you’re used to the idea of “satisfaction or your money back”. The only tourist experiences I have had hear were amazing, but I am aware that I was lucky.

Here are the contacts of the places I visited, and which I highly recommend. These people work hard and want you to have a good time.

1. Parishara Village - David Ng-A-Fook

+592 6974608

Dan and I were the guinea pigs in David’s experience. He participated in a workshop dedicated to tourism, got enthusiastic about the possibilities, got some neighbours together and prepared a wonderful couple of days, pretty taylor made. When you decide to come, please don’t ask him for too much, because I’m sure he will try his hardest to make it come true!

We stayed in a concrete house, but we had taken our hammocks and told him that generally eco tourists enjoy sleeping closer to nature. At the time (March 2010) a benab was being built, so you might get to sleep in one.

At dawn we went looking for the giant ant eater, but it decided to stay low, so we didn’t get to see it. I loved the savannah’s silence: no bird, no wind. Just the immense silence and a gigantic sky.

We learn how to make cassava bread, we ate delicious fresh water fish and we heard stories about the savannah’s people and animals. 

2. Maipama Eco-Lodge – Guy Frederick

guybalatacraft@gmail.com

+592 6969789

+592 6968461

This eco-lodge has been up and running for almost 10 years. It’s in the middle of the jungle and there is no electricity, but you can enjoy some vodka with freshly pressed orange juice on the rocks… ok, I’ll explain: at the lodge they are aware that the foreigners like to listen to the sounds of nature, and also enjoy the luxury of modern days, so they turn the generator on while the guests are away. Isn’t that sweet? 

When you visit Maipama Eco-lodge, you can either stay around, enjoying the lovely swimming-pool-like creek, or go for a 14km walk to the Jordan Falls. We did it the lazy way: went on one day, enjoyed the falls, relaxed, stayed overnight, went for a walk around the falls and came back to the lodge, but you can visit the Jordan Falls and get back to the lodge on the same day.

I highly recommend what we did: a couple of days in the huge-skied and perfectly silent savannah, at the Parishara Village, and some days in the mighty jungle, where the sky is tiny and nature’s soundtrack never stops.