Canoeing and Training
on Kate in Guyana (Guyana), 10/May/2010 19:52, 34 days ago
On Sunday I went for a paddle in a dug out canoe - I was really pleased to have the authentic experience. It belongs to the VSO who I went boating with last weekend. She had it made locally (it cost her sixty pounds). She keeps it on the Demarara River, so it's quite close to Georgetown for a day trip - one hour on a minibus. The canoe is stored at the landing stage for a tourist site, and the trip she does is the same journey they do. This means that there are a few speed boats going by which means there is an option for rescue if we got stuck! First there's a long paddle across the big river, which yesterday was a very smooth crossing- then along the shore up to a small creek, which is then similar to the River Lugg size, only no rapids and bigger trees. We were going up on the tide but the timings were not quite right for the turn, so we had to come down against it. It was a great day for canoeing, cloudy so not hot. The canoe was similar to a canadian, but a bit less stable.We did our first Training today, we had seventeen teachers instead of thirty expected, but maybe that was just as well on our first day. I arrived to find that the ceiling had been taken down in the room we were to use, so that was a good start. On the whole though it went well, in good humour, despite the snacks arriving an hour and a half late (not my fault).