A New View

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Lethem To Annai
Becky We are leaving for Annai today, but not until we see more patients in Lethem. After our French toast breakfast, we arrived at the hospital around 8:30 a.m. I got started checking in patients again and dropped off several stacks of results with Terrence. When all the patients had been seen we headed to Mrs. Foo’s to pack up our stuff and load it on the truck. We met our driver, David, and hit the road with some box lunches. There are no paved roads in the interior so for the entire 2 hour trip we were driving on a dirt road with questionable bridges over the streams. It was a little bumpy at times but for the most part it really wasn’t that bad. The scenery got better as we neared Annai because the mountains were closer and there was more greenery than dust.

The first stop we made in Annai was the Rock View Lodge, which is run by an Englishman named Collin Edwards. It was so awesome! The rooms were just okay but they had running water and electricity so the basics were covered. The grounds are the best part of the lodge. There are trees and flowers and benches and pens with native animals and two of the cutest little puppies I have ever seen. We unloaded the truck and went to check out the clinic. It was a lot nicer than the clinic in Lethem but they don’t have electricity so we had to bring our own generator.

We didn’t have much time to see patients before it got dark so we went to the bar at the lodge. We sat around talking until someone came and got us for dinner. Meals at the lodge are buffet style and everyone, including Colin and his family, eats together. I thought that was pretty cool except Collin turned out to be a rather opinionated and self-righteous individual, although he was still interesting. The food was pretty good but my favorite thing was this lime juice. They wouldn’t tell us how to make so I will have to do some experimenting. After dinner we went back to the bar, played hearts, and sat around until after 10 when we decided we better get to bed. This was probably my favorite evening of the trip so far. It was nice to laugh and play cards, which is always a good thing to me, and just enjoying being in Guyana.

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