Time to settle in and get on with it!

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This morning, I woke up to the sounds of Howler Monkeys… Well, I think that’s what they were. They were so loud but it didn’t last long. I was already due to get up anyway and I was definitely ready for a nice cold shower to cool down my sunburnt patches of skin.



I headed over to the toilet and lifted up the lid to find a little present in there. On closer inspection, I saw two little eyes beaming up at me. Either some just passed an intact amphibian through their digestive system or it was an actual frog hanging out for a little bit. I really didn’t want to do my business on him so I tried to flush him away, back in to the river. The water system in the showers and toilets both use the river water. The water isn’t really drinkable if you aren’t a local but you can brush your teeth with the water. Anyway, I digress. So I flush the little guy and he seems to wash away fairly easily – I’m not sure what kind of a frog he was but he almost looked more like a cane toad, so damn ugly! I pulled down my pants and then thought, better just check if there’s anything else and he’s back!! So, I went to another toilet. He won this round…



After some breakfast with the Bushmaster group that are going on the Jaguar tour at mid morning, the guys spot some more monkeys. I believe they were Brown-bearded Saki’s and they were high up in the trees and I needed a pair of binoculars to seem them clearly. Seeing them through binoculars was great – why didn’t I bring a pair! One of the guys gave me his to have a look at the Saki which was very lovely. They were definitely too high up and obstructed by leaves to take any photos. But they were having fun collecting their breakfast.



After all the fun of the Saki, I have to wait around with the staff until the Bushmaster group heads off before I can start doing my work. It’s a nice little touch have all of the take part in the send off for the next journeys so I wait with them and watch while the guys practice their bow and arrow skills. Some of them are really good, some of them… not so good! It does look fun but sadly I have to say goodbye to everyone and my new Australian friend. Trust Australians to find each other in the middle of nowhere on the other side of the world! They will be back in a week, hopefully with some good stories and amazing pictures of Jaguars in the wild.



So I head over to the little office building at about 10:30 with Russian and it’s already so hot in the room. The roof is thatched and the windows are open to try and get that little bit of breeze through. My usual working day should be 9am-12:30, the lunch, the work again from 1:30 – 4pm. I don’t get this long lunch business so I ended up working from 1 until 5. There’s a Satellite dish just behind the office so the connection is so much better sitting there. The lodge, on behalf of the village aswell, pays around US$250 a month for the connection but it does benefit the whole community. It’s amazing seeing the villagers coming out with their mini laptops and hanging out outside the rooms where there are power points to do their work. Some are forestry staff that work for the government, a lot work at the lodge on and off and some work within the community in health and education.



The work I will do is to firstly clean up the lodges email and start filing things away and to setup quotes for some of the touring companies. The first one is a little tough, maybe because it was so detailed but the second one is easy and just an overview of rates. There are two sets of rates to look at, 2013 and 2014. Some people are booking ahead as far as November 2014! I get started on making a matrix for quoting because it is very specialised pricing but it’s put in the too hard basket for my first day. Once I understand the rates a bit better, I will get back to it. I’m actually amazed at the fact that fuel is the most expensive part of the quote, more than food and the accommodation. It’s the fuel to get you up and down the river that costs the lodge so much money.



The day ends and it’s already time to eat dinner at about 5:30pm. It’s a lonely dinner, just me and Rudy but it’s filled with amazing tales about the history of the lodge and how much they went through to make it what is today and their plans for the future. I learn about a Harpy Eagle that has a 2 month old chick in the nest. Harpy’s are endangered and don’t often have offspring. They look after their young for a long time and the female and male take turns to watch the nest from predators (other eagles) while they hunt for food. The Harpy has been known to take little children to feed on – although, this is rare. Rudy told me this happened to a young boy, 11 or 12 a few years ago and the family watched the bird take him away, high up into their nest and unfortunately, they were never able to get the boy back. Rudy has offered to take me on Saturday on a 3 hour trek to see the bird. He needs to check it and send information to tour operators which will generate a lot of business into the community as there are many keen bird watchers that come to Guyana. It will be another 3 hours back so will take a full day. Apparently it’s quite a slow walk because of the heat, this makes me feel much better because heat and activity don’t work well with me!! I think it will be a wonderful adventure to go on and I hope it does all pan out.



By the time the stories are done, it’s only 7:30pm but I’m very ready for sleep. It’s a cool evening and I can see lightening over the other side of the rainforest again. But there are no clouds in my new Rewa sky, it’s only full of bright stars.

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Photos

Bow and Arrow Time
Ian from Bushmasters showing the guys how to use bow and arrow. Ian specialises in jungle survival trips in Guyana and Belize as well as desert survival in Jordan. Will definitely jump onto a Jordan trip with his company.

Aussies stick together
My fellow Aussie, Aaron, showing his expert skills.

Trek time
The Bushmaster group heading off on their week long camping trek on the search for the elusive Jaguar. Unfortunately, they didn't see any but did manage to see a lot of other animals.

Freddie!
This is Freddie the resident Caiman at Rewa. He gets fed chicken pieces by the kitchen staff.

Rewa Landing
This is the view from the boat landing out onto the Rewa River.

Office
My new office

Hard at work!
My new desk.

memory...
I cannot remember what this little creature is but its like a rodent.