A Trek to Paradise

Saturday dawned cloudy, then sprinkled, then bright sunshine, then heavy rain, then sunshine. That’s the weather conditions that accompanied our walk to Mashabo Village, Guyana. This idyllic Amerindian Village greeted us after a six mile walk on road and trails that wound along the Ikuraka Lake and between flooded rice fields. It’s puzzling to me to see Palm trees growing in water. We saw colorful butterflies (one as big as my hand), birds of all varieties (I wish I could identify), and lots of pesky ants (red, black, brown, big and miniscule), but no large mammals. Maybe that’s a good thing since I was looking up Mashabo Village on the internet and read that not very long ago, in March, a jaguar was killed in the village after devouring 14 dogs and several chickens. They called it a ferocious feline probably because it instilled fear in the residents after so many animals went missing. The villagers set a trap and were successful in catching and then killing the big cat.

To get to the beginning of the trail to Moshabo I boarded a mini-bus, then speedboat, then hired car. After a picnic lunch along the shores of Lake Ikuka, we hired a villager’s boat to transport us back across the lake to a waiting hired car who tried his very best to get us to the 4pm ferry in Sopanam to return us home. But it was not meant to be, and we ended up taking another speed boat which is faster but 3X as costly as the ferry. But this is what is so great about living in a country as opposed to visiting as a tourist. We can enjoy all the splendors of this great land without a tour company. We are on our own and figuring it all out. 

How cute can a boy and his mom be? Chase and Heidi Gorishek

The trekers

Local resident gathering wood.

Local  resident undercover!