There was the same white noise machine in the room that we have at home, so we had a good sleep even though we were facing the rather noisy Rupert Craig Highway.
We had breakfast (they had excellent pancakes!) and then organized our taxi rides for the rest of our stay. For today, we booked a taxi and driver/guide for a couple hours to tour around Georgetown.
First stop was along the seawall. It’s recently been restored, with mangroves planted to protect from erosion. Our driver said the seawall gets pretty busy on the weekend, with families and friends out for a stroll.
Next we drove to St George’s Cathedral, which at 43.5m is one of the tallest wooden churches in the world. [citation needed] Walked around the perimeter and took our pics. Unfortunately it wasn’t open, as the interior is supposedly just as stunning, with the sun streaming through the stained glass windows. My friend Ram (who’s from Guyana) said he’s never see it open.
Drove by city hall, another example Gothic Revival architecture. There’s some really beautiful buildings in the centre of Georgetown. Parked outside Stabroek market, took a pic of the famous clock tower, and then wandered around the bustling market for a bit.
Our last stop was Bourda Market, a fruit and vegetable market. Took a million pics - the markets are really photogenic. I think it’s cause the vendors take a lot of care to arrange their fruits and vegetables in colourful baskets.
Ram had suggested we try guinep, which is a bit like a lychee. It wasn’t in season, so instead had a coconut. Our driver walked us over to a popular coconut vendor. He asked if we wanted it with jelly. We weren’t sure what that meant, but gave it a go. The vendor used his machete to slice off the top of the coconut and we sipped the coconut water. Then he split the shell into thirds, carved out a small triangle piece, which we used to scoop out the coconut flesh, aka jelly. We hadn’t seen that step in other parts of the world! It might depend on the type of coconut and how scoopable the flesh is, I guess. It was really refreshing, for 300 GYD each (about 1.50 CAD).
We walked back to the car, and drove back to the hotel. Along the way we stopped at a roadside stall to pick up some doubles for lunch. Grabbed a coke at the bar, and then ate in our room. It hit the spot.
We then got a WhatsApp from the agency about our Kaituer excursion - the Kaiteur airpspace was being closed to all flights on Saturday and so all the excursions were cancelled :( We figured it was for some VIP - later we read in the paper that France had just opened their embassy, and it was probably closed for the French delegation to visit. Our agency people suspected the same. Oh well, at least we were able to get a good tour of downtown Georgetown today.
Looked at other things to do on Saturday, but we were feeling a bit lazy, plus the Jays had their first ALDS game scheduled.
Just relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Went down to the bar and had a virgin mojito which was excellent. (We had read good things about the bar staff here). Later we had dinner - it was pretty busy in the restaurant, our hotel is a local hotspot.
Friday, October 03, 2025
Thursday, October 02, 2025
Georgetown, Guyana
Today was a transit day, flying from St Lucia (UVF) to Georgetown (GEO). Our flight wasn’t until 4pm so we had lots of time to have a leisurely breakfast. We packed up, which was a bit more complicated than our flight to St Lucia as we were allowed only one checked bag, and the rest had to be carry-on safe.
Drove through the cute village of Choiseul one last time, and continued past Vieux Fort. Filled up at the Rubis just outside the airport. Didn’t need the gas receipt per the attendant - the rental folks just looked to make sure the tank showed as full.
We had trouble finding the car return entrance, so stopped outside arrivals and asked the Sixt folks. They just processed the return there, which worked out great for us as we didn’t have to haul our luggage from the rental lot.
Heather had checked earlier that the airport was air conditioned. We’ve previously been stuck waiting outside terminals in some hot countries, so wanted to know before showing up three hours before our flight. It was nice in the terminal, however we had to wait 30 minutes for the British Airways counter to open. Used the time to catch up a bit on my blog.
Once through security, the departure area was super crowded. The departure boards showed all five flights for the day leaving between 2:15pm and 2:43pm. (It was similar for arrivals - five flights in the day, landing within 30 minutes of each other). You’d think they would try to spread it out, even just a little.
Had a roti in the food court upstairs, it was pretty good. Figured that would tide us over until we got to our hotel in Georgetown.
It was slim pickings for souvenir shops, there were only three, outnumbered by liquor shops. For our souvenir case, we bought a mini hot sauce by Baron, (the brand I really liked, it’s served in most restaurants) and a little St Lucia parrot.
Our flight was the last of the five to depart, so we waited upstairs in the food court, which has a nice view of the runway and surrounding hills. Watched our British Airways plane land. The flight originates in LHR and most of the passengers stayed onboard, continuing on to Guyana. There were only ten or so of us that boarded in St Lucia. The flight was about 75% full, so we had no issues finding space for our carry-on, albeit a couple rows behind our seats.
The flight was 20 minutes quicker than advertised - we landed at GEO after 1h15. I was too engrossed in watching the start of John Wick / The Ballerina that I didn’t even realize we were approaching until the wheels touched down.
We were amongst the first passengers in line for immigration. Unfortunately we hadn’t filled out the online arrival form (I hadn’t found that during my research), so we had to go back in line. Awkwardly completed the rather lengthy form on our phones while moving forward in the line with our carry-on.
It was mostly automated once we submitted the form. Scanned our passport, had a pic taken, the doors opened, and then a final review (and stamp) by a human, and we were in! Actually it was just me that had the automation - there were no VIPs so Heather and few other passengers got routed through the VIP line, which is a fully human process.
We waited about 30 minutes for our luggage. We could see in the app that it was here in Georgetown, so weren’t panicked. Finally we realized our luggage had brought in separately, not around the conveyor, probably all the St Lucia baggage was the same. Oh well.
It was quick through customs (they just asked how long we were staying and then waved us through). We exited the arrivals area and found our driver with our name on a sign.
We completely forgot about our plans to get cash (Guyanese dollars) in our eagerness to get on the road. Fortunately we didn’t need any this evening.
It was a long drive to the hotel, over 90 minutes. The oil boom in Guyana has fueled a huge infrastructure build-out in the country. In a few years there will be highway all the way from Georgetown to GEO. Currently though, the first half from the airport towards town is a big construction area. Felt like home in Toronto. Once we got to the highway, it was smooth sailing. Our taxi driver was excellent, really friendly and informative.
We arrived at the Grand Coastal Hotel around 8:30pm. Checked in, quickly freshened up and then went down for dinner. From what we had read, the kitchen here is excellent. Both our dishes were tasty - Heather had the house fried rice, and I tried the grilled trout.
It felt like a long transit day, maybe cause both the drive to the airport in St Lucia and the drive to our hotel here in Georgetown were longer than the actual flight.
For those counting, (Gerry and Tanya), it’s country 107 for me and 67 for Heather.
Drove through the cute village of Choiseul one last time, and continued past Vieux Fort. Filled up at the Rubis just outside the airport. Didn’t need the gas receipt per the attendant - the rental folks just looked to make sure the tank showed as full.
We had trouble finding the car return entrance, so stopped outside arrivals and asked the Sixt folks. They just processed the return there, which worked out great for us as we didn’t have to haul our luggage from the rental lot.
Heather had checked earlier that the airport was air conditioned. We’ve previously been stuck waiting outside terminals in some hot countries, so wanted to know before showing up three hours before our flight. It was nice in the terminal, however we had to wait 30 minutes for the British Airways counter to open. Used the time to catch up a bit on my blog.
Once through security, the departure area was super crowded. The departure boards showed all five flights for the day leaving between 2:15pm and 2:43pm. (It was similar for arrivals - five flights in the day, landing within 30 minutes of each other). You’d think they would try to spread it out, even just a little.
Had a roti in the food court upstairs, it was pretty good. Figured that would tide us over until we got to our hotel in Georgetown.
It was slim pickings for souvenir shops, there were only three, outnumbered by liquor shops. For our souvenir case, we bought a mini hot sauce by Baron, (the brand I really liked, it’s served in most restaurants) and a little St Lucia parrot.
Our flight was the last of the five to depart, so we waited upstairs in the food court, which has a nice view of the runway and surrounding hills. Watched our British Airways plane land. The flight originates in LHR and most of the passengers stayed onboard, continuing on to Guyana. There were only ten or so of us that boarded in St Lucia. The flight was about 75% full, so we had no issues finding space for our carry-on, albeit a couple rows behind our seats.
The flight was 20 minutes quicker than advertised - we landed at GEO after 1h15. I was too engrossed in watching the start of John Wick / The Ballerina that I didn’t even realize we were approaching until the wheels touched down.
We were amongst the first passengers in line for immigration. Unfortunately we hadn’t filled out the online arrival form (I hadn’t found that during my research), so we had to go back in line. Awkwardly completed the rather lengthy form on our phones while moving forward in the line with our carry-on.
It was mostly automated once we submitted the form. Scanned our passport, had a pic taken, the doors opened, and then a final review (and stamp) by a human, and we were in! Actually it was just me that had the automation - there were no VIPs so Heather and few other passengers got routed through the VIP line, which is a fully human process.
We waited about 30 minutes for our luggage. We could see in the app that it was here in Georgetown, so weren’t panicked. Finally we realized our luggage had brought in separately, not around the conveyor, probably all the St Lucia baggage was the same. Oh well.
It was quick through customs (they just asked how long we were staying and then waved us through). We exited the arrivals area and found our driver with our name on a sign.
We completely forgot about our plans to get cash (Guyanese dollars) in our eagerness to get on the road. Fortunately we didn’t need any this evening.
It was a long drive to the hotel, over 90 minutes. The oil boom in Guyana has fueled a huge infrastructure build-out in the country. In a few years there will be highway all the way from Georgetown to GEO. Currently though, the first half from the airport towards town is a big construction area. Felt like home in Toronto. Once we got to the highway, it was smooth sailing. Our taxi driver was excellent, really friendly and informative.
We arrived at the Grand Coastal Hotel around 8:30pm. Checked in, quickly freshened up and then went down for dinner. From what we had read, the kitchen here is excellent. Both our dishes were tasty - Heather had the house fried rice, and I tried the grilled trout.
It felt like a long transit day, maybe cause both the drive to the airport in St Lucia and the drive to our hotel here in Georgetown were longer than the actual flight.
For those counting, (Gerry and Tanya), it’s country 107 for me and 67 for Heather.
Wednesday, October 01, 2025
Anse L’Ivrogne, St Lucia
We were debating what to do our last full day here in St Lucia, whether to go on a hike, snorkel, or take a chocolate-making class. It was a quick decision once we stepped outside for breakfast and felt the heat and humidity - snorkeling it was.
We got our snorkeling gear together after breakfast and sorted out directions to Anse L’Ivrogne, about a five minute drive from the hotel. We had read that the access road to beach was in terrible shape, but it wasn’t bad at all. There’s a resort under construction near the beach, so we had to park about 200m away and then walk in.
It’s the first time we’ve gone out snorkeling on our own - I had bought a small dry bag to hold our car key and other valuables. I had to google earlier on how to close it properly.
Anse L’Ivrogne was a bit choppier than the sites we snorkelled on Sunday, as the beach is less sheltered from the Caribbean. We snorkelled for about 30 minutes parallel to the beach. Saw lots of fishies, similar to what had seen previously. There was minimal amount of coral though.
We returned back to our hotel, quickly showered and rinsed out our gear, and then drove into Soufriére for lunch. It was one of our last chances to try a couple local dishes, Green Figs and Saltfish, and fish cakes.
We parked in town and walked over to Belle Vue and ordered. ‘Green Figs’ is actually green bananas, served with a mixture of shredded salted cod, lentils and cooked diced vegetables. Both dishes were excellent, the best fish cakes we’ve had traveling. The fish cakes reminded me of a battered eggplant dish my Mom used to make. It was well worth the 20 minute drive into town. Did some quick sightseeing about town after lunch - it’s a cute little place with a vibe to it.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in at Project Chocolate for a coffee and dessert. We saw the chocolate making class in progress. It looked like hard work grinding beans in the heat. We were glad we went snorkeling instead. We had an iced coffee from local beans, and some dessert. It was tasty.
Drove the rest of the way back to the hotel and called it a day. It turned out to be a pretty fun day considering we weren’t sure what we wanted to do at the start.
We got our snorkeling gear together after breakfast and sorted out directions to Anse L’Ivrogne, about a five minute drive from the hotel. We had read that the access road to beach was in terrible shape, but it wasn’t bad at all. There’s a resort under construction near the beach, so we had to park about 200m away and then walk in.
It’s the first time we’ve gone out snorkeling on our own - I had bought a small dry bag to hold our car key and other valuables. I had to google earlier on how to close it properly.
Anse L’Ivrogne was a bit choppier than the sites we snorkelled on Sunday, as the beach is less sheltered from the Caribbean. We snorkelled for about 30 minutes parallel to the beach. Saw lots of fishies, similar to what had seen previously. There was minimal amount of coral though.
We returned back to our hotel, quickly showered and rinsed out our gear, and then drove into Soufriére for lunch. It was one of our last chances to try a couple local dishes, Green Figs and Saltfish, and fish cakes.
We parked in town and walked over to Belle Vue and ordered. ‘Green Figs’ is actually green bananas, served with a mixture of shredded salted cod, lentils and cooked diced vegetables. Both dishes were excellent, the best fish cakes we’ve had traveling. The fish cakes reminded me of a battered eggplant dish my Mom used to make. It was well worth the 20 minute drive into town. Did some quick sightseeing about town after lunch - it’s a cute little place with a vibe to it.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in at Project Chocolate for a coffee and dessert. We saw the chocolate making class in progress. It looked like hard work grinding beans in the heat. We were glad we went snorkeling instead. We had an iced coffee from local beans, and some dessert. It was tasty.
Drove the rest of the way back to the hotel and called it a day. It turned out to be a pretty fun day considering we weren’t sure what we wanted to do at the start.
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