Update

It's been a really long time, and I understand if you're wondering what the situation is with the project!  Well, a lot has happened in the past year... the birth of our son, moving house, and both having full time jobs has brought us into the realm of "real life" that everyone else in the world exists in! :)

Having said this, I also want to mention that I have been editing the material from our trip to Guyana.  It's a slow process, to try and find the seed of the story in all the collected bits and pieces.  I came home with more than 10 hours of material, which is relatively little for a documentary film in the making, but it's still a load of information to go through.  I'm also very close to all the interview subjects, my family, my nearest and dearest, so the process is slowed by nostalgia, sentiment, longing and a little bit of homesickness - as I live on the other side of the world, watching their faces on screen is the closest I have come to seeing them for about 2 years now.  So it's slow going, but it's going!

I promise to post more regular updates soon, and I would love to put up some short clips from the interviews, illustrated with shots from our trip.  I'll do my best to work on this during the summer when I'm on maternity leave!  I will also be making prints from the photos up on the blog.  I'll choose which ones unless you have a preference!  Email me in that case with your requests!

Until then, thank you for coming back, again and again to the blog and for your support.  Both during the journey, but also now.  It means a lot and you have not been forgotten!

Much love,

Alana

August 24 - Leguan

The thing about Guyana is that is never ceases to amaze.  We spent a day on an island called Leguan.  Leguan is a small island that sits in the mouth of the Essequibo river.  The river, at it's widest point is about 32km wide.  WIDE - not long... it's length is even more staggering, at a whopping 1,000 km, flowing from the Brazil-Guyana border.  Leguan is home to a few communities, and one of the men in our party had grown up there.  So we returned to his home "town" to visit some relatives, and so he could introduce his daughter, who had never been to Guyana before.  Here are some photos from the drive to the boat and the day we spent over there.

Cow

Demerara Bridge

Pontoons, holding up the bridge

Demerara river being invaded by clouds

Floodgates

Gotta love anatomically correct mannequins

Parika docks ominously covered in cloud

Gotta love anatomically correct humans

Grandma checking out the boatmen

Feet on ground

Parika dockhouse

Grandma looking out

Stairs to no where

Nice day for a ride

Big ass ropes

Get in that boat!

That's probably not going to help much

Nothing like wind in your hair

Essequibo skyline

Ahoy!  Leguan landing

Dockman

Boatman

I will not be waiting in there

Freshly picked mangos

Chickens be crazy

Cute dog with a disgusting sore on his side (not pictured)

Puppy love

Who wants a goat? Anyone?

Anyone? Seriously, there are so many

Old Leguan house

Kirk and Grandma

Relics at an uncle's house

School.  Maryville.

Leguan taxi.  This is how they roll.

Leguan Church

August 23, 2011

Rainy airport

We were grounded on this day, after having made plans to fly to Kaiteur.  Kaiteur is a waterfall which is super important to my family, especially my Grandma.  Her and my Grandfather went on an expedition there in the 60's, which at that time, took several days.  Jeep, boat, jeep, hike... boat, jeep, camel (just kidding) hike, hike, hike, hike... climb the "oh my god" hill (actually called that) to the top of a 700+ foot waterfall.  Impressive, to say the least.

These days, you can take a plane (about the size of the one above) to the interior, where the river rushes over the edge of the falls.  It's almost a famous scene from my childhood, as I have seen so many photos of my grandparents there.  So I was really excited to go.

Grandma at Kaiteur, 1968

But mucking around, thousands of feet above the rainforest in a tiny plane during a storm is not really my thing.  As far as I'm concerned, people shouldn't really be able to fly in the first place, and definitely not in heavy, giant hunks of metal.  So this is actually the only photo from that day.  Taken while we were waiting for a decision to made about our travel.  We returned to the hotel shortly after this.

Lost days: August 22, 2011

Starting the day right

Fresh coconut

Drive-by

Lilly pads as big as Kirk
Royal Botanical Gardens, Georgetown

Grandma's parent's house

The stairs at Grandma's parent's house

Boulevard
Georgetown

Junkyard

River harbour

Lighthouse

Forshaw St.  Next stop: St. Joseph's High School

St. Joseph's hallway

Mum inspecting the grounds.  Last place she saw before the airport.

The stairs, where they would sit when they got in trouble.

Hard at work.

Dog day afternoon

Rudy, feeling the heat of the day

St. Rose's.  Where most of my family went to school at one time or another.

Auditorium window

St. Rose's floor stones

Lots of pointing and telling on this trip :)

Sports equipment shed

Waiting to get picked up after school, in their usual spot

St. Rose's stairs

Onwards and upwards

Grandma with the current head mistress at St. Rose

Almost exactly as they left it.