Hanging out with the gold miners (porkknockers) in a remote part of Guyana.

A Long Ride to Mahdia

December 6, 2006
Day 434

Shortly before dawn, Craig got out of the tent and tried to figure out when the truck we had heard about last night would be leaving. Suddenly, I heard him running toward me yelling "Let's go!" I quickly packed everything up and jumped into the Bedford just before it… Read More »

Seeing the Mine

December 5, 2006
Day 433

The main order of business for today was seeing the mine in operation. Craig and I made the short ten-minute walk from the camp to the mine, which once again went through the jungle. Along the way, we noticed that white mud seemed to be taking… Read More »

A Bad Day for My Gear

December 4, 2006
Day 432

This morning a 4-wheeler came to the river from the "back dam," which is Guyanese for "middle of nowhere," and started loading up fuel to take back to camp. After the driver loaded 18 jugs of fuel, he offered to load up our backpacks as well, and Craig and… Read More »

Almost to the Back Dam

December 3, 2006
Day 431

Today started out with the long process of portaging everything over the rapids via a path on the side of the river. The big wooden boot couldn't make it up the rapids, so we carried a smaller aluminum boat over and had to make separate trips up the river.… Read More »

Boating up Rapids for a Change

December 2, 2006
Day 430

I woke up to a lot of commotion today. Chris was putting the new wooden boat into the water and filling it with the fuel that had been transferred in his Bedford. However, last night's rain had caused such a muddy situation that the Bedford got Read More »

Hitching Through Guyana

December 1, 2006
Day 429

The house had its generator running all night, so it was was tough to sleep over the noise. On top of that, the thought of waking up in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere in hopes that a bus would magically emerge from the darkness… Read More »