November 23, 2006
Day 421
Me in an old Austin Healy.
Craig had information that the border leading into Brazil would open at 6:00, so we caught a taxi there right at 6:00 this morning. The lady at the border told us that she could let us walk across, but if we wanted to get our passports stamped, we would have to wait until 7:00 when the guy running the x-ray machine showed up. Since we wouldn't be returning to Venezuela, we would need to get the stamps, so we waited on the curb until 7:00. The x-ray guy showed up and scanned our bags, but he informed us that the immigration office wouldn't open until 8:00. Wow, we really got bad information! At a little after 8:00, we had our stamps and walked across the border.
We got a bus to Boa Vista, which we previously passed through on our way up to Venezuela. From there, we caught another bus to Bon Fim, at the border of Brazil and Guyana. The Brazilian customs guy must have been bored because he thoroughly searched both our backpacks. With the sun setting behind us, we took a boat across the Takatu River to the Guyanan side. We walked to the police department and got our entry stamps.
Guyana is geographically part of South America, but culturally, it is Caribbean. The people are mainly of African and Indian descent, and they speak a Caribbean dialect of English that is hard for me to understand. Still, it's nice to be able to talk to the locals in my native language, and Guyana is the only country in South America where I can do that. Also, being a former British colony, it's the only country in South America where the people drive on the left, at least legally.
The photo album for this entry is here.
