Fellow Travelers

I think before I continue any further with my Guyana posts, I need to explain just a bit about my fellow travelers. In all, five of us were able to make the trip happen. Our fearless leader and the organizer for the whole trip was Andy. Andy has done quite a bit of travel over the years with work and for fun and is good at putting trips together. From what I understand, he was watching a show at 3am one morning called "River Monsters" and was fascinated by that episode's location on the Rewa River. And so the idea for this trip was born.

Andy's standard attire for the whole trip centered around his vest. He liked to use it instead of a daypack for all of his "stuff." If you needed it, he probably had it in his vest. He also often was identifiable by the GoPro camera around his chest to capture all of the action. Andy usually sat next to me during the boat rides. By the end of the trip, I was becoming jealous of his Tilley hat as well.

 

Grant is Andy's son, now in his early twenties. The timing of the trip needed to correspond to Grant's winter break from college. Grant was usually identified by the fact that he was sleeping. In the boat his head would be down on his chest. At the village he was curled up in a hammock. On a plane he'd be leaned to one side. I was amazed at how easily he could sleep in almost any position and situation. Grant and I shared a cabin during our time in the village. He was a fun guy to have around when it was time to be awake though.

Bruce and Susan were the official photographers on the trip.I was guessing they probably totalled between 15 and 20 thousand shots during the trip. Bruce is Andy's brother. While we couldn't resist cracking a few jokes about all of their camera equipment and electronics, we are definitely looking forward to their final set of pictures. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know both of them and hope to hang out with them on another of Andy's adventures one of these days.

It should be noted that unless one of the daily downpours hit us, Susan and Bruce usually were in this position:

 

Our guides were great at pointing out all of the birds and wildlife along the river, and they had the equipment to capture it. Some of the pictures of the fish, wildlife, and general stuff that I've posted or will soon be posted are courtesy of their initial distribution of teaser pics. I would like to bring up the subject of appearances though. I couldn't stop chuckling one morning as we headed out for a walk to try and catch glimpses of wildlife. Bruce had outdone himself that morning:

 

 His cargo/travel pants were tucked into his white socks which were in turn visible through the sides of his sandals. He also preferred a vest, although his was full of electronics and trash bags to keep his camera dry. This particular morning, he also had an emergency space blanket shoved in the pouch on the back giving him a distinct hunchback appearance. His giant camera was slung around under one arm. His small video camera was under the other. His GPS was hanging from his neck. His camera bag with extra lenses, batteries, etc hung from his side. And his floppy hat and sunglasses completed the North American tourist look like I've never seen it pulled off before. (I probably owe him a beer for poking fun at him one more time, but at least he rolls with it gracefully.)

Finally, there was yours truly. I'm sure I looked ridiculous in my own right at times. And while I couldn't keep up with Grant sleeping everywhere, I occasionally found a spot to lay down and catch a few winks. Here I am in Port of Spain, Trinidad, outside the airport between flights. The ocean breeze made a 10am nap in the shade downright perfect -- even with the stone mattress.