Wednesday, Aug 23

Finally made it to Lethem and got settled into our house. Tuesday I woke up early and finished packing for the flight at 10:30. Our ride showed up half an hour early, which is unheard of here, so I said my final goodbyes and we made our way to the small airport a few minutes from the college. Check-in was quick and in no time we were boarding the small 12 passenger plane. Watching the landscape change as we flew South was truly awesome and after about an hour the plane banked sharply and descended to a tiny red dirt airstrip. We dropped off Heather and Jessica in Annai and took off again for the final leg to Lethem.

Twenty minutes later we dropped through a rain cloud to the paved runway of Lethem. We departed the plane into what I have discovered is essentially the middle of town; about 5 buildings a few shops a restaurant and the internet cafe. There are more shops and offices scattered around the area, but the town is a lot smaller than what I expected. I pictured more of a Bartica size town but this is definitely not the case. Upon arrival we were picked up by a man and driven to the regional education office where we met Miss Benjamin. We talked to her for a bit and then waited for our driver to come back from lunch and drive us up to the school and our house. An hour later he came and we arrived at our site. There was no one to greet us and no one was quite sure where we were supposed to be staying. After a few phone calls, thank god we have the cell, some exploring, and some introductions to others living here we discovered our house, only to be locked out for another 4 hours. Finally some men came and after trying to move us to a different place they let us in and handed over the keys. The place hadn't been cleaned at all and was in some serious need. Jessie Sue and I caught a ride into town to grab a few necessary cleaning supplies, and dinner, then walked home in the pitch black to start the night of furious scrubbing.



Day two in Lethem we ate some awesome pineapple and started up on the cleaning again. I have never seen so many spiders huddled together in my entire life, but the majority of them are gone for now and I hope we can keep it that way. After another 4 hours of cleaning we headed to town to start the process of stocking up on goods. We met a guy named Terrence who works for some NGO's here and he offered to show us around a bit and point out where we might find stuff. We went back to Miss Benjamin to collect a bunch of essentials like pots and dishes and then with the service of her driver stocked up on other essentials like hammocks and fans.

Today was much better than the day before and I feel like I have a home and am comfortable living here. For dinner I improvised and made some cucumber salad and Caribbean flavoured cocunut milk rice with chick peas and tomatoes. Not too bad for what was available. I am so glad I can cook again it was one of the things that I was missing the most over the last few weeks.