I have arrived at Bina Hill

Hello!

So it’s been a LONG 2 days of travel. We were up at 5am yesterday to get to the airport for our flight to Miami. After about 20 hours of flying, standing in customs lines and hanging out in airports, I had pretty much spent enough time flying to last me for a while. We finally arrived at our destination in Georgetown at about 1am and after a quick shower were ready to get a few hours sleep. Just as we were drifting off to sleep though, we found ourselves right in the middle of a short, but CRAZY thunderstorm. In fact, on of the lightnings was so close that the light and the sound were completely together also accompanied by a sound that sounded like a lightbulb breaking or something. Immediately after that there was this crazy smell that I was sure something had been hit and was on fire, but now I’m not as sure and think it might have just been the smell of lightning. Our power went out for about 5 minutes and then another 5 minutes later the storm was pretty much over and we could finally go to sleep for a whole 4 hours.

Anyways, this morning came entirely too quickly. We were up at 7am to get packed, get some breakfast and head back to ANOTHER airport. Literally the smallest airport I have ever been in. Our flight was a total of 7 people (although I think they plane had capacity for about 12) and I sat right behind the pilot. Close enough that I could keep track of our altitude and vertical velocity if I wanted to. Our safety announcement consisted of the pilot turning around in his chair, telling us about the exits and the jungle survival kit under the first seat and then warning us that we might smell food because he was going to be eating his lunch.

And now, more than 48 hours after leaving surf camp, we have made it to our final destination of Bina Hill outside of Annai, Guyana. I can’t deny that there’s some culture shock and than I’m not a little overwhelmed, but we’ve been fed and showed around and introduced to what seems like a million people. Now we have some down time to catch up on our email and whatnot before the Medex comes back and we can meet him (he is probably one of the people we will be working most closely with while we’re here). I forsee a very early night to bed tonight and the up tomorrow to start what feels like the real work (although from what I see right now it’s all very laid back and I don’t know how hard we’ll actually have to be working at any time… only time will tell)

I think that’s it for now. The internet here is super slow, but if I have the time I will still try to add a few pictures now and then. And I still have to fill you in on my week of surfing. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten.

Talk to you soon!
Kaila