New Sights & New Friends

Finally we made it beyond the city lights of New Amsterdam and set our eyes upon some of the real beauty Guyana holds within her borders.  The flight to Kaeituer Falls was about an hour long and it was at times turbulent, leaving some of the passengers feeling uneasy and a little nauseas but once the terrain below us began to rise and reveal the shapes of steep mountain sides and sweeping valleys of lush tropical forest all of us forgot about our discomfort and began snapping one memorable picture after another.  The trees are so dense it looks as if you could leap from the plane and land softly upon their backs.  The rivers snake through the jungle and flow in a hap-hazard zig-zag way that seem like they were drawn in  the landscape by the hand of a child.   Then like some surprise guest the Falls suddenly appear and in that moment all exclaim, "whow!".  The pilot makes a loop and allows you to take in it's grandeur which leaves you wanting more, soon you're on the ground and meeting the local few that act as caretakers and tour guides.  As our group moves toward the roar of the falls the guide makes stops along the way and points out the indigenous fauna that only grows in that part of the world, he also introduces you to some tiny little poisonous frogs that again are found only at this spot on planet earth.  We make our way down a trail that resembles a prehistoric movie, seeing several different species of plants growing up the side of a tree and spider webs in the shape of a box. We walk across rocks dating back thousands of years, (which you're not allowed to touch or take, it's illegal to remove anything from the area).

At last you're brought to a look-out point and it's here that you have your first real introduction to what is heralded as the tallest single drop waterfall in the world.

80 % of the population lives on the coast line, so much of the interior is lived in only by the Amerindians.

 

I would love to have had the opportunity to do some trail riding here but I don't think a bike tire has ever laid it's tread mark on this sacred soil.

 

 

Our faithful guide.

 

Female on the left, both said to be poisonous but only to those predators that attempt to eat them.

 

This is the boxed shape web.

 

Another view down the trail.

 

This plant has a very soft leave which the locals use for toilet paper. It was actually much softer than the t/p we use.

.....something you have to see with your own eyes to fully appreciate.

 

This is a view of what lies down stream of the falls.

 

These pictures that follow are for your viewing pleasure. 

 

 

Cool ain't it!

 

Now let me talk some about our new friends, the Phipps family and those who came with them.  At the end of July they arrived all the way from England in the wee hours of the morning, tired but with smiles and eager eyes.  They started things out a bit rough, Mom forgot her purse on the plane and with it her credit cards and other essentials.  So after working through that ordeal they settled in and embraced the ministry and Guyanese culture with amazing ease and real enthusiasm.  During their visit with us they were able to start quite a number of bible studies and meet many who expressed a real desire to learn more about bible truth.

 

The Phipps family numbered five altogether, they are as follows: (left to right)
Adam, Melinda, Kevin, Iona, Kisiah (not sure if  those names are all spelled right)

 

 

....those who traveled with them were,  Olivia (on the left).....

 

 

....and Tom (far right).  My buddy Tom demonstrated real courage on the airplane ride, you see Tom does not like the take off part of flying and the pictures below shows his level of fear and determination to hold on till it's over.  He only screamed a little. :)

In addition, we enjoyed the company of some dear sisters who also came from the UK and shared in the preaching work. On that day our group of 12 JW's did what we do best, enjoy the amazing works of creation and have a great time doing it. Below are the girls. (left to right) Shantelle, Maxine and Rachael.

 

 

 

Here's the group in full color.

 

 

Well as you can see we've been very busy in our efforts to see new sights and spending time with our new friends.  But, now it's time to get back to the business at hand, our friends have all left us and gone back to their lives in the UK and the new service year is now upon us, so putting our best foot forward we stubbornly keep moving ahead and in the days to come we're anxious to see what new sights and new friends await us along the way. 

For those of you who are still reading our blogs, we say "hello" and miss you much.  Stay joyful and keep putting up a hard fight for the faith because it's worth fighting for!

                                                                   Scott & Crystal