This is the smaller airport.

I do not do well with small, confined places. But sure as heck am hoping that we are not turned back. Having come all the way here, it would be a shame not to see the falls.

My boarding pass in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan was a simple blank card. It was a normal boarding card except nothing was written. I had to just show the blank card. In Dalanzadgad, Mongolia, at least they had written my name by hand.

Jumping on the 43rd airlines of my life, this is all I got as a boarding pass. A small chit of paper with the flight number and equipment number written on it!!

Reputed to be one of the most powerful falls in the world – given its height and volume of water, Kaieteur Falls is way inside the Amazon rainforest a few miles away from the Brazilian border.

You have to stack up five Niagara Falls on top of the other to match the height!

That is our target today. Whether we can make it or not depends upon the weather there. The last ten days it has been raining up there and flights have had to turn back.

Let’s see what is in store for us today!

Wherever I have gone, people have been friendly in general. At the risk of over generalization, my life experience has been that
(i) in poorer countries, people are much more comfortable approaching each other for small talk; in richer countries, people tend to keep to themselves
(ii) in warmer countries – think tropical – people are more likely to approach strangers and talk; in colder countries, they again tend to keep to themselves or their groups

Guyana is absolutely the most friendly country I have so far been to. Complete strangers have walked up to me and talked at length. At first, it is a bit jarring (usually, I am the one doing it). Especially, on the roads, you do not know if there is any other motive. But soon you realize, this is the way they are.

The only difficulty is I have to ask them many times to repeat themselves. Their English and mine are very different. It is like we are one people divided by the same language!

By now, I have forgotten most of the names of so many new friends I have made.

But not Shalini !

Met her in the Marriott and we talked for about half an hour. Loved her life story and her perspectives in life. Made a few notes for myself on how to lead life. We are empty nesters now – but I totally related to her stories – the fun and the challenges of raising two almost-teenagers.

Next time, I hope to meet her kids too. I am sure I have a few puzzles to keep them busy!

“Sir, are you a Bengali?”

I looked up and saw this young gentleman standing in front of me. I was enjoying a nice glass of red wine sitting on the terrace of the Executive club in the Marriott enjoying the strong breeze outside. Had just finished chatting with Sharmila when it started raining and I had to move in. I caught up on a few more phone calls and was catching up on messages for the day, when this gentleman asked me if I was a Bengali.

I kept looking at him wondering now he might have guessed it.

“How did you guess?”

“I thought I heard you speak in Bengali”

I tried remembering the calls.

“Indeed, now I remember. I was talking to my best friend in Australia – Avijit – in Bengali”.

And that is how our friendship started. Mahmudul is from Bangladesh (Dhaka to be precise) and moved to Canada for studies and work. But has ever since moved to Guayana and wants to live here and work here! The temperatures, the cricket, the soccer… everything suits his lifestyle.

We talked for quite some time till it was time for him to get back to his work. Hope to run into this enterprising young gentleman again!

So, I got myself some Guyanese coffee. It was actually, quite a chore to get it. While Guyana does produce some coffee deep in the Amazon Rainforest, most of it is actually imported. With some help from the barista in the hotel and my friend Nelson, we were able to get some locally grown and packaged coffee beans. That will be my 23rd country from where I have gotten coffee…

Well, not straight up but in a mojito. Any guess why I have two mojitos in my hand?

This is the one thing that makes even the heat fairly bearable.