Guyana: sunny, hot, humid, empty

Formerly British Guiana, add Guyana to the list of countries that drive on the left side of the road.

The small airport us a 41km drive (US$25) on a 2 lane road (being widened to 4 closer to town), paralleling the Demerera River, with the occasional glimpse of this “small” river (about 100m wide already).

I wandered around my area of town, with quaint old buildings, the church that is the tallest wooden structure in thus part of the world, the Canadian  High Commission, and the seawall walk (flat muddy looking water). And non-functioning Scotiabank ATMs

The countryside driving in was nice, the town not so much. Lots of walls, guards and some barbed wire. Even the little resto I went into first an Indian snack had bars above the counters.

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Panama: which way is up?

It’s easy to forget that Panama City is on the pacific coast even though the sun rises over the water.
There aren’t many non-island places on the pacific coast of the Americas that can say that.

So the canal goes roughly east to west from the Pacific to the Atlantic, very counter-intuitive.

Misc notes
– the US$ is used here, though they also have B1 coins (balboas) equivalent to $1.
– you do sometimes see the B currency symbol on price lists (eg entry fees)
– lots of US fast food chains and other companies here (Subway billboard promoted a $2 sub – the 15cm (6″) kind though)
– cabs are all yellow now (as of 2-3 years ago), don’t use meters but are cheap compared to home, and there are lots of them (like NYC)

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Panama: Copa lounge at PTY

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Safely ensconced in the lounge after breezing through a painless immigration (no more cash departure tax) and negligible security line.

It’s equivalent to a renovated United Club, with the addition of free Bailey’s to make the coffee drinkable.

Flying to Georgetown, Guyana today, also upgraded.
One of my 2 return flights on Friday is also upgraded, I’m surprised the last one hasn’t yet :-)