After going to bed last night after 4am chatting, I didn’t really end up really going to sleep until it began to get light outside and for some reason I didn’t sleep well or long at all last night. I decided I’d be up and ready by 11am for the day the night before but was somewhat dragging this morning. After a lite breakfast in house we caught a ride to the Botanical Gardens. We wandered into an area called Floral Falls and got a chance to see some pretty flowers around the site. There we also stumbled upon “The Place of 1969 The Seven Ponds” also known as “Place of Heros”. The concept behind this is a way to honor 4 Guyanese who contributed to the development of the country (pictured below). It is said, “The monument like many others express the collective goals, joys and sorrows of our nation. They are tangible reminders of our past, our cultural, social, natural and most importantly national heritage.”

Next up was the Guyana Zoo which the Botanical Garden somewhat merges into and the admission fee was 200 Guyanese dollars which is about equilvalent to 1 US dollar (the Botanical Garden is free). I got a chance to see a lot of interesting animals at their zoo and I enjoyed the fun facts that they had for some of them. Some of my favorite sightings today were:

• The Green Winged and Red and Green Macaw-When they stretch their wings out the colors are so vibrant and pretty (see video below)
• The Red Rumped Agouti-They look like extra large rats in my opinion because without knowing what it was intially that was my best guess (picture below)
• The White-Lipped Peccary-It’s the fact that it is over there in the mud under a tree knocked out. They are said to crave mostly fruit and will travel to get it. They stay in a herd from 20 to 300 and can live to be 13 years old (picture below)
• The Ocelot-What a beautiful coat on a big cat! The ocelot looks gorgeous and are actually good swimmers (picture below).
• The Brown Capuchin Monkey/Guianan Saki Monkey/Guianan Spider Monkey-I was able to capture this funny face from the Brown Capuchin (picture below) along with a cute video (below) of some smaller ones moving about. The little Guianan Saki Monkey was having a ball playing around with a small piece of clay and a ball today (video below). The Guianan Spider Monkey paced from corner to corner sometimes turning it’s head to look at you (picture below) and after pacing so many times reached up grabbed a rope and swung for all to see (video below).
• The Giant River Otter-This is the world’s largest otter and are from the South America region. Their fur is water repellent and their nostrils and ears close in the water. This otter was lounging in the water and then decided to come out and lay down (video below).

After we explored all of the Guyana Zoo we requested a taxi at the front where security was and they gladly assisted us. It took the taxi a very long time to get to us and we had to have waited at least 45 minutes. We were in good company though as we chatted with the three security officers there (and they were funny). You could tell that they had a good dynamic amongst themselves but they also warned us of a few things (mostly not to look/act like a tourist while out (they said that’s an easy way to get robbed), trust no one, and the obvious of not being out late when it’s dark) and shared some things/places in case we were interested in doing/going to them. We thanked them, got a photo of them (see below) and after what seemed like forever got in the taxi. 

We were heading to the National Museum of Guyana and the taxi dropped us off there. We went all that way (it wasn’t far but not close enough to walk to) just to be told by the woman at the front that it was closed. So much for that so we walked around to see what was nearby as it looked like stalls and vendors were set up across the street. I did a bit of souvenir shopping with these vendors and we continued to explore the area around us. We happened to stumble upon the Stabroek Market which we did at some point intend to go to so we made use of our time and walked through some of it. To me it was overwhelming as far as stuff yet underwhelming as far as quality. While wondering around we stumbled upon another supermarket and went inside and got more groceries.

After the supermarket it looked as though the evening was drawing near so it was a good idea to try to go ahead and get home. After attempting to catch a ride using the app but with no help due to no drivers being around at the time, we walked to a nearby hotel and I came across a man and an older woman upstairs. I asked if they could help us get a taxi and the man said the best place to go was across the street and the older woman said that she would take us. She ushered us across the street and I asked if she could help us secure a taxi (we weren’t trying to get swindled). After two attempts the second worked out for the price we felt comfortable paying and Alex took us home (he had to call the host to get clearer directions on where the house was). 

Back in for the night we quickly showered after being out and hot most of the day and then prepared dinner (which for the most part was leftovers from last night plus some added touches here and there). We both agreed it was very filling and satisfying and we were silent while we ate (because it was that good-we had to savor the flavors).Our host Brian came down and put his login information in for Netflix. Kassandra ended up falling asleep on the couch while I did my Duolingo so I took the opportunity to get started on this write-up for today. I don’t plan to really do much of anything for the rest of the night but I’m definitely hoping I can get some better sleep than last night. Until tomorrow…