The Intraserv

The intraserv is the bus that you can take to Guyana's interior. You can fly for 140.00 US in two hours or take the intraserv for 40.00 US and have a great adventure. It's fun one time. It can be as quick as 12 hours. In our case 17.5 hours. For one sis it took her 33 hours. When she told her experience I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard. Taking a bush truck is a little extreme. But some of our friends do it to come to the district convention. I wanted to call this excursion Murpheys law. But I don't believe in that sort of thing. At the terminal to check in the agent lost my ticket. Of course I was in a panic wondering if I would be able to board the bus. Somehow they then stamped Reggie's return ticket as my passage. It was a mess, why? The agent was drunk of course. I didn't want to tick him off, but I wanted on the bus. Finally he starts entering my passport information into the computer but he's writing over the line with Reggie's information. I patiently point that out. He then goes back and forth between mine and Reggie's passport. The information is totally messed up on the manifest and what do you do? He is leaned way back in his chair typing one handed and reeks of alcohol. I insist that he corrects it. Finally, we are who we are on the manifest. Later I find out how important that is. We would go through 5 check points with immigration and police. You get off the bus and show your passport and they check it against the manifest. The bus left at 9:00pm. a little disappointing to think I would be traveling through the jungle at night. A little after 10 we roll into Linden. 1st check p0int. It had the grossest bathroom I have ever seen. I would have preferred an out house. It was a jail or prison. I could only imagine the conditions inside. You don't want to go to jail here. After that we start heading up into the jungle. I've been thinking of ways to describe this. It was like motocross with a school bus. This is the main road through the country. Traveled on by trucks, mini buses, logging trucks, bush trucks and the intraserv. You absolutely can't believe a bus is on this road. There are washouts, craters, washboards etc. At times you aren't even traveling 1 mile an hour. Just easing in and out of giant holes. Well what would all that torquing do to a bus? At 11:55 pm it sounded like the bottom of the bus fell out from under our feet. Everyone off the bus. It was under our feet. Thankfully the driver is a mechanic. We are standing outside in the ultra quietness of the jungle and hear our bus driver singing as he is repairing the bus. The shackles fell off and the universal went. The men all look on and try to be helpful. Most had been drinking before they boarded and our now sobering up. The bus put back together, yeah. no tool to tighten the nuts, ahhh! Now what. You wait for someone to pass by that can help. There were a few passers by that night but not with the right tool. Everytime we saw headlights coming the Brazillans jumped off the bus to flag them down. Like they couldn't see a big dead bus in the road. Finally a bush truck came though about 5:00 am with the right tool. Yee haa we are one the road at 5:25. The exciting thing is that we will now see the jungle.
Our first stop is at Peter and Ruths mile 58. The bus driver ask us to join him for breakfast on him or the intraserv rather. The first thing first though. The Guyanese are intense tooth brushers. A national past time. They all dutifully head for the water to brush there teeth. Then breakfast. We follow and brush our too. The road continues to be very rough. It's a slow trip. It's a beautiful trip. We stop at check points. We stop for water and snacks. We stop to cross on the ferry. That was fun. My Dr. said he say a dog swim across this river when he missed the ferry, amazing. Sometimes the jungle closes in on the road and you feel like you are in a green tunnel. I am on the edge of my seat to get a good look around each corner. The rain poured down on the ferry ride and all through the Iwokorama rain forest. As we came out on the other side it is a different world. The savannah. We stop at the rock creek lodge to eat. Everyone seems to relax. Brazillan music is playing. The bus drivers are dancing with the local toddlers and smiling for the first time. The owner of the resort comes over to visit our table. She knows the ameri-indian woman I just met. It is peaceful and I know I will love it out here. I could have been satisfied with staying right there. It is called Annai. Later I find out two sisters live there and are cared for by the Lethem brothers who take turns riding the motor bike up to conduct the meetings. Jehovah doesn't overlook anyone. On to Lethem, we'll be there in two hours. Dotted along on the savannah are little oasis of palm trees. In the distance, mountains. It feels like another world but this is still Guyana. Yes, the intraserv was an adventure. It's burned into my memory. Next post will be Lethem.