Lethem Rodeo I - 22 hours in the back of a Bedford truck

GHHH road trip to the 2008 Lethem Easter Rodeo
Day One - 21 March 2008

2:00 a.m. - meet your home for the next five days.

Packing up.

4:00 a.m. - on the road at last! everyone comfy?

Dayclean while crossing the Demerara river at Linden.

Sun's up! Wakey, wakey!!

Breakfast of champions.

Grand Master Chop Suzuki prefers to drink the hard stuff.

Nine hours on the road and everyone's still happy.
Rum-in-her-crack ... what are you doing with your foot?

Long, Red Road

Long, Long, Red Road

Thirteen hours: Are we there yet?

Bedford surfing!

Poke-her-Honkas found dinner, an endangered red-foot tortoise.

It was yummy!!

Kurupukari at the Essequibo River; half-way!

Crossing the river to Michelle's Island.

What are they looking at?

Poke-her-Hontas, are you going to share your pictures with us?

The mighty Essequibo - view from Michelle's Island.
Hands off Fernando, this is Guyana!

Viewing the ferry from Michelle's island.
Suzukis fear him too!

1:00 a.m. 22 hours, a few pounds of laterite dust. Lethem at last.

Lethem Rodeo II - Live Hare Run at Moco Moco Hydropower dam

GHHH road trip to the 2008 Lethem Easter Rodeo
21 March 2008

Run 557 - Live Hare Run at the Moco Moco Hydropower Dam
Hares: ChopSuzuki and SpermBank

Cheap lodging, but better than the back of a Bedford truck.
Many thanks to the D’Aguiar family for their generous hospitality.

Looks like Bouncing Bikini and Poke-Her-Honkas had a pajama party!

Don't ask!

Liquid breakfast, again!

Back in the truck!

Give us we free!

Just like dogs, sticking their heads into the wind.

The village guarding the pass to Moco Moco

The gate doesn't even have a padlock!

Plaque commemorating the commissioning of the Moco Moco hydropower station in November 1999. The 0.50 megawatt was a US$3 million joint project of the Chinese and Guyana governments. The Chinese provided the engineering expertise and loaned the money for the project. The Chinese handed the facility over to the Lethem Power Company on 24 April 2003.

"Tag you're it!" Wait, that's a different game.

The tube on the left is the penstock (water conduit) for the hydropower facility. It is 644 meters (2113 feet) long. The pipes are 630 mm (2.0 feet) in diameter.

972 steps; we're almost there!

Made it! Note the missing section of tube. On 7 July 2003--ten weeks after the Chinese handed over the facility to Guyana--a landslide busted up the penstock and the hydro-electric power station has been out of commission ever since. Seems the engineers had not bothered to stabilize the slope before building the penstock. It never occurred to the Chinese engineers that torential rains (which are about as rare in Guyana as hot days) might cause landslide on these very steep and unstable slopes. Or maybe they handed it over because they did know it was about to bust???

Check out the view from the top!

Like I said, check out the view at the top!

Seeing double

Seeing double double

No wonder she's seeing double!

Chowing down on bar-b-que. Thanks to Paul's sister!!!

Grand Master wondering why he gets no respect.

Virgins?

Henry and his flashing sneaker take a bath.

Down, down.

Serious alcohol abuse!