Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 05/Oct 14:19

A rich history a bright future

JAN WESTMAAS Part 2 IN recent years democracy has thrived in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. Left-wing President Gabriel Boric of Chile may well find himself replaced by popular vote in November this year. Right-wing Argentine President Javier Melei’s re-election is not guaranteed either in 2027. Surprisingly, centre-right conservative candidate in 2024 presidential election in Uruguay Alvaro Delgado conceded victory to centre-left candidate Yamandu Orsi. Delgado’s words to his supporters were, “with sadness, but without guilt we can congratulate the winner.” Guyana, with its two major ethnic groups locked in battle, had a rough time in the early days of independence. It became virtually a one-party dictatorship under the rule of “maximum leader” Forbes Burnham (1964-1985) who was in power for 21 years! During this period, many of the country’s best and the brightest citizens migrated in search of greener pastures. The Guyanese economy consequently stuttered and stalled. Similar gloomy episodes of dictatorship plagued post-independence Suriname. Military dictator Desi Bouterse ruled the country as president for 19 years over three periods – 1980-1987, 1990-1991 and 2010-2020. His regime was marked by numerous extra-judicial killings. When he finally died in 2024, it was no surprise that many Surinamese and citizens of other nationalities were happy to see the last of him. In July of this year, the country elected a woman, Jennifer Geelings-Simons, for the first time in its history. Of mixed descent (all previous nine presidents were either of Afro or Indo descent), there is hope that she will stabilise the state finances and tighten tax collection, including from small-scale gold miners. Hope springs eternal as the country awaits start of production from offshore oil reserves in 2028. In Guyana, with a revived democracy and the rapid exploitation of oil resources under recently re-elected President Irfaan Ali, the boom in the Guyanese economy was evident. The moment we left the airport for Georgetown, there was construction everywhere bringing in its wake horrendous traffic. Hotel Aracari, normally a 40-minute drive from the airport on a good day, turned out to be a shocking two and a half hours away. “See the new Demerara Bridge the Chinese are building over there. Hopefully traffic problems will be solved when next you come to Guyana,” said our driver, with some confidence. [caption id="attachment_1182542" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Along with significant widening of existing major roads, the completion of the new Demerara bridge, which will replace the bottleneck of the aging pontoon bridge, will change the face of transport and access into and out of Georgetown, Guyana. - Photo courtesy Mark Lyndersay[/caption] Indeed, the new bridge across the Demerara River, while still incomplete, is eye-catching. Replacing the 1,851 metres long Demerara Harbour floating toll bridge built in 1978, the new bridge is 2,650 metres long, has four lanes, is cable-stayed, and is 50 metres at its highest point, allowing for the free flow of maritime traffic on the river below. “Guyana is outdoing us in the Commonwealth Caribbean,” I mutter to myself. “During our oil boom in TT we coudn’t even build a bridge a short distance across the sea from our capital to the traffic-clogged Chaguaramas Peninsula. The following day, putting traffic and the mayhem sparked by frenzied construction aside, our guide Owen Perry, a former public servant, well into his 70s, revealed to us the softer, more pleasant and antique side of the city. He spoke with pride as he drew our attention to St George’s Anglican Cathedral, a national monument. Completed around 1894, it is 43.5 metres high. “It’s probably the tallest wooden building in the world,” he said. “Look at its elegant spire and gothic-arched windows.” Obviously wanting us to see Guyanese multiculturalism in action, Owen directs the driver to turn into Croal Street to see a Mosque a block or two away from the Cathedral. “Some more iconic buildings you must see this morning”, said our guide, a truly tried and tested professional. “The Georgetown City Hall, built in late 19th century Gothic style is one of them” he asserted. “Then there’s the Victorian style Stabroek Market with its prominent clock tower.” Stabroek was the original name of the city of Georgetown under Dutch rule. He continued, “That’s not all. There’s the House of Assembly, formerly the Parliament Building which was built in 1834 on a foundation of green heart logs. These are compulsory visits on my city tours,” he added. I felt a tinge of pride as we drove past the historic Stabroek Market as my paternal grandfather, Victor Westmaas, once worked there in colonial days as the Town Clerk. [caption id="attachment_1182543" align="alignnone" width="1024"] An esplanade on the Essequibo riverfront heralds a more gentrified Bartica in Guyana. - Photo courtesy Mark Lyndersay[/caption] Suriname and French Guiana now beckoned. Suriname was one of the four original Dutch Colonies on the continent, Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice, having passed to the British (Treaty of Paris) in 1814. In 1831 these three became formally amalgamated into one British colony – British Guiana, shortened with more than a tone of affection to the letters BG. I had been to Suriname aeons ago, the easy way – a direct flight from Trinidad. Not this time. I was determined to travel cross country from Guyana to the land where my paternal forefather, Ary Westmaas had left Holland (there’s a town by the name of Westmaas near Rotterdam) to settle in the mid-18th century. In theory, getting from Georgetown to Paramaribo by road and across river is straightforward. In practice, it’s a major hassle. There are maxi taxis with limited capacity for people and luggage that take you from Georgetown to the border at Molsen Creek in less than four hours. But there are few, if any, coaches or buses with luggage capacity readily available for groups of our size. Once at the port, another two hours were spent on border formalities and purchasing ferry tickets in time for the 10 am crossing of the Courantyne. On the other side of the border (South Drain), with immigration and customs finally out of the way, there were any number of maxi taxis hustling to take passengers to Paramaribo. I had read all about this beforehand. To minimise inconvenience to our group, I contracted a reputable company, Dagron Tours of Georgetown. They had a 22-seater mini-bus and a maxi-taxi for extra luggage and as per our itinerary, they would take us to straight from Georgetown to Paramaribo and back, inclusive of ferry costs. This was a deal. It turned out to be the right decision. On the return trip to Georgetown, our driver received news that our bus was not guaranteed a space on the ferry on the morning we were due to cross the Courantyne to get back to Guyana. Thanks to the intervention of Anne Hamilton of Dagron Tours via an urgent phone call to the ferry company, the matter was solved. “Don’t worry,” she reassured me “the ferry manager gave priority to your group.” Clearly in matters like these, which can negatively affect business and tourism, our Caricom brothers are way behind the countries of the Southern Cone. It was far simpler crossing borders in that region than in the Guianas, barring French Guiana (a Schengen country) where our TT passports allowed us pain-free entry and exit. Then there’s the business of filling out exit and entry forms in and out of Guyana and Surinam. This turned out to be an absolute nuisance. It had to be done online. Everyone with an e-mail address had to use a phone or computer to fill out very detailed forms which had to be approved online with a QR code given as proof. Further, the approvals should be printed in case the technology, once requested at the border, was unavailable. Jan Westmaas is author of Out of the Box Tales of Travel 1972-2013. Available online on Amazon.com. Read Part I here.   The post A rich history a bright future appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.