Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
OPENING HOURS
Banks: Mon-Thurs 8am-2pm, Fri
8am-2.30pm. Government offices:
Mon-hurs 8am-noon and 1-4.30pm,
Fri 8am-noon and 1-3.30pm. Shops
and businesses: Mon-Fri 8.30am-4pm,
Sat 8am-noon.
structures at 44m, with an attractive,
airy interior (daily 9am-2pm except
public holidays). A couple of blocks
south along the Avenue of the Republic
is the turreted City Hall, built in the
Victorian Gothic style.
he Walter Roth Museum of
Anthropology (61 Main St; Mon-Thurs
8am-4.30pm, Fri 8am-3.30pm; entry by
donation) is a good introduction to the
culture of Guyana's nine Amerindian
tribes, showcasing everything from
cassava-processing, traditional fishing and
hammock-making to the medicinal use of
plants and ceremonial wear, which includes
some splendid macaw-feather headgear.
he Guyana National Museum
(North Rd; Mon-Fri 9am-4.30pm,
Sat 9am-noon; entry by donation)
showcases the history of slavery in
Guyana, the gold-mining industry
(including a demonic-looking figure
of a “pork-knocker”), and stuffed and
pickled wildlife, including an impressive
baby aparaima (the largest freshwater
fish on earth).
GEORGETOWN
GEORGETOWN is the colourful, gritty,
commercial and administrative heart of
Guyana. Set on the east bank of the
Demerara estuary, the capital is a grid
city designed largely by the Dutch in the
eighteenth century, originally nicknamed
“The Garden City” because of its parks,
tree-lined streets and an abundance of
flowers. Today, there is still a definite
charm despite its rubbish-strewn streets
- with musicians on street corners and
gently decaying colonial architecture,
Georgetown is the gateway to Guyana's
true attractions and likely to be your base
for several days.
7
WHAT TO SEE AND DO
The capital is worth exploring for its
diverse cultural, religious and historical
landmarks.
Stabroek Market and around
The busy-as-bedlam focal point for
higglers (fruit and vegetable sellers),
moneychangers, beggars and pickpockets,
Stabroek Market (near Water St) is
dominated by its four-faced, non-
functioning clock tower. Originally
the site of the slave market where the
exhausted survivors of the Middle Passage
Main Street and around
One of downtown's most distinctive
buildings, the towering St George's
Cathedral on Church Street is one of
the world's tallest freestanding wooden
JONESTOWN MASSACRE
The chilling events of November 18, 1978, when more than 900 members of a sect died in
an apparent mass suicide in northwestern Guyana, about 80km southwest of the town of
Mabaruma, have been the subject of many books and theories. In 1974, American Reverend
Jim Jones , the leader of a sect called The People's Temple , chose Guyana to establish a
self-su cient community of about 1100 based on utopian socialist ideals, which he humbly
named Jonestown. Referring to an unnamed enemy that would come to destroy Jonestown,
he told his flock that “revolutionary suicide” was the only way to combat this threat. When
US Congressman Leo Ryan and a party of journalists and concerned family members visited
Jonestown in November 1978 to investigate alleged human rights abuses, the enemy had
apparently arrived. Ryan and others were shot and killed at Port Kaituma airstrip as they tried
to leave, while back at Jonestown the men, women and children were instructed to drink
poison. A total of 913 people died, although a coroner's report suggested that many were
forcibly killed, including at least 200 children. A few managed to escape and later wrote about
their experiences. Today the Jonestown site is overrun by bush and there is no monument or
other reminders of its existence.
 
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