We are all back in the Ridge now, though the trip home was in typical Guyanese fashion. We left Kumaka Tuesday morning as planned, and other than running into a couple of heavy showers, the trip up went smooth. When we reached Kaituma, I looked for a vehicle going to the Ridge to send our suitcase with. It seemed there were no vehicles there from the Ridge, so we left our suitcase at a shop and walked down to get the bike. Terri walked with me because she had told Sharon she would stop by with me.When we got there, Sharon mentioned that the bike must have a small leak in the front tire, since she noticed it had gone down shortly after I left it. I figured I would just pump it up and off we would go. But when I tried to pump it up, it wouldn’t pump up. So I figured I would have to open the tire and patch the tube (I always travel with a patch kit after my previous episode with a flat tire). When I took the tube out, I couldn’t find any leak at first, but neither would the tube pump up. I then discovered that the valve stem was partially torn from the tube, which is a problem that can’t really be patched. Sharon’s ‘man’ has a motorbike, so I called him and asked where I could buy a new tube. He told me that he usually had some, but they were ‘finished’ and no one else in Kaituma would have any. He said he would come by and get the tube and take it to see if he could get it fixed. He came back later and said they had tried to repair it, but it stilled leaked a little around the valve stem . He said he had called into ‘town and ordered three new tubes and they would come on the plane in the morning. So we ended up staying the night in Kaituma. I did find a vehicle going up and sent our suitcase along with word that we wouldn’t be coming until the next day.The next morning I got up and went down to the bike. Right on time a plane arrived and Terry (Sharon’s man) went to meet it. A second arrived before the first left, and a third arrived a bit later. In spite all the planes, Terry came back empty handed. I had anticipated that and said I was going to put the tube back together and if it would hold air for even half an hour, I would drive home, stopping as needed to pump up the tire. I had noticed the day before that the core had been removed from the valve when they had tried to repair it, but since I hadn’t planned on using the tube I hadn’t said anything. Terry went back to see about getting the valve core back. It took longer than I expected, but when he came back he had a tube. He had gone to someone who had a bike and he had a used tube with a leak in it, which they had patched and it held air. I then installed that tube and we were finally on our way.While we were getting ready to leave, some heavy showers went through, so now the road was wet. I warned Terri that we might not make it back without incident, but we would just have to go slow. Sure enough, at one point, the bike just went out from under us and we were on the ground. But since I was going slow, nothing was damaged except my pride. The farther we went, the drier the road was, although we did drive through a few showers. We made it back in about three hours. As you get close, you can see the ridge of Matthew’s Ridge in the distance. I asked Terri if it felt like she was coming home, and she said it felt good.The next day (Thursday) Stephan and I took our bikes to Black Banana Junction. That is the way we will go when we go to Barimita. For most of the way the road is very good, but then we reached to where they are working on the road, and everything beyond that was not good. I think it was worse than the time we went to Big Creek. I had anticipated that and had worn long boots. They worked well until I got into a mudhole that was deeper than the boots were high. We finally reached to our destination. As we had been going, I had thought to myself, “This is bad, but I can’t imagine what it would be like if it were to be wet!” While we were there, it started to pour. I didn’t have to imagine it after that, and it was as bad as I had imagined. There was a big hill we had gone down that the bikes would not go up because it was so slippery. We had to help each other push the bikes up the hill. It got to the point that I didn’t feel I was driving the bike, rather the bike was driving me. I was just hanging on and getting dragged along trying to keep the bike upright.We have decided that we are just going to walk the whole way to Barimita. We are doing that for a couple of reasons. One is that many who want to go have no money. The other is that if we walk, there should be nothing that can go wrong. If we were to plan on a vehicle, and the vehicle were to break down or get stuck, it could cause serious problems to the schedule. In addition, it should make for some good stories. At this point it seems that just as the number who actually ended up going to Mabaruma was less than originally indicated, the number who go to Barimita may be more than originally expected. Eugene told me today that he wants to go with the group. He mentioned he has never been there, but also, many over the years have come from Barimita to the Ridge to assist and encourage the ones here, and he wants to be able to go to say thank you to all of them and let them see their labors had not been in vain.This week’s picture is from our trip to Black Banana Junction. This is in the section where the road is still under construction. You can see the way they construct bridges. They just lay logs together and cover then with dirt. This one has yet to be covered with dirt. It makes for tricky driving especially since the mud is very slippery, and there are some sizable gaps between the logs. Oh well, just another story.
