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Last Updated: March 10, 1997
![[Ted Burgdorff]](../images/ted.jpg)
SUBJECT: Adventures in Georgetown
DATE: November 8, 1996
AUTHOR: Ted Burgdorf, his wife Betsy, and three girls - Heidi, Kristen, and Kara, work with the Gates family in Guyana.
Dear Family and Friends
We got a late start today, since we didn't get back from the airport till late, from picking up David. David and I went to town. I still can't get use to sitting on the left side, front seat, and not have a steering wheel infront of me. We went to what is probably the nicest general store in the entire country. I remember having better resources in Pucallpa, Peru than what I've seen here so far. As we looked around I saw Monopoly for $43 U.S. and Mennen deodorant for $3.50. There were some plastic and glass wares and clothing and some furniture, but, as my saying goes, "If you can find it you can't afford it". While we were pricing mosquito netting in this store we heard this loud bang/crash. Lightning had struck very close outside. Then it began to pour, and we were stuck in the store for awhile. After 20 or so minutes we decided we would try to get to the car so we could go to another area of town. The rain had let up some. When we got to the car we noted that the water was about ankle deep by the doors that we were going to enter the car. We decided to walk instead, so we went to see about getting deep cycle batteries for our solar cell system. We found a marine store but no batteries. They had some British outboard motors, the largest being 6 hp for $1,500 U.S. We then walked back to the car which by now was practically dry all around it. Then we proceeded to the small airport just on the out skirts of town, when David had an appointment to meet with one of the staff reguarding the arragements to fly us to Kamarang or Kaikan. The gentleman told us that he was to hear from a lady in Kamarang to see if she would have any passengers needing a return flight, and that way we could split the cost of the flight. Looks like to charter a flight in the Islander plane is about $980 U.S. for the round trip. The Islander plane is a twin engine that can carry 8 people, but since some of our people are small we may all be able to fit in and take a limited amount of supplies with us. We are suppose to check back with him on Wednesday of this comming week to see what he has found out.
Saturday Nov 9: At this point I should elaborate of our bed. We sleep on a double size box springs. Not the most comfortable, but it beats the floor. We have a mosquito net that hangs from the ceiling and is tucked in around the bottom. We only use a sheet, and thats just in the early part of the morning when it's cool enough to merit it. Since we are fairly close to the ecuator, we get 12 hours of dayt and 12 hours of night. By the time it starts getting light (around 5am) one is ready to get up, especially since your go to bed between 7 and 8 pm. We are still adjusting to the humidity, which makes you feel tired all the time. This morning we were ready for church by 8 am, so had to do other things till 9:15. We locked up all our valuables, since there have been break-in's around the hospital. We walked to church this morning. It was about a block away. When we arrived we were met with: "A pleasant Sabbath to you" by most everyone who greeted us. Every one was dressed up, and I felt alittle out of place having decided to to wear a tie. David says that if you wear a coat your an elder. All I know is that by the time church was over at around 12:45pm, it felt that we'd been in a sauna bath. My shirt was well soaked. The girls had run home between Sabbath School and church to get some ice water and we all had sucked it dry on arrival. When we got outside we noted a nice cool breeze. I guess the combination of tin roof, with no ceiling, and the small windows made for the sauna affect. On the way home a nice 4 wheel drive vehicle pulled up beside us and stopped. We greeted them and found out that they were the parents of 2 girls that have been comming over to do some schooling with our children. The gentleman is a Minilatry representative from Venezuela, who has been here for 4 months. Since they speak Spanish we hit it off right away. They are learning English and want their girls to learn English also, so they play and do some schooling together. He invited us to visit them anytime. We are hoping he can help us get some visas to enter Venezuela from Kaikan to make some purchases. Especially since the prices here are so high.
Sunday Nov 10: Betsy and I went to town via the Toyota van bus. Kara decided to go along with us also. We sat in the back and waited for it to fill up before it started towards the downtown market. Again the sauna effect kicked in. We were quite dissappointed to find out that most of the stores were closed, but we did see alot of street vendors, and managed to purchase some plastic bowl/plates like the one's that Peru had. They were quite reasonable compared to other items. Someone said that the East Indians prefered the glass items over plastic. We also purchased 4 loaves of whole weat bread at $1 U.S. each and a frech type bread for the same. Also purchased some finger bananas for about 25 U.S. cent a pound. In the evening Dr. Lara and wife invited Betsy and me to go to the "sea wall". This is a wall that was made during the colonia times to claim some land from the ocean. They don't have huricanes, high tides or big waves, so alot of the area is about 6 feet under sea level. The ocean is muddy, probably from the 3 or so rivers that drain from the inland. The breeze was cool and we had a nice chance to get to know them and ask questions about the country and the hospital. Dr. Lara told us that the nurses at Davis Memorial Hospital make about $100.00 U.S. per month, and that he made $200.00/mo. Later I was told he also had about $700 U.S./mo deposited in a U.S bank. He is a surgeon and is giving up quite a bit to stay here in this country. He is originally from Bolivia and studied medicine in Argentina. His son's are now doing the same.
Monday Nov 11: Today nothing much was opened in town. It is some important day to the east indians, consequently it was another day that we sat around and waited. Tuesday Nov 12 We've been checking the local email and have been unable to retrieve anything from them. The services here are more like a latin american country. We went to town and purchased several needed items. We've been looking for deep cycle batteries to store energy in from our solar panels. Today we found a store that sold a Sears die hard marine battery. Later we found a deep cycle marine battery made in Trinidad with greater capacity at the same price, so we bought 2 at about $85 U.S. each. Then we found a store that sold 12 volt florecent lights and I even found an U.S. type shovel, but only the head. No handle. Good thing I brought a draw knife to make some handles. We picked up some more whole wheat bread for just under $1 U.S. each loaf also. We purchased the mosquito nets that we'll be needing in the interior and a 1 burner kerosene stove. In the afternoon David and I went with Becky and Betsy to buy food. We also looked around for some wire for the solar system and for a dipole antena to use with the ham radio that David brought back with him from the U.S. In the evening David and I took our 4 oldest daughters out to eat. We went to an airconditioned Chinese restaurant. The evening turn out great.
Wednesday Nov 13: Today started out raining. In fact it rained quite a bit of the night. We woke to the sound of our future puppy yelling it's head off. Betsy went out to discover that the entrance to the puppys self made home ( dug out underneath the dog house), was completely flooded and full of water. After scooping out the water with her hands she reached in and as soon as she touched the puppy it stopped yelling. She had rescued the mut from the flood. Today has been a hard day for me. I've been getting quite restless wanting to get to work, but no work to do. We decided to start packing, AGAIN. I'm so tired to packing. Seems like I've been doing this now for 3 or 4 months. This time it is to prioritize what to take, since it appears that we won't be able to take everything with us to begin with. We have enquired about taking an Islander, but will only be able to take about 1,500 lbs with a cost of about $900 U.S. That includes passengers and baggage. Today David checked into taking a Cessna 206 and making 2 flights. Seems like we can take more baggage for alittle more cost. The C-206 can seat 6 people, plus it has a belly pod, so at present the plans are to leave this Sunday for Kaikan, with David going in on the first flight and returning on the second flight and then prepare to finish some paperwork in Georgetown and then head up to the U.S. to finish working on the plane and bringing it down here. Looks like this may be the last letter for a month or more, since we will have no way to get messages out to you till David returns with the airplane. The only other way of communication is by Ham radio. We'll see how well that works.
Thursday Nov 14: Had a hot and balmy night. No breeze, which Georgetown usually has. The room we are staying in is at the back of the house, and every so often we get this wiff of the sewer, which turns ones stomach. The mosquito situation seems to be getting worse with the rainy season. We seem to feed them no mater what. In the morning we always find some fat and juicy mosquito inside the mosquito net. Today is market day, when the larger out door market is in full swing. We now have to be very careful in what we buy, since we are planning on leaving on Sunday for Kaikan. We will try to send pictures out with David to show you what we find. Yesterday, when David spoke to someone who has been in radio contact with Kaikan, we found out that one of the houses is not finished yet. I believe they still needed to do something with the roof. That was a little discouraging, but we can help finish that. The encouraging news was that the people there have been enquiring for quite sometime now as to when we will be comming. It reminded me of the story about the Cott family when they were here in 1926. We read the book, Jewels from Green Hell, that is in the Chowchilla church library. Today email is suppose to be sent out, so until next time (maybe a month or more), I'll sign off.
Yours in Christ. Ted, Besty, Heidi, Kristen & Kara.
You may write to Ted at: gates@andrews.edu
Last Updated: March 10, 1997