Bequia Easter Regatta 2008 - Caribbean Compass

APRIL 2008 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 22
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We travelled cautiously and to our delight the river widened and deepened, allowing
us to increase our speed. As we got farther upstream, the vegetation on each side
of the river was dense and forbidding but lush and green, with occasional mauveflowered
trees and water cacao.
Most families along the river live in open buildings and sleep in hammocks
As we rounded a bend, we could see construction on both sides of the river. We
later learned the Venezuelan government was building a school and hospital here.
On our port side was a large blue, rectangular, metal-clad building. Behind that was
a rustic but clean and well-organized set of buildings — clearly the Boca de Tigre
Lodge. To starboard was a fairly large village. We pulled up just beyond the lodge
and anchored with Sea Schell (another Tayana 42), just beyond Alouette. Before long
we were unexpectedly joined by a third Tayana, Sea Gypsy. We were more than
amazed that there were now three Tayana 42s in this remote location.
We were welcomed ashore by an English-speaking family who told us they had
moved to the area about 17 years ago as refugees from Guyana. This friendly family
immediately began sharing gifts from their garden and small orchard where they
were growing mangoes, lemons, coconuts and bananas. We shared our gifts of fabric,
needles, thread, flour, cooking oil and children’s coloring and story books. We
carried home some fruit and the assurance the family would take our two empty fuel
cans with them on their fuel run to Tucupito in the morning.
The family consisted of four adults and eight children. Their home was a typical
stilt structure but with the addition of walls of clapboard. It also had beds. This was
quite different from the homes of their neighbours, who lived in open frame buildings
and slept in hammocks.
Nearby was another open rectangular building that turned out to be a Christian
church. They had been holding services for the past seven years. We later attended
one of their Sunday services and were quite impressed that they could conduct it
in three languages — English, Warao and Spanish — benefiting the small but
mixed congregation.
Our short visit at the Boca de Tigre Lodge showed it to be an immaculately maintained
wilderness lodge, ready for customers, although we heard of only one being
present at the time. The buildings consisted of single-storey structures, divided into
private cubicles each with a double bed, table, toilet and wash sink. The grounds
were groomed with the construction blending into the surrounding forest.
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