The second place I stopped in was Fort King George in Darien. The lady working in the plantation museum told that I have to go there after she heard I live in Scotland, since the place was one of the early 18th century Highlander settlements, ran by the McIntosh clan. (By the way, people totally believe me here when I say I’m Scottish.) The fort itself was quite funny – a bunch of wooden structures with a couple cannons, it looked like it wouldn’t stand against a stronger wind. But I guess it did the job and managed to protect one of the major sawmills in the area.
I then decided that I’d like to see some of Savannah still today, and after an hour on the highway and some faffing with returning the car, I was there. Interesting fact about petrol stations here: you have to pre-pay. Even if you pay cash. Even if have absolutely no clue how many gallons does the car you just rented take – in fact, even if you have no clue how much is a gallon… Anyway, the other interesting fact was the price – I knew petrol was cheap here, but $40 for this entire trip? Wow!
On the way to the hostel I passed The Guild Hall – a really cool games hub with board, card, RPG, battle and video games! Really big, too. I got a little tour from a guy who was super amazed when he heard that I used to play Magic: The Gathering when it was at its 5th edition.
The hostel is cool, it’s more of a guy with too big a houses for himself, looks like. My room is quite shabby, parts of it (and definitely the bathroom) make me think of India, actually. But I don’t mind, it will be nice to sleep in a bed for a change. The owner printed me a map of the city and the first thing he explained was where it’s not safe to go after dark. Which essentially is everywhere but the strict centre. And I was just beginning to think that surely all my fears and uncertainties from the road must have been exaggerated…
After a short visit to the supermarket to get breakfast for tomorrow and finding out that cinnamon swirls here have nothing to do with the ones I know from the UK (being much more on the drenched-in-sugar side), I set off to town. The most interesting were all the colonial houses, some of which can get really fancy. But the Catholic cathedral turned out to be pretty impressive as well. I have to admit that I was somewhat sceptical and chuckled a bit when I first saw it from the back – it seemed like someone took the shape of a French Gothic cathedral and cast it in white plasterboard, or inflated one of those plaster models of cathedrals. But actually, I was unfair and it turned out to be really interesting. The way the architectural forms were adjusted to the climate and available resources is quite remarkable, and the inside and the stained glass were really quite good. Probably more interesting than most neo-Gothic in Europe.
The rest of the walk around town passed without major events. Pier, some parks, that sort of stuff. I went back home reasonably early to have time to practice my presentation for Friday and to write this. Tomorrow the conference starts, so this is the last of my roadtrip days. I feel good and rested. Mission success.
No Comments Yet