During a pit stop on a trip to Lethem a few months back, our group noticed that all the Lethem mini buses were fitted with steel rims, a marked departure from the more aesthetically pleasing and vogue alloy rims which can be found on the mini buses plying coastland routes.

We enquired from one of the drivers why this was and after a wry laugh he enlightened us.

The owners of the Georgetown-Lethem buses install steel rims for entirely sensible purposes. With the route being mostly unpaved rough trail with loose stones, bricks, potholes and craters, alloy rims would crack, bend and disintegrate in little time. Steel rims are the order of the day.

The length of time it takes to journey from Georgetown to Lethem varies considerably depending on the weather conditions. In optimal conditions, meaning a dry trail, the journey would clock 12 hours or half a day of driving time. This excludes waiting time at the Kurupukari Crossing and the usual pit stops along the way. If the weather is poor and the trail conditions are bad, the journey could take as much as 20 hours. This is a distance of 263 miles (or 423km).

For reference, to fly from London, England, to Sydney, Australia – a distance of 10,560 miles – it would take about the same time. The flight from Ogle to Lethem takes an hour these days on the comfy Trans Guyana Airways Beechcraft, but costs significantly more than the bus fare.

In recent times, even in rainy conditions the Linden-Lethem trail and its fickle bridges have been kept in fairly decent condition allowing for the journey to take between 14-16 hours or so. Typically, the Lethem buses leave Georgetown at 7/8pm and pass through Linden on their way to their first pit stop at 58 Mile. Here the buses refuel, engines, wheels and other

parts are checked while passengers take washroom breaks and grab something to eat at the popular roadside restaurant and grocery. The portion of the trail from Linden to 58 Mile is perhaps the least comfortable and has been labelled the ‘egg tray’ for its unending number of smaller potholes which make it impossible to dodge or navigate around.

The next leg, from 58 Mile to Mabura Hill, which is the second pit stop location, is not much better. From Mabura Hill to the Kurupukari crossing the conditions are much improved and the Lethem buses usually arrive at 2/3am ahead of the 6am ferry crossing of the Essequibo River. Travelers and drivers get a few hours of snooze time before daybreak.

After the crossing the journey continues following security checks at the Fairview Police Outpost and the third and final pit stop is usually had at Annai before the homestretch leg of the journey to the border town of Lethem. With its dusty, wind- swept undulations on the trail, which leaves travelers feeling as though the drive is being done on a corrugated roof, this portion of the trail has come to be known as ‘the scrubbing board’.

Having left Georgetown the previous evening at 7/8pm, travelers arrive at Lethem anytime between 10am and 1pm once the trail is not in an absolutely deplorable state. The return journey is just as long with buses typically leaving Lethem at 6/7pm for the Surama Junction where they arrive at approximately 10pm and spend the night before heading off at 4am or so for the Corkwood Checkpoint which opens at 4:30am. Then it is on to Kurupukari, then Mabura Hill, 58 Mile, Linden and Georgetown.

On a paved road, driving at a modest average speed of 80 kmph, the Georgetown to Lethem journey of 423km should take a shade over 5 hours of driving time. It would mean that you could have lunch in Georgetown, enjoy a half hour pit stop along the way and get to Lethem in time for dinner. This is the dream.

And realizing the first phase of the dream is about to commence with the design of the Linden to Mabura Hill sector. Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson has reported that this phase of the project covers 122.5km of roadway and will be funded by the United Kingdom through its UK Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund.

The other critical component of this project is the bridging of the Essequibo River at the Kurupukari Crossing with a 600 meter bridge. These two aspects – paving the egg tray from Linden to Mabura Hill and bridging the Kurupukari Crossing – have been the most challenging over the years. Once complete the journey of 12-15 hours could be reduced considerably to about nine-hour drive time, with no need to spend several hours waiting for the ferry crossing at Kurupukari.

Once the other phases of the trail are paved as the Linden-Lethem Road Project continues, taking Friday afternoon off and hopping in the car with the family in Georgetown for a weekend road trip to Lethem can be a norm, an attraction even. And you can be back home by Sunday afternoon after having brunch in Lethem.

It would mean booming business of hotels, such as Takutu Hotel, Rupununi Eco Lodge, Ori Hotel and others in Lethem. Restaurants, entertainment spots, tour guides, gas stations, supermarkets, itinerant vendors and the many stores in Lethem’s commercial district would see an explosion in business. Interest in investing in Lethem would skyrocket.

After decades of ‘are we there yet?’ the paving of the Linden-Lethem trail will soon commence. Wither the egg tray, wither the scrubbing board. Soon Lethem mini-bus owners will not be consigned to steel rims only. They too would be able to install flash alloy.