John Gimlette's Voyages

Why am I showing this embroidery depicting 'The Secret War' in Laos in the 1970s? Remarkably, because it's was made on the other side of the world by Hmong tribesmen in French Guiana.

The Dutch were in what's now Guyana from 1595, and they remained in Suriname until 1975. Across the 'Wild Coast' is extraordinary evidence of their lives. Throughout the creeks there are flagons, demijohns, hand-blown wine bottles, decanters, crocks, pots and flasks. But mostly it's gin. These ones are owned by Gary Serao, who told me there were flasks everywhere: the Dutchmen liked his gin.

Across the three Guianas (Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana), around half the population have African ancestry. These objects - a gourd bowl and a comb - show off African culture in its most traditional form. Whilst elsewhere African art has been transformed by the influence of other cultures, this is not so among the Maroons of Suriname.

These are stone axe heads from Berbice, Guyana (with my watch for scale!). The man who found them couldn't say how old they were, and nor can I. However, they are broadly similar to tools found in Europe and the Middle East, dating from the Stone Age (which ended between 4,500BC and 2,000BC).

Today, I shall start a new series, exploring the story of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana through some of the things I encountered on my travels. I start with this, a plaster cast of a convict's foot, seen in the museum in Cayenne (Fr G). The foot is grossly deformed, and the label says that the cast was made whilst the prisoner was under torture.

Six unusual things I've eaten/drunk on my travels:-
1. Ducks' tongues (Hong Kong). All you'd expect of a tongue except with an unexpected crunch.
2. Baked limpets (Madeira). There must be enough limpets around British waters to feed the world but, in my view, they're best left stuck to the rocks.
3. Pigs' ears (Thailand). Imagine eating plastic handbags.

This painting depicts the naturalist, Charles Waterton (1782-1865) wrestling with a caiman somewhere in the interior. The background depicts an earthly paradise, with trees resplendent with birds.

Here's something you MUST do before you die; stay with the Macushi tribe on the Burro-Burro river (Guyana). The river itself is like streak of blackened glass sliding away, off through the trees. There, high on a bluff, you sling your hammocks in the Mucushis' shelter (see photo), and eat some catfish. It tastes of trout with an extra dollop of pond.

I will never forget Lino Oviedo, a character I came across during my travels in Paraguay in 1999. I was there at about the time of an attempted coup, during which a tank rolled into Asuncion's main square and took a pot shot at the legislature (see photo). Lino was thought to have been behind it.

This is old Dutch fortress, built right out in the middle of the Essequibo, in 1744. Back then, the tiny islet was called Vlaggen Eyland, or ‘Flag Island’. These days its called Fort Island.