This takes place around February 23rd . Georgetown shuts down and there is a day long parade and dancing. Groups and families set up to watch, bbq, and hang out all day. There is a long parade, music and dancing in the streets and amazing costumes. This was a wonderful introduction to Guyana. It is pretty easy to experience Mash. Simply stay in Georgetown and walk out to the parade route!
Music is playing. Everyone is in a great mood. The costumes are fun and colorful. Everyone is at the parade but it is not too crowded. You just walk out into the street to take photos with the performers. That is what I really loved about Mash it was a great festival but felt accessible. Visitors were not stuck in bleachers observing from afar.
Logistics
I flew to Georgetown from Miami direct on Surinam air which was a good experience. I had ruled out visiting the Guyanas in the past because of the high costs of flights. Surinam air does not connect to other US airlines so it does not show up in searches from other areas. I am lucky to be able to drive to Miami easily. If you are coming from other cities I suggest flying to Miami and either visiting or allowing plenty of time for the connection and you won’t be able to transfer luggage or be covered if something goes wrong. After visiting Guyana for a while I left by minibus for Paramaribo.
As I arrived rather late I arrange for my accommodation Cara Lodge to pick me up. Cara Lodge was centrally located their restaurants were open despite the holiday and it had a nice historic vibe. Although it is a bit more expensive than I would normally choose it worked well in this situation I wanted to be able to step in and out of the heat during the celebrations without walking too far.
I arranged the bus to Suriname and paid for the flight for Kaieteur Falls through Fly Brazil Travel Agency in downtown Georgetown. Like many places in Guyana they were not big on internet but were responsive to phone calls and later to visits. Everything I arranged with them worked out as I thought it should.
