A Girl in Guyana and Suriname

My travel schedule starting today until next week…

Feb 18th:
5:00am depart Paramaribo, Suriname by minibus for Georgetown, Guyana
5:00pm arrive in Georgetown, Guyana

Feb 19th:
9:20am depart Georgetown, Guyana
1:55pm arrive at JFK Airport in New York

Feb 20th:
6:20pm depart JFK Airport on American Airlines flight 172

Feb 21st:
7:50am arrive in Brussels, Belgium

9:40am depart Brussels on American Airlines flight 7765
11:10am arrive in Berlin, Germany

2:30pm depart Berlin, Germany on GermanWings flight 4U1082
3:40pm arrive Munich, Germany

Feb 23rd:
6:54am depart Munich Hbf by train
12:44pm arrive Bremen, Germany

Feb 24th:
11am-ish depart Bremen, Germany
2:30pm-ish arrive in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands

Feb 28th:
2:45pm depart Amsterdam on American Airlines flight 6505
3:05pm arrive London Heathrow

4:35pm depart London Heathrow on American Airline flight 131
7:30pm arrive at JFK Airport in NYC

Mar 1st:
4:00pm depart LaGuardia Airport in NYC on American Airlines flight 341
5:41pm arrive Chicago O’Hare Airport

7:14pm depart Chicago O’Hare on American Airlines flight 1792
8:54pm arrive at Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport

sometime that night or early the next morning: drive back to Wisconsin.

It’s a crazy life I lead… but somebody’s gotta do it!!!

It’s a LONG one…

Sunday the 29th of January

The trip to Blanche Marie Falls had a rough start. We were supposed to be picked up at the resort since Anne and Lieke had an appointment with their supervisor in the city on Monday morning. The tour operator, Boti, had arranged for a vehicle to pick us up because he was so excited that we booked the Blanche Marie tour instead of the Raleighvallen trip. Boti had told us that our ride would arrive around 5pm. At 7:30pm, we finally decided to load up the 2-seater truck we’re borrowing from Gunno, the girls’ host, and drive into the city. Just as we were about to pull out of the resort’s driveway, our ride showed up. Thank goodness, as I had volunteered to ride in the back of the truck all the way to town (not fun), and Lieke was not happy that I volunteered because it meant she would have to ride in back too.

Our driver, Henk, drove like he was in some NASCAR race. I didn’t even feel the bumpy road because we FLEW over it. Anne really wanted to say something to the driver about how late he was but figured it wouldn’t be a good idea if he ended up being our driver the next day. We had Henk deliver us the center of Paramaribo, and then we had a fantastic dinner at Queen’s Garden. Our waiter was a little creepy. He saw my backpack and started asking me questions about whether or not it had a frame in it. It was very awkward because I wasn’t sure what he was exactly asking so I didn’t know how to answer him. After dinner, we checked our emails and I added the photos to make you all happy!!! Then we took a taxi to the house we stay at when we’re in the city. All 4 of us slept in one room since only one air conditioner was working. It was the best I’ve slept the whole trip. I’ve only had air conditioning one other night on my whole trip, but it broke half-way through the night so I still roasted.

Monday the 30^th of January

Lieke called a taxi, and then woke me, Ferdinand, and Anne so we only had a few minutes to repack everything and head out. First we dropped Anne and Lieke off at their appointment, and then Ferdinand told the taxi we needed to go the bank so I could cash some traveler’s cheques. Ferdinand waited in the car so I didn’t have to attract more attention by walking out of a bank with my huge backpack (I might as well carry a sign that says “I’m a TOURIST! Rob me!”).

Getting traveler’s cheques cashed is always quite an experience. I think I mentioned the last time I tried to do it, the bank had closed at 3pm. This time I was able to find the correct window almost right away, but after I signed and dated the cheques, the girl had to type every number into the computer. Then she told me to wait at Kas 5. I found Kas 5 which was a door on the opposite side of the bank surrounded by 2-way mirror. I had to sit on the bench outside the door and wait for my name to be called. After 3 or 4 people had came and left from Kas 5, a woman yelled “Kat-rin” which I took to be Katherine but only after she yelled it 2 more times. I walked in the room which only had a table and 2 chairs. She counted out my money and off I went. The 2-way mirror thing made me quite nervous. I felt like it should just have a sign on it that said, “I’m walking out of the bank with a large sum of money in my pocket. Rob me!”

Thankfully, I just hopped in the taxi, and within 5 minutes we were at the tour operator’s office so I could give them all my money. Boti told us that the other 8 people on the tour would leave shortly, but we would have to wait for another 2 hours until 11am since our vehicle was in the shop having the brakes repaired and he wasn’t sure how long Lieke and Anne were going to be. Ferdinand and I introduced ourselves to the other people (all Dutch), and then we got directions for the post office since we both wanted to buy some postcards. Two seconds after walking out onto the street, Ferdinand confessed he wasn’t exactly sure where they had told him to go. We had enough time to get lost, but we actually found it right away. On the walk back to the tour operator, we thought we’d buy some bottled water. I went to grab a big bottle of water on the bottom shelf of the cooler but stopped when I realized that the one water bottle had no cap on it, and there was a 1.5 liter Coke bottle with water in it next to it. Hmmm… I think we’ll go with the little bottles, thanks.

Anne and Lieke arrived around 10am, and we decided to walk down to ‘t Vat, a restaurant down the street, for brunch. They surprised us by actually serving our food within 15 minutes of us sitting down (just to get something to drink there, you usually have to wait almost a half hour). My brunch was a broodje kaas (cheese sandwich) which was great! I really miss cheese; I can’t help it – I’m from Wisconsin. You can buy it down here, but it’s expensive and usually not very good. We did a little sightseeing of Fort Zeelandia on the water’s edge and the Palmentuin, a park full of palm trees.

Anne and Ferdinand at Fort Zeelandia

Once we were back at the tour operators, Boti informed us that the car was still in the shop and asked if we wanted something to snack on while we waited. We had just eaten, but we all had something to drink. While we waited, we met this really atrocious older Dutch woman who was booking a trip with her husband. She looked at Anne’s Teva sandals and said, “Well, they’re really awful-looking aren’t they? Well at least they’re practical.” And then when she found out I was from America she asked where I was from. I told her Wisconsin. She immediately replied, “Never heard of it” and turned to ask Anne another question. A little while later, Boti asked me if I wanted another Coke but I said no, and the mean woman said, “You’re American. You live off of Coke.” EXCUSE ME?? Wow, lady… thanks for not stereotyping me.

Lieke and Ferdinand waiting at the tour operator

At about 1pm, we were still waiting. Not a big surprise at this point. I totaled all the time we had spent waiting in the last 5 days… over 10 hours. Our joke now is that every wait is 2.5 hours. Finally around 1:45pm, the vehicle arrived (just over 2.5 hours). And Henk was our driver so it really was a good thing that we didn’t say anything to him the night before. Everything was loaded up in our 4×4, and we headed out of the city to meet up with the rest of the group. Henk, again, drove like a bat out of hell because he thought we were really behind. When he stopped at one bridge, he asked the guy taking the “toll” whether or not the group had passed by yet. The guy said no, but Henk didn’t believe him so on we drove. Henk made a stop at Bigi Poika, a village with a telephone, and found out that the group was still 30 minutes behind us at least. We were all able to meet up at the intersection where we came from Bigi Poika and they came from Jodensavanne (which I’ll mention later). A quick lunch of roti and chicken, and we were back on the road for another 3-4 hours. The group in front of us took so many smoking breaks, it felt like we stopped every 30 minutes (a few times we actually did). And once in awhile we would stop in the middle of an old rickety wooden bridge. Not exactly my ideal place to stop, but the view was great! We made it to our camping spot, Alfons Dorp, and set up our hammocks. It was great to be sleeping in a hammock again. My first 7 out of 8 nights in Guyana were spent sleeping in a hammock, and I haven’t slept in one since. Lieke, 3 other people, and I went out walking with Norman, one of the guides, to do a little night hunting. We didn’t see much that first night, but on the walk back I slipped and fell up to my knee in a very deep puddle. My khaki pants are now permanently red from the left knee down. Anne, Ferdinand, Lieke, and I played a few games of Troef Call, and then we hit the sack. We fell asleep to one of the couples screaming obscenities at each other in Dutch because the guy (who was drunk) tried to hang his hammock over the campfire.

Tuesday the 31^st of January

I woke up when everyone kept running into my hammock strings. What a great way to wake up… constantly being bumped into. We left camp at about 9am, and at one point we had to stop because a tree had fallen in our path. Not a problem for Norman, who quickly pulled out his chainsaw and cut it up. Problem solved. 🙂 We arrived at Blanche Marie around 3pm and took the quick hike out to see them. I’ve seen Niagara Falls and Kaieteur Falls which were both great in their own way, but Blanche Marie definitely has the most character of any waterfall I’ve ever seen. It was quite wide across with all of these dark colored rocks sticking out of the water. The photos don’t even come close to how beautiful it really is. I was immediately glad we made the decision to visit this area. We were able to sit in the water right at the bottom of the falls. I ventured in for only 15-20 minutes, but the current was so strong I was sick of trying to hold on to rocks so as not to slip away. When we walked back to the Guest House from the falls, we saw a green-striped frog on the path and two toucans in the trees probably about 80 feet above us. They were super loud!!

group at Blanche Marie

swimming at Blanche Marie

the frog we saw

That night we had a delicious dinner prepared by our cook, Heuwell. At dinner, the old drunk guy from the night before tried to tell us that going to Apura the next day was pointless and that we should all just stay at the falls. We were getting upset because we had been told by Boti that we would definitely go to Apura for the day (as had everyone else). The reason we chose the trip was because there was more to do than just sit at the falls all day. Unfortunately we couldn’t discuss this with Boti because he had gone back to town and wouldn’t arrive until the next afternoon. Norman settled the situation by saying whoever wanted to stay could stay and whoever wanted to go could go.

Wednesday the 1^st of February

Two cars with 9 of the 12 tourists started our drive to Apura (Apoera) around 9am. Our first stop was at a bauxite mine where we were able to get some gas and watch some trucks driving around. My favorite truck was the one labeled “Taliban Crew.” I have been down here over a month, but I’m still shocked when I see someone has labeled their truck with the word Taliban. I was told by some of the Peace Corps people that it doesn’t mean what I think it means. Still makes me feel a little uncomfortable.

Taliban Crew truck

Our next stop was at an old abandoned railway station. After the civil war in Suriname, the government received funding from many different countries and organizations to help rebuild the country. They decided to put a lot of the money into building up the northwestern part of Suriname by building a railway and mining bauxite, trying to encourage expansion. After spending 1 billion euros (1.2 billion US dollars) on this project, it was abandoned. I’m not sure why it was abandoned or when they exactly got the funding for it, but it was a HUGE waste of money. The building we visited was supposed to have a restaurant, bathrooms, store, etc. What we saw was concrete pillars, broken windows, and bat poop. The structure is still there, but anything that could be used was stripped out. Norman, our guide, said that that was the story of Suriname… lots of wasted money. And it was the first time one of the guides had made an extra effort to explain something to me in English, so I knew Norman had some strong feelings about this place.

group at abandoned train station

After about 2.5 hours of driving, we arrived in Apura. We stopped at a store to get some beer, and then we stopped at a lady’s house to buy a big chunk of ice for the cooler. All of us “jongens” (kids) hopped in the back of Norman’s truck. Lieke, Ferdinand, Anne, I, and 2 other Dutch people (Marlies and Omar) had a blast in the back! I waved to all the little kids I saw playing in their yards or out riding their bikes.

Anne, Lieke, and I in the back of the truck driving through Apura

We made a stop at some guy’s house for some mangoes, and his 4 little kids (all in their underwear) carried out the mangoe-reaching pole. Then we all peeled the mangoes with our teeth and sunk them in to the orange stringy fruit. They were delicious! After the mangoes, Norman took us to another guy’s house where we were able to see different kinds of trees… breadfruit, cocoa, olive.

eating the mango

the view from the mango guy’s house

Norman took us on a little hike to an AmerIndian village on the water’s edge. I had only worn a pair of flip-flops and kept getting my feet stuck in the thick mud. More than once, we shoe would be buried in the mud after I had pulled my foot out, and I would have to throw my hand in and grab in. Finally I gave up trying to walk with them on and just carried them. At one point, our trail was flooded. And I mean flooded… at least 5 feet deep in some parts. Luckily, Henk and Lieke volunteered to go out in the water and find a path to take. There was a few wooden boards to walk across first and then a log to scoot across. Standing on the log, the water only reached to our knees so most of us made it across half dry. Lieke, on the other hand, fell into the water when she was searching for a path, so she had a nice little swim! We arrived at the village and all the women came running with their crafts to sell. They laid everything out on a bench so we could see it all. The women and children stood on one side and at the end, and we stood on the other side. It was quite the store. They were selling bracelets, necklaces, purses, and other things made out of seeds that they collect from a certain kind of tree around their village. They dye some of the seeds blue, gray, purple, peach, red. And then they use other seeds or jaguar claws or anything else available and incorporate it into their craft. I bought a few bracelets and necklaces, and when we were almost finished buying things I looked over to see that nobody had bought the most beautiful piece of work on the bench. Some woman had strung all these seeds together to make a little square with a beautiful pattern on it. Then she hung the shells of another seed on the ends of it. We were told they wear something like that when they dance. I asked how much she was selling it for. She answered 35 SRD which is about $12 US. That made up my mind… I handed her a 50 SRD bill, but she didn’t know math, and I couldn’t explain in Dutch that I needed 15 change. Finally Norman came over and told her she needed to borrow 15 from one of the other women, and then she would have to pay them back later. Many times Norman had to intervene a bit to explain how much change we would need back… thank goodness he was there. And because everyone was shopping for themselves, I was forced to use my Dutch for the first time since arriving here. Not that I had to say much, but I had to ask how much things cost and I had to understand their answer. It was actually really great. I was proud of myself for not having to ask my friends to buy things for me.

hiking out to the AmerIndian village

wading across the water

buying crafts from the AmerIndians on the western coast of Suriname

After the shopping was finished, we walked over to another part of the village. Norman asked if the group could go swimming there. As we were waiting for him to figure things out, I felt a few sharp pains on my right foot. I looked down to find 10-15 little red ants. Those little suckers can bite! We were able to go swimming, but I hadn’t brought my suit so I just waded into the water to try to take away some of the pain of those ant bites. From where we were, we could see the eastern coast of Guyana. I sat on a bench with Marleen, who also hadn’t brought her suit with. We chatted about how her and her husband Bert had retired from the medical profession in Holland and moved to a little village in France last year. We also watched a few of the naked children in the village walk from thatched-roof hut to thatched-roof hut. They were adorable.

a view from the village

We were able to get a ride back to our vehicles from a guy in the village. He had a boat made out of one piece of wood that fit all of us single-file. I almost sat in some boskip (forest chicken) blood, but other than that we were able to just enjoy the breeze and view.

riding in the boat made out of one piece of wood

That morning Norman had written “DANGEROUS!!!” across the tailgate of his truck in the red dirt. The week before we had watched an episode of Friends on Lieke’s computer where Joey thought “Bert!” was their code word for danger. So we labeled our truck “BIRT” (we didn’t want to offend Bert, Marleen’s husband, by spelling it with an E). Although, Ferdinand first spelled it “BIRD”. So now we use either word as our code word for danger! 🙂

Norman and his warning!

We arrived back at Blanche Marie around 6 or 7pm, and Heuwell had dinner ready for us already. After dinner, we loaded up the trucks and drove out to the falls. They turned on the spotlights for us, and we had a few drinks and admired the massive amount of water floating past us. Heuwell happened to be sitting by me, so I told him that he was an excellent chef and that we noticed he paid close attention to detail by adding cucumber and tomato slices all the time. He was so excited that I complemented him! I hadn’t really talked to him at all yet, but I knew he knew I only spoke English because he would say a few things here and there. Little did I know he sounds like he grew up in the States. His English sounds like mine. I was super surprised. After talking to him for about 10 minutes, I asked him how long he lived in the States. He cracked up… said he’s got family there and has probably spent 2 years in total visiting the States. And he’s got friends at the American Embassy in Paramaribo so he speaks English all the time. We ended up having a fantastic conversation all evening about everything… me being a traveling American, his coming out of the closet in a super-conservative country, cable television, Saturday Night Live, Beyonce. Heuwell promised to take us out in Paramaribo the next time we were in the city, and Norman said he would come too if he was around. Lieke, Ferdinand, Anne, Heuwell, Marlies, Omar and I all went back to our building (everyone else was staying in other buildings next door). This is when the alcohol really kicked in… Lieke, Fer, Anne, and I took about 20 photos but I’m just going to include my favorite… us pretending there was something scary on the veranda.

something scary??

Thursday the 2^nd of February

I spent the morning getting to know the toilet in our guest house while everyone else was able to make it out to see El Dorado falls. I slept until after noon sometime, and Heuwell periodically checked on me to make sure I was still alive. Eventually I was able to take a shower and pack up my stuff. Somewhere around 2pm, everyone came back and we had lunch. Rather, they had lunch and I had 2 bites of rice and potatoes before giving up. Everyone was happy to see me walking around, and they said everyone was concerned about me when they were at the falls. It was nice to know they were still thinking of me. We left the guest house about 4pm and no less than 3 minutes into the drive, Norman (the lead driver) stopped because something was blocking the path. He waved us all up to come see… it was a turtle about 15-18 inches long right in the middle of the path. When he picked it up, the turtle hid in his shell and was passed around so everyone could inspect him. Soon we were back in the vehicles and heading out again, but before we could even get to the main road we had to stop again. Something a little bit bigger than a turtle was blocking the path. A tree had fallen in the middle of the night (sorry, no jaguars or anything cool like that), so Norman again got out the chainsaw and went to work. He even let Ferdinand hold it one time (perfect photo op).

Lieke and the turtle

tough guy!

We were supposed to drive for 4-5 hours, but Henk got sick of the slow drivers in front of him and decided to pass everyone and floor it. This was his craziest driving yet. We were going so fast that one time he turned the wheel too late to avoid hitting a tree trunk that had fallen but was still suspended 3 feet off the ground due to the branches. When we finally stopped to wait for everyone to catch up, Henk told us to notice the time and that everyone else would arrive in 30 minutes. Ten minutes later, everyone else arrived, and I just happened to notice that the windshield had cracked somewhere in the last hour. Hmmm… I wonder if it was because he hit a tree? Henk said it was because of the vehicle, something about a crack in the frame of the window. Yeah, right. And when everyone caught up, we were told that Henk missed the camp we were supposed to spend the night at so we kept driving another hour and a half to the camp at Alfons Dorp.

After a quick dinner that Heuwell had prepared at the guest house, we were sitting around chatting. Someone asked me if I wanted to drive. I said “YES!” I had no idea what I was volunteering for at this point. I think it was Heuwell who explained to me that Boti and Norman wanted to go hunting (the only thing they hunt during the day is bush pig usually). They wanted someone to drive, but they wanted to stay out until they actually got something. Heuwell told me in these exact words, “They want to make sure that Katie doesn’t fall asleep.” And I said, “Well, Katie’s the only one here who slept until 1pm today.” They all cracked up at that one… it was true! Lieke agreed to come with and keep me awake. Omar and Ferdinand decided to join us too. I was super excited as it was my first time ever driving in another country, and the driver sits on the opposite side of the car than we do, and it was a HUGE truck and a stick shift! My night couldn’t have gotten any better!!! Norman gave me a quick course in hunting-speak. Boti and he would ride in back of the truck with their spotlights. If he shined the light in front of me and made a motion up, it meant to drive faster. If he motioned the light down, it meant slow down. If they banged on the roof of the truck, it meant slowly come to a stop, put the truck in neutral, and turn off the headlights but keep the truck running. Everyone came over to wish us luck and wave us off. I got out on the road and started dodging the huge puddles (probably 15 feet across), but Norman and Boti must have gotten slapped by a few tree branches because they told me to just drive right down the middle. Hell yeah! A few of the puddles were 3 feet deep or more… I was LOVIN’ it!!! In the 2.5 hours of driving I did, we probably stopped 7 or 8 times, but all we saw were a few birds, 3 caiman, and a big snake. Just before we turned around and went back, Boti and Norman both got out of the truck and walked down the road in front of me with their lights. Norman told me to keep the lights turned off and to follow them. “Keep in mind the trees on either side of the road.” It was crazy! Pitch black and I’m following two little lights that flash three or four times a minute. Norman had me jump in the back seat so he could drive back to camp. I looked over at Ferdinand who was sleeping in the most uncomfortable-looking position ever. His legs were in the position they would be if he were sitting, but his upper body had fallen straight over to the right and was bobbing up and down. His head was about 2 inches from me, so I couldn’t get very comfortable. We arrived back at camp around 4pm to find that Marlies and Anne had set up all 4 of our hammocks so we could just hop in and fall asleep.

Friday the 3^rd of February

I was told I could sleep in, which I should have known would never happen. Again I was woken up by people running into my hammock strings and talking out loud right next to me. I got about 4 hours of sleep which did not make me a happy camper (hahaha). Boti and Henk left camp early that morning to go meet a group of people returning from Raleighvallen because a car had broken down. They had to backtrack about 1.5 hours, so Henk took Heuwell’s vehicle since his was falling apart. We had a breakfast of fried potatoes and scrambled eggs (that’s all that was left). Heuwell started playing some tunes, and we had a little dance party. He made Lieke and Ferdinand do the Buca, a Surinamese thing. We were all cracking up as it meant that Ferdinand would stand there with Lieke’s hands on the ground and legs wrapped around his waist. And then they had to “dance.”

do the BUCA!!

Norman also gave me some machete lessons. I chopped down a tree that they will later use for firewood.

machete lessons

It was decided, in Dutch, that Heuwell would take Henk’s 4×4 with a group of 5 people (Anne, Ferdinand, Omar, Marlies, and Yvonne – the lady with the drunk husband) and start driving since they would need to go slower than everyone else. Nobody told me what was going on, and luckily I asked just before they pulled onto the road because my purse with my mosquito lotion, etc was in the vehicle. I was a little pissed, and Lieke knew it. I was just sick of everything being discussed in Dutch and then being explained later to me and in much less detail. Since we were again waiting, this time for Boti and Henk and another vehicle to arrive AND for the chicken to be ready for lunch, Lieke and I decided to make the most of it by lying out in the sun and getting a little color. We laid out a hammock which served as our beach towel, and I was burned in about 30 minutes. The 3 vehicles arrived, and my favorite American-hater got out of one of the cars, the mean lady who told me I lived on Coke. Lieke and I couldn’t believe it, and we couldn’t wait to see the expression on Anne’s face when we all met up in a few hours. Lieke and I decided with Bert and Marleen that us 4 would ride with Norman. Boti told us that everyone who was left from the Blanche Marie group would ride with Henk. I was not happy about having to ride with Henk or Paul, the drunk guy who tried to tell us not to go to Apura. I asked Boti why. He said it was to keep the group together. We said we didn’t care. We wanted to ride with Norman. I was pissed. The whole trip was definitely not what I expected at all, and I was sick of riding in Henk’s car. Finally Boti gave in and let us ride with Norman. Norman told us to all get in the car quick so we could leave before Boti changed his mind. And soon we were on the road again.

We met up with Heuwell’s car at the “Mango Tree.” It was a little rest stop with picnic tables and thatched-roof huts for shade. We had some sandwiches and sat and chatted. Lieke went to use the bathroom and came running out screaming with her pants half-way falling off because she saw a spider in the bathroom and she’s afraid of spiders like I’m afraid of bats. After inspecting it, I can see why it sent her screaming. It was probably 5-6 inches long!

All of the vehicles gathered on the side of the road in Zanderij for one last beer together, and we said our goodbyes. Lieke, Ferdinand, Anne, and I were to ride with a driver from the other tour group. About 10 minutes into our drive, he stopped for gas and after getting a full tank, was unable to start the car again. We were stuck at Walma’s Service Station for almost 2 hours before the car was ready to go again. We went into Walma’s to get something to drink, only to find the shelves almost bare. There were 6-packs of dirty Coke cans in the fridge. And there were 2 choices for candy bars. And some Pringles. We were so happy to be waiting again. Kidding. Finally arrived home around 11pm and went right to bed.

group photo with Norman

waiting at Walma’s
*****
We’ve been back for 4 days now, and it’s been great. Relaxing. The days are going so fast. Yesterday, I woke up and couldn’t remember if it was Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. Ahhh… the life. Yesterday, Ferdinand, Anne, and I were able to visit Jodensavanne, the site of the ruins of the largest synagogue in the western hemisphere. And site of a mineral spring flowing with healing water. So I definitely gave it a try! 🙂 Out on the town tonight with Heuwell and Lieke.

BONUS PHOTO:

a green-eyed fly we killed in our car!

the monkeys we saw from the veranda

Ferdinand, Anne, me, and Lieke at the BBQ

me, Lieke, Pato, and Kleine at the BBQ

photo from the backyard of Anne and Lieke’s house… taken yesterday!

fixing the bus on the way to Kaieteur Falls

our campsite the second night

view of Kaieteur Falls – all 781 feet of it

looking away from Kaieteur Falls… you can see the pointy hill on the left side of the river way, way in the distance… that’s where we started on the morning of the second day

me sitting at the top of Kaieteur Falls… right at the edge!

our hiking group at the top of Kaieteur

group at the plane… flying out of Kaieteur

flying out…

eating sugar cane with my new friend Melissa in Rosignol, Guyana

Hello, hello readers! I’m so happy to get all your comments!!

Well, we are off on our 5-day overland adventure to Blanche Marie tomorrow. Nothing too exciting has happened since I last updated, but I thought I’d mention a few fun stories.

There are these huge beetles (did I spell that right?) that fly onto the veranda at night. They fly right into things and sometimes land on their backs and can’t get flipped over. So we’ve taken to practicing our “batting swing” (with a ping pong paddle). Someone will pitch one to me, and I hit it “out of the park”.

I made $10 US the other day at a fast food roti joint called Roopram, when Anne bet me that I wouldn’t eat a half teaspoonful of chopped up bird peppers. I looked at it, ate it, immediately turned bright red and ran around the restaurant steaming, and then was very happy to have earned an extra $10!!

I am deathly afraid of bats… the thing that really scares me about them is that they’ll get caught in my hair and I won’t be able to get them out. Ok, ok… I know they have sonar, but still… it COULD happen. Well, where I’m staying in Suriname is LOADED with bats. And because we leave the windows and doors open in the house all the time, usually there is a bat a night that flies around the living room/kitchen area. The other night I walked into the kitchen to put a glass in the sink, and a bat started flying around me. It came so close that I really thought my worst nightmare would come true. I immediately started shrieking and dropped to the floor. Anne came to try to rescue me, but I wouldn’t stand up. I had to crawl my way out. It was traumatizing!!!

The Dutch call goosebumps “mierentietjes”… ant tits. I thought this was hilarious. They thought my pronounciation of mierentietjes was just as funny. Every day I’m learning more useful Dutch.

Yesterday, we gathered a group of the girls’ co-workers and played this game I like to call “NO RULES” because there literally are no rules. We split into two teams in the water and fight over a soccer ball. You have to run it in to shore and hit it on some “goal” we decide at the beginning of the game to score a point. But in the water, there are no rules… anything goes. It’s ridiculously crazy… and super fun. I drank so much water yesterday I thought I’d be sick today for sure!!

Last night we played a Suriname card game with some of the girls’ co-workers. It’s called Troef Call. Similar to euchre but you deal the whole deck of cards out and there are no bauers (or bowers, however you spell it). Very fun.

I’m going to add some photos here quickly if I can… and then I’m off…

I have spent the last week in the jungle, and as my Dutch hostesses say, “We are back in civilization.” Not that life is bad where we are staying. Anne and Lieke, two girls I met while studying abroad in Holland two years ago, are doing their internships (writing efficiency reports) at a resort about an hour and a half from Paramaribo (the capitol city of Suriname). I met up with them at the airport as Anne’s boyfriend Ferdinand was flying in from Amsterdam. It was so nice to see a familiar face for the first time in 2 weeks. And 3 familiar faces… even better! The drive out to the resort was mostly down a red, dirt road with plenty of bumps and puddles along the way. We spent the first night catching up and enjoying the beautiful veranda at their house. I was even introduced to Joris (they pronounce it Yoris) the caiman, as Lieke spotted him with the giant spotlight… he was floating in the river just off the veranda.

The next morning, we were all hanging out on the veranda, and all of a sudden we heard monkeys swinging in the trees across the little river from us. In the two months the girls have been here, they’ve only seen monkeys out there once before, and they were told they were very lucky to see them once!

We had a barbeque on the beach on Saturday night with some of the girls’ coworkers. That night we ended up swimming in the water with no nets to protect us from the pirhanas. My friends told me there were no nets after the swim, of course.

The girls have to work during the day, sometimes at the house typing up their reports, but sometimes they are off on the resort filling in where they’re needed and observing the staff. Ferdinand and I have become partners in crime when we’re left alone. One day we had a mad cleaning session where we did dishes, swept the porch, and washed our laundry by hand. We spend some of the day sunbathing on the private beach next to the house and swimming when we get too hot. (By the way, my 2 rashes are going away thanks to all the sunlight it’s getting! I’m sure you’re all happy to hear that.) There are two hammocks on the veranda which we frequent often, and I’ve become addicted to Sudoku, the number game.

We ventured back into Paramaribo yesterday to see what civilization is like 😉 Actually, we had to run a few errands. We visited the Leatherman… that’s what Anne and Lieke call him… he makes anything you can think of out of leather. We’re stopping in to visit him next week to have sandals made just for our feet and to share a few beers. We also had to reserve a tour for next week. The four of us were thinking about going to Raleighvallen and Voltzberg, but after a few calls around and a stop at a tour-operator, we were convinced to go on a 5-day overland trip to Blanche Marie, a better waterfalls to visit at this time of year. We’ll be traveling by jeep and doing lots of different activities.

And an update on my plans for the end of February… I just bought an airline ticket from NYC to Berlin, leaving the 20th of Feb and returning from Amsterdam on the 28th of February. Crazy, I know. But it’s the only opportunity I will have to see my German friends (whom I haven’t seen in 2 years already) for another year or so, and I’ve decided not to do the cruise thing on my own in the Caribbean, which means I’m probably actually saving money by going to Europe 🙂

We leave for our big trip next Monday the 30th of Jan, and we will return on that Friday. I don’t know how much email contact I’ll have for the next few weeks… so I hope everyone is doing well, and thanks for the comments… they really put a smile on my face.

1. When men make comments at me, I can’t understand them because they’re not in English.

2. There are more options for food. I’m sick of rice. I know, I know… I shouldn’t complain.

3. It’s cleaner, it’s nicer, and it just all-around smells better.

**Alright, I’m out of time again. I’m headed to the airport later this afternoon to meet up with my Dutch friends Anne and Lieke and Ferdinand. I may not have a chance to update for awhile. Hold tight… I’ll be back as soon as possible.

The small things we take for granted: I’ve seen signs for private houses advertising “Refrigeration Done Here” and “Ice and Icicles”.

Items of Value: As I pass by the houses along the main road in Guyana, I see beach balls hanging as decorations on some house’s verandas. Riding in a minibus the other day, a driver had a brightly colored feather duster displayed on the dash.

Speaking of Minibus Dashboards: They cover the dash with tons of decorations. Guyanese flags, stuffed animals, 10 air freshners hanging from the rearview, and I guess I can add feather dusters.

Getting Ripped Off: You can buy a red or blue macaw (the big bright-colored birds) for $500 Guyanese. That’s $2.50 US. I’m not kidding. What are they going for in the US these days? Someone’s making a fortune whether it’s the “suppliers” or customs.

Bones in Food: I’m really looking forward to the day when I can put a bite of food in my mouth and not be afraid I’ll crunch a bone between my teeth. In Guyana, they just chop up everything and throw it in a pot. I’ve bitten (is that spelled right?) at least 4 or 5 bones at this point, and my teeth hurt.

Skin Rash Capitol of the World: That’s what a few of the Peace Corps volunteers I have met have told me. Lucky me and my sensitive skin. So far, I’ve only contracted one new skin rash, which is slowly disappearing. Lara says you get it from showering in the water. That can’t be good for someone long-term.

Learning to Read: I’ve just recently learned that some schools here teach the children to read not phonetically but by memorization. That means that they can’t really sound out words. They memorize the letters T-R-E-E, and then they are supposed to know that it means tree.

Old Billboard Signs: On the west coast Demurara, they use them to protect their verandas from wind and rain. I always wondered where our old billboard covers went to die.

After a day spent traveling, I have arrived in Paramaribo, the capitol city of Suriname. Before I recap on today’s activities, I’ll write about my last few days in Guyana.

MONDAY the 16th of Jan: When I last updated (and left you hanging on the edge of your seat, I’m sure), I was in New Amsterdam, Guyana. I had met up with some Peace Corps volunteers, and they were showing me around the Corentyne (eastern part of Guyana). So Shanna, Alana, Mike, and I made our way to Crabwood Creek, where Shanna lives. First we had to travel an hour and a half by minibus.

After about an hour of driving, we came to a police check point. For no reason whatsoever, Shanna and I were made to get out of the minibus (and we were sitting in the back seat, of course). The biggest, toughest looking police officer asked Shanna why she was here. She said, “Peace Corps.” He asked where we were from, and Shanna told him Maryland and Wisconsin. Then he let us get back in. I was so shocked, and Shanna said that she had never experienced anything like that before. She said they were probably just interested in why we were there. Good thing I didn’t have to explain the tourist excuse – they would never have believed that! Once we arrived in Corriverton, we had to flag down a tapir, a locally-made vehicle similar to a jeep, I guess. The tapir (the vehicle) is only driven in this tiny part of Guyana.

We got to Shanna’s, and we made fajitas. Well, we made our version of fajitas with limited supplies. Shanna had some beef in the freezer, and we bought corn, beans, lettuce and tomatoes. Mike seasoned the beef with some random spices since we couldn’t find any Mexican seasoning at the supermarket. And Shanna mixed up a batch of tortilla-dough. I rolled out most of the fajitas. Most of them looked like I was trying to make them resemble the outline of Guyana; they definitely weren’t round! Everything ended up tasting pretty good considering. Shanna even made chocolate peanut butter brownies. Mike, Shanna, and I played an exciting game of Phase 10, which I won! Alana explained, according to her research 🙂 , some of the characters in Indian movies that were on TV. And we all played along to the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. I was excited to watch a few of the Surinamese channels that Shanna’s TV picked up, since I could understand some of the Dutch! And then we called it a night.

TUESDAY the 17th of Jan: Shanna had to go give a talk on puberty at a local school and Mike had to go to work back in New Amsterdam, so Alana took me to the Corriverton market so I could do a little shopping. I ended up buying a few hammocks, a tawah (flat pan used to make roti), and a few other odds and ends. Then we met up with Shanna and made our way to the post office. For some reason, they are only able to ship packages from the Corriverton post office on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:30pm. Apparently, the customs officer is only available then. So we had the clerk weigh it, so I would at least know how much money to leave with Shanna so she can mail it tomorrow. Then we stopped by a British VSO’s house. Her husband, another Brit, works as an engineer for the sugar company, so they live in a compound with a pool and tennis courts. We sat on the veranda and chatted, and before leaving Alana wanted 2 puppies that were wandering around stray. So we all went on a mission to capture them and load them in a box for her to carry back to New Amsterdam. Alana went one direction back to her house, and Shanna and I went back to her place. We had a nice chat, a small dinner, and we were in bed by 10pm.

WEDNESDAY the 18th of Jan: I woke up and still had not fully decided whether or not to take the ferry across to Suriname. There is only one ferry a day, so I needed to decide by 9am. Shanna left for work, and we said our goodbyes because I figured I would leave. I caught a tapir for Moleson Creek, where the ferry departs from. I paid my $10 and filled out my paperwork for immigration. We waited over an hour for the ferry. Then the ferry ride took about 30-45 minutes, and when we arrived we had to go through immigration again.

This is where the adventure begins: I walked out of the gate and found a minibus going to Paramaribo. There were only 2 that I could see, and they packed those things so full of people and luggage, there was hardly any empty space inside at all. I was sitting with a carry-on suitcase between my knees and the drivers seat, and I had my own bag on my lap. My left butt cheek on the seat and the other one got some rotational time every 15 minutes or so. First we had to ride down a bumpy, dirt path for about 45 minutes, and then we were finally on a paved road. And that road took around 4 hours before we reached Paramaribo. So we’re on the paved 2-lane road headed to Paramaribo, when all of a sudden the driver stops. There is no such thing as a shoulder on this road, so the driver is stopped right on the road. I guess he felt the need to relieve himself. At least we were on a straight stretch and not on a corner so cars had time to see us and could swerve around. We finally get to Paramaribo, and the driver makes another stop at his house, I think. Then he takes us all into town and drops us off one by one. He drove around for at least 10 minutes trying to find my hotel and pissing off all the other people on the bus. Eventually he found it, and I must say I didn’t do too bad picking out a random hotel from the guidebook. I chose it because it’s supposed to be the best for the budget and centrally located. For $18 US I get my own room with a fan. And the staff is super nice.

Thanks to everyone for their positive comments and concerned emails! I am doing really great. I don’t have a lot of time to catch you up on what I’ve been up to, so hopefully I’ll post again soon. I am in Guyana and moving onto Suriname by the 18th for sure.

Friday the 6th: I met up with the Canadian girl, Camilla, whom I met at the airport when I first arrived earlier in the week. We went for dinner at a restaurant called the Dutch Bottle, and then we visited 2 of her Canadian friends who are here in Guyana with VSO.

Saturday the 7th: Met at 8am to depart for the 5-day overland trip to Kaieteur Falls. There were 5 of us tourists on the trip. Richard, a 43-yr-old German, and a family group of 3, Melissa (23), Nadina (18), and their dad, Daniel (60). Daniel was born and raised in Guyana, and this was the first time he had been back to visit since leaving over 30 years ago. The group dynamics were great, and our guide was Tony, a 42-yr-old AmerIndian with years of experience and a great personality. We took a 7-hr minibus ride to Mahdia, a mining town out in the middle of nowhere. The first 2 hours were pretty tame driving on a paved road, but then we were driving on a red, rough dirt road. After a few hours, the minibus broke down. A bolt snapped and one of the back tires was pushing against the frame of the bus. Ian, our driver who drives this particular route a few times a week, gets out and finds a few big stones and a long board on the side of the road and begins to fix the problem. Then a jeep carrying 4-5 people stops and a big white guy gets out. The first thing he asks is, “Where did you find the white people?” (me and Richard). Ian says, “Same place we found you.” This big guy has been living in Guyana for 20+ years but is originally from Switzerland. He’s been living out in the bush mining (I believe) to make a living. The Swiss guy ends up having a few more tools to help us fix the bolt problem, and within 30 minutes we’re back on the road driving again. One more minor situation with the minibus was quickly solved with a little duct tape. We catch a ferry across the Essequibo River, and a few hours later we arrive in Mahdia and load up 2 4×4 trucks to drive a half hour to the river. The 30 minute drive was only 10 miles or so, but we were driving through some HUGE puddles, we’re talking small ponds. The boat gets loaded up, and we also meet our 2 “assistants” that were coming on the trip with us. They were our cooks, gophers, set-up crew, etc. For the first few days we called them Small and Smaller (not to their faces) because they were very small guys, but eventually we learned their names were Frank and Ronald. Anyways, we’re in the boat, and we go upriver about 2 hours or so. We get to our first campsite, and it’s flooded so we end up hanging our hammocks at the little information house. A little crowded but nothing we can’t handle. We fall asleep to the sounds of the rainforest and Amatuk Falls.

Sunday the 8th: We crossed the Potaro River by boat, and then portaged all of our things over the falls. Tony took us on a half hour hike through the rainforest. He announced to the group to step where he stepped so as not to fall through the leaves (you can’t tell what solid ground is when you’re out in the forest). About 3 minutes later, I fall through to my knee in the swampy water and leaves. Oops! Melissa wasn’t paying attention either and fell through in the exact same spot that I did about 25 seconds later. I’m sure Tony was very impressed with our listening skills at this point. We took the boat upriver another hour or two and then made camp for the night. The guys unraveled a HUGE tarp to hang over the already existing wooden frame, and we hung our hammocks. We spent the afternoon sitting around telling stories. Daniel told us a lot about why he left Guyana, and what life was like when he lived here. Tony told us some crazy stories about giant snakes, waracaiba tigers, and jaguars. I think we went to bed at 9:30pm just about every night because once it was dark there wasn’t much to do.

Monday the 9th: Took the boat upriver another 45 minutes or so, and Frank and Ronald dropped us off to do a 2-hour hike. The hike was over these huge rocks and across many little creeks and things in the rainforest. We even picked these weird stringy-looking mushrooms (Tony called them bush-chow-mein) to cook for dinner. Towards the end, we got to this really flooded area (right now Guyana is having a mild rainy season). Tony went out into the water and found a log for us to scoot across to get to the other side. We all took our shoes off and crossed the log in our socks with our shoes tied around our necks!! The water was about 10 feet deep where we were so we had to carefully balance all the way across and use some trees to help out. The next flooded area was fairly deep, but we were able to cross it wearing our shoes this time. The water did come up to our necks so we had to carry everything above our heads!! At the very last flooded spot, Tony took one look at it and knew there was no way out except to swim, so he swam out to get the boat. Back at camp, Frank and Ronald had put up the tarp and made lunch, and we spent the afternoon just hanging out and talking again.

Tuesday the 10th: the day of the BIG HIKE! Left camp just as the rain was letting up around 10am. I’m not going to say much about the hike except that it was one of the most unbelievable things I’ve ever done. We had to run across this one cement bridge so as not to get stung by the soldier ants. We saw leaf cutter ants carrying leaves to their home. The steep part of the hike was STRAIGHT up the hill. The “steps” were the roots of the trees. Once we got up to the top, Frank and Ronald had watermelon slices waiting for us. The last part of the hike was on flat ground (more or less) for about 45 minutes. We saw 2 cock-of-the-rock birds – indigenous to Guyana, they are bright red with a huge crest on their head. We saw monkeys in the trees. We saw a toucan. It was incredible. AND THE VIEW… AMAZING!!!!! Kaieteur Falls is the world’s tallest single-drop waterfalls, and during our visit it was at full force because of the rainy season. We got to see Kaieteur Falls from 3 different viewing areas, including this cool overhanging rock. There was a gorgeous rainbow out. After we spent an hour or so at the viewing platform, we hiked into the Guesthouse where they had an afternoon lunch waiting for us. After lunch, us girls put on swimsuits and went out to bathe in the water at the top of the falls. This is no Niagara, baby! No railings, no fences, no rules… except don’t get to close to the edge!! So we sat in wading pools about 10-15 feet from the edge of the falls, and then to dry off we sat right next to the water going over the edge!! You can’t get any closer than that. After a dinner of roti and curry (DELICIOUS!), we took a hike into the nearest “town” called Menzie’s Landing. It is a mining town that I don’t care to visit again. Tony took us to one of the two stores that were open for business at that time of night (probably about 7pm or so). Both stores had 19 inch TVs, and they were each playing a different movie. We walked into the one playing the Bourne Supremacy, and there were about 15-20 miners sitting on wooden benches. I had to sit between 2 of the miners because it was the only available spot in the store. One of them asked me if I knew why it was called “MENzie’s Landing”, and I told him I knew there were mostly men living there. Then he propositioned me to be the town hooker. What an offer! Um, NO THANKS. The other guy interviewed me: where was I from, was I married, did I have any children, is Bush still looking for the guy who blew down the Twin Towers. Hmm… Then back to the first guy who told me I should bring him back to the US, and he wanted to introduce me to him mom. “You like fried chicken?” What a pick up line! The entire time these two guys were talking to me, I kept thinking, “I can’t get up and walk away – that would be rude!” What was I thinking?? Like they weren’t being rude! I couldn’t wait to escape, and luckily, Melissa and Nadina were very aware of the situation so they found a little spot for me to sit near them.

Wednesday the 11th: We were woken up to some free-style singing at 6am. The Guesthouse cook (also the Warden’s son) had decided to serenade us while he made breakfast. This Guesthouse was similar to most Guyanese houses where the walls of the rooms only go up 10 feet and then it’s open air to the roof. So you can hear EVERYTHING. We hiked out to another viewpoint after breakfast, and then Tony took us to see a few different kinds of carnivorous plants before the plane was scheduled to arrive. Apparently the plane arrived and departed before we ran out to the airstrip, and since we didn’t know when he would return, we waited… and waited… and waited. The plane was coming “just now” which in Guyana means right away or maybe in a few hours. Eventually the plane did show up, and I got to sit up front to see the Falls as we flew over. We were only in the air about 20 minutes, and the pilot stopped at the “airport” in Mahdia to get more fuel. By airport, I mean red dirt strip. Taking off was interesting… I don’t know how the pilot managed to get the plane off the ground, but at least the view from the air was great! We arrived at the domestic airport in Georgetown, and there was a driver waiting for us. The day before the girls had asked if I would like to travel with them and their Dad for their last 4 or 5 days in the country. I accepted their offer as long as I wouldn’t be imposing on anyone. So we were dropped off at the house of some friends of theirs in Georgetown, where a wonderful neighbor lady named Vanessa made us every meal and made juice from the ripe fruits off the trees in the yard. That night we went on a cockroach hunt since a big one had been spotted running up Nadina’s arm!! Eventually we found it and smashed it, but he refused to die. After about 30 minutes, we finally flushed him down the toilet. I’m surprised he didn’t clog it… that bug was HUGE! (don’t worry, i have a great photo of him all smashed up)

Thursday the 12th: The 4 of us and our “guide” Naomi, Vanessa’s daughter, went into the center of Georgetown to do some sightseeing. We visited the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre (the Red House) which was interesting. Then I split from the group and went back to Lara’s to pick up my stuff since my new traveling companions were headed east. That night we stayed in Georgetown again.

Friday the 13th: Not a very scary day at all. Took a minibus into G-town to catch a cab to Bushlot (one of the 4 towns with the same name) to stay with the girls’ Uncle Maxy. The minibus into town was cranking “It’s Your Love” by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and I come to find out that country music is popular here!! The cab ride was briefly interrupted so that our driver could pick up a used transmission half way to Bushlot. 30 minutes later we were back on the road. We did a little shopping in Bushlot, and just hung out with their uncle.

Saturday the 14th: Took another minibus to Rosignol, to stay with Daniel’s sister Thelma and her extended family. Her grandkids were ADORABLE!!! We did a little shopping, took a nice walk around town, ate some sugar cane, and just spent time with the family.The shock of the day came when we were at a bottle shop so the girls could buy some Guyanese rum to take home, and this old Indian man came up to me. I just looked at him and said Hi, but he rubbed my arm before walking away…. yeah… still not sure what to think of that.

Sunday the 15th: I call up Shanna, another Peace Corps volunteer I had met at the airport, and she just happens to be at the ferry in Rosignol (about 2 minutes drive from where I stayed!!). I quickly say goodbye to everyone… exchange addresses and emails… hugs goodbye, and Leila (Thelma’s daughter) helps me to catch a cab. I get down to the ferry 10 minutes before it leaves, and Shanna is there waiting with another PC volunteer, Mike. They were super excited to hear about my trip, and we chatted the whole way across the Berbice River. We got to New Amsterdam and met up with another volunteer, Alana. All 4 of us went for lunch, and then stopped by two other Americans’ house. They’re here for World Teach. We sat around and chatted for a few hours, and everyone’s trying to convince me to just stay here for a couple more months since I fit in so well!!! hahahaha Last night we played some Clue and had a few beverages and then went to bed.

Monday the 16th: Just been hanging out. Went to Mike’s for pancakes. Did a little shopping and soon we’re headed to Crabwood Creek where Shanna lives. Alana and Mike are going to come down to make another night of it!

I’m having a GREAT TIME!!!!