Sep 25, 2010 - Friend Jaswan to Amazon & His ' jungle' place

Today we go on a quick day trip into jungle with friend, Jaswan. Was supposed to be yesterday but business kept him too busy...we insisted that he not disrupt his schedule just for us but he really wants to get us out somewhere so we shall see. We leave for Fr Guiana tomorrow on bus at 8 am. Our experience in Suriname puts many things into perspective and illustrates the difficulties faced in S. America. Case in point - Jaswan would be considered a success anywhere in business world having developed businesses, built a home, and has many...

Sep 22, 2010 - Paramaribo, Suriname

Up at 4:45 am for 'bus' (van) which picked us up at 5:30 at which time we were only ones in it. Spent next hour filling and left at 6:30 w/ 9 of us. Altho a Dutch colony, English is spoken by just about everyone here in Suriname and TakiTaki is really the most widespread. Dutch is taught in school but many forget most of it it not in business. We are getting spoiled speaking English, it will be a shock to return to foreign languages! Justone who was in minivan to ferry, is Indian decent 3rd gen., father is our age...3 sisters and a brother...

Dec 30, 2007 - Botopasi - Brownsberg

hier zijn we terug na een weekje in het binnenland vertoeft te hebben. Eerst zijn we naar Botopasi vertrokken. Vier uur met een gammel busje over een weg vol putten en bulten. Daarna nog een kleine drie uur met een korjaal op de Suriname rivier. Onderweg moesten we verschillende sula's (=watervalletjes) overwinnen. Bij 1 ervan verloren we zelfs onze bootsman. Gelukkig was hij snel weer opgevist. Het hotelletje was aan de overkant van het dorp. Het was er vrij basic (vb : enkel elektriciteit van 18 uur tot we gingen slapen,...). We...

Dec 23, 2007 - paramaribo en nieuw nickerie

We zijn ondertussen al enkele dagen verder en jullie hebben het nieuws kunnen verwerken. Wij hebben hier al een fietstocht in Paramaribo zelf gedaan. 't Was tussen de regenvlagen door mar zagen wel een samenvloeiing van heel wat culturen: zowel marrons (=oorspronkelijke bevolking van Suriname) , de zwarten (afstammelingen van slaven), hindoes, moslims, nederlanders,... je kunt het niet peinzen of het loopt hier rond. Het was wel serieus wennen want men rijdt hier links. Wel ongelukken gezien maar gelukkig geen zelf gehad. We bezochten oa...

Dec 16, 2007 - Paramaribo : eerste indrukken

Na onze problemen in Trinidad zijn we uiteindelijk in Paramaribo geland. Het doet raar aan : een Zuid-amerikaans land met palmbomen en al en je kunt gewoon Nederlands spreken. Nu, 't is wel gemakkelijk. Ze spreken hier allemaal met een fameus grappig accent zodat we soms wel moeite hebben om ons gezicht in de plooi te houden. Wat restaurants en bars betreft, zit het hier wel snor : we zitten niet ver van de uitgangsbuurt. We blijven hier enkele dagen hangen en gaan dan eens het binnenland in. 2 nadelen al gevonden : voor 't moment is het...

Dec 27, 2006 - Fishing Trip on the Suriname River

Papa set up a great fishing experience for us one day. We got up early one morning and headed to the Suriname River where we met his freind, Roy. Papa had hired a boat and man to take us fishing. The boats are very colourful and was a pretty picture at the river. We sailed out to an area where locals fish with nets to catch shrimp. It is a good area to fish because alot of fish go there for the shrimps as well. The weather was not that great, and at first we did not catch too much. Maybe the weather. While we were in the boat for shelter...

Dec 21, 2006 - Our Eco Tour in the Rainforest

We hiked to a beautiful waterfall in the rainforest. Sisley and Ethan put on their bathing suits and got right in. Right next to the waterfall was a cave where a caiman is known to live in. Chris tried to go in but once he heard all the bats, he chickened out. So did the rest of our group. Sisley and Ethan found a baby snake in the rainforest and once Robyn determined that the snake was not agressive, he let the kids hold it. By now Sisley and Ethan were finding all kinds of creatures in the jungle on their own. Robyn told them they no...

Dec 20, 2006 - Jungle Trip

We decided on a jungle trip to a place called Brownsburg. It is a mountain in the rainforest overlooking a lake. We had a fantastic guide named Robyn who was very knowledgeable of plants and animals. He was able to look at any plant and tell us the medicinal properties of anything found in the rainforest. His specialty was frogs and snakes though, which Sisley and Ethan thrilled about. We saw thousands of leaf cutter ants at work, the very famous but hard to find poison arrow frogs. The Amer Indians use the poison of these frogs on the tip...

Dec 18, 2006 - Paramaribo

We arrived in the capital of Suriname at 2 am and drove to Papa's on the newly paved roads. The next day we went to the city to look for possible Eco Tours that we could go on without risk of Malaria. We also did some sight seeing. Paramaribo is a beautiful city. It is also very busy and we could not believe all the cars on the road. Traffic here is a constant. Though the country is third world we were surprised to see how much it has changed for the better in just over a year. There is alot of building and restoration and the city is in...

Sep 1, 2005 - Suriname - Paramaribo

We have landed in little Holland - the Dutch obtained Suriname from the British after trading New Amsterdam - otherwise now known as New York! It is a cultural melting pot created by the British and Dutch colonization, the importation of slaves and indentured labourers from China, India and Indonesia. Poverty is here, as with everywhere, but its power to shock never more so than watching a man stoop to drink water from a pavement puddle. The architecture is very clapboard colonial and would not look out of place in Holland and at last...