Last Day of Holiday

LAST DAY ON HOLIDAY, TUESDAY MARCH 10

            Too soon we are at the last day.  This has been a great group, for the most part.  A few people have gotten on my nerves but not every day and not often.  That’s saying a lot because usually there is someone at the very beginning who hits me the wrong way and I spend the rest of the trip trying to avoid them.

            This morning we are up to the Asa Wright Nature Center to see the hummingbirds.  There are some 17 species of hummingbirds in Trinidad and Tobago and about 13 different species hang around the Nature Center where you can sit on their veranda and have them come to within a few inches of your camera.  So looking forward to this.  Again it’s a long drive up the hill to the center.  When we get there and walk out to the veranda, there are many people sitting there already watching the birds.  Looks like about 15 feeders or so plus a couple of long plank feeders on the lower level for fruit eaters.  It is amazing.  So many brilliant hummingbirds just right in front of my face.  Surely I can get a good photo of at least one!

            We are offered a hike into the woods and my hubby and I join the group.  I pick up a walking stick that is sitting next to the door.  I had read somewhere that these were for the guests.  Several group members did the same after I had gotten the first one.  We were walking downhill over a lot of roots and rocks.  We stopped for him to show us some of the leaf cutter ants which are really tiny and carry these big pieces of leaves that they have chewed into small triangles which are still bigger than they are.  I could hardly get close enough for a photo. 

            Our guide then hit one of the walking sticks (mine) against the ant mound and huge warrior ants came out to investigate and these buggers are right huge comparatively speaking.  Wouldn’t want to mess with them.  He put the ant on my stick and held it up for us all to see.  I made good and sure it was gone before I took up the stick again.

            We went a bit further and it started raining so we backtracked to a shelter which was already full of people so hard to get under it but we didn’t get too wet.  We were looking for oilbirds and heard one but never saw one. And looking for the golden headed manikin lek – not sure I have the name quite right.  And we apparently did see one but he was so far away that I didn’t get a good photo.  Also one of the hummers which is on everyone’s list but is the hardest to spot at the feeder.

            We didn’t go very far before we turned back and got back to the veranda just about in time for lunch.  Lunch was buffet style and served in a large room for all the guests.  You can spend the night at the center as well and I think it would have been pretty cool to do that but I might have gotten a bit tired of sitting and staring at birds after several hours.  Don’t know as I have never done it.

            After lunch, we went back to the veranda.  There was a large black bird with blue eyes and a brilliant yellow tail.  He swooped and flew around so fast that I could never get him with his tail open.  He stopped frequently on the plank feeders for the fruit.  He also had a lot of nests hanging from the tree.  They looked like bushy “tear drop ornaments” hanging.  He is related somewhere to the weaver bird we have seen in Africa in the way he does his nest.

            A couple of agoutis came along too and were picking fruit up off the ground from where the birds had dropped it.  More hummingbirds everywhere you looked – standing on the feeders and just hovering around the feeders while they ate.  Remarkable.

            This could have been a nice cap to my day but we still had some more sightseeing.  We have covered much of the island but you couldn’t prove it by me because I wasn’t ever sure where I was.  Our local guide said she had left home this morning at 5 a.m. to drive into Port of Spain so she would be at the hotel at 8.  OMG.  She said that was rather typical.  I know when we hit rush hour time, the roads outside the hotel were not moving more than a few inches ever few minutes.  I’d hate to be on the road for several hours.

            We are heading towards a Hindu Temple by the sea.  When we got there to the appropriately named Temple by the Sea, it was closed.  Rather disappointing to spend so much time driving around and not get in to see it although we had pretty good views of the interior from the windows.  It was out on a spit of land in the tidal flats and the tide was out.  A couple of boats were marooned in the mud until the next high tide.  The wind was quite brisk so the flags around the temple were flapping and snapping in the breeze.  There were also small miniature Hindu gods and figurines around several of the trees where people have given offerings.   Back on the mainland were three concrete foundations with sandy holes in the middle.  These were the sites where they carry out the cremations.

            Next we drove to the large statue of Hanuman, the monkey god.  A Hindu priest had erected this statue in a largely Hindu neighborhood which included a school and what might have been a temple but was also closed.  It might have just been a venue for celebrations.  I never did find out what it was for.  We walked around the statue along with a Hindu couple that was reciting something in Hindu as they walked. 

            Back in the bus and back into Port of Spain.   Luckily we are going against traffic.  Our poor guide, we passed right by her apartment but her car was at our hotel so we couldn’t do her a favor and drop her off there. 

            We had agreed with one other group member that we’d all go fabric shopping if we had time because his wife is a quilter also (I’m a quilter) and he was sorry he didn’t get any in Suriname.  He wanted to walk into town.  We saw how far it was and decided we’d take a taxi.  So had the hotel call for a taxi which took 15 minutes.  It was around 4:30 or so.  The hotel said the stores were open until 5:30 or 6.  The taxi is not moving very fast as we aren’t sure on the store we want but stuck in traffic and he tells us that the stores close at 5.  Yikes.  We pay and get out and go into a Mardi Gras store we saw but it just had costume items.  Our guide had told us that people wanted to make enough money to buy their Mardi Gras costume the next year.  Ha ha.

            So we start walking fast down the street and popping into stores that look like they might have fabric.  Not finding any so I asked a clerk and she said head further down the street to somewhere and I couldn’t understand the name.  But we kept walking, even past an area where there were no stores.  Finally we got to some stores that seemed to have fabric and popped into the first one and there was our other group member, getting some fabric.  Yea.  He had much better instincts for finding it or much better instructions.

We ran in and I started pulling out cotton fabric to be cut.  Hubby went across the street which looked like another fabric store and found out the best place was around the corner and further down a bit.  We told our friend and he took off for that store.  We finished and then we took off for it too and were a bit confused on which way to turn at the next corner but we found it.  Walked in and our friend was completing his fabric purchase.  It was just 5 minutes to 5 now but they graciously stayed with us while I chose about 10 different fabrics.  Finally I have paid and they let us out of the store and we were second to last ones to leave. 

            Know we have walked down the street a bit but thought that it was just walk back to the park and around two corners and our hotel would be there.  Wrong!  We were over a mile away, more like two miles.  So around the corner and to the end of the park, around the corner and to the next jog in the park and around two more corners before we finally got to our hotel.  My dogs were barking!

            This being our last night, we were all having a dinner together to say goodbye.  As some of us are leaving very early in the morning, (One beat us by an hour leaving at 5, we were leaving at 6), Chris decided to have the dinner at the hotel so we could all crash as we finished eating or stay and talk.  As usual, he’d had us stop by and pre-order our meal.  While this seemed to really confuse the staff, have to say that in the long run, I think it worked very well most of the time and did save us a lot of time.

            We were in a very small room but we all squeezed in and soon our dinners were arriving.  A lot of drinking and laughing and promises to keep in touch and hopefully see each other again on a trip somewhere.  So eating and then repacking and getting ready to leave the next day.  A very good trip and well run, except for the border crossing.  Good guide, except for the border crossing.  Good local guides.  I’d return to Suriname.  I’d return to Trinidad although I’d rather go to Tobago and check it out next time.  I probably wouldn’t go back to Guyana unless something special were discovered or someone offered me a free trip or it was attached to something else really grand.  But I’m glad I hit all three now.

Bake and Shark

Our itinerary was changed up a bit so that we could accommodate everything in good timing hence that’s why we went to the Caroni Nature Sanctuary last night. Think our original schedule would have meant we were there when the ibis were out feeding and wouldn’t have seen them come home to roost.  We started off on time this morning but had to go to a pharmacy for one group member – not sure why and wasn’t polite to ask.  But as soon as the bus pulled into the pharmacy parking lot, our guide said – “Oh, we can take 15 minutes here.” much to Chris’ dismay I think.  People started exiting the bus rapidly so we did too and ran next door to the grocery store.  We haven’t had a chance to visit grocery stores on this trip and that’s one of my most favorite things to do.  I was hoping to find some fresh fruit but it seems that fruit must be sold at fruit stores or vendors because couldn’t find a bit of it.  At least I found some diet cokes which have been in short supply this trip.

            Back to the bus and we weren’t the last ones back so good on us.  Then we are driving through Port of Spain again to see some of the same buildings that we saw last night and couldn’t get photos of them.  We couldn’t get photos of them today either – too fast in the bus, too many cars in the way, and too much dust on the window, surrounded by scaffolding or fences.   We are going to head over the hill to the beach.  I had beaten Gil to the front seat this morning and its good I did because think I might have gotten a bit seasick on the drive otherwise.  Very windy roads up and down the hills. 

            Stop at an overlook and saw wonderful orange flowering trees which our guide named as Immortalle trees which were planted to shade the coffee plants.  As we looked over the hillside, you could see these brilliant orange trees peeking through the evergreens.  From our viewpoint, we could see Port of Spain in the distance and looking in the other direction; we could see the Caribbean Sea.  According to our guide, Trinidad is hit by four different bodies of water around its shores.  I only recognized the Atlantic and the Caribbean.  Didn’t see the other two on a map either so maybe it’s a Trini thing.

            Now we are heading down the other side of the mountain to the beach area.  When we arrive, we pass by some small buildings on the parking lot side that says Bake and Shark.  Wasn’t quite sure what that meant but it is apparently a great food snake that the Trinis love.  It is shark meat that is inside some kind of bread and baked.  Sounded rather like a shark Panini.    My hubby and one other are the only ones who are prepared to go swimming but when they come back from the changing room, it was closed and they have to find another bathroom to change.  Plus there are red flags out saying the beach is closed due to rip currents.  There’s no way I’m going to agree to let hubby go out in the water but the other guy does and gets quite far out and body surfs back in shore numerous times.  Hubby gets about chest deep but I didn’t like that either.  We are firm believers in paying attention to the local information regarding diving and swimming and such. I looked for sea glass and only started finding some when we had about 5 minutes left. Had to take off my shoes and socks to get to the good shells.  Since I spent all my time looking for sea glass, never had a chance to get a Bake and Shark.  Nobody else did either.

            Back over the mountain to Veni Mange restaurant for our lunch.  A very quaint place with numerous paintings on the walls, all of which are for sale.  Plus a pile of paintings to look through if interested.  And the tables were painted also.  I had to get other members to hold their plates off the tables so I could take photos of the tables.  It was very good food though.  Quite tasty.  Another one of our better meals.

            After lunch we go to the Botanical Garden which is right in town, across from the huge park, Queen’s Park Savannah.  This dominates the middle of the city, practically.  It is 2.5 miles around it if you are walking, I think she said.   In the middle is their performing arts center which was roughly modeled after the Sydney Opera House.   You always see people jogging and walking around the park plus usually you see people playing cricket and other games and having picnics and such.  Around the perimeter are

Drink trucks which sell coconut water.  You see cages on these trucks full of coconut husks. 

            I digress though.  We stop at the park and hop off the bus quickly so that we can get into the gardens.  Another set of trees to admire and learn.  And yes, some of them are quite fascinating but I couldn’t tell you anything about them 10 minutes after I walked out of the gardens except for two that really impressed me.  One was the bootlace tree.  It has pods that hang down in groups of two or three and look vaguely like the outline of a boot.  Then it also has long string-like leaves that hang off of it very much like laces of a boot, hence the bootlace tree.  And that’s the only one where I can remember the name.  The other tree I liked was a type of palm that was 150 years old and had bloomed this year at the top of it for the very first time.  It only blooms once in its lifetime and the fronds below the top were already dying off and falling.  We had only walked a short way away from the tree when two of the massive fronds fell to the ground.  Had we still been under the tree, they would have felled a couple of us at least. 

            I did like their national tree too which had scarlet blooms on it.  So they have the scarlet ibis as their national bird and the scarlet whatever as their tree.  They love scarlet.  And I am remembering a bit more.  We saw the Noni tree which we had seen also at Rust and Werk plantation in Suriname.  It is a pharmacy tree practically, for the colonials and workers on plantations.  It has a wobbly kind of white fruit with spots and smelled horrible.  Things that smell bad and taste bad are usually good for you in some fashion.  So the tree and its fruit were used for a variety of illness like gastrointestinal upsets, menstrual problems, as well as impotence.  I looked it up and it is used in some cultures for cooking as well.  Whew.  Definitely something you must grow up eating, like durian.

            Finally the bus comes round to get us and we are back to the hotel.  We are on our own for dinner so my hubby and I had pizza at the restaurant downstairs.  Most of the rest of the group appeared to be dining here as well but there wasn’t room to sit with them.  The pizza was good.  Sad to say, my husband’s streak has been broken.  He had been able to eat some pizza in every country he has visited but we didn’t get to it in Guyana or Suriname so he’s down two countries now. 

Heading to Trinidad - Last Country on the Tour

HEADING TO TRINIDAD - SUNDAY MARCH 8

            Today we are heading to Trinidad, our last country on this tour.  While I have always thought of it as a Caribbean Island, it’s more in the Atlantic than the Caribbean and it’s so very close to South America – only 8 miles from Venezuela while it is further from Tobago, it’s sister island. And while it is also the “home of the Steel Band” with the lovely melodies played on the steel drums, we never heard a single one during our stay.  That was a bit disappointing.

            As we are waiting for our flight at the Suriname airport, several of us are using the last bit of time here to go shopping.  There weren’t a lot of choices in shops at the airports but a bit of souvenirs and some of the hot sauce available, honey, and a few other items that are very Surinamese.  I managed to scoop up a small bottle of the hot sauce, a wooden turtle, a wooden toucan, and some of the plantain chips.  

            So into Trinidad and Tobago.  No problem for any of us clearing immigration and customs and we are met by Vanessa, who will be our guide for today only.  As certain things happen at certain times, our itinerary is being changed up by the company and Chris to give us the best possible experience while here.   We drive into Port of Spain and through the city while Vanessa points out many of the important buildings.  Problem with that is, we can’t get photos and a good many of the buildings are behind construction walls or behind fences.   Then we climb up the hill to the lookout.  This is the Lady Young Lookout and there are a few sales shop kiosks here with drinks and such as well as some tacky souvenir stalls.  Also it is a popular spot so rather crowded up here.  Seems like most of the cars climbing the hill pull into this turnout for a look.  It is a bit hazy over Port of Spain, the capital city, but we can see the landmass of Venezuela in the distance.  Vanessa regales us with tales of the border and boundary disputes between the two countries.  Seems like both countries like their national waters to be a bit closer to the other country than said country would approve so mishaps do happen. 

            We show up at our hotel, Hotel Kapok, about 3 p.m.  We have to fill in a form with our passport numbers and such and give it to the desk clerk to get our room key.  I have no clue what they were doing but a good many of the rooms were not ready and we were all tired and needing showers and such.  Some people got their rooms immediately but of course my husband and I weren’t in that group.  The desk clerks were so confused that they were asking who was together and who was in separate rooms.   When I’m tired, I almost turn into an ugly traveler and I was close here, especially when other couples were getting rooms before we did as we had been the first couple to turn in our paperwork.  Didn’t seem fair.  While we were not the last people to get a room, we were close to the last people.  To keep from being totally nasty, I started helping a young woman who came in to get her room.  She already had a room as she was with a group that had arrived yesterday and she had a roommate so all she needed was her room number but it also took them forever to realize this and help her.  She finally got her room and about 10 minutes later, we got ours.

            Chris was doing his “let’s order our dinner now so that it will be ready when we want it” routine.  This so confuses the kitchen.  He’d decided we would eat in the hotel tonight in their Chinese restaurant which was on the 8th floor.  So as soon as we dropped our bags, we went up to the 8th floor to order our meal.  How funny, we were almost the last getting our room but we were the first to arrive to order our meal.   Only one lady knew that our group was coming up to do that and of course she wasn’t at the station when we started showing up.  Trying to explain this to a wait staff that has no clue that this can even be done was really frustrating.   And or course while we are trying to explain, more group members come in to order their meals as well.  But it finally was accomplished and we went back to our room to get ready for the afternoon/evening entertainment and to meet downstairs to leave on the bus.

            We are heading to Caroni Nature Sanctuary.  This is a boat ride through the mangrove swamps where we will finally end up in a lake like area where thousands of the scarlet ibis return to a single island for the night.  We are all hoping it will be much more productive than the parrot island was at Baganara in Guyana. 

            When we arrive, the dock is full of tourists going on the same boat ride.  A boat leaves the dock that is chock full of people and I’m hoping that we don’t end up as packed.  Luckily we got our own boat and a good guide except I ended up in the front of the boat and sometimes could not see what he was pointing out because he had gotten the boat close to the animal so that he could see it and he was in the stern of the boat.  Still, I did see everything he showed us.

            We push away from the dock and he stops about 10 feet from the dock and points out these “4 eyed fish”.  Not sure it really had 4 eyes but it was a fish with two eyes that are above water!  So you see these tiny eyes that are moving through the water, sometimes really fast.  Rather eerie and crazy looking but a cool animal.  Also very hard to take a photo of eyes on the surface of the water.

            The guide points out the banks of the canal which are full of holes where crabs live and also some birds.  But we see no crabs because the herons have eaten most of them on this part of the canal since it is so cleared.   And as we move up the canal, there are a few herons here and there and a kingfisher.  Then we move into the mangroves and under the trees.

            We are motoring slowing up the canal under the canopy of trees with the mangrove roots along both sides.  I think it’s going to be difficult to see anything when suddenly the boatman stops and backs up the boat and says “You’re lucky because this one is hard to see.  It’s a silky anteater”.  I’m busy looking in among the roots trying to find what I know as an anteater which is an animal with a long snout for getting into ant homes.  Everyone is looking everywhere and not finding it.  He tells people in the back where to look and slowly there are cries of OH, I see it which slowly moves to the front of the boat where I am as people tell each other where to look and point, etc.  Finally I ask, “Is it the brown ball like knot in the tree”?  Why, yes it is!!!  So what we are seeing is the lovely brown butt of a silky anteater that is curled up in a tree fast asleep.  And that’s the only view we ever got.  The boatman/guide did pass around his cell phone with a photo so we knew what we were supposed to see but I just got nice photos of silky anteater rear-end.

            Continuing on, he stops the boat again shortly and says “There’s a mangrove tree boa”.  I don’t really like snakes much.  No, that’s wrong, really dislike snakes a whole lot and don’t want to see them out in the wild and can barely go into a snake exhibit.  In fact, I could not become a docent for the zoo where I lived because we had to handle a snake.  No thank you.  Oddly enough, if someone else is holding it, I can touch it but I couldn’t pick one up and I definitely wasn’t very happy about being in the boat directly underneath this boa – which was also fast asleep.  But we stopped and took photos.  Usually I am so snake-phobic that I won’t even have any snake photos in my collection but I kept this one.  I could see the head if I zoomed in and it didn’t look asleep to me but it never moved.  We saw another one in a tree a bit later.  Same circumstances and it never moved either.  Guess the day is too hot for the snakes as well.

            We are moving around the mangroves and he is pointing out plants and trees and birds when we can see them through the trees.  It is all interesting and fun but all seems like a maze.  Wonder how long it took him to learn the routes in and out of the swamp.  

            There are a lot of boats gathered at one side of an island and we join them.  This is where the scarlet ibis fly past to get to the island in the middle.  As you look at the island, it is all green with a few spots of white and a few spots of red on it already.   As we wait, we see the first group of about 20 ibis fly past, low and close to the water, and rise up into the trees of their island and settle down for the night.  So now there are more spots of red on the island.  Wow, already better than the parrot island. 

            As we sit there, more and more flocks/groups of scarlet ibis come winging overhead and by us at water level to get to the island.  They are coming from all directions, from other forests, from plantations where there is sugar cane, from marshes and fields where there is other agriculture.  They spread out during the day to find food and then come home at night.   We must have seen 30 or 40 groups fly by us and settle.  Boats finally started leaving.  We were one of the last boats to leave.  By the time we left, the island was a brilliant Christmas tree with the red ibis just everywhere on it and also quite a few white herons who were not noticed as much when they flew in because the ibis was so spectacular.  The Scarlett ibis is Trinidad and Tobago’s national bird.

            Back to the hotel for our Chinese dinner which we had pre-ordered.  Up to the 8th floor but our group straggled up there as many stopped in their rooms first to drop off cameras or even change clothes and take a shower so the poor kitchen came out a couple of times with plates for people who hadn’t quite arrived yet.  Luckily though, the kitchen had marked the dishes with people’s names!  How ironic and obscenely comical that, just like getting our room when we arrived – hubby and me being almost last to get our room when we were first to turn in our paperwork – the same happened at dinner.  We had been the first to turn in our order and we were almost the last to get our dinner.  Hmmm.  First in – Last out.  An inventory technique and one I hope will not continue to plague us on the trip.

            Dinner was quite tasty though.  And again, there were a number of people in the group that weren’t up to sharing their Chinese dishes until they saw how much food they had, and then they were happy to take some and pass it down the table to others.   So much food though!   I think we will avoid Chinese restaurants though unless we have a way to take home the leftovers!

A good first day in Trinidad.

Final 1/2 at Kabalebo and back to Paramaribo

LAST ½ DAY AT KABALEBO AND BACK TO PARAMARIBO

            The plane comes to get us today but not until the early afternoon.  Lunch will be a bit earlier and we have to be out of our rooms by before 10 because they need to ready the rooms for the next set of guests that are coming.  The choice of activities this morning are another nature walk – no thank you – or a boat ride up the river to further than we went the other day – past the fishing pavilion.   I decide to sit on the veranda of the main lodge and watch the bird feeders.  Hubby decides to take the boat ride up the river.   So  I do and enjoy myself and find a Kabalebo polo shirt to buy, and he does and sees some herons.  Lunch is a bit early and then we are waiting for the plane to arrive.  The other group that has been here a day longer than we were is also leaving and some of them will be on our plane.  So we wait close to the runway so we have a choice of seats.  This group has not been friendly in that they  have never spoken to us other than grunting a greeting when we have greeted them.  They have always sat at the same table and been very insular in their dealings with the people around the lodge.  So I figured they might storm the plane and spread out so that we would have to sit on the inside seats and not have a window to look out at the jungle.  Luckily I am quite good at getting in front of people when necessary so hubby and I were the first ones on the plane.  We both got window seats and then the plane filled up with the other group.  Flight back was a little bumpy and even though I had used the facilities before leaving, I was somewhat dismayed after half the flight and started thinking with every bump that I might embarrass myself before we landed.  

            I was so fast getting off that plane.  They directed us to the “arrivals” area and I saw no bathroom.  I was really desperate.  Someone noticed and directed me to the toilet.  I ran and made it and good thing I was so desperate and fast because there was a line waiting with crossed legs.  Bumpy small planes always make you have to pee apparently.

            The rest of our group arrives in the second plane and we get our bags put into a separate van and get onto the bus just as the rainstorm of the day starts pouring down on us.  We are going direct to the river to take a ride downstream to the open air museum of Nieuw Amsterdam.  We get on board a boat behind Fort Zeelandia.  The Commewijne River is a tidal river.  So we are climbing down about 7 or 8’ to get into our boat.  We head downriver and the rain starts again.  This is a boat that has the plastic curtains that can be brought down to keep the interior dry.   In theory, this works and in practice, it usually does too but there were a few leaks on this one.

            We are passing large homes along the river with huge docks.  One dock had a boat house on it that was larger than our house in Florida.   The tide is out so the docks have water marks on them a good 6’ or more higher than where the water is at the moment.  Our guide tells us that these are the rich peoples suburbs.  Certainly looks like it.  There are a few colonial plantations along the river too but these are mostly abandoned now.  How sad.

            We turn up another river when we are almost at the mouth of the Commewijne and stop at Nieuw Amsterdam which has an open air museum in a former fort.  We get off the boat and already the height difference is not as much as the tide is coming in.  There are plenty of fishing boats docked there with men cleaning nets and taking showers and cleaning fish.   We walk off the docks and into the small town which has typical houses of Dutch colonial workers – small but gaily decorated.  Usually a motorbike or two in the yard and some chickens and dogs and kids all playing together.

            It is a celebration weekend of some sort so a loudspeaker is blaring some Indian Bollywood song.  There are many people in the park as a loud and boisterous cricket game is in play.  Kids are busy in a playground and moms are putting food out on tables for a picnic.  Except for the cricket and Bollywood, it could be anywhere small town USA.  There it would be football (American football, not soccer) and rock music.

            Past this, we enter the old fort remains.  We visit the old powder rooms where the thick walls were to help keep the powder dry.  Around the grounds are sculptures made from tubing and bright paints.  One is a bicycle, one is a piano.  They are actually hard to see in the bright light as the rain has disappeared.  Next to the powder room is an old carriage house with three hearses in it along with a carriage.  We walk past a large cauldron, about 6’ across at the opening, maybe more.  Our local guide tells us that it was the slaves job to stir the sugar being boiled down in this cauldron.  As it was sitting over an open fire, the slaves would get burned and overheated and sometimes fall into the fire because they’d pass out from the heat.  Also, if they let the sugar burn, their punishment might be to become part of the fire!  Ugh.  It is so hard to imagine the reality of such a situation.

            We continue on to the former jail which also has toilets, thank goodness.  Bumpy planes make you have to pee as do long rides on slow boats in the rain.   One room has many portraits hanging from the ceiling.  We think it was portraits of former slaves or former prisoners.   We continue through the rest of the fort and then head back to the boat where our guide buys himself several fish for his dinner. 

            We head to a former plantation just to “see how the workers used to live”  The name of the plantation was “Rust and Werk” which translated means Rest and Work.  I had thought it was a working plantation but it has been purchased years ago by someone who turned it into a cattle ranch.  The sugar plantation workers who were living there at the time were allowed to stay and they do some work on the cattle ranch.  It wasn’t very much of a visit and personally, I thought it a waste of time so I was glad when we turned around and went back to the boat.  If we had been allowed to go in someone’s house and see what the differences are, might have been better but to stand on the road and look at houses and have someone say “see how the people lived 100 years ago” was not very fun or enlightening.

            Back on the boat and we are going upriver back to Paramaribo with the tide so the trip doesn’t take as long.  When we reach our dock, we are able to step off the boat right onto the dock rather than climbing – as we had done when we got on the boat.  Such is the difference in tides.  Back to the hotel and the Kabalebo people have brought our bags back from their office so we claim them and head up to the room to repack and reorganize and get ready for our last country tomorrow.

One correction that I seriously made a mistake.  We ate at Popeye’s in Paramaribo, NOT KFC.  I was so excited to get the “Kitchen for cholesterol” into the story that I had blocked out Popeye’s.  We’d gone there because Popeye’s in the states (Louisiana mostly) has wonderful biscuits and gravy.  Of course the Popeye’s which was attached to our Hotel Krasnapolsky were out of biscuits and gravy but we ate there anyway.  Always fun to eat at an “ole USA” standard – sort of. 

Full Day At Kabalebo

FULL DAY AT KABALEBO

            Today we have a full day here.  While it was mentioned somewhere that there would be an early morning hike, it never materialized.  So hubby and I decided we’d get up a bit early and walk out of the jungle to the lodge rather than wait for the golf cart to come get us for breakfast.  We are out the door before 7.  It’s still a bit dark and damp clings to our skin – not dew, promises of rain later.  I step around the corner of our cabin to the stairs and see something that looks like a large rabbit in the ravine.  I call to hubby and he comes to look.   It takes off running and soon there are 3 or 4 of them running madly to get back to the forest.  We believe them to be capybaras.  How exciting.  I’ve never seen a capybara.  Later we find out that they were actually agoutis.  This was also fine because I’d never seen agoutis either but a capybara would have been nice.  I try to take a few photos and later see that all I have are eyes in the forest.  Rather spooky.

            We walk slowly down the road to the runway, both to miss the puddles and also to hopefully see anything but nothing else.  We are halfway down the runway when we see the golf cart coming for us so we climb aboard and get driven the rest of the way to the main lodge and breakfast.

            Choices today are a hike to Misty Mountain which will take all day – probably 4-5 hours to hike up for the views and such and then however long to hike down.  One group member wanted to do it but it is predicted to rain this afternoon and he decided that hiking any part of it in the rain probably wouldn’t be that much fun.  Right after breakfast though, some members of the other group staying at the lodge left in the boat to go hike up Misty Mountain.  They didn’t get back until dinner and they were dirty and wet and not very happy.  Wasn’t a good hike as it rained on them most of the way and they saw nothing but the trees around them.

            Other choices of activities are kayaking, another nature hike but this time along the river, a boat ride down to Mui Mui Falls, or just relaxing on the veranda or swimming in the pool.  I don’t kayak since the time I was chased by an alligator as big as my kayak.  Another place, another tale.  With my luck, I’d fall out of the boat in the middle of a school of piranhas.  So we choose to do the boat ride to Mui Mui Falls.  It is downriver from where we went yesterday.  As we are waiting at the boat dock for them to get the chairs into the boat, someone points out a couple of vampire bats whose home is apparently the rafters of the boat dock.  They are just sitting there clinging to the rafter and maybe watching us.  As we are trying to get photos of them, a huge black tarantula climbs around the rafters as well and a moth rests on another beam.  That’s the closest we got to any wildlife.  There were a bunch of toucans flying around the place as well.

            Down to Mui Mui Falls and we climb up the bank and into the forest for a short walk to the falls.  When we get there, Kiernan, our native guide, walks to the far end of the pool and starts hitting his machete in the water, creating a disturbance.  Nothing happens.  He walks back and tells us he is making noise so the resident electric eel will come and see what is happening as in “is it food?”.  Wow, an electric eel!!!  In a few minutes, an eel of about 5’ glides up to our feet.  We are all standing right at the edge of the pool but now we are all careful to keep our feet out of the water.  The eel can discharge around 800 volts he told us.  This figure varies depending on what source you read.  However much it is, we’re not getting in the water.  The eel was very interested in us and stayed in the shallow waters, even coming up to some of the rocks and laying his head on the rocks where his upper body would be out of the water.  Fascinating!  After messing about with Elroy (I named him.), we climbed up to the top of the falls.  Kiernan helped us over the trickle on the edge so we could stand right in the middle of the falls and try not to fall into the lower pool with Elroy.  He then ran down to the bottom of the falls again with all our cameras to take a group shot.

            Time to leave Elroy eventually and head back.  The plan had been to slowly motor our way back to the dock but Kiernan and the boatman looked at the sky and hit the motor full out.  We didn’t make it back before the skies opened and it dumped on us, full Amazonian Rainforest Rain!   They are passing out raingear but by the time I had it on me, I was soaked anyway.  So I used it to keep my camera dry.

            Back at the dock, climb out in the rain, and the golf carts are coming down to drive us back to the lodge even though it’s only a few hundred meters to walk.  They are also bringing umbrellas.  So even though we are soaked, we get a ride and an umbrella.  Since we are soaked, we ask the golf cart driver to take us to our cabin down the runway and by the river so we can change clothes.  We get even wetter, if possible, riding down the runway, slogging through the puddles and running up the stairs.  All good fun though. 

            By the time we are dry and changed, the rain and let up enough to let us get back to the lodge for lunch.  We choose not to go on the nature walk and head back to our cabin after lunch to sit on our porch and see if we find some animals or just relax and read.   A man comes down to the river in front of our cabin to fish.   It starts raining again.  He stays there and fishes.  There are several people standing on the porch of the cabin next to us where our friends are staying.  They are people from the other group so we think they have mistaken the cabins as our friends were inside trying to sleep and these strangers are on their porch!

            We hear howler monkeys in the distance and for a few minutes it sounds like they might be coming our way but then the sound disappears and no monkeys.  We pass a pleasant afternoon on our porch in the rain and the forest.  We had the best rooms as we saw the most wildlife.  We had been told that they put the fruit out for the tapirs around 5 and that we should go to see them around 6.  We left the room around 5;30 and one pile of fruit had already been eaten.  We walked around to the other pile of fruit.  We stood there for 45 minutes but no tapir came.  The golf cart came to pick us up for dinner and she said we were standing too close and the tapir could smell us.  We had thought we were far enough away but guess not. 

            Another nice dinner.  Another spoonful of the hot sauce.  Another ride back to the cabin in the dark but no tapirs and no agoutis or capybaras.  And we turned on the A/C again as there was no breeze. 

Kabalebo Jungle Resort

THURSDAY MARCH 5        

Heading out today to Kabalebo Jungle Resort.  Took us awhile practicing before it could roll off our tongue easily.  It is on the Kabalebo River, hence the name, and takes an hour to fly there from the city airport.  Again, we are supposed to only take a small bag with what is needed for two days and nights.  Again, since we weren’t told in advance of this, two group members are going with their entire suitcases.  Glad that for once, it’s not me dragging along a huge amount of luggage.

            We will take two planes and have been split into groups to do so.  My husband and I are in group 2 along with one other couple and Chris, our leader.  The other group will go first.   The planes are the same size but as these flights also take in most of the resort food and other supplies that they need, the guests are encouraged to take as little as possible and are split into groups between the two planes.  Usually, the planes go to the resort on Wed, I think, but since we were a large group, we got to go on the day of our choice.  And even though we will be returning to the same hotel, our suitcases will go into the Kabalebo office in town to be stored.

            Kabalebo workers come to pick us up and take our bags and we climb into the bus to go to the airport where all the bags are weighed along with us.  At least we climbed onto the scales holding our bags this time so my bag was obviously very heavy!  Chris is standing next to the check in desk and informs my hubby and me that we are on plane #2.  Into the lounge area which isn’t much.  There are a few other people there that head out to their plane in a few minutes and take off.  Only small planes here from Gum Air.  Originally, when we had been looking at going diving afterwards and thought we’d have to take our dive equipment with us, I’d talked to Gum Air about flying the gear.  They were quite helpful.  But in the end, when we left Suriname, it was via Suriname Air so would have been flying my dive gear on the wrong plane.

            As we are waiting for our flights, a couple comes into the lounge and talks to Chris who gets everyone’s attention and introduces the couple as the owners of Kabalebo.  He says they would like to talk to us and meet us.  I figured a speech of welcome of some kind but they just walked around the room and introduced themselves to everyone individually and said hello and thanks for coming to our lodge.  They will be on our plane.

            Seems like we had to wait a long time but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t too long before most of our group hikes out to their plane and then we hike out to ours.  It is the kind of plane I had expected from the flight over Kaieteur Falls, one aisle with two seats on one side and one seat on the other side.  Since there weren’t going to be many on this flight, I took a single seat on one side and hubby sat in the two seater across from me. Yippee,  lots of space, sort of.  At least I have a good view for photos but I do wish airlines would wash their windows more often. 

            Our first plane has left but we are in the air so closely behind them (was supposed to be 20 minutes and might have been), that we landed only about 5 minutes after they got there.  Guess our pilot was flying faster.  The flight was not exciting which is good.  A few bumps, a few clouds,  and some good views of the forest which is basically nothing but green tops of trees with a windy river through it, and then the lady owner turns around and says, we’ve coming into Kabalebo.  She was excited!  She was coming home and it was obvious that she loved the place.

            It is a grass runway and the landing was fine and we came back up the runway to the main lodge.  Vivian was meeting us – the in charge person at the lodge.  She greets the owners and then organizes us to go to the main lodge and have a welcome drink.  We got welcome drinks at every new place we stayed.   Our other group members are already sitting on the porch/veranda which stretches around the building.  The dining area is here and it is almost time for lunch.  Our bags are unpacked and put up on the porch/veranda and then we are welcomed and invited to eat.  In the meantime, there are a few guests that are climbing into the planes and leaving.   There are also a few guests that are remaining so the resort is full.  

            Vivian is Dutch as are several of the staff but the majority are Surinamese or Amerindians/Amerinidan descendants.  They live at the camp for 6 weeks, I think they said, and then have 2 weeks off.  The nearest village is 160 km downstream by boat and that is the only way to get there and takes several days because there are portages in places.  The resort has been totally built out of the jungle with all supplies for building and running being ferried in by plane.  I asked the owner later how they managed to do it as they had large generators, huge riding lawn mowers, boats, furniture, golf carts, refrigerators, etc.  He said that at the beginning (10 or 15 years ago, I think), they had a big cargo plane where they could load equipment into the back of it and it flew in here but the airline that serviced them went out of business and so now they just have the small planes so to bring in something like a refrigerator or golf cart of generator now, they have to take out all the seats and pretty much take the machine apart to get it in the plane then put it back together once at the resort.  And the resort is open except for July and August which is the rainy season.  Didn’t think to ask if anyone stays there to maintain the runway during that time.  I would think that when they come back after two months, the grass would be thigh high on the runway.

            It is a very peaceful spot and place.  They have numerous bird feeders around the main lodge and also several caged song birds that they bring out each morning and water stations for the birds as well.  They work hard at being ecologically sound as well but unlike the Baganara Resort, they had plenty of power and didn’t turn off the power at night plus we did have air conditioning in the rooms.  Unfortunately, internet was available but only at the main lodge and only at the cost of $50 for a connection that would probably be pretty poor, at best.  We saw them sitting at the desk trying to conduct business and just sitting and sitting and sitting waiting for connections. 

            After lunch we are assigned to our rooms.   Some of the group will remain in the main lodge.  Most of the group will be in the building called Inspiration Point – no idea why the name – which is a building with rooms about 200 yards away from the main lodge and past the swimming pool (yes, there is a swimming pool).  Two couples are in the pavilions which are the nicest accommodations. And two couples, including my husband and I, will be in the cabanas which are cabins by the river.  These cabins are also at the far end of the runway!   The pavilions are more like small apartments apparently.  The owners live in the one furthest from the main lodge.  As one couple who was assigned a pavilion was the couple that had so much trouble with rooms in Paramaribo, guess they got a bonus prize for getting the nicest rooms here.

            The other couple and we are ready to hit our rooms so we are packed into a golf cart with our small bags and driven down to the end of the runway where there is a small path into the jungle.  We turn down this path and drive to our cabins.  There are three cabins, one of which is in use already.  We get cabin #2 in the middle and the other couple get cabin #3 on the end.   Our Kabalebo guide stops and turns on the power for us.  During the day when we are not here, the power is turned off.  If we want to come in during the day, just let them know so someone can turn on the power.  We get out of the golf cart and walk across a bridge over a ravine to get to the cabins.  The cabins are on stilts.  They are taller than the usual “first story”.  There are around 25 stairs to climb to the room from the jungle side and about 30 stairs that go down the other side to the river.   We are told we can swim in the river here but to watch out for caimans as we don’t want to disturb them.  At the docks at the main lodge, there is no swimming because they throw the food garbage in the water there for the piranhas.  I look for caiman during our entire stay and never see any but still choose not to go swimming.

            The cabin has a shower room, a toilet room, a small refrigerator, an A/C. and windows all around.  Water and drinks have been supplied as well as small snacks.  Quite the set up.  We had hoped to keep the windows open all the time but it was still just a bit too warm at night so we did shut them down at night to sleep and turned on the A/C.  There is also an emergency radio in case we need help OR in case we want to call for a pick up.  She says she’ll be down in about an hour to pick us up anyway for the afternoon activities.

            So we settle into our little cabin and then decide to walk back.  As we had come into the cabin area, we had seen a lot of small lizards.  We see some going back and hear a lot of animals and birds in the woods but don’t see a lot.  There are two drives that start together and then meet together.  On each drive is a spot where they put out small fruit for the tapirs.  Maybe we’ll get lucky.  We think we hear some monkeys but see nothing.  Here is what the itinerary says about going to Kabalebo.   “”Today we fly to the Kabalebo Nature Resort, a luxurious lodge lying in one of the most beautiful areas of Suriname, deep in the untouched (and malaria free) Amazon jungle.

Within a range of hundreds of kilometers, you will see nothing except for the flora and fauna of the splendid Amazon rainforest. Where playful monkeys leap through the treetops, the colourful parrots glide above your head and unusual fish leap and quickly swim away down a secluded creek...

Besides the numerous unusual birds, colourful butterflies and many dazzling types of fish, you may also come across a member of the cat family, the jaguar. You may spend hours on exploratory trips together with your guide. But you may also see many animals even if you decide to remain in the vicinity of the lodge.

Kabalebo Jungle Resort

Nature Resort Kabalebo lies in one of the most beautiful pieces of jungle in Suriname. Because no people live in the wide surroundings, pure untouched nature is found here.

During our time at the resort, we will have a jungle walk during which we will become acquainted with the extensive flora and fauna of the Amazon forest. Our guide will tell us about the animals making their home in this area, the medicinal qualities of the plants or acquaint you with the colourful beauty of the jungle flowers.

During the hike, you are introduced to the numerous inhabitants of the rainforest. From plants with medicinal qualities to the many brightly coloured birds found up in the tree tops.””

            All sounds idyllic and fantastic, doesn’t it?  While it was an incredible place, a few things wrong with the scenario.  One, all activities were undertaken after breakfast and after lunch.  If you want to see animals, you go before breakfast and at dusk.  We were lucky enough to see a few on our own but only because we were at the cabins by the river.   We saw one moth and one butterfly.  Ha! for trying to see a jaguar.  That doesn’t happen even in dedicated trips to find them, usually.  We heard howler monkeys once but they were far away and no monkeys of any kind around the lodges.  And no jumping fish and couldn’t see the piranhas because the water is too muddy.  Still, we did enjoy ourselves there. 

            We did our first nature walk around 2-ish, I think.  People had an option to either go upriver in the boats for a few hours or to go for a walk in the jungle behind the camp and then a shorter boat ride.  Hubby and I did the walk.   Kiernan was our Amerindian descendent guide.  Quite knowledgeable about the jungle and the plants and happy to share.  We did see the drum tree which is very tall with spread out roots that are as big as house walls.  You hit it with a stick or something and it echoes throughout the surrounding area.  The earlier inhabitants had codes so they could communicate with each other.  We also saw a tree where they would use the nut shell for a pipe bowl.  Saw some army ants quite by accident when someone almost stepped in the line.   And other various trees used for medicines and weapons and building.  As it is not something I am too interested in, it appeals to me briefly, at the time, until I get hot and tired and then I am finished.  I was ready to be done and out of the forest when he showed us the last tree which was bark that he said was used as cigarette paper.  Didn’t think it possible but he pounded the bark until it fluffed into thin sheets exactly like paper.  That was the most impressive, even more than the drum tree.  No animals though, not a single one, until we had come out of the jungle and passed by the kitchen garden where there was a turkey vulture hoping to get some scraps of some kind.

            Off to the boats then.  A couple of the guys, hubby included, had put on their swim trunks just in case.  The boats were kind of a canoe with a motor but folding lawn chairs for everyone to sit along with a life jacket which was over the back of the chair and rather hard to pull off and put on but I managed it.  So off we go upstream to a former fish camp.  It is also a current work camp for the men of the lodge when they have to come upriver to get nature’s supplies or clear the river or take people fishing or whatever.  We stopped here and got out of the boats for a break and for a drink.  I didn’t go up the stairs to the open pavilion up there but Kiernan ran up and found a small brown tarantula which he brought down to show everyone.  My hubby waded into the water and got rather wet. One of the other group guys went swimming totally but said the current was rather strong towards the middle so glad I didn’t go into the water.

            Back in the boats then and back down river.  Not too much on the way except for a few parrots and a few toucans and a few herons.  Don’t see much during the day, really.

Back for some relaxing and then some dinner.  The dinner was good.  At the end of the line was the ubiquitous hot sauce that Guyana and Suriname are fond of having and it truly is quite hot.  The owner was standing there and warning people that it was hot.  Both my husband and I took a spoonful and put it on our plates.  She gasped!  “Americans never eat that much hot sauce!”.  But we could and did and it added to the flavor.  Pretty tasty.

            We were ready to return to our cabin before the other couple so they brought around a golf cart to take us back.  As we turn into the woods and pass the area where they feed the tapirs, there was a tapir standing there!!!  OMG.  They are so big and so quick.  As soon as I said there’s a tapir, it disappeared!  Now we are going to have to wait for it every day and hope to see it again – but we never did.

            Lovely day, lovely evening.

Paramaribo, Suriname

Paramaribo, Wed March 4

            I remember the dinner now from last night.  Man, I was really tired and it’s funny how tired you get when you are doing nothing but sitting all day or traveling all day.  I think the body gives up on trying to get anything productive done like a good walk or such and just goes into “rest me until it gets more interesting” mode.

            Anyway, we went around the corner from our hotel to Fa Tai, a Chinese restaurant.  Our tour leader chose it because we could walk, there would be plenty of food, and he had eaten there before so knew it was good.  Usually Chinese food comes rather quickly as well, even for 17 people.  So we got there and got menus and the food was ordered.  Several group members seemed to be novices at eating at a Chinese restaurant because they ordered two or three dishes for themselves, not realizing they would have enough food for 3 days if they took it home with them (which unfortunately we couldn’t do).  My hubby and I order a soup and one dish and rice and that’s always too much even for us.  By the time all the orders were out, we had about 7 different chicken dishes, some pork dishes, wontons, soups, white rice, brown rice, fried rice, and some seafood dishes as well.  Everyone did share their food and we were so stuffed and so disappointed there wouldn’t be anyway to take it home!  Since we were close to the hotel, we were able to eat and then people started leaving as they finished and heading to their rooms for a deserved night of sleep.

            Today should be a lot better.  No traveling.  We will be doing a tour around the capital city of Paramaribo which takes some practice in trying to remember how to pronounce it and how to spell it.  So we are informed by our local guide that we can just say Parbo and everyone knows we mean the capital.  It is also the name of the locally made beer but in context, don’t think anyone will get confused.

            There is a lot of construction going on in the city.  Mainly a lot of rebuilding and refurbishing of old buildings.   And still many buildings that need a lot of work.  Right next to our hotel is an old Moravian church that is totally scaffolded.   Around the corner is a block of old houses that need a lot of TLC but no one has gotten there yet to give them any.  Still, the city is so much nicer than Georgetown.  It is so much cleaner.  Trash in the streets is more the exception than the rule.  Houses might be a bit rundown but it’s due to the climate and age rather than neglect, so it seems.

            Anyway, we have a nice breakfast and head to the van for our bus tour around the capital.   We do get a few more stops to get out and see things here.  One of our first stops is to the Central Market which is pretty much like a market anywhere with a lot of fruits and vegetables for sale in the front section with meat, fish, live chickens and such in the back section.   My hubby and I have no Surinamese dollars so our guide leads us to a money changer before we go into the market.  We have been told that the U.S. dollar should be good in all three of the countries on the tour.  It seems to hold true but we like to exchange some money just in case the one item you find that is extraordinary is in the local currency only and they won’t take your foreign dollars.    After getting a bit of local moola, we go into the market and look around the fruit stalls.  They have mangosteens!   That’s pretty much a south Asian fruit so can’t imagine why they have them here unless they are growing them.  Don’t know the answer to that but since mangosteens tend to leave a stain if you get the juice on your clothes, I didn’t get any.  Of course, later I was very sorry not to have any.  The market had a few things I didn’t recognize but not much.  The chicken sellers did not want their photos taken.  I take photos of just about everything unless it’s totally disgusting/gross/or cruel.  I like animal photos so wanted a few chickens in my shots but through the years, I have found that many people dealing with selling live animals for slaughter for food consumption are very squeamish about having their photos taken because “crusaders” have jumped their cases about their practices.  So I honor their choice and don’t take their photos but they did have some very interesting looking chickens in their cages.

            We walk through the Palm Garden which is behind the Presidential Palace.  There are many tall stately palm trees there, which our guide called King Palms.  There were very, very tall.   In the middle of the park was a statue of a small child with his hands crossed in front of him.  The plaque underneath it was loosely translated as “always remember to keep an eye on your children” or meaning to that effect.  The statue was placed there by a member of the community whose boy was playing hide and seek in the park with his friends.  Unfortunately, a discarded refrigerator was in the park as well and the young boy, not knowing any better, climbed into the refrigerator to hide.  It locked behind him and he suffocated and died.  So a beloved child perished because it was thought he was safe playing games in a safe park with his friends.  His father erected the statue and plaque to remind people to always watch after their children and know where they are.  Good advice.  Nowadays, the park is clean and well looked after with no discarded appliances anywhere.

            Back in the bus and we drive past Independence Square and hop out to take a few photos.  The following day there will be a Hindu celebration, the one where they throw colored powder on each other.  There will be fireworks and sparklers and speeches and picnics and we will miss it all.  Drat.  I’ve always wanted to take part in that celebration and throw powder around at people.  But we will be in the jungle when this takes place.  As such, the square is in the process of being prepared for this celebration so booths are being erected, stands, some scaffolding and such are there to prevent us taking wonderful photos but we manage to get a few.  From the square, we can get the front of the Presidential Palace on one side.  On the end closest to the waterfront are flagpoles flying a variety of flags.   The end opposite the flagpoles is the former city hall.  It has a white tower that was added to it when designed because the mayor’s wife said you can’t have a city hall without a tower.  So a lovely red building with white columns and a white clock tower.   The final side of the square is an old colonial building that I think was the treasury building at one time.  And the National Assembly building.   We don’t have a lot of time for photos but as there was a lot of stuff in the way of truly nice photos, we had enough time.

            Next we go to the old Fort Zeelandia, circa 1667.   It’s in pretty good shape for being that old and it is now a museum with a nice restaurant behind it on the river.  I thought we had a tour through here but our guide just took us into the courtyard and then encouraged us to look around on our own.  My husband and I walked into the first room to the left and found an old apothecary and doctor’s office and what appeared to be old surgery operating tables.   There were signs that said no photos but while we were in there, about 6 different people came in, some from our group and some locals, and all were taking photos so I did too and we continued to take photos thoughout the fort visit.

            It is set up now as a nice museum.  Besides the room with the surgery and apothecary, there were some good displays on the colonial times and some good Amerindian displays.  In one section, there was a lady with a guest book and some excellent examples of crafts from the Indians.  We enjoyed this little museum very much and this lady was very proud of her heritage and culture and it showed in how well she presented it and shared it.   What I found the most interesting was probably the wooden sewing machine.  As there weren’t a lot of signs in English, I am only assuming from the looks of it that it was actually functional but how strange to see something I use a lot that was carved from wood.

            Afterwards, it is nice to stroll to the back of the fort and see the river and the bridge in the distance.   There is also a small gift shop – what a surprise – but we didn’t find much there of interest except some wood carvings and some baskets but we have plenty of both.    The fort does hold the restaurant, Baka Foto (back of the fort) and we stopped to order for a later meal.   It looked yummy.

            We are back to the hotel for the afternoon and for lunch and then we have the rest of the day free to explore the city or shop or whatever.  This is about the only time we have to be free in a town/city where there is shopping.  I had so wanted to shop in Guyana for diamonds but never got the chance.  Supposedly they have good gold and diamonds here as well and the main street is lined with jewelery shops.  We make a plan with three other ladies to hit the jewelery stores together after lunch.  Hubby and I are going to hit the KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken  OR as our guide in Trinidad later told us, “Kitchen For Cholesterol”.   We would probably never do a KFC at home but it’s really fun to do it in other countries sometimes.   The ladies we are going shopping with go to the café in the hotel.  

            Lunch done, we meet up and head to the main street for shopping.   One of the ladies is looking for something small for her grandkids so we hit a variety shop first and find – FABRIC!  TA DA!  I am a fabric-holic as I make/sew machine quilts.  So I’m always looking for good fabric to use.  And this time it was my husband’s fault as he saw it first and pointed it out to me.  It wasn’t fabric that is made in Suriname but it was on sale for about $2.00 a meter.  Cannot pass up that price as I would be paying around 15 pounds a meter, or more, in the U.K.  So I bought about 10 meters.  OMG.  So wonderful. 

            Our friends, Lorine and Ruth were still looking at stuff so the shopping together came to a quick end and we all headed out to jewellery stores on our own.    You see most men and women walking around with very nice gold chains and earrings.  Of course, they are getting them somewhere totally different than the tourist areas because I saw many examples of earrings I liked on different women but didn’t find anything like it in any of the shops.  We hit every shop on the street!  Ran into our friends in several shops and found out that most of the places wouldn’t accept Mastercard as a payment.  They use Maestro.  We have been places where they seem to be one in the same but not here. 

            It quickly became apparent that most of the stores had the same jewellery.  I’m sure they are all sourced from the same place.  Vinnie found a pair she loved but no Mastercard accepted.  She bought a nice round gold ball pair of earrings.  She asked me later if I thought she paid too much.  I did think so but I couldn’t very well tell her as she would have been crushed and then either unhappy with me or unhappy with her earrings.  Not playing that game.  I finally got a pair of small laser cut earrings that dangle.  Like them a lot and didn’t pay too much.  But as I am working out the exchange rate and such and the weight of the earrings with the workmanship and all, I’m thinking that the prices in Dubai have actually been the best we have found in recent shopping excursions.   So doubly sure that the prices on the shops on the high street were tourist prices only.

            My husband had decided, at the last minute, to throw his tablet into his bag and bring it.  What he forgot then was to bring his charger.  Second time he’s done this.  BUT he was enjoying it so we went hunting for another charger.  Tried the stores on the high street and they all said to go to the Phone Doctor and directed us.  In spite of specific directions, it’s very hard to find a specific shop in a foreign country sometimes.  We wandered to the end of the street and around the corner and finally found some shops that seemed to have the kind of power cord he needed.   The first one we entered with the correct cord wouldn’t sell it to us without seeing the tablet.  While inconvenient to us, was still a nice gesture rather than to see us something that may indeed be the wrong cord.  So we headed back to the hotel to get the tablet and bring it back.

            Of course we got lost on the way back to the hotel because the streets weren’t straight.   But it only took us going in one shop to ask for directions and we weren’t too far out of the way.  Get the tablet and back to the shop, stopping at a couple on the way that looked to be the same type of shops but they didn’t have the cords so back to the original one and it wasn’t cheap!  Now we have three chargers for his tablet.

            A bit of leisure time now before dinner.  We took that time to re-organize our bags as we will be heading to the jungle tomorrow and leaving behind the suitcases again.  We are heading back to Baka Foto, the restaurant that is behind the Fort (Baka Foto translated means Back of the Fort).  The chef greets us and we are across from Alice and Chuck.  Alice has a ton of allergies and can only eat a very limited range of foods.  The chef spent a lot of time talking to her to see what he could make for her that wasn’t just bland and plain.  He seemed to enjoy the challenge.  As a group, we had all ordered individual appetizers, mains, and desserts.  The chef, as a treat, had prepared a special “pre-appetizer” course for everyone that included 3 small samples of his work in the appetizer section.  Yum.  We are in for a very good dinner in the first small 3 treats are an example.

            Then, happily, they had chosen to prepare each item that someone had ordered and prepare enough of them so that everyone would have a chance to taste everything!  He did the same for the main courses as well.  OMG.  It was all sooo tasty although there were a couple of dishes I chose not to try.  We were all pretty well stuffed full of good food when he came out to make sure we were happy with the meal.  He expressed a bit of dismay that nobody had chosen the sherbert/sorbet for dessert as it was his specialty.  We had all thought it wasn’t a choice, for some reason.  Those of us at the end of the table where the chef is talking to Chris, our tour leader, all assured him that we’d all love to try it and so we got two desserts as he added his specialty to whatever we had ordered.  Soooo full,  soooo tasty,  soooo good.  Should I ever find myself in Paramaribo again, this is where I am eating every night!

Oh, a couple of stops I missed.  We stopped at the Basilica which lays claim to the largest wooden church in the world.  What!?  You remember me mentioning that in Guyana in Georgetown?  Yes, they also claim to have the largest wooden church in the world.  Don’t know who is correct and they probably both are because they probably measure them by different standards.  It was a lovely church though with nice towers.  You had to be wearing long trousers to be allowed into the church but the guard was nice enough to let some of the men in shorts stand inside the doorway so they could see the church.

            And we stopped at the local synagogue which is right next door to a large mosque.  They are good neighbors too apparently.  We even parked in the mosque parking lot and then walked over to the synagogue where we had a tour.  We weren’t able to get into the mosque.  The synagogue has sand floors.  At one point, they didn’t and some candles were knocked over and burnt it to the ground so most synagogues in the area now all have sand floors so no worries if the candles are on the floor.  They had a nice bath house outside too for the women to clean themselves.  Basically it was a huge tub.  You walked up the stairs inside the building and then down the stairs into the tub.  You’d be standing in the tub with water about up to your neck.  Looking inviting.

            Back to the hotel and to bed.