Krasnapolsky Paramaribo

... a hustle and bustle of cars, trucks, buses and people milling about. Aniel went in search of Tuti, the guy who was supposed to take us by korjaal to Gunsi. He came back with a young man dressed in nothing but shorts, a yellow towel draped round his neck, who was introduced to us as Tuti's brother. Tuti's brother, who later admitted to the name Ronald, told us to wait under an canopy where a group of young men were having fun drinking the rather good Parbo beer and ...

... escape the Netherlands, it also served as a prison for German sympathisers. There was apparently a real fear that Germany might try and take Suriname from the Dutch, as it is rich in Bauxite and there are also gold mines.

We are staying in a great guest house, right in the historic part of the city, beside a little river which apparently has three metre long anacondas (snakes) in it, but we have not seen them yet. There is greenery ...

... to get lucky. It's still a backwater, even if not so sleepy anymore. Then there's New Year. New Year here is pretty wild. My first three days in Paramaribo I stayed in a great little place a half hour's walk from downtown called Guest House Amice that had everything you could ever want for the price of a U$ Grant- Internet, full breakfast, AC, in-room coffee & tea, and as spic-and-span as my German grandmother would have it. If anything it was ...

... road from the south of South America right up to the USA, apparently. On to Georgetown. Shifting of passengers meant I was now sitting next to a pretty 15 year old Indian girl who decided to adopt me for the duration. She was travelling with her Aunt and Uncle - who is a bird fancier and had a cage with birds in. In her nice Guyanese accent she told me a little about life there, the marshes, the rice fields, and how Indian languages were not being ...

... sent a Christmas card to me and demanded that I continue with the blogs because she can't live without my smart-assedness. I just made that word up. I can do that. I'm in a HP cult. Well folks, as always, leave me comments, please. Let me know that I'm still loved. And pray for me, please. Ps I have no pictures of Suriname b/c well, I was sick, but also b/c the camera was on timer that took a pic every two seconds (literally) and I don't know how to change it. Yeah, I know. Sal

... een biertje drinken. Zij vertelden ons hoe ze eerst door de Surinaamse Marine en Luchtmacht werden beschoten nadat ze zonder vergunning in Surinaamse wateren hadden gevist. Na enkele maanden opsluiting hebben zij hun vergunningen gekregen en staat er nu een goed lopend bedrijf met drie grote kotters, waar zoŽn 70 mensen een baan vinden. Voor 7,5 SRD (€ 1,75) koop je er een Djogo, een halve liter "Parbo" onder de Heineken vlag gebrouwen. De eigenaresse heeft altijd ...

... giving to describe the experience to me, she said, "Imagine Matthew, living in the Amazon rainforest, sleeping in a hammock, mosquitoes everywhere, snakes and scorpions and all sorts of creepy-crawly things! You'd probably love it." And I do, mom. It's been difficult, educational, and incredible living and working in the Trio and Wajana Amerindian community of Palumeu. I have my own simple hut, just like my neighbors. I sleep in a hammock and bathe in the river. I cook over a ...

... out. Chances are you may find yourself moving back one folding seat at a time. Surinames are patient people when it comes to their buses. They are also generally accommodating. I've often seen people near the door or the seats behind the driver squeeze in an extra person (3 butts to a two seater, or 2 butts on a folding seat) Someone is bound to get off soon and release the squeeze. Amy desperately wants to rip out the folding seats and put a bar down the center isle. She hasn't ...

... was also out of the country for 3 weeks at the same time, so we were really floundering. Several conference calls, our recommendations and some meetings with other possible supportive players with the national AIDS program and the UNDP (United Nations Development program)were instrumental is a decision to back up and develop a proposal for UNDP funding for a research phase for the radio project. This is really the work that should have been and wasn't done. There had ...

... of palm thatched huts, bare breasted women in pangi's who wash their clothes, dishes and themselves in the lake, make their casaba bread as they have for centuries and do their food preparation, needlework and whatever sitting outside their huts. It is like a step into a time warp. We could have been in Suriname in 1805 or Africa in in 1605. They live in their traditional cultural ways and yet the signs of change are all around. They have electricity and many homes have ...