Torarica & Casino Paramaribo

... where the warm river is good for swimming and the nearby rapids make for a natural jacuzzi. We went for walks in the jungle and to nearby villages. We also visited the local radio station, which is run from a very small and very hot room, with a mixing console, a couple of CD players and a tape deck. Rita, a forty-something woman, who is also the local baker, runs it every day of the week from 7 to 11 pm for the 20,000 people who live along the river. While music is ...

... and are told I need a x-ray; this can be done back at the hospital we started at. We did not fancy that and so found another hospital just down the road from where we are parked and went there and got the x-ray taken but have to go back tomorrow to collect it. Basically it means this was quite a boring, but tiring day. 17th - A lazy day hanging around the vehicle and doing some shopping. 18th - A similar day except today we went around to find someone to ...

Easter Day, 23rd March 2008 I really wanted to write about my journey from Paramaribo to Georgetown because the little I found on the internet did not prepare me well. I have lived in Africa and used public transport there so I had some idea what to expect, except I thought when it said "bus" it meant a bus! Suriname is an ex-Dutch colony - well they were the last ones there before independence anyway. Suriname used to refer to a bigger area (see below). We ...

... mall for Uncle Bissoon to come pick me up. This was after the four hours on the bus on the dirt track (mind that I didn't say road) from Nickarie to Paramaribo. Some kid told me it was the Cayuni River that we crossed. I'm more inclined to think it was the Corentyne, but hell, I teach Reading not Geography for a reason. I think from the long, arduous trip and not eating, body's immune system broke down because I was sick for the entirety of my stay. But despite the ...

... zaak en laten we de tuner nakijken. Jeroen had namelijk nog steeds het vermoeden dat er met de tuner wat mis was omdat we veel te slecht ontvangst hadden en bepaalde metingen vreemde resultaten opleverden. Als een heus wonder heeft een collega zeiler precies dezelfde tuner ongebruikt aan boord liggen die we mogen uitproberen. Tegelijkertijd meldt de dealer dat onze tuner alleen door de leverancier hersteld kan worden. De microprocessor is in de war. We sluiten de geleende ...

Our next trip was to Nickerie the second biggest city of Suriname. Ya biggest??? Not more than 35.000 people. Suriname has only 492.000 inhabitants!!! Driving from Paramaribo by bus the guide brought us to Saramacca, Groningen where the Dutch planters settled their self after the plantation time. After that we went to Coronie where there is a lot of coconut palms and they made oil ouf of ...

... where is spills into the Atlantic. It is an Amerindian village so a different experience from the Maroon village of Baku. A major difference is that it is a fishing village and most of the men seem to stay in the village and not off to find work in the mines and the city. Fishing is the main occupation and I think more lucrative as many people no longer buy the river fish. The Galibi fishing is ocean fish and their market primarily French Guyanna where they are paid in Euro ...

... teacher had arranged an invitation for the CCI participants to the Presidents reception held in the garden of the Presidential palace at noon. We were able to enter the reception area of the palace and see some fabulous art in the reception area. We were also hosted h'ourderves and drinks. I spent far too much time in the hot sun and when I went home in the late afternoon and had no energy to return for the evening festivities which included street dancing ...

... to be resources and money being put into this. the Global Fund has designated $4.5M USD over 5 years to Suriname's efforts to confront the AIDS epidemic. There are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things, including within SNMP. People know what needs to be done, the problem is a lack of coordination, cooperation and a professional approach to the problem. All the ASO's are trying to do more than they should and not sticking to their mandate and the result is ...

... clothes or not up to puberty, it doesn't seem to matter whether they are dressed or not. Many spend their time in their underware. At puberty the girls get their pangi (a wrap cloth, often elaborately embroydered or sewn with cross stitching) which is what the women wear all the time. They have several pangi's which are changed twice a day at wash time. The younger women generally wear bras, although not uncommonly are bare breasted. Most of the older women, who have never ...