Some bugs are OK

Yikes. Been back in the good ole’ US of A for three days and I have been busier than a one legged woman at a butt-kicking contest.

I took some personal time after work today and went to the spa for a massage and a facial. Once again, I embarrassed myself though. Different spa this time and no tears or sobbing – I forgot to tip my esthetician.

I don’t understand this. When I pay, there is no place for me to add a tip on the credit card bill. When I ask, they say that they have a policy of “no tipping”. But the last time I got my hair cut, I noticed that others were leaving money on the hair stylists stations. I asked my friend who referred me to the salon about it and she said that she always leaves money.

It feels a little dirty to me to leave a twenty dollar bill on the counter as I slip out the door. So I’m going to write a card and leave the money in that. But how much? Is there a percentage that I’m supposed to leave? Or a set amount? Sometimes, I think I need help with life.

But how about some more Suriname photos?

I spent a lot of time taking photos of bugs and butterflies when I should have been stalking students. Not yucky bugs like roaches and tarantulas, pretty ones. I don’t know the names of any of them so don’t bother asking. They might be super rare or as common as dirt. I just thought they were pretty.

We did see some great big blue butterflies, but when they land, they fold up their wings when they land so it is really hard to take photos of them.

Enjoy!

Some cool bugs, on flowers of course!

I’m back!

Actually I’ve been back for two days, but I’ve been busy with the class blog and PACKING!! We’re leaving tomorrow. The flight leaves at 7AM, but we have to be there two hours before and it is a one hour drive to the airport. Then, to top it all off, Dyon (owner of where we are staying) will do a walk-through before we leave. So the plan is to meet at 3:30AM in the courtyard. Is it worth sleeping? That answer is always yes!

The trip to the interior was both worse and better than I thought it was going to be. I feel that I cheated myself by counting down until we were getting back from the moment we left on Monday. My countdown started at 108 hours. I didn’t keep track of all of them, but it was only a few moments for me to calculate if someone asked.

It was an experience that I’m going to always have, but I’m still not sure if I’m glad that I did it.

The days were fine. It was hot and humid and I wore the same two things just so I wouldn’t ruin anything else with the sweat and mud. I bathed in the river and waved to the boatmen as they motored past every morning. The world was my sink and I brushed my teeth every morning standing on the porch of my hut and spit into the grass, knowing that the nightly rain would wash away the evidence.

I was more comfortable peeing in the woods than I was using the stall at the edge of jungle. And this was before I knew about the bird-eating spider that lived behind the toilet.

I didn’t have to sleep in a hammock, but I almost wish I had.

But the nights were the worst. Do you keep on the oil lamps, knowing that they next bug that it attracts could be a 6 inch beetle? Or how about those baby scorpions that we found living under the table? I know now that I have amazing powers of self-delusion. Once I close my eyes, I keep them closed and the monsters and bugs and everything else becomes a far away threat. When we lifted up the thatch on the roof and found four inch roaches living in the leaves, the nights became filled with bumps and rustles that during the day you don’t hear, but the in the night you have to convince yourself is just the rain.

I also learned that I am not afraid of frogs, I just have an intense dislike of them. Roaches however, I am afraid of. Especially as they are crawling on the bug nets over the beds.

But it was beautiful.

I think that I took the best photo of my life standing in the rain, with bats flying in a cave only 5 meters to my left.

Today, I’m just going to post some of the photos, tomorrow or Tuesday, I’ll post some of the funny things and give some more commentary.

Trees in the mist.

Riverbank of the Suriname River.

Rock with cool vine growing on it.

Everything had something else growing on it.

Small pool along the path.

My favorite photo – Leoval at Brownsberg

Off to the interior!

Hi all – Off to the jungle for five days. I’ll post when I get back.

See you then!

If Suriname is ever to become a world power…

I have been quite adventurous down here in South America when it has come to food. The locals speak very good English and every time we eat out, I ask for recommendations of the best local item on the menu and order that.

For example, on the plane, I tried the local sodas:

Green punch on the left and Cherry something on the right. They were quite disgusting. Tasted like cough syrup.

We went to the local food market and I wanted to show some of the photos. We didn’t buy any of the food to eat, but I love walking through the local markets anyway.

Dried fish.

Women buying fish (I love the expression on the poor fish’s face!!)

We did buy some fish, but for dissection, not eating. Unfortunately, it had to be stored in our fridge:

Lunch of our first day in Paramaribo, I had a local chicken soup:

It was actually very good. Chicken, rice and a pureed local root. It tasted a little like a spicy split pea soup.

But I have yet to find REALLY good food. We met the US ambassador today and asked him for restaurant suggestions, but his suggestions were all lukewarm. We tried one place tonight that his wife said was quite good for the city – a tapas bar. Tonight there was a special: three tapas and a glass of house wine for 55 SRD (about $20).

It was the worst glass of wine that I’ve ever had – bar none. The food was not special. The best dish was a baked spicy mussels, something that was obviously local. The marinated olives were green olives from a jar and black olives from a can with some olive oil and garlic. The calamari was probably frozen and mostly bread. It was quite dreadful.

My advice for Suriname? If you really want to promote tourism and draw in those cruise ships, hire some really great chefs to come and work with your restaurants.

This is for my Aussie friends: But on the positive side, they do have Milo in the local supermarkets!

Irony Alert!

Today was an interesting day. Some of the students had to go back out to retrieve some sample jars from the mudflats while the rest of them stayed in the city. I was told I could do either. I *almost* stayed at the house, but then I thought “How often do I get to go out on a boat in South America?” So I sucked it up, put on my sunscreen, and headed out to the docks.

I am pretty glad that I went.

First, we had a good time on the boats. Several Dutch tourists went with us to share the boat. They are also staying at the same guesthouse we are. It was cool and there was a nice breeze. I didn’t have to go out in the sun, so it was doubly nice! After the samples were processed, we ditched the students and went to lunch at one of the old coffee plantations that dot the banks of the river.

The food was pretty good, but the drinks were the best. First, the water:

The label of the bottle says “Out of the Amazon.” Yup, I drank river water! FROM THE AMAZON. Too cool.

Then, the best part – coffee after lunch:

Our coffee was instant. On an old coffee plantation. Priceless.

On the boat ride back, we then ran into a pod of dolphins! I just happened to have my camera out and got some great photos.

They are grey dolphins, but have pink bellies. They did come up to the boat and poked their head out of the water at us and I got photos of that too, but I liked this one the best.

In other news, we are heading to the interior on Monday. Plans have changed yet again, so I think we are taking boats instead of planes. Will keep you updated!