Since I didn’t want to stay in the city constantly while Neirude and Romeo were both at work, I went on some trips.
I went to Brownsberg which is a national park. Great scenery, nice waterfall, but because the rest of the group couldn’t walk that much and 2 of them didn’t like the rain (hello, Amazone, rainforest?) we didn’t do as much hiking as I was hoping for. The views of the Brokopondo Stuwmeer were amazing though: it looks like the forest is ‘breathing’! And this green frog was ‘the catch of the day’!
Matapika
Since Romeo works outside the city he knows heaps of people. One of his patients told him about Matapika where you can see endangered sea turtles lay their eggs on the beach sand and then swim away again. It’s difficult to get there because first you have to cross the Commewijne River, then go through an amazing swamp by tiny boat to finally get to the beach, so most tourists go to the more accessible Galibi.
But of course, Romeo, Neirude and I went to the less touristy Matapika where we camped next to the sea, we swam, we played like kids in the sand and best of all: we saw a Leatherback turtle lay her eggs on the beach during the day which is very rare, because normally they come during the night! The good thing of seeing a turtle during the day is that you can see everything very clear which is truly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The approach of the turtle, the digging, the slimy eggs, the noise and the ‘tears’ of the turtles. And the turtle was a giant…
Raleigh Falls
Last week I went (again on my own) on a truly excellent trip to the Raleigh Falls, a national park as well. The trip to the remote area by plane was absolute terror. Only 3 weeks ago there was plane crash with a similar plane and our flight was filled with turbulence and bad weather…So when we got to the ground, there was group bonding straight away! My group existed out of 3 couples and me, but honestly, it was one of the nicest groups I ever been with. All 9 of us (7 tourists plus guide and the cook) got on really well and we had remarkably deep and interesting talks about work, life in general and happiness, both in Suriname as in the Netherlands.
And we all enjoyed the long walks in the rain, the great views and the lovely waterfalls. We saw tarantulas and cute monkeys (Doodshoofd aapjes: I don’t know the English name), we heard Brulapen (don’t know the English again…) and we met the most dangerous snake in Suriname: the bushmaster. The last one apparently kills humans within 5 minutes and it attacked me and another girl. Not funny and the local guide should have known better than to hit the snake with a stick…Even I know that that is not a smart idea…
And we had a great laugh the final night when the locals played music and we all danced and drank beer. And as ‘slagroom op het toetje’, the next day we had to fly back in a smaller plane than planned. Only 8 people could fit in, so since we were with 9, one person had to sit in front next to the pilot. I knew all 3 girls were terrified of the trip back and of course, good boyfriends as the lads were, they had to sit next to the girls, I was the lucky girl to sit next to the pilot! It was amazing and the pilot even gave me the opportunity to take over the plane. But I didn’t do that: not because of the 3 pair of very jealous eyes of the boys but because of the terrified eyes of the girls…Imagine being shit scared and than this ‘linguist’ takes over…Nah, not a good idea.
Babunhol and Bergendal
For my final weekend in Suriname Neirude arranged a trip with her good friends Bernadette and her son Brandon, Ame, Martin and Suzan. We organized the trip while drinking nice wine the week before, Martin and I did the shopping on Friday and we were off to Babunhol on Saturday. It’s a place next to the Suriname River, more inland. The trip to the place was shocking (literally flying up and down) but I managed to sleep the entire drive. When we got there we pitched up our tents and after Neirude and I wrestled a bit in the grass which gave us both an allergic reaction, we ran into the water. We chilled, we chatted, I slept again and we had a nice BBQ and yes more wine…
Early morning we got up to go to Bergendal which is an adventure eco park. Again, we did something I had never done before: we went into the canopy of the rainforest and we went ‘canopy gliding’ (‘kabelbaan’ ) from one tree top to the other and finally we even crossed the Suriname River. It was really cool, Neirude and Romeo even went up-side-down while I went with only one hand to make a video with the other hand…
Next was quite an interesting historical hike. Well, honestly, it wasn’t much of a hike but more talking, but it was really interesting, especially the part about the slaves, the abolishment of slavery and just how things were back then. Bad thing to be Dutch in that time. We also came across a slave cemetery, in the middle of the jungle. Pretty amazing.
And last we went kayaking on the Suriname River. It wasn’t really exciting, but I did enjoy it. We weren’t allowed to swim because of the strong current and perhaps the piranha’s (?) but we went anyway. Nice for the cooling down…
To finish off this brillant weekend Romeo, Neirude and I went for a nice dinner with Romeo's family.
Can it get any better than this? I wonder...
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