Goodbye Suriname

It's my last day here. Stephen left this morning for a 36-hour journey to Trinidad, New York City, and Seattle. I leave tomorrow for an 18-hour trip of Trinidad, Miami, and Chicago. One measure of Suriname's position at the edge of the world is its airport schedule. All flights from Amsterdam and Trinidad (where you catch a flight to anywhere else besides Amsterdam) arrive after midnight; all flights to Trinidad and Amsterdam leave at 6:30 am, which means waking up at 3:45 to arrive at the airport by 4:45 or 5:00 am.

Today after dropping Stephen off, Kevin & I went to Bergendahl, "an ecological and cultural resort" on the Suriname River. We paid to be walk-ins (as opposed to registered guests) and had the breakfast buffet while sitting next to the river. Then we went off to Lake Brokopondo, created by a hydropower dam that powers the bauxite/aluminum industry, and then visited Caroline, a Maarten Luther Kerk member who is Amerindian. We sat in her family's compound eating cassava bread and meeting the Peace Corps volunteers who are staying in their community for 3 months to learn to speak Sranan Tongo before going to assignments in Amerindian communities.

As Stephen pointed out some time ago, the nice thing about Amerindians is they smile. The heavy Dutch emphasis here -- or perhaps the seriously oppressive past of this country -- means almost no one else does smile. They are worse than Swedes.

But here are some links you can see before I leave. Click here for an interesting video of Paramaribo, shot from a car. It has good music, too.

Here's a video on Kevin's house. It's embedded in his Facebook site and I hope you can see it without being his friend.

And finally, a video that asks the question, did the Dutch get a good deal when they graded Manhattan for Suriname? After I posted this on Facebook, a Palestinian friend replied, "I don't know whether to laugh or be offended." Let's just say, it's borderline, but I think it's funny.

By Wednesday I should be in Chicago, reunited with my own computer. How wonderful! I'll keep posting photos, and then the Viajes de Anita will continue in the U.S. Thanks for reading the last few months, forgive my many lapses, and I look forward to seeing you all.