For Mom, Love Steve

This is a double entry because it turned into one huge travel period.

I played on the net until 3am so you can guess I did not make my 6am time. I really didn’t care if I got there later in the day, so, oh well. I was out and about by 9am. I was kind of surprised at the lack of anything going on for a Monday. I just thought that maybe it was a French thing or possibly Cheyenne is really a mid-day to late night town. I wandered the virtually empty streets to the bus area. There was a couple of buses waiting to go to the border so I didn’t sweat it. I started talking to a guy who was selling stuff out of his bags and he explained to me that it was some sort of Christian holiday and everything was closed. That is when I started to get worried. I was the only one there and with out a full van I wasn’t going anywhere. I did not want to shell out another $40E for another night. It took three hours and two vans combining to get full. We were finally on our way. The four hour ride was fairly uneventful with the exception of going from good road to bad road to excellent road. Usually the French have first class everything so I was surprised at the road conditions in the middle section. We arrived at the border town of St George and were again hounded by the little boat operators. This town was really small and consisted mainly for the border crossing. I first went to Immigration office to get my exit stamp and then grabbed the guy who first asked me about my crossing needs. He had shown me the way to the immigration office so I let him take me across the river. He charged me $5 Euro to cross and then tried to snake me on the changing of Euros to Reals. I declined his offer and we went across. When I got across I changed the $50 E that I had and still got a shitty rate, but what can you do. I then went in search of a place to stay.
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I woke up early but laid around until the father got up and went to hang out in the yard. We were in very close quarters so I did not want to wake up the other people. I grabbed my shower things first and took a quick shower and got dressed. I then went and grabbed my bags and all of my loose stuff so that I could pack them away. When everything else was done I quietly took down my hammock and took it outside to roll it up and attach to my pack. By 8:30am I was ready to go. Only the father and daughter were up so I said my goodbyes. I headed down to the immigration area where the collectivo taxis hung out. I was worried with it being a Sunday, but I lucked out because the first van I walked up to left the moment I got there. There was only two ladies from Holland in with me. They had made plans late to come to Suriname so they had to fly in via French Guiana. They had spent their month in Suriname but would spend the one expensive day heading across to Cheyenne. Later we picked up a family and with a full van we headed out. We were about half way there when we pulled over to the other side of the road where another van was there waiting for us. At first I thought it had broken down until they started switching bags from one van to another. The driver never said a thing until one of the ladies asked what was going on. What we found out was that they drive half way and switch vans so that the driver is not stuck in a different city. It was actually pretty smart I thought but a little sketchy by not telling anyone. It ranked low on the taxi screw you over scale so I didn’t have a problem. We finished the other half of the drive very easily. Usually the driver will drop you off at your destination, however this guy went directly to the pick up point and dropped us off. We had to haul our stuff to the city center. It was not so bad for me, but the ladies had two suitcases plus carry ons that they had to carry. They had stayed the night there when they first arrived so they gave me a few names of places. One of the places was the only cheap suggestion that my guide had. I checked it out and they only had one of the mid range rooms available for $40 Euros. I decided to take a walk around and wandered the streets for an hour before giving up. There were only two other hotels that I could find and they were both way out of my price range. I scampered back to the other hotel and grabbed the room. The place is La Bodega. It is mostly known as the cool place to hang out and to be seen. They had decent rooms upstairs which were priced a lot better than other places. I got settled into my room and went down stairs to hang out with the two ladies who decided to wait there instead of at the airport. We talked for a couple of hours until it was time for them to leave.
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I woke up at 4am, then 4:30, then 5, the 5:30, you get the picture. I got up and had my stuff packed easily in time for my 7am pick up time. Now, as I sat out in ... [Continue reading this entry]

I had told the lady before that I was only going to stay one night instead of two since I was having money problems and since I was sure I would get my fill of turtles that first night it ... [Continue reading this entry]

I slept fairly well that night with the exception of a couple of mosquitos getting in through the openings in the net. They did not last too long since I carried my can of insect killer with me in ... [Continue reading this entry]

I woke up at 9am so I was sure to be ready at 10am, when the brother came to pick me up. I was sitting outside playing with the dogs when a guy rolled up in a brand new Landcruiser. ... [Continue reading this entry]

It was Tuesday and I got the horrible that it was another damn holiday. That would mean that everything would be closed and my chances to get to Albina were drastically reduced with most people just staying home and ... [Continue reading this entry]

I was happy packing, it was a nice three days in that I had a comfortable apartment where I could feel more like being at home. Paramaribo on its own was just eh. It was similar to the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Sunday, like usual, all towns shut down. Everything is closed so it can be looked at as a plus or minus. For me it’s a positive because I can check out a city without the crowds. I ... [Continue reading this entry]

My first full day in Paramaribo was focused on getting some food. I was sick and tired of Chinese food. Paramaribo was supposed to be a mecca of good food, but it was all based on some sort ... [Continue reading this entry]