A small, jungly country.

More Airplanes (and Jaguars) than Cars

January 2, 2007
Day 461

Craig and I walked to the main road just before dawn to start hitchhiking. We wanted to get to the next town which was 150 K's down the road. We'd still only be halfway to Paramaribo, but we were told that it'd be easy to get a ride once… Read More »

I've Been to Paradise, But I've Never Been to Blanche Marie

January 1, 2007
Day 460

We started the new year with a long conversation with the resort's owner. He seemed to know everything about Suriname. The main topic of conversation was the civil war of the 1980's. It was started over a bank robbery, and eventually led to a series of coups. The situation… Read More »

Walking to Blanche Marie

December 31, 2006
Day 459

We got up early and started walking through the jungle toward the Blanche Marie resort at dawn. We heard the usual birds and monkeys along the way, but we also found a small poisonous snake in the track. The friendly owner greeted us when we got to the Read More »

The Perils of Hitching

December 30, 2006
Day 458

When we got back to Apoera, we met up once again with Germaine. He was feeling a bit better after his malaria relapse. We bought enough food for a few days and ran into Yohan, the Flemish guy who was on our boat when we first came to Apoera.… Read More »

Another Day in Siparuta

December 29, 2006
Day 457

Bamboo Raft Experiment Day 4

We spent another full day in Siparuta. A lot of interesting people came and talked to us, including the captain (mayor) of the village. One guy invited us to go fishing with him in his boat in the afternoon, but he didn't show up.… Read More »

Large Guyanese Piranha

December 28, 2006
Day 456

Bamboo Raft Experiment Day 3

We awoke in the small Guyanese village of Siparuta. We learned that there would be a boat passing in the middle of the night, so we spent the day chilling out. It's a picturesque place with lots of mangoes and cashews… Read More »

Made it (Almost)!

December 27, 2006
Day 455

Bamboo Raft Experiment Day 2

Craig and I got up at 4:00 and checked the river. Sure enough, the tide was just starting to go out. We quickly packed up and left. Once again, we slowly drifted down the river under the crystal-clear nighttime sky. We got to Wakay… Read More »

Slow Raft Floating

December 26, 2006
Day 454

Bamboo Raft Experiment Day 1

The idea of building a raft being fresh in Craig's mind after the Kaieteur experiment, he thought we should try again on the Corentine River, this time using bamboo as the material. Germaine scrounged up some machetes from his relatives and the three of… Read More »

Christmas in Apoera

December 23-25, 2006
Day 451-453

When the sun came up on the way to Apoera, I was surprised to see that the drunks, along with everyone else on the boat, actually were being quiet. Then I found out the reason why: one of the drunken teens passed out on the roof of the boat… Read More »

A Crowded Boat Ride

December 22, 2006
Day 450

Today we took the boat up the Corentine to Apoera. With Christmas just around the corner, it was very crowded with teenagers going home. With not an inch to spare, it wasn't very enjoyable. It got worse when it started pouring rain as soon as we left. I covered… Read More »