Continuation from Part 1…
Intro to Suriname & Guyana
Suriname and Guyana Part 1
January 1st I wanted to go to Guyana but you know, holidays…ferry was closed…of course. I swear Suriname didn´t want me to leave! Instead I took a taxi to Nieuw Nickerie near the border and stayed the night. Taxis as I refer here are really hired vans, what many people use, they pick you up and drop you off at home/destination and they go direct (obvious with stops to pick and drop people off) from Par´bo to G/town. At the ferry you must get off and cross immigration then you jump back in and off you go. Obviously I did not do this because I split up my trip. If I recall well it is like 70 USD in total.
My night in Nieuw Nickerie started out awesome let me tell you. When I arrived the sun was setting and I went on a walk to see what there was to see on a holiday there…the usual nearly everything closed…but I found the main street which was beautifully lined with tall palm trees on each side with the Surinamese flag painted on them and in the middle was a swamp of beautiful lily pads with huge pink flowers so I started taking photos…super distracted as I was really looking for food and money (Republic Bank was right on the corner – btw only this bank (it´s ATM Blue Machine) and Scotiabank in Guyana worked for me on this trip)…I keep walking enjoying the diminishing light…until I found a downed palm tree…of course I walked on it and kept taking photos when suddenly some animal flew into my arm, I freaked out thinking bat not the actual bird it was and chao go pro in the opposite direction…lol. Somehow this didn´t bug me AT ALL even knowing all my photos were on it but I knew I would be there tomorrow at least attempting to find the tiny go pro in a swamp below lily pads…yup. Yes, literally all my photos since I was travelling with a broken iphone that only took selfie photos (crappy fotos) and my Nikon which I used someeetimes…anywho I was off to dinner but first I went to change as I was now bitten everywhere by mosquitoes…aka swamps and Nieuw Nickerie are known for lots of mosquitoes…so this DID frustrate me (Kirsten you would know…lol).
I ate dinner and in the morning I was there in borrowed boots from the house, gloves from the Police station on the same street and searching for the impossible. I searched maybe an hour because I had to catch the ferry which I should have left at 7 am for…it was now 8:10 am (ferry is 30 minutes away and you need to arrive 1 hour before aka I missed it and many times there are only 1 per day…but lucky me police officer called and because it had no service the day before today they had 2 services running! (insert celebratory symbol..yeah) While I was among the lily pads searching I had plenty of visitors..lol…this morning of course they decided to pull the palm tree out! so I had to exit for a minute…good news here is I gained a searcher and well when we both gave up the police man came by and said he called help so I had to wait 15 minutes for more help….by then I had given up and went home to shower. While waiting for the 2nd helper a women approached and said I saw you last night flailing your arms…I was like really!!!…did you see where it went???? As I had looked toward what animal ¨attacked me¨ LOL Again, Suriname did not want me to leave, and the signs kind of freaked me out but later in Guyana I was quite happy…maybe after the drive to G/town.
Dilemma was over and off to ferry….late…beautiful drive there btw through rice fields with looming rain clouds. I got lucky as the taxi from Nickerie normally charge 150SRD (aka 20 usd) but I got one for 70SRD in the rain..hum how, guess my police chief friend helped…his brother came searching for me…lol and well at the ferry I was pretty much last which is nice; no lines, less hours waiting and the boss guy was uber helpful — got me a taxi to G/town right then, found me tour help for return and anything else…talk about well connected! Bad news was ferry service was ending (for maintenance) from January 6-16….my flight the 10th…so I had to decide if I went back early by ferry or flew. Turns out there is another way called Backtrack….small, you might say less safe, boats that leave from Nickerie. They are quicker in general and the same price as the ferry but you must wait for them to fill and well they just aren´t legal….had I known I might have considered this instead and forgot about the damn stamp but too late now.
The ferry finally arrived, gorgeous, slow ride across the river….a light brown river with bright green on all sides, blue sky and the bright sun and clouds dancing above. I went straight to top deck, I didn´t want shade just the view….in the end I got a bit of both as the clouds covered every now and then and left the river view looking amazing with the green, light brown and shadow of the clouds…even if Suriname wouldn´t let me go I was off and it felt great…ferry showing both flags made me happy too :D!!
Upon arrival the people kind of start running to immigration, I joined, ha ha but found quickly it was not needed for me, foreigner….duh! Taxi driver put me in front seat, he later asked how the ride was and mentioned that I had diplomat treatment today…I was like what? This dude was one of the craziest drivers I have ever had….and diplomat meant front seat, grr why did he even ask how the ride was…so evil. The road through the Guyanas is single lane…aka 1 lane in each direction and forget shoulder space….besides I think lanes are less wide here…think country roads (never mind..not even those are that tiny…at least not if you think in the US…Europe, Latam yes). Besides the road being skinny, they were filled with loose roaming animals, people biking or walking and other cars, good god! Fun ride, let me just say we didn´t kill any animals or people…though I did see a donkey, goat and cat who did not make it… anyway, he had the nerve to give me his card at the end of the ride (he has done this 16yrs…crazy)…BS. P.S. This is not the worst ride….that would be Bangladesh….which I had to compare it to in order to calm down. hum. I rant sorry. Not all drivers are like this there but I will add this info: on the radio they mentioned (remember here they speak English) on the 5th of January that already 3 people had died in car accidents…not great stats there…sorry Guyana.
In the end my trip to Guyana ended quick as I decided on the 4th that ferry was my better option….after going back by ferry I wasn´t sure 100 usd savings was worth the time to go back by slow ferry but decision is decision and later I was glad I choose this over the other. I will add the ride back to the ferry was not nearly as hectic…much better speed (only be aware they might transfer you to a different car half way and not pay enough to get you all the way…yup this was my case…but again negotiating with a car acting as a taxi – the wife and daughter were also there – I paid 2 more dollars (the ride costs 2500 dollars normally – 200 is 1 usd).
Upon arrival, sunset time, I went for a run to see anything I could. They say don´t walk at night, go alone, be female, etc, etc….I didn´t listen and I felt perfectly safe in G/town and really liked it except there was not much to do…aka after 7pm streets empty because of safety issues; this city is super dark. I stayed on the 4th floor of a building and at night you saw nothing….there was a full moon while I was there and we had unaltered views and darkness for photos.
Two things I learned on my run, I won´t be walking alone at night and the sea wall where everyone said to run was very lonely and dark at night, do not go there! Besides that, all good. The next day I explored a bit, mainly on an AM run, yes I ran 2x in less then 12 hours but it is the best way to quickly see the city and maybe safest…ha ha This day I also fixed the iphone because now I was with no go pro and the screen wasn´t gonna make it, plus I did other errands including book a tour to Kaieteur Falls for the next day. I really wanted and hoped to hike there but I couldn´t find a company to take me for a decent price…they wanted 900 USD…eekk no thanks so I did 170 usd flight instead and well then I returned on ferry to Suriname because it missed me. Humm.
Georgetown had some pretty buildings and great food and walking paths but many things are really run down. I loved it here because it felt like a city, it was more active, it is bigger than Paramaribo. It had more fresh fruit, more Indian roti with some pumpkin and eggplant, not just chicken every time. The houses were more colorful then the nearly only white Par´bo buildings and the details on the houses were intricate. Plus the ocean was right there (it is below sea level – the seawall and canals are the only thing keeping the city above water). Finally people spoke Spanish (Cubans and Venezuelans mainly) and schools are teaching it, everyone thought I was Latina (ha ha dream finally came true!) and I could buy books (yippie English!).
The highlight in Guyana for me was definitely the trip to Kaieteur Falls, my trip of 4 hours in total, perfect because it was like going to see the Amazon in 1 day and without mosquitoes I might add (due to a local tiny red moss looking plant that eats them…yeah!). It was a 1 hour flight in a 15 passenger Cesna plane to the mountains, well some 1500 ft up, either way much higher above sea level than Georgetown. Again with pure luck, I snagged the last seat on the plane and when I was about to board I was asked to co-pilot – ha ha…I was selected to share the seat next to the pilot (a female pilot I might add) I imagine for weight…and I was all worried about snagging a window seat…lol Any who upon arriving they do several fly overs and then land, maybe 1 km from the falls. So with sunblock on we walked with a guide to 3 view points along the falls. Some of this was through thick jungle and made me wish the whole trek thing worked out b/c it was very pretty…the real deal…Besides the gorgeous falls, I liked the view of the valley and the tiny waterfalls nearby more but all was great really! We also got to see the Golden Frog and the Cock of the Rock in their natural habitats, and someone spotted a unique wild mushroom…all of these made it so worth the trip…too bad it was only 4 hours….yup
I read about your Christmas/New Year trip. It sounds interesting. That waterfall was simply spectacular! /Åke
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I know, totally worth the flight out there!
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