Suriname shop murals

Shops in Suriname have wonderful murals of products they sell.  Here's a collection,  the murals are typically about 2-3 metres tall.

Owru Yari, Happy New Year!

Suriname's capital, Paramaribo, has apparently been listed as one of the top places in the world to celebrate New Years. Actually, it seems they don't really celebrate New Years in such a big way, but they celebrate the old year, and this is what 'Owru Yari' means. I don't know who listed it as a top place for New Years, I heard it from a local, it might have been Lonely Planet. 

They probably deserve the title. They certainly blow up more fire crackers than I would have ever imagined. Starting from midday on December 31st they roll out metres and metres of firecrackers along the central city streets, and then set them alight at one end so that the crowds can watch the crackers as one sets alight to the next and the next and the next in a domino effort. They repeat this again and again in multiple streets. Until about 6pm. 

They also light a few more in intersections, and at one a crane dangled a line of firecrackers so that the crackers would go off in domino effect up to the top. 

It's extremely loud and the air becomes thick with smoke. A service club was handing out free earplugs to encourage people to avoid ear damage. 

In the picture below you can see that the crowd behind the line of firecrackers has turned away, because the wind was blowing the smoke and debris directly on that side of the crowd (and H and I thought it bad enough where we were, but we were lucky). 

H and I brought our own earplugs and bandanas to breath through. Then, when H asked the firefighters a question (about where was a good place to be), they gave him a pair of safety glasses.

Lots of people had Owru Yari shirts, and some had these cool green glasses  and cups on carnival beads too. 

Paramaribo had laid out a red carpet for its visitors and residents.... Of spent firecrackers. 

I have mixed feelings about this and most the New Years Celebrations in the world. I'm curious, so I always want to see a celebration that is listed as a 'best'. But, I also hate the useless expenditure on an item (firecrackers) that does such environmental damage and scares dogs and perhaps other animals so much. Plus, there is very little regulation in many arts of the world. Anybody can buy the firecrackers (5 metres or 300!) and, unfortunately, many kids lose fingers and/or eyesight to these 'toys'. 

As I write this, it's still New Years Eve. We are back with friends (at the Domburg Marina) for a few quiet drinks... Although, there's some teens outside in the street firing some more crackers and someones letting off fireworks in the other direction. It's about 7pm. 

Helping out some sloths in Suriname

The other day, when I was thinking about what else I might like to see in Suriname, I decided I'd like to see a sloth. You know, those animals known for hanging upside down in trees and moving very slowly. I had seen a wild one years ago in Costa Rica, and I'd seen some in zoos too (most notably in Santa Cruz, Bolivia), but I felt I'd like to see another. 

So, I googled: Suriname sloth. And I found lots of articles about a woman in Paramaribo who sheltered 200 sloths at one time. I clicked on the BBC article, and was instantly interested. 

I researched some more and also read about the plans she has to build a new centre for the sloths. H and I decided that we'd be as happy helping to build the facility as going to another nature reserve. So I got in touch. 

Unfortunately, they are still fundraising for the construction of the new facility but Monique wanted some assistance to put sand in the bottom of the Giant Anteater enclosure. 

If you've been following my blogs, you might know that I think Giant Anteaters are very spectacular animals. We were pleased to help. 

We shifted dirt and sand and it was a good day. We also got to touch some sloths (amazingly soft) and I was licked by the Lesser Anteater (it's long skinny tongue is sticky). 

Sloths have really endearing faces. They are beautiful. To see some pictures and to know just a bit more, follow this link:

http://igg.me/at/sloths/x/8261960

Inland Suriname: seeing wildlife

We are taking our time in Suriname. It's because we decided to wait and have Christmas here with our friend, and then it was mentioned that Suriname is one of the best places in the world to see in the New Year, so we've decided to stay for that too. (Being that diesel is our major expense, this also helps our finances). 

But still, I can't just sit around waiting, so we have to do a bit of exploring. Last week we went inland to Brownsberg Nature Reserve. We were warned not to go up if the road was wet, but lucky for us there were a few dry days and the road was fine: Dirt from Brownsweg, potholed for the first part, then steep after that. 

We spent 2 nights there. After arriving mid afternoon we just hung about hoping to see some wildlife in the camp area, but we had no such luck. The next morning we set off on a walk. But, we didn't find the intended trail and instead found another and ended up doing the Ireneval hike. It's to a waterfall I'd read about, and we both found the waterfall rather underwhelming, especially after a rather steep hike. 

We didn't see any wildlife on the hike (okay, some lizards and butterflies) and when we got back to camp we were told that monkeys had come into the tree right beside our motorhome while we weren't there!

That afternoon I went for a short stroll. In all reality I was trying to eavesdrop on a tour guides information to his English speaking tourists. So, I was delighted when at one point I caught up to them and he turned to me and said 'have you seen the monkeys?' (I hadn't) 'they're red howler monkeys'. Cool! They (the monkeys) were lazing in the tree so I headed back to get H and the camera. 

H and I followed up the monkey spotting with a short walk to the highest point. On this we saw more howler monkeys, this time moving through the trees and one with a baby on its back. 

I also saw a snake (a common lancehead) curled up in the leaf matter and I foolishly pointed it out to others who were watching the monkeys. Foolish because next thing I knew the snake had been clubbed and was dead. I was shocked and rather annoyed by this and I let the man responsible know. At least when I later mentioned it to someone who worked there he said 'but the snake was in its place and not hurting anyone'. Yes they can kill people as they are venomous, but I think the best snakes are those left alone.

Back at the campsite we later sat relaxing beside Blac. I looked up and discovered colourful little toucans (Guianan Toucanet) were eating berries in the tree right in front of us! 

That night we slept to the sound of the howler monkeys,  they sound like big monsters in the forest. 

So, after having seen monkeys, a snake, and toucans we thought our visit to Suriname's Brownsberg was very good. And we also enjoyed the lack of mosquitoes and cooler air. 

Ref Howler Monkey

Common Lancehead snake,  unfortunately freshly dead. 

This spectacular 'flower' is some kind of fruit. We found it on the forest floor, there were many where they had fallen from a tree.  The 'petals' are like hard wood, but the centre was soft. 

A Guianan Toucanet, with a berry in its beak. 

Feeding insects in Suriname

The first thing I am doing each morning here in Suriname is showering and then coating myself with insect repellent. There are mosquitoes everywhere, and plenty of other biting insects too. From the mosquitoes you could get malaria or dengue, but neither of these is as prevalent at the moment as a sickness called chikungunya. It's being described as worse than Dengue (malaria is often said to be not as bad as dengue but it can kill you), with fever and aching bones, and although the fever will probably last less than a week you might get stuck with the aching bones for months or years. So, we are trying not to get bitten. Of course, completely not getting bitten is next to impossible, and not every mosquito carries a problem. Also, when I looked it up I found that we also get Chikungunya in Australia (but, I hadn't heard of it).

Of course Suriname has plenty of biting insects. It's tropical and wet. It used to be a Dutch colony and it seems the Dutch are good at turning wetlands into farmland divided by channels of water. 

I currently have 3 annoying bites from other insects, maybe wasps or spiders, but I don't know. The bite on my leg weeps clear fluid, and on my left ring finger I have 2 bites, one swelling my knuckle and the other giving me a bumpy welt on my fingerprint that starts to itch each evening. I got them both 3 days ago. 

We are pamped (can I make a new word?, we don't camp as we stay in the vehicle and have toilet and shower too, so we just park, but it's more than that... I think pamped sounds good) at a guesthouse that belongs to some Dutch overlanders that we met in Brazil. They currently have Dutch friends (Suriname residents) looking after things while they are away so we've become friends with them too. The place is lovely, there's even a swimming pool (and the biting insects don't bite me there!). 

Suriname is a former Dutch colony, so they speak Dutch. Before being Dutch it was British, so they drive on the left side if the road. The British and Dutch traded New York (formally New Amsterdam) for this piece of land. 

Being that this country speaks Dutch I am trying to learn some Dutch. It seems easy enough, but I don't think I have an ear for it. Also, many locals speak Surinaams and that just confuses me when I think they are speaking Dutch.  But, I can now say a couple of words if I think long and hard enough about what to say. It's a start!