Arrival in Suriname

I stepped off of the plane in Suriname and instantaneously felt like I was slapped in the face with a wet blanket.  The average temperature in the country throughout the year (including in the black of night) is 86 degrees Fahrenheit with an average humidity of 86%. Whew!  What a difference from the temperate (aka COLD) spring of Seattle. 

Once I found the sign of the shuttle company with my ‘name’ – Liane Fernihon (they were pretty close, I have to give them that!) I was escorted to the bus to wait for the other arrivals.  The shuttle worker told me that it would be ‘just a few minutes’. 45 minutes and 2 miscommunications later I was on the road to the hotel where I would meet my dear friend Suzie Kay!

Upon arrival to the hotel at 1:30am I was happy to see the smile of my great college friend. The cute little establishment that the Peace Corps volunteers stay at in the city is a quasi-hostel. There are individual rooms with individually controlled air conditioning, a welcome surprise! The refrigerator and bathrooms are shared, with unheated showers. 

The Sunday after my arrival we stayed in the city (which was completely deserted…imagine, people actually take a day of rest here, weird!) and went to the Peace Corps office for Suzie Kay to complete some work.  The common room for the volunteers has comfortable couches, and it was fun to meet Suzie’s new Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) family. 

After getting quite a bit done at the office, we were picked up by a waggy. Waggy is the word for vehicle in the local language. You can call a waggy driver who you know or just catch a on a passing waggy. Many people have this as their main income, transporting people and goods from city to town to village.

The waggy driver who took us to the town that Suzie Kay is currently living in is a driver that she uses quite frequently. He is trusted by the PCVs and takes his time getting places, not risking accident or injury. The drive to Suzie Kay’s current site is 2.5 or 3 hours depending on the day and how many stops are made during the trip.  It’s very common for the drivers to stop multiple times during the short trip for random errands of the passengers, 6 or 7 stops would not be out of the ordinary. The road between the city and the town is also under construction, so the ride feels a lot like the ‘Indiana Jones’ ride at Disneyland. During our little journey-ett we stopped 4 times and got 2 flat tires and so were slightly delayed.