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.

Day 3 - Agra, India

Wow, the Taj Mahal was a great experience!*

It's difficult to post about seeing the Taj Mahal without being completely sappy and hokey.  The whole complex was amazing with a large entry gate at each side of the main courtyard.  After entering the courtyard there was a large red entry gate. If you peaked through you could see the grand Taj Mahal  beyond the many reflecting pools, fountains, gardens and  platforms. The massive marble structure was so pure white that it almost glowed. It's amazing to think that a man had it built in honor of his favorite wife who had passed away.  I hope he was as good to her in life as he was in death.

After taking a good 30 minutes to wander through the gardens and gawk at the building from afar we decided to make our way inside.  There were stations for the locals to leave their shoes before going inside, but the visitors usually put covers over their shoes instead.  It seemed to me that part of the experience was feeling the cold marble on your feet, so I left my tennies at the shoe station (hoping they would still be there when I returned).

Once inside we met up with a guide who spoke in run-on paragraphs, never taking a breath.** He told us that all of the flowers and decorations of the structure were actually precious jewels inlaid in the marble, not paint as you would expect.  The detailing and size of everything was absolutely amazing.  After our whirwind time inside the building our guide whisked us away to a different part of the complex. After walking through the whole complex with the guide he tried to convince us that the tour was not over until we visited the souvenir shop that he knew of.  We finally shook him, convincing him that we would meet him outside the gate. When he finally left the four of us; Gene, Omar, Varonique and myself were able to look around slowly and snap pictures. We wandered around thinking about history and life.

Once we were done we headed out of the complex and sure enough the guide was waiting there for us, ready to take us to the souvenir shop.  In the shop they sat us down in white plastic chairs and continued to tell us that we needed all of the things they were shoving under our noses. We put up with it for about 5 minutes and then made our ways back out onto the busy street where one nice gentleman leaned into Varonique and kindly asked, 'Would you like to buy my goat!?!?!' (hahaha, that was a fun moment).

For lunch we sat in a cafe just outside the walls of the Taj Mahal complex and enjoyed a delicious meal of fried rice and mixings.  Omar (like any decent Mexican) had tequila with him.  We decided to make the meal a trully multi-cultural experience with tequila and Indian food.  However, we were having so much fun that we completely forgot about the tequila in the end and just enjoyed the day in our silly sober state. From the restaurant I enjoyed looking down at the busy street of Agra, with rickshaws and motos zooming this way and that. 

After lunch we made our way to the Agra Red Fort where I fed a chipmunk from my hand and almost got attacked my a monkey who had strong feeling that I should not go to the Water Closet. During our time at the fort the four of us also decided that currency should be measured by the number of sweets it can buy rather than how many US Dollars it can be changed into. (1 South African Rand can buy 5 sweets).

We also saw where the king kept his harem...nice!

It was so much fun to spend the day with my new friends chatting about our travels and common interests. Somehow this one day get-away felt like a 2 week vacation! It was super duper fantastic and freeing.  I came away with it having a new outlook on life and remembering that life is meant to be light and fun sometimes, not always so heavy and serious. I have no idea how it accomplished it, but it was one of my favorite days in a very long time.

*Except for the people constantly bugging you to hire a tour guide or photographer...that got on my nerves

**the guide got on my nerves because he spoke so quickly and he kept TAKING my camera and snapping pictures. I like my pictures to be what I took...not some random guy. So I deleted most of the photos that he took..annoying

Day 3 - On the way to the Taj

The train ride in to Agra was a fun experience.  The seats in half of the cabin faced the front of the train and the other half faced the rear, makinng one row in the middle where you sat across a table from three other passengers.  I was in this middle row.  Across from me were 3 members of a 7 member family from Afghanistan.  The seat next to me also included one person from this Afghan family. 

I didn’t catch the names of my table-mates, but I did find out that the father can speak five five languages and used to work for the Department for International Development (the British version of USAID).  The two young boys who were at the table were really freaking adorable.  One was 13 and the other 9. 

The 9 year old ended up sitting next to me. He acted so much like London would in that situation.  He didn’t make eye contact and pretty much pretended that I didn’t exist. It was bad enough that he had to sit next to a stranger, but next to a foreign GIRL?!?  That's just scarey!  It probably didn't help that his mom kept trying to convince him to practice his english with me.

Part way though the trip the 9 year old sat next to his mom and she took out a small, square, red velvet book with a brass medallion on both covers. She handed the small book to her youngest son and leaned over him singing the passages that were written.  He would correct her if she got any of the wording incorrect. The moment was so precious.  I was aching to take a photo of them, but knew that it would completely ruin the moment.

On the train they served us a tea break and breakfast.  I was very impressed.

When I first walked into the bathroom I thought there wasn’t any toilet paper but was happy to discover that the toilet paper was tucked under the counter, the perfect height for a squatter. You think using a squat pot is difficult? Try using a squat pot on a moving train! As long as you don’t end up with pee in your shoe you can consider the experience a success J. 

After we got off the train it was clear that Agra was quite a bit colder than Delhi The morning was chilley and Gene kept looking at me saying, ‘It’s really cold, don’t you think it’s cold?’.  After leaving the station we headed to the ticketing office to purchase Gene’s return ticket for later the same day.  In line we started a conversation with some other people behind us.  This is how we met our new friends, Omar from Mexico and Varonique from South Africa.

Once the tickets were purchased, and I was done taking pictures of wandering cows and stray dogs, we were off to the Taj Mahal! To the moto!!

The motos are small three wheel motorcycles that can seat 3 passengers...or 4...or 5...or 6... The moto that we got zipped through traffic with every turn seeming like  a close call. Each moto is decorated a little different on the inside.  The one that Gene and I took had pink and purple flowers sown into the covers and ceiling.  After about 10 minutes of weavin through traffic we swung around a round-about and parked in front of a touristy park entrance. After paying the driver 100 INR (about 3 US dollars) we headed down the path.

Parked on the path were a few camels pulling buggies, I felt bad for their poor caloused knees.  We also saw some monkeys on our walk to the Taj entrance.

Day 3 - To the train - Delhi, India

This morning I woke at 3am after 9 ½ hours of glorious sleep. My stomach felt better and I knew that it would be a great day. I was soooo ready to travel to Agra to see the Taj Mahal! While eating breakfast in my room I heard a catchy tune on the television and then proceeded right into a solo dance party with a few Matisyahu tunes.

At 5am the taxi driver, Sansar, picked me up from the hotel and we headed to the train station.

I got out of the car and weaved through the mass of people, stepping over the many who were sleeping on the floor. Train stations are a breeding ground for criminals, but I had my important documents and money stuffed in my socks and under my clothes, so I wasn't too worried. My backpack was turned around to the front and held it tightly. I left 1 credit card and a few hundred Rupee in my wallet because no criminal would believe that I didn't bring any money with me.

While queuing at the security check-point a gentleman in a blue uniform informed me that my e-ticket printed from the computer was not valid, and that I needed a paper ticket. He told me to go upstairs to the tourist office to get my ticket reissued. So, I headed up the dark stairway, past the two men huddled in fabric and sleeping on the floor.

Once I reached the second floor it was evident that the offices were not yet open. In the hall I saw another man in the same uniform as the guy downstairs. He was talking to another tourist. Standing next to the other tourist, I listened to what the man was telling him and likely to tell me in a few minutes. He informed us that our train was cancelled and that because the tourist office did not open until 8am, we had to take a taxi to the nearby 24 hour office to buy tickets for the 7:10am train. He even had a taxi waiting....how convenient.

I asked the other tourist if he wanted me to call my taxi driver and we could share the fare to the ticket office. At this, the man in uniform said, 'No, the office will only help people who arrive in our taxis and there can only be 1 passenger per taxi. You will have to take separate taxis.'

The other tourist and I looked at each other like, 'yeah freakin' right...that sounds like the worst idea EVER.' But, to appease the guy we agreed and practically ran out of the station. Once outside I immediately called Sansar and asked him to return to the station because we needed his help. He let me know that he was on his way.

Now that some of the crazy had subsided I turned to introduce myself to my fellow tourist. My new friend's name is Gene. He's from Malaysia and is in Delhi for a conference. He's a student of architecture but also focuses a lot on environmental issues because that is his personal passion.

Gene let me know that he had seen a general ticket booth for the locals in a different section of the station. We headed over there and saw that there was another security check-point, mostly abandoned. We went right through the security and found a nice Indian woman with a small child to ask about the train. It turns out that she didn't know much about the trains because she was actually from Canada (hahaha). This was her son's first time to India and he was ADORABLE!

It turns out that our train was not cancelled and that the guys dressed in uniforms were trying to scam us.

Gene and I were safe on the train and on our way to see the Taj Mahal! Woohoo!

Day 2 - Delhi, India

On the way to the foundation India office today I noticed a few things about the driving here.  It seems as though stop lights and traffic lanes are more of a suggestion than a law.  People merge constantly and are often driving between lanes or in the right lane (they drive on the left here).  When the light turns at the intersections those with the green have to claim it.  You must start driving into the oncoming traffic to strongly 'suggest' that those with the red light stop.

It's craziness, the foundaiton office here looks JUST like the office in Seattle.  It's just a lot smaller. They even have the same light fixtures.

The staff here are extremely awesome!  They kept asking me what my plan was for my two days off this week and I didn't have a concrete answer.  They convinced me that I HAD to take the two hour trip out to see the Taj Mahal.  After I agreed they asked the travel agent here to find me a ticket on the train and coordinate everything.  WOAH!  Now I'm going to the Taj Mahal...that was completely unexpected.

The meetings here are done but I get to stay in Delhi for a couple extra days because I need to be in Geneva next week for more meetings and it doesn't make sense to go all the way back to Seattle before the Geneva meetings.

WOOHOO, I'm soooo excited!!

Day 1 - Delhi, India

The city of Delhi is split up into two main parts, old Delhi and New Delhi.  The hotel I'm staying in is located in New Delhi. It's surrounded by beautiful trees and I see flocks of green parrots fly by my window often.

Today 43 people gathered in Delhi, India to discuss how to change lives through health interventions in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. When you think about changing lives do you think of people sitting in a room all day long talking back and forth? Before I started at the Gates Foundation I definitely didn't think of action as taking place in a meeting room.

Nothing in particular struck me as interesting or touching today.  It really just seemed like a day of meeting in a different country. The grantees here are quite amazing and thought provoking.  Their passion and expertise in the work they do is inspiring.
As the meeting coordinator I was asked a question about ever 10-15 minutes. I think I did an okay job with keeping my patience, but it was a close call a couple of time. 'Excuse me ma'am is eveything okay?', 'Excuse me ma'am, could you sign this?', 'Excuse me ma'am, could you fill out this third review card of the day', 'Excuse me ma'am, excuse me ma'am, excuse me ma'am'.

It was a little much and by the end of the day I wanted to tell the hotel staff what my mom would tell me when I was younger, 'I'm sorry, but you've used up all of your questions for the day.'
Also, just in case you were wondering:

• The warm towels they provide before meals on business class flights usually smell like Fruit Loops.
• Taxis in Delhi are old looking cars with yellow tops and green stripes.  They make me happy.

I'll update more once I get a chance for some site seeing.

Upcoming travel - woohoo!

I haven't been so excited to travel in a really long time!!!  I leave on Friday for a 2 week trip which will be super duper awesome and will update you via my blog!

Delhi, India: Jan 28-Feb 3
Paris, France: Feb 3-5 for a girl's weekend with Jónína Campbell!!
Geneva, Switzerland: Feb 6-11