Suriname - Catching up and Wrapping up

It's hard to believe that this amazing adventure is almost over! Although I haven't been posting as much in Suriname (pure laziness - I have no real excuse lol), a lot has still happened. Let's see what I can remember:

First, there's apparently a financial crisis in Suriname that started a few months ago. The Suriname dollar (local currency) is rapidly losing value, causing many individuals and business to prefer USD rather than SRD. That means that it is very difficult to get USD in Suriname. This was not a pleasant discovery for Amanda and I, as our landlord recently decided they would only accept USD for our rent payment. We got to embark on a wonderful tour of all the banks in Suriname, trying to get USD. On the plus side, while visiting the banks, we also got to see the beautiful St. Peter and Paul Cathedral. :)  

Absolutely gorgeous all wood cathedral

Besides that interesting monetary discovery, we've still been eating our way through Suriname. While sampling with Asmo and Steve, they insist we stop at little bakeries to try different Dutch goodies (horrible habit, but oh so delicious!). My favorite has been the berlinerbol (pictured below). There are several restaurants within walking distance of the apartment, so we've been trying those out. The food is always delicious!

Berlinerbol

Pom with chicken, rice, and veggies at a restaurant in the mall

Bami (Indonesian noodles) with chicken satay at Jawa

One Saturday afternoon after we finished in the lab, Irshaad took us on a tour of Paramaribo. There was so much to see, and he knew all of the best spots. Each of the crazy nice resorts in the city had a different feature, such as a rooftop patio with a view of the city, a gazebo over the Suriname river, and a beautiful garden. Side note: while waiting for Irshaad, Amanda and I had the pleasure of having someone use the worst pick-up line ever on us. *eye roll* We also got to walk around the grounds of Fort Zeelandia. It was built in the 1600s! All of the surrounding buildings were the traditional Dutch colonial style, which felt like stepping back in time.

Being extra touristy :)

Grounds around Fort Zeelandia

Fort Zeelandia

Palm tree garden

Original buildings built by the Dutch settlers

Presidential Palace

Suriname river - we travel over that large bridge in the
background when we sample in the district of Commewijne

Paramaribo

We also saw a Muslin Mosque right next to a Jewish Synagogue. They are literally neighbors, sharing a fence, and there have been no issues! It was incredible to see two very different groups coexisting without conflict - so inspiring! As I've said before, Suriname is such a mix of cultures. Javanese, Amerindian, Surinamese, Dutch, Chinese, etc. Most of the population speaks 3, 4, even 5 languages! Take note, USA!

Asmo and Steve planned an awesome day trip to Blaka Watra (black water, an area in the interior in Suriname). They packed food and drinks and even brought hammocks - everything needed for a relaxing day at the creek. The water was very cool and clean, despite how it may appear in the pictures. The black water is unique to the region, and is caused by the leaves in the rainforest. It's basically tea water - the water flows over the falling leaves in the Amazon and turns this coca cola color. I've never seen water like it!

Steve and Asmo putting up the hammocks 

I was in heaven :)

Cassava and chicken by the creek

Such a cool color when the sunlight hits the water

As I start to wrap up this adventure, here are some things I'm going to miss (note, this isn't a comprehensive list, just what comes to mind in this moment):

• The people!! Amanda and I have been so fortunate to meet some absolutely amazing people. So welcoming, so proud of their countries, such great new friends.
• The pace of life here - It definitely took some getting used to, but "Caribbean time" really grew on me! It was a nice respite from the craziness of the past few years. Everyone is so "go go go go" in the US, so it was nice to almost be forced to just stop, take a breath, and enjoy the moment. I'm going to have to incorporate some "Caribbean time" into my life back home.
• The FOOD! I haven't quite come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to be able to find some of this food in Ohio. Roti and curry, bami, saoto, loompia, bakabana, fresh coconut water, metem, fresh rice...the list goes on and on! So many new flavors, and I'm proud to say I've increased my spice tolerance!
• The jungle and completely untouched areas. I have never been as off the grid as I was for Kaieteur Falls and Blaka Watra. It was so quite and peaceful! A very mice break from the hustle and bustle I usually encounter in Columbus.

All-in-all, this has been such an incredible adventure!! I'm so sad it's wrapping up, but I know I'll be very glad to be home and see everyone I've been missing. The remaining time will pass in the blink of an eye, so I'm going to try and enjoy every last moment. :)

Much Love,

Joslyn

P.S. Psalm 37:23-24 "The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.

Suriname - Food, food, and more food

Let me start this post by getting any unhappy travel updates out of the way so we can get to the fun stuff. :) So I've been incredibly lucky, in all my travels during the past year or so, to not have gotten sick while abroad. Well that luck unfortunately ran out on this adventure. I think it was the combination of exhaustion and all of the location changes (going from Trinidad & Tobago, to Guyana, to the US, back to Guyana, then to Suriname in just over 1 week) that caused it, but I unfortunately got sick in Suriname. :( Just a brief hospital stay, with an IV and some meds, so all is well now - but I definitely don't want to repeat that experience! Now onto the fun stuff...

Suriname has been great to far! Amanda and I are staying in this cute little apartment right down the street from a mall (yay!). The A/C and hot water are great added amenities, as is the directv (HGTV has been on almost 24/7). Everyone in the lab has also been so welcoming! The language barrier has been interesting, but so far it seems to be working out great! We're even picking up a little bit of Dutch (but it's a very difficult language). We've been having a lot of fun getting to know both the lab and field teams. I got to go to a 6 year-old's birthday party with one of the lab personnel, Naomi. It was so much fun! It was a pool party with a TON of delicious food. No one even batted an eye at me showing up as an extra guest, and they went out of their way to make sure I had enough food and was enjoying myself. After the birthday party, I got to walk around a nice neighborhood with Naomi and her friend. They pointed out the sights as we walked and told me more about Suriname, which was cool.

living room, kitchen, dining area

My room :) a king size bed is glorious!

There are a few small corner markets within walking distance from the apartment, but we prefer to go to Tulip, one of the big grocery stores in Paramaribo. It reminds us of grocery stores at home, except everything is in Dutch. Thank goodness for the google translate app, or who knows what we'd be buying!

So many options!!

We've been shown a bit of the city thus far, but most of the things we do to explore Suriname have involved trying new foods. :) It's been wonderful. Suriname is such a mix of cultures: Amerindian, Javanese, Chinese, Dutch, and many more! Although Dutch is the main language spoken here, you'll also hear English and a ton of local dialects as well. It's such a neat city! I captioned each food-related picture with more info. :)

Bakabana (baked plantain) with a spicy peanut sauce -
one of my favorite Javanese dishes!!

Saoto - Javanese soup with chicken, vermicelli noodles, sprouts, rice,
hard boiled egg, spicy pepper seasoning...SO DELICIOUS!! 

Bami - Javanese noodles and vegetables with chicken
covered in the spicy peanut sauce

A veritable feast of traditional Surinamese food! Seasoned pork, sweet & sour shrimp, brown beans with rice, Pom, cooked veggies, and sweet "pancakes" with raisins

Amanda and I have kind of hit a wall, so to speak - meaning we are both missing home like crazy. It finally hit us how long we have been gone, so we've been longing for some things that remind us of the US. This means one thing: comfort food. :) We've splurged a bit in grocery shopping, and gotten the ingredients to make fettuccini alfredo and homemade garlic bread, an "American" cookout (hot dogs, baked beans, french fries), and chocolate mug cake with nutella and ice cream. :) Overall, we are having such an amazing experience and wouldn't change it for the world, but we're definitely missing home. 

           

Besides eating our way through Suriname, Amanda and I also got to explore the zoo during a slow day in the lab! It was a really cool zoo, but I'm pretty sure I saw more animals outside the exhibits than in them lol. I'm 99% sure the small monkeys (pictured below) escaped their enclosure - Amanda and I saw what was supposed to be their exhibit, with the door wide open. :) They were sneaky little buggers, waiting until the tapir was distracted to sneak down and steal it's food. It was so entertaining to watch!

Cool primate exhibit that reminded me of the Islands at the Columbus Zoo.

Free-roaming monkey :)

Notice he (or she) is outside the enclosures lol

Stealing the tapir's food

This weekend has been a very relaxing weekend. There has been some lab work each morning, but then we have the rest of the day to do whatever we want! Naomi took us shopping and to lunch yesterday, and today Irshaad took us to a flower market. I wanted to buy everything! The flowers are gorgeous - so bright and colorful! If only they could survive in Ohio lol. We also got to try this bright pink Javanese drink called dawet - it's some sort of syrup mixed with coconut milk. Delicious!!

Overall, things have been going great thus far in Suriname. We reallllllly miss our Guyana family, but are excited to see what happens in this next leg of the journey. I think zip-lining and kayaking in the rainforest might be on the agenda for next weekend. :)

Much Love,

Joslyn

P.S. Isaiah 26:3-4 "You, Lord, give true peace to those who depend on you, because they trust you. So, trust the Lord always, because he is our Rock forever."

Guyana - Weekend Getaway and Wrap-Up

So I officially fail at regular blog posting. In my defense, the past few weeks have been absolutely jam packed...But anyway, here's an update about my amazing weekend in Trinidad & Tobago and the last days in Guyana. *sniff* :'(

First things first: Tobago was absolutely GORGEOUS. I never in a million years thought I would be somewhere so picturesque. Luckily, we had an in with a local, so we got to stay in this nice guesthouse about 5 minutes from the beach (thanks Chelsea!). :) We landed around noon on Saturday (7/2), and by 2:00pm we were in a glass bottom boat that took us to reefs for snorkeling and to Nylon Pool for exfoliating. It was INCREDIBLE!! We also ate at this delicious sit-down seafood restaurant for dinner. The catch of the day just happened to be mahi-mahi (my favorite fish) with shrimp. That food was so good! See below for pictures.

Crystal clear water

Store Beach

Chelsea, me, and Amanda in a mangrove bay.

Delicious dinner of mahi-mahi, shrimp, rice, spiced papaya,
some orange mush, and veggies. :)

On Sunday, Omani (the guesthouse owner's son) showed us around the entire island of Tobago - it's about 26 miles from end to end. We went to Englishman's Bay first. Oh. My. Goodness. It was basically empty, and we had the whole place to ourselves. Clear turquoise water, white sand beaches, not much around in terms of shops/buildings. It was perfect. We grabbed lunch on the second floor of this little snackette by the beach. Shrimp roti with potato and chickpea curry. I'd say my view for lunch was pretty good. :)

Englishman's Bay

My view at lunch :)

After Englishman's Bay, we headed to Pirate's Bay. Little did we know the adventure ahead of us...Pirate's Bay is a very secluded spot. The road actually ended and became basically a ledge on the mountain with tire tracks. It was more terrifying than the bus ride up into the Andes Mountains when I was 10. But we made it to a spot Omani thought we could park at, and walked the rest of the way. It was a bit of a hike, but man was it worth it!! It was such a beautiful, secluded cove and the water was perfect. We had some fun swimming and climbing around on the rocks near the shore.

The "bushes" to the left of the "road" are actually the
tops of trees growing on the side of the cliff...

View (from the bottom) of the stairway that took us to the bay

Pirate's Bay

Chelsea, Amanda, and I swimming in the beautiful water

We made a few more stops on the way back at various picturesque locations, including the first fort, King George's Fort, that had a lovely view of the capital city (Scarborough), and a lookout of Little Tobago, a small island next to Tobago. Amanda and I really didn't want to leave, but we were excited to explore Port of Spain, Trinidad during our long layover on the way back to Guyana.

Not a bad view of Little Tobago ;)

Bye Tobago, I'll see you again (hopefully soon) :)

In Port of Spain, Amanda and I made the Hyatt Regency our "home base" for the day. We splurged a bit on a delicious lunch (I had a chicken sandwich and cucumber salad) and dessert (tiramisu with espresso chocolate sauce) that was well worth the money. It was the closest we had come in over a month to feeling like we were back in the states, so it was nice. We were then picked up by a driver to take us on a tour of the city. He was nice and just showed us the highlights on the way to where we really wanted to spend our time - Maracas Bay beach. :) It was a perfect place to spend the 4th of July! The beach even had free wifi, so that was an added bonus! We also got to try Bake n' Shark at Richards Bake n' Shark shack (featured on Bizarre Foods!!). It was SO good, especially smothered in cilantro and garlic sauce with cucumber and tomato. Never thought I'd be eating shark!

Beautiful Trinidad

Maracas Bay - unreal!

Maracas Bay

Bake n' shark

Amanda and I both commented that, while T&T had been incredible, we were looking forward to getting back to Guyana, since it really had come to feel like home to us! Once we got back to Guyana, it was a few fun days in the lab, and then I was again at the airport. This time I was heading HOME!! For a few days at least. :) Nothing was going to stop me from celebrating with my cousin Sierra & her fiancee (now husband!!) at their wedding!! :) :) It was so unbelievably amazing seeing and spending time with family. A much needed recharge after being away for so long. It was a jam-packed, but fun-filled weekend.

Soon enough, I was headed back to Guyana to wrap up the project. It was so bittersweet! Everyone in the lab had begun to feel like family, and it was so hard to say goodbye!! :( They were amazing, making a pineapple upside down cake and bringing sparkling grape juice for our last day in the lab. They also put together baskets (one for each of us) containing a TON of local products! They included 4 types of jam, roti mix, spices for curry, pholourie mix, cassava bread, and so much more! We were absolutely overwhelmed by their generosity in giving us a little bit of Guyana to take back with us. Then, Nalissa, Zenzie, and Jason took us to the airport. I'll admit, it was very, very, VERY hard to leave and my eyes were a bit teary. As excited as we were to explore the next country, neither Amanda nor myself wanted to get on the plane. :( Being in Guyana was such an amazing experience, and I can't begin to thank my Guyanese family enough for being so amazing and making sure we had a wonderful time in Guyana!!!! I just know I'll make it back again someday. :) :)

Delicious cake made by Nalissa (with fresh pineapple!) 

Basket of Guyanese goodies!

Me with the lab dog, Girlfriend. I'm going to miss her! 

Our Guyanese family :)
(minus Shevone who was taking the picture)

I'm exhausted, so that's all for now. We've safely arrived in Suriname and started work. I'm excited get to know everyone in the lab and to see what this next country brings!

Much Love,

Joslyn

P.S. Psalm 139:9-10 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.