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.