WorldWideKittyGlassesProject : Paramaibo,Suriname

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Paramaibo,Suriname

I got picked up at 4am for the transfer from Georgetown, Guyana to Paramaibo, Suriname. The transfer cost 6000 Guyanese dollars ($30). I thought I was going to be able to sleep on the van, but I was mistaken. It took about 3 hours to get to the border. Then we had to buy our ferry tickets to cross the river to get to Suriname. The thing about the border is that you can not get the visa at the border, you must get it at a Suriname embassy. It costs $25 and you can get it the same day, you just need to make sure that you arrive to the embassy before noon. I bought a roundtrip ferry ticket and it is valid for 3 weeks. It costs 4,180 Guyanese dollars (which is about $20). We had to wait a LONGGGGG time until we could get on the ferry. The ferry runs only twice a day. At 11am and at 1pm. The ferry ride was only 20 minutes and in that time I filled out my immigration paper and had to help a Chinese woman (who spoke NO English) fill out her form. It was quite entertaining and luckily the woman across from me spoke dutch and was able to communicate with the Chinese lady. After I filled out the form, the Chinese lady gave me an energy drink as a thanks. I wanted her to wear my glasses, but I didnt know how to communicate it with her and I was too tired to try. Once off the ferry was when the mini headache started. The line at immigration was CRAZY!!!!!! People were cutting in line like CRAZY!!!! I have never seen anything like it before. Luckily I have really improved on my patience and wasn't too bothered by it and actually found it entertaining. Then a lady was really YELLING at one of the guys who worked there. I'm surprised that she was even allowed to get into Suriname with the kind of attitude she had. I got a bit worried that my transfer might not be there, but since there is NOTHING around the border, ALL the taxis had to wait and make sure that everyone had a ride to the city. After everything was settled and we were good to go a lady in the van started to yell at the driver. He didn't respond, so I thought that he actually couldn't speak English, but then 5 minutes later he yelled back at her and threatened to drop her off in the middle of no where. It was very green and lush from the border of Suriname. Then I finally got to my friend's house safe and sound, but it was a LONG day of travel. The next day, my friend took me into the city and we walked around the markets to get some food. Then I went on my own and walked around the city. It was nice to walk around and see some of the sights.