Last week, our family joined 12 other people for a trip to an “eco-resort” in the rainforest of Suriname. I have lived in Suriname for six years, but have never been into the interior. Where we live is called the savannah, which is low-growing vegetation, and it stretches about 60 miles in from the coast. The place we went is called Raleigh Vallen (Raleigh Falls), and it is about 120 miles inland. It is definitely jungle – it looks just like what you’ve seen on National Geographic!
DAY 1 (Monday) We left our house in the capitol city of Paramaribo at 8:30 a.m. on a bus, which took us to Boskamp, a small settlement on the Coppename River. This took two hours. At Boskamp, there was a boat waiting to take us up the river. This boat was a dugout canoe. Remember, there were 18 of us, plus the driver and two other guys going along for the ride. These canoes are made from BIG trees. As I said, there was a boat waiting for us. Unfortunately, the boat did not have a motor. Another guy was supposed to bring the motor from the same city we came from. We couldn’t bring it with us because our bus was full. The guy with the motor left before us and had not arrived yet. We waited about two hours for our bus driver to track down the guy with the motor. He had gotten lost. How, I don’t know. There is basically one road running along the coast of Suriname from Paramaribo, the capitol city, to the river where we were. I remember seeing one “Y” in the road. We went right. He must have gone left. Anyway, waiting is a part of life in any developing country, so we took it in stride.
We finally got to leave. They piled all of our stuff in the front of the boat and covered it with a tarp. Clothes, food and etc. for 18 people for five days. Then we got in. I was amazed at how much they could fit in this boat. It was actually much nicer than we expected. My husband has gone upriver in a canoe that only had plank benches with no backs. This boat had backs on the benches, cushions on the seats, and a tarp roof over us. There wasn’t much leg room, and three adults across was a bit tight, but it seemed okay, at least when we first got in.
We then proceeded up the river for five hours without stopping. We stopped at a village where the two extra passengers got off, and the guys could pee in the bushes. No toilets. I wasn’t that desperate. We still had two hours to go.
About an hour later, it started raining. Hard. The tarp roof leaked. Water was sloshing around our feet. The guy in the back of the boat was bailing water out. We had a very long hour to go.
I taught my kids a new word on this trip up the river. “Interminable.” According to Webster, it means “endless” or “wearisomely protracted.” Webster had no idea.
At about 7:00 p.m., the sun went down. A few minutes later, we pulled into our destination. It was really dark. We were led up the hill to our “lodge”, and the guys carried all the stuff up.
The lodge was a long building with open sides and a thatched roof. At one end was a kitchen with a gas range, but no refrigerator. At the other end was a common area with two long picnic tables. In the middle was a dormitory-style room with rows of bunk beds. Off to the side was a separate building with toilets and showers. There is electricity at night, powered by solar panels. Unfortunately, there was a problem with one of the circuits, and the only light we had was in the kitchen. There were a couple of oil lanterns set out for us in the common room and one in between the shower stalls and the toilet stalls.
By this time, I really needed to use the bathroom. I headed for the toilets, and went into the first stall, which was closest to the lantern, although the light didn’t do much good. Before I sat down, I noticed a dark spot on the seat. I assumed it was a cockroach, which are so very common here, they don’t phase me much anymore. I grabbed some toilet paper to wipe it off the seat. In the darkness, I accidentally touched it, and it was furry! Then, instead of falling to the floor, it jumped and stuck to the wooden wall. I ran out of the stall and grabbed the lantern to get a good look. It was a TARANTULA! Now, that was an exciting way to cap off the day!
DAY 2 (Tuesday)
Woke up with sore hips from sleeping on a bunk bed with a 4” foam mattress sitting on a piece of plywood. It must just be that I am heavy enough to flatten the foam rubber, because I always have trouble sleeping on this type of bed. I also have joint problems in my hips, so I’m sure that doesn’t help. But, overall, I felt pretty rested. Later, I put a mattress from an empty bed on top of my mattress. It was much more comfortable. We all had mosquito nets on our beds, even though I hardly saw any mosquitoes, which was a nice break from the city. I found out later that there are other bugs that fly around at night, and there is always the possibility of vampire bats. Lovely.
We were all so exhausted from the trip, we didn’t do much of anything today except hang around the lodge, go down to the river to play in the water, and watch for birds. A toucan landed on the grass about 10 feet from where I was sitting and stayed there for about a minute. I didn’t have the camera with me, so I didn’t get a picture, but it was pretty cool.
Of course, I brought some quilting with me. I am quite a bit behind on my Women of the Bible blocks, so I brought templates and fabric for six blocks. I started on a very complicated one today, the Star of Persia. I was more than happy to just sit in the common room and sew.
In the afternoon, there was a troop of capuchin monkeys that came to visit, looking for a handout from the new group of people. They weren’t afraid of us at all, so it was very easy to get some good pictures of them.
DAY 3 (Wednesday)
Everyone else in the group went on a hike today, except me. There is a huge mound of granite sticking out of the rainforest nearby. It is called “Voltzberg”. “Voltz” was the name of the man who discovered it, and “berg” means mountain in Dutch. It is a short boat ride and then a 4-hour hike to get to Voltzberg, then you can climb the rock. No thanks. I planned to sit on my backside and sew all day. The picture is my husband and four boys in front of the mountain.
After everyone left at 7:00 a.m., I decided I wanted to go fishing. I like fishing, and haven’t done it in a long time. Some of the guys brought all the gear with them, so I grabbed a pole and took off. The only bait I had was cheese, which wouldn’t stay on the hook. The locals usually catch a small fish, and cut it up for bait. So, I used the cheese to catch a small fish, and, yes, I really did, I chopped it up for bait.
The next thing I caught was a 9-inch piranha. It really is a pretty fish, except for its teeth. I was very lucky that the hook only went through its lip. It would have been interesting to try and get the hook out if it was inside its mouth. I threw it back, because, although I have heard they taste good, they are very bony. I kept fishing, and only got one more bite. It was something much bigger than the piranha I caught. Unfortunately, it was the one that got away.
It turns out that I should have brought the piranha back with me. The guys were all impressed, because I was the only one who caught anything all week.
I went back to the lodge, cleaned up, washed the dishes from breakfast, had some lunch, read a book and took a nap in the hammock. I did finally finish the Star of Persia block. You can see it here.
Everyone else got back around 4:00 p.m. They were dragging. I had the best day of our trip. I have four kids. When we go on vacation, I still have to figure out meals, find everyone’s stuff, make sure kids brush their teeth, put them to bed, etc. It’s usually not much of a break. For this one day, though, I had absolutely no responsibilities. I could have stayed at the river fishing all day long if I had wanted to. I didn’t have to be anywhere or be responsible for anyone else all day. I think I could have been happy with several days in a row like that!
DAY 4 (Thursday)
Everyone was pretty tired after yesterday's hike, so they mostly hung around the lodge. There was one family in our group who is very outdoorsy, and they were out paddling canoes up and down the river, looking for more animals, etc. I went on a short (1-hour) walk on a trail through the jungle. Saw some birds, and lots of butterflies. Came back soaked with sweat. I’m so glad I didn’t do that for eight hours yesterday. I also spent some time playing in the river with my kids. Tried some more fishing. No luck.
At 5:30, we held a baptism service in the river, with the monkeys watching. Our two younger sons, who are 11 and 9, have been Christians for several years, but had not been baptized yet. My husband is an ordained minister, and baptized the older two boys in a river in North Carolina some years ago. We thought it would be good to continue the tradition of baptizing our kids in a river. This was a very special service, since both of their school teachers from the last two years were on the trip with us, as well as some other very dear friends. We sang some songs, dunked some boys, and had a great time praising the Lord in the sanctuary that He created!
About 9:00 at night, a bunch of us went up to the dirt airstrip at the top of the hill and looked at the stars. Very cool.
DAY 5 (Friday)
We left Raleigh Vallen today. We had arranged to take a small airplane home, to avoid the 7-hour boat ride. It only takes 45 minutes to travel the same distance by air. It also costs about 5 times more. We were lucky that a group of Dutch tourists were coming in that day, because we only had to pay a fraction of the normal cost for the airplane, since the pilot would have to fly it back anyway.
After packing up, we still had several hours to wait. I finished a second block, called “Scroll Work.” You can see it here. I didn’t get the six blocks done that I had planned, but I am happy that I got two done.
There were two planes coming, one at 1:30 and the other at 3:30. The 1:30 flight was a 6-seater Cessna. We asked to be on the earlier flight, because my husband was allergic to something in the area and had been itching all week. He couldn’t wait to get away from there. We had to leave one of our teenage boys behind to come with the second group, but he didn’t mind. His girlfriend and her family were on the trip with us, and they were in the second group.
So, we piled into the little tin can with wings, and took off for our 45-minute ride home. Little planes don’t fly as smoothly as big planes, and my 11-year-old is prone to motion sickness. You guessed it. Ten minutes before we landed, he threw up all over himself and the floor of the plane. That was fun. We had some pillows handy that we had brought with us, so I used a pillowcase to clean up as much of the mess as I could. I put it in the plastic barf bag that my son didn’t have time to use, and later just threw it away. That pillowcase was not worth re-opening that bag!
It was so nice to get home. I did find myself getting annoyed with the cars, traffic and noise of the city. Raleigh Vallen was so peaceful, and I really did have a great time, especially because we were with friends. But, I am very happy to be sitting in my air-conditioned, well-lit bedroom at my computer, drinking an ice-cold Diet Coke.
