The Suriname railways

Today there are no railways in operation in Suriname, but I learned from my father about the old railway that has been abandoned shortly after the independence. As the motorcycle was already at the cargo terminal, I had to take a bus to get to the village where the locals told me the trains should be. Finding the trains was not easy, because of the vegetation that had invaded everything. I found two steam locos, two self propelled passenger units, some passenger and some freight cars.

1180 tren1181 tren1182 tren1183 tren1184 tren1185 tren1186 tren

Tags:

Permalink|Comments RSS Feed|Trackback URL

Florida

I arrived safely in Florida, after a stopover in Aruba. Since the distance from the passenger terminal to the cargo area was around 10km, I had to rent that funny looking car just to get there 🙂 To clear the customs I had to hire a customs broker. The forms were simple but I didn’t have a computer nor the time to find a way to download & print. Then I replaced the oil and the gasoline, which had to be removed prior to flight due to safety regulations.

The second thing that I purchased in USA was a Olympus SP-600 digital camera (the first one being a gallon of milk, of course!) so from now on the picture quality should improve.

I’ll post the last pictures from Suriname, followed by some from Florida, as soon as I have a convenient way to do it (Fedex Kinko’s is ruining me with $.20/min…)

pickuppickup2

Permalink|Comments RSS Feed|Trackback URL

The wooden houses

Many older houses in Paramaribu have a distinct architecture. In select areas they are properly maintained, but about to collapse in others. There is also a very big wooden church, which I am still searching for.

Today I delivered Palomina to Suriname Air Cargo. Paid US$1042 for 195kg of freight. For that money, I hope she will be travelling really well!

par wood 1par wood 2par wood 3par wood 4par wood 5

Tags:

Permalink|Comments RSS Feed|Trackback URL

Paramaribu

After crossing that river I entered Albina, a poor village on the river bank. I had to stay there for one night because the insurance broker was closed and without the insurance paper the customs would not give me the clearance.

The next day I arrived in Paramaribu, after a 150km ride on a asphalted road that looked like it has been bombed or similar. This caused the rear storage lid to open and fall, being subsequently lost 🙁

In Paramaribu I approached several freight forwarders asking for quotes for shipping Palomina to USA. The most convenient solution I found to be with Surinam Airways Cargo, which charges around US$5/kg for freight to Miami. Now the problem is that Surinam Airways only accepts payment in US$ and there are no US$ to be found in Paramaribu (and I looked at banks, exchange houses, even casinos). Now I am waiting for the money to be wired so I can pay.

The flight will be Tuesday so in the meantime I have some time to check out the surroundings.

Permalink|Comments RSS Feed|Trackback URL

Few more pictures from the French Guyana

guy 1

Creeks and swamps are very common in that area.

guy 2

guy 3

Somewhere in the Brazilina jungle we lost the license plate. I had to stop at a shop to build a replacement.

guy 4

Many wreckages like this can be seen everywhere in French Guyana, mostly in remote areas. Hundreds, if not even more! Some of them with broken glass and burned. We were wondering why. I found the answer while in the shop waiting for the replacement license plate to be cut.

There was another client who had some strange tears on his pants. We began talking and he mentioned one day he was driving his Citroen Xsara from Cayenne to St. Georges. At some point, the road was blocked with tree branches. Feeling the danger, he placed the car in reverse and attempted to escape. That moment, two men armed with shotguns showed up from the jungle and opened fire. Some rounds broke the tires while others penetrated the door and hit his leg. Even though he was being fired upon several times, he did not stop. With flat tires he couldn’t go very far, but from his cell phone he alerted the Gendarmerie who came and rescued him and his vehicle.

After telling this story, he lifted the pant sleeve to reveal the wounds!

guy 5

To get from French Guyana to Suriname I had to cross this river. I was happy to see a ferry waiting, but soon I learned it was out of order. So o canoe was the solution once again.

Tags: ,

Permalink|Comments RSS Feed|Trackback URL
Pages: Prev 1 2 3 4 Next