Moleson Creek/South Drain, GY/SR
On Monday morning at 6:30 as agreed with the police I presented
myself for the recording of various information from the passport,
chart-gray, driving license, temporary import license in Guyana,
insurance of the vehicle for Suriname.
Then after the control of my vehicle by the staff of the ferry I
entered the parking area. Towards 7h00 I bought the ticket of the
ferry for the vehicle and myself. At 8:00 the control of immigration
stamped the exit of Guyana. I expected the control of the customs to
give the document which I had obtained in Guyana Revenue Authority.
The customs officers began control around 9:00. The document
given by Guyana Revenue Authority posed a problem because I did not
have the entry document by the customs of Lethem. The customs officer
was to speak with the signatory about the document.
Of course immigration had taken me my passport. A
long wait started to finish around 10:30 with the agreement of the
signatory of the document to let me leave Guyana. But I had missed
the ferry. I was to expect the next one at 13:00 if not the
following day. Finally I recovered my passport. Admittedly the worst
is never certain, however it is
stressing to have problems at the exit of a country knowing that the
authorities have to make a decision.
South Drain, SR
The ferry spent approximately 30 minutes to cross Corentyne River.
The vehicles unloading the last I waited at the end of the file of
the non-residents. At immigration I presented my passport with the
form filled as well as Tourist Card obtained at the embassy of
Suriname in Georgetown. The officer gave a one-month visa. At the
customs I gave my passport with the double of the form, the vehicle
registration, as well as the insurance to obtain the certificate for
temporary import in Suriname. My vehicle was not visited by the
customs. It was 16:00 Suriname time, -3 hours UTC. I decided to
bivouac on the carpark outside of the buildings.
Nieuw Nickerie
The road from South Drain to Nieuw Nickerie taught me the road signs
in Suriname. Although Dutch ex-colony speaking Dutch and very often
English traffic is on the left hand drive and the road signs are in
English. Like in the other already visited countries in Latin
America, there are vibradores, here rumble and topes here platform!
Nieuw Nickerie is a small town at the edge of Nickery River.
After having taken cash at an ATM and published
the pages of my website, I found a place to lunch and bivouac on a
derelict land at the edge of the river.
At Coppename riverside
On Wednesday, April 6th the road towards Paramaribo crosses a
landscape of plain, ice and cereal culturation, irrigated by
channels. Suriname depends to 70% on the extraction on bauxite. Its
surface is of 163,800 km² with a population of 530,000 inhabitants
of which the half lives the Paramaribo capital. I bivouacked at the
edge of Coppename River.
en route, click the picture
Paramaribo
On Thursday morning April 7th I arrived around 10:30 in Paramaribo
at the carpark of Fort Zeelandia. At once I went to Tourist Office
at 50 meters to expose my 6 requests. One of them related to
overnight in the parking during two days. The hostess answered me
that one needed the authorization of the MAS, Maritime Authority
Suriname. An assault course started with a temperature of 34°C. To
the MAS the employee told me to go to the Central Police Station
which directed me towards the Commissariat DC. which sent me to the
Ministry of culture which told me: it is the responsibility for the
Director of Suriname Museum. Who told me: “No”.
During this course of +2h00 I took some pictures and I discovered a
paying parking lot who agreed to lodge me until Saturday morning.
For the recipients of the world tour, it is also that, the search
for a bivouac in cities. Recurring problem of every evening. Then in
the afternoon I provided for washing my truck, the supply in food
and drinking water finally to fill up the tanks with diesel. Phew, I
was at my bivouac around 17:00.
Visit-1, click lthe picture
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On Friday morning I left on a tour into the old Paramaribo with the
map provided by Tourist Office. The first stage was the Central
Market made up of two parts, the part for Muslims and the large
market. It is very vast with rather broad alleys. Of course it
offers fruits & vegetables, fish & meats. Opposite there are
buildings resolutely modern architecture. While walking on I stopped
in a gallery exposing works by local painters. Then it was a church
of 1778 and very old houses with colonial architecture. Finally I
discovered what is the curiosity in Paramaribo, a mosque and a
synagogue opposite. The Synagogue was closed. On the other hand I
entered freely in the mosque where a Muslim, of Indian origin by his
grandfather arrived in 1908, came to join me and to hold me a very
moderate speech about the events which have occurred in France and
Belgium with a very severe judgment and without ambiguity about the
Taliban and Daesch. Alas he matter occulted the remote regions of
the Koran although he showed me extracts of the Koran, in Dutch, and
bible, in Hindi, about the burqa which according to the book would
be the clothing of prostitutes, but I do not read Hindi. Finally he
gave me a French booklet affirming that Islam is the religion of
humanity, saying that it is only and single… Curiously the foreword
is signed by Lord Headley converted with Islam in 1913. I begun
again my walk while passing in front of the Dutch reformed church
built in 1833. Then it was the wooden St Pierre and St Paul
cathedral where I could not enter because I did not carry long
pants. Indeed I omitted to specify that yesterday in my course for
obtaining the parking licenses I had to carry long pants to enter
the official buildings as in Guyana by 34°C! I had rested in
splendid Palmentuin before making my shopping and returning to my
truck around 16:00 by making multiple stops in the shade.
Visit-2, click the picture
On Saturday morning I continued my visit of the old city slowly. I
did not discover anything exceptional. I tried the bivouac on the
carpark of Fort Zeelandia without authorization!.
Visit-3, click the picture
