Kites

This is the granddaddy of all kites. We wondered if it would fly. It did and quite nicely once they got it up. It took a bunch of people to launch it.

Easter Monday

Monday was the last of the five days. It is called Easter Monday. It is a family day spent outside picnicking, flying kites, playing cricket, soccer and whatever else you want. The Georgetown District had an area reserved in a big park by the seawall. The sky was full of kites and you had to be careful where you walked and how you walked so that you wouldn’t get tangled in a kite string. Even the little ones had kites.

Phagwah

Saturday was Phagwah. I tried to find out what it had to do with the Hindu religion, but no one seemed to know. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is a silly holiday sort of like the Easter bunny. Anyway, it is a national water fight. Before noon, people throw water on you. They carry small buckets and the kids have a ball. Everyone loves a water fight, but this is official. The only problem is that they use trench water YUK!!! They are supposed to put color into the water and many of them do. When you get hit, your clothes are stained. In the afternoon, they forget the water and just squirt you with paint powder. It is a real mess.

Kayaks

At the end of the trail, we found 2-person kayaks and paddled back to the resort. That was a lot of fun. Although Elder Langford took my paddle away from me. He said something about me fighting him. I would never fight him. By the time we got back, the rain had stopped. We were loaded back into the motorboat for the trip back down the creek and across the river. We were then bussed home.

The Rainforest

We took another nature walk through the rain forest. It rained – actually it poured. I did not want to try to hang on to an umbrella so I got very wet. When it rains here, it is so warm that you don’t get cold.

Arrowpoint Resort

We flew from Kaieteur to the big airport and were bussed to a dock on the Demerara River. A motor boat took us across the river (in pouring rain) and 45 minutes up a creek to Arrowpoint Resort. The boat ride was gorgeous. The jungle was very green and the water was black water. It is black because the leaves that fall to the ground, decay and seep down into the water table and turn the water black. You could not tell where the land ended and the water began. We don’t see much wild life. We want to go back to Arrowpoint and spend the night because the critters are nocturnal.

Kaieteur Falls

We took Saturday off and went on an excursion with the Tanners, our upstairs neighbors. They had visitors from the Dominican Republic who were here to oversee their Humanitarian Aid projects and to look at and purchase land for the church. We flew over the falls twice to see it from the air. It is the longest single drop waterfall in the world – five times higher than Niagara Falls. There is an airstrip for the plane to land and we went from there on a nature walk through the jungle. We stopped at three different viewing points. The falls are spectacular and there was a nice tour guide who took us on the trail

Big Treat

Look what we found in Paramaribo? We have not had a hamburger, nor any beef since leaving the MTC

Super Saturday

We didn't know what a Super Saturday was, having never seen one or participated in one. Seminary students who are on the home study program have a Super Saturday where they have a big, terrific lesson and then fun activities to suppliment their once a week classes. All of the classes in Suriname are daily classes so they did not have the big, terrific lesson, but we learned that it was to be included.

Suriname again

We had to go to Paramaribo to help with a Super Saturday activity. We also got to meet our area supervisor, Brother Goodman. President Gamiette went also, so we had a lot of visiting authorities for the Aroeman's to contend with. All went well but getting there was interesting.

Our friends, the Platts, are being transferred to San Maarten this week and they wanted to see Suriname before they left the area. They decided to follow us in their car. There is a picture of Elder Platt barefooted in the mud. Elder Langford had long boots, but his pants were covered with mud.

That dirt road was solid mud. We were stuck 7 times. Four times we were pulled out by a tractor and 3 times, some burly men pushed us out. By the time we reached the highway junction, we only had a hour of daylight left. It was a pretty good road so we set out for Paramaribo. Big mistake. There are patches of the paved road where the pot holes are 8-10 inches deep. We couldn't see them in the dark. We bent two wheels. We won't do that again.