YOLO in Suriname Oct 2016

  YOLO didn't go to Suriname, but the people did.  I went shopping one day with Annick from Enora 3 and we had to get money changed to local currency.  This guy had a brick of Suriname bills to exchange from Euros, but he didn't want his picture taken.

He let me play with his handful of money, though.  He is probably the best-protected man in town!  I don't often get to play with nearly $10,000 of cash.  Especially when it isn't mine.

Parakeets and lovebird and parrots for sale on the street corner in Albina, Suriname, across the river from St. Laurent du Maroni.

We took a bus to Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname, a couple of hours away.  The riverfront where the town was settled also has lots of old architecture, much of it wooden.  This is a restored home at the fort site.

These old homes were part of the fort housing back in the 19th century.

Now they house boutiques or mini museums and exhibitions of stuff. One of the floors was a body art museum, showing tattoos and such.

The statue of the queen was outside the fort in Paramaribo.

Jason next to a cannon at the fort.

The tall bridge in the distance was the one we came over to get here in the taxi.  It's one of the Top 10 sights to see here in Paramaribo.

A statue in the courtyard of the fort's museum.

This is the home of the President of Suriname.  We weren't invited in.

Old colonial buildings show the British influence here.

This fat boy earned his own statue for some reason.

A street full of old brick colonial buildings in downtown,

This old wooden building stands in direct contrast to the brick ones,

A downtown city street view.

The different layers of design caught my eye on this door.

The sign for the Saint Elizabeth school is on the brick part, but....

much of the school is the old wooden style.

This is the oldest wooden cathedral in the country, dating back to the 1800's.

The front of the wooden cathedral.  They've taken good care of this historic church.

Even the spires are shiny and proud

Another view from the corner.

The front doors of the church.

An old wooden building not yet restored.  This is an old part of the St. Eliz school

You can see the St. Elizabeth school--the newer part in the white paint and these old buildings not fit for habitation.

The side of the old wooden church is a different color scheme.

A sharp eye might catch that 'gang' is spelled 'gaag' on the third set of spray painted grafitti. Perhaps they should've stayed in school and learned how to spell.

A very nice sports field in town.

An old decrepit buildings in town.  Not all of them get funds for restoration.

That tall red building in the distance is a Chinese warehouse supermarket.  We found things in there that we hadn't seen in a while, bu didn't want to buy them and carry them in our already-full backpacks.

A cool old building ready to collapse in the city.

A stone wall at the fort along the waterfront.

I like these grey-green palms.

An old home at the fort

The lawn behind the fort.  I really wanted to capture the giant insect sculpture on the far left of the photo, but it doesn't really show well.

We toured the fort and this is looking back through the arched entry into it.

They had an old cobbler's shop set up, complete with the old stays and machinery used to make shoes.

Inside the courtyard of the fort.

The view of the river from the fort in Paramaribo.

Karen mugging behind bars in a cell in the fort.

In an unused corner of the courtyard, we found piles of clay roof tiles and these gravestones and statues.

The old apothecary with its old bottles and potions.

Lots of cool old bottles here.

more old bottles and glassware.

Giant earthenware urns.

Medicine bottles of old.

The cooking hearth, no longer used.

Upstairs was a museum of different cultures.  These hark back to our Indonesian visit.

We've seen these horse models used in Indonesian dances.

This is a diagram and explanation of how the slaves and goods were lined up to move across distances.  Very interesting---so calculatedl

A wooden lintel with 1822 carved into it.

The gift shop was in this building.

The brick mosaic star in the courtyard  was pretty interesting.

I love SU (for Suriname) in the parking lot.

This looks like the Washington Monument with a flip top.

Some of the old restored wooden buildings from the 1800s in downtown Paramaribo.

Nice job on the restoration here.

This one's next.

Local boats at the waterfront.  Some on the right are sunk.

These pirogues will take you across or up the river if you want.

The market in Paramaribo.  Not a very full one, though.

Another view of the market.  Not the usual chaos I'm used to in a public market.

Colorful wares on the stairs at the market.

Fish for sale outside.

This guy is cleaning a huge 'river monster' catfish at the market.  Yes that is all one fish!

A clever way to display the crabs for sale.

Fish for sale, arranged by type.

Notice no refrigeration.  But these are fresh, so if you buy them you can take them home and put them on ice until you cook them.

A stall for the colorful hot peppers they have here.

This guy is selling a cardboard box of fluffy yellow baby chicks on the sidewalk.

The dichotomy of the old and new in Paramaribo.