Saturday, March 31, 2012 - Bergendal/Paramaribo
(Photos are of the resort and our room in Bergendal.) We slept in and packed for the return bus ride to Paramaribo. Gene and I rode with the luggage van to the hotel (so the others would not get sick) and we were there in 1.25 hours. We had room 620 at the Krasnopolsky Hotel and after a meeting with the tour operator manager and hotel manager to go over our thoughts from the week, I went directly to bed.
April 1, 2012 – Sunday – Palm Sunday in Paramaribo
April’s Fools! Well, guess what? We had no electricity! And that meant no air conditioning. Yikes. The humidity has been high so it became uncomfortable after awhile. I was feeling much better and we had been invited to a Baptist church by Rachel, one of our guides from Bergendal. We took a taxi to the church where they gave us with headphones and instant translation from Dutch to English during the service! But the a/c was not working in the church either for awhile but then, YEAH! It came on. The band started out full force and it was quite a musical event for Palm Sunday. Rachel and her brother dropped us off at the Ticarica Hotel so we could explore that area. The hotel is on the river, has a beautiful pool and incredibly professional tennis courts (!) and a dock. Some of the room’s have a walkout to the pool. We walked back to our hotel passing an open air market, getting caught in the rain storm and ready to be in the cool air conditioning and to pack.
Bed came not early enough as we were up and out by 4AM for the flight back to Miami.
Monday, April 2, 2012 - Paramaribo/Miami
At 4AM, we were given a box breakfast, loaded two vans with luggage and people and drove 45 minutes to the airport. What activity! Four flights were leaving at the same time! Insel Airlines. Air Suriname. Caribbean Airlines. And our departure was delayed until 9AM due to late arrival from Belem, Brazil.
We cleared customs in Aruba, which meant taking off all carryons and claiming checked luggage. So for this one flight number, we went through airport security THREE TIMES!!
Soon after arrival to Miami, we were back at the Residence Inn Miami Airport South for a nice quiet evening. Dinner was included in the room rate (!) so no need to stress about that. I worked, Gene watched Final Four basketball and we remembered where we were yesterday. Tomorrow is another day and who knows where we will be. Hopefully back at home …but always ready for the next adventure. Are you?
