July 1st is a holiday in Suriname to celebrate the abolition of slavery. The day is called Keti Koti. Keti Koti means "cutting the chains." Sunday night a few of the PCVs in the city went downtown to take in the sites and help the locals celebrate. We spent a couple of hours hanging out at a park by the river and soaking up the fun. As the rest of our group decided the night was over for them, five of us stood on the side of a street, by a stage trying to figure out our next move. A crew was breaking down the stage after a band finished their show, and the crowds were moving away. The five of us stood around randomly dancing to the music, talking about where we should go next. As the music got better we started dancing more. The next thing we knew there were school kids standing around watching us. (We really do give the locals so much to talk about). At our encouragement, some of them joined us in our dancing circle.
Fast forward an hour or so and the street around us was packed. I think by the time we left there were close to 300 people dancing and loving their lives. It was so cool. The folks breaking down the stage even started up a fog machine! I could not believe how packed and loud and crazy it became. We started a dance party in another country. It's true.
A guy was taking pictures and told us we could find them on his Facebook page. Take a look.
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