my peace of the pie: A Three Hour Tour

I promised in my last post that I would write more about my trip way upriver, so here ya go.

November 26- December 1

On the morning of November 26, those of us leaving from the city were picked up about four o'clock. We were well on our way by five, but that doesn't always mean a lot when traveling in Suriname. We arrived in Atjoni (where the road ends and the boat travel begins) about seven. We waited ever so patiently while our guides loaded up our two small boats. Fourteen of us were making the trip. Around nine o'clock, we were on the road again. Well, the river. We had to pick up a few folks along the way that were at their sites, so that took some time. Oh, and I haven't mentioned that the river was about fifteen inches deep in some places. I think we got out of the boat almost every twenty minutes to walk across sand or rocks. Maybe not that much, but way too much. I felt like I was on a hiking trip with a little bit of boat riding thrown in the mix.

We didn't make it to our desired destination on the first day. After ten hours on the river, we stopped for the night to sleep in a shed by the river in a village called, Godo. Now, Godo is located on the river by a pretty substantial rapid called, Tapa Wata. When boats reach Tapa Wata, everything has to come out of the boats. The boats have to be portaged over the rocks. Our guides slept out on the rocks with our stuff, and we saved the task of dragging boats up rapids for the next morning. I hung my hammock in the shack and zonked out.

We were up and at 'em at six a.m. on day two. Pretty soon after waking up, we had ropes in our hands and we were dragging the boats up the rocks. That's hard work, y'all. Day two passed much like day one. Shallow water and walking. We had to portage the luggage and goods at the Gaan Dam again, but this time we just switched to boats that were already at the top of the rapids. We hit our first destination, Langu, after about six hours on the river. Getting the chicken barbecued and the beer cold were top priorities. After supper and some Saamaka music making, we tied our hammocks. Oh, wait. Julie killed a mouse with a dustpan before I could go to sleep. The mouse was in my stuff and ran across my foot. Twice. I have to say, she killed that tiny mouse like a pro. I thanked her, but her real reward was when red ants took over her bag. She literally had ants in her pants the next day. Way to go, Julie.

Day three was another six hour day on the boat, full of much of the same, to our final destination, Sentia Dam. We did spot a pretty decent sized caiman. And the guides shot it. And we ate it for dinner.

Day four was our only day not in a boat. We spent the day lounging in our hammocks, playing games, swimming, and eating more barbecued chicken and fried river fish monsters. Let me just say something about this chicken. Forget marinades. Forget sauces. The way to prepare chicken is to let the entire bag of frozen chicken thaw out in dirty river water and on hot rocks. And then you cook it on an open jungle fire. It was some of the best chicken I have ever eaten. Seriously. Then again, I did have a parasite after this trip. Whatever.

We were up pretty early on day five. We went back to Langu. I bet you already guessed that it was another long day on the river. You're right. We did get to experience the killing and cleaning of a tapir though. Honestly, it made my trip better. Until that point the trip had been way too much just hanging out with heat exhaustion and dehydration for me. We can hang out for a lot less money than this trip cost. Killing a wild animal, now that's a jungle adventure. And it was. I think our guides shot the dang thing seven times. They were beaming as they dragged the animal out of the jungle and down to the river. I couldn't help but be excited for them and for their village. They had to clean it immediately, so we got to see that. It was pretty gruesome, but so interesting. The things these guys can do with a machete is totally impressive. I mean, the precision. Wow. I wanted to squeeze it's stomach, but that's nasty and inappropriate, so I didn't do it. We made it back to Langu exhausted, but with meat. That's a big deal out there. The guides also killed two howler monkeys and a couple of random jungle birds. The village members were pumped. John had a party planned that night for us to hang out with his village. We danced the night away in the jungle.

The next morning we were all set to leave Langu. Folks were going back to their villages, and a group was going back to the city. We were all ready to go when we got the news that the boatmen that were suppose to take us had decided not to go that day. Yeah. John spent the next couple of hours getting it all sorted out. It was a long trip and we were all tired. Patience was running low, but he got it all figured out and we were finally on our way. We spent ten hours on the river with the same song and dance of getting out, walking, getting in, and carrying supplies. We did not make it to Atjoni and our van that day. The six of us going back to the city stayed at a volunteer's site about two hours from Atjoni because night fell and the river is just too risky to navigate at night. The next day, the trip ended and we were in the city. Whew.

I also have to note that every single Saramaccan that was informed of our trip took the time to inform us of how insane we were for making the trip with the river so low. It's fun to get picked on when you're so tired and hot, right? It was an adventure and something I will for sure never do again. Cheers to that.