Two different fun days in a row!

One day, then the other. Two days that are so different from each other but still as important in our long journey. The sun scorching in the sky at the same time as the rain pours down, soaking our clothes. Here are two days in Surinam!

A Day that starts at 5 o’ clock is a day that you will never forget. Being tired is not a question at T/S Gunilla. After six weeks away from home and spending two of those weeks only being able to see the sea, you get tired. That’s why these days are important. So, this Friday we woke up, ate breakfast and hurried with packing for our trip. Filling up our water bottles, drowning ourselves in mosquito spray and grabbing a lunch box while waiting for the bus. The shuttle bus which has to take two rounds to pick up us, 46 people, was as usual cooled down from the A/C which was very comfortable even in the morning heat. At last we got out from the gate and there three more busses waited for us. As soon as you sat down in the bus you could feel the tiredness creeping up on you. It didn’t take long until you heard the chatter from fifteen people die out and replaced by calm breathing. There was only 5 people awake most of the time and two who you could hear their talking. The poor guide who tried to talk about different things, explaining what we saw passing by. It could be all from how the gold mining had affected Surinam or different kinds of factories. At least the people who were awake listened intently.

It’s understandable to be so tired in the early morning, at least when we have a bus journey which took about 3 and a half hour. One stop at a gas station where you could go to the toilet, shop for snacks or drinks for the day. Here you could see all kinds of snacks which could remind you from the snacks you can buy in Sweden. Kitkat with a different name, Oreos, cookies overall. It’s very interesting walking around a store and seeing what looks the same as home.

After a while in the bus we finally came to where we were going to drive off-road and that was the bumpiest road I’ve ever been on. Being thrown side to side really keeps you awake and alert. But these past few days have been very rainy so the roads were very bad. At some points we had to get out of the bus and walk for a while because the bus had to get lighter. It was a fun experience walking on those dirt roads being surrounded by rainforest. It still wasn’t as hot as it was supposed to get in the middle of the day but it was very humid making it very hot. At last, we were finally there. There were some cabins and then a really pretty tree which overlooked a very cool view. After a short while at the cabins we began walking to a place with a sort of hut which you could see a lot at. The trees surrounded the hut but still were open so that you could see. Rustles in the trees told us that there were animals above our heads and yes, of course, there they were again. The monkeys!

White face monkeys jumping from branch to branch, never falling even if they don’t use their tail to grip around the branches. They have almost like a fluffy tail. One even carried a baby monkey on its back! We ate lunch, and then kept walking to our final and most exciting destination. The waterfall! But first on the way there we saw a small little snake, like not even 10 cm big, and a very cool ladybug! Our guide also showed how you can communicate through trees. If you punch the trees with either a machete or a stone they make a loud noise which echoes for at least three seconds. They were called telephone trees. Down a steep hill we could hear the water pour down from the mountain. I couldn’t even count to three before people were standing under the water. It’s crazy being 16 years old and while other people have school and Im here, it’s 280 degrees, 10 UV and we are in the amazon rainforest!

The bus ride home was just as chaotic as the first but this time it started to rain. We had to go out and walk two times. Both of those times it was like a slip and slide down the mountain. Then a tree had
fell down and blocked the road. These people were experienced and moved the tree. And yet again, fifteen people fell asleep to the feeling of endless bumps from the road. But as soon as we got home we got woken by a surprise. Food delivery were waiting by the dock. 43 exhausted teenagers helped with carrying and making space for food and toilet paper. Falling asleep after this day was the easiest thing ever.
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A workday or a fun day? Which is it? A Saturday with a variation is a nice break from all of the other days which look the same. This day was mixed together with the perfect combination of school, work and fun!

The day first of all started with breakfast of course which always helps you start the day right. This day was very exciting since we had our second and last school visit in Surinam. We were going to meet the
students we met previously this week and have a sort of picnic with them. This day we wore our most formal clothes, the school shirt! We only wear this shirt when we have school visits and it always make us look a lot more put together and clean. It’s nice feeling clean after two weeks sailing on the Atlantic Ocean where we worked all day. I’m not complaining, the Atlantic was a really cool experience!

The shuttle bus picked us up 9.45 in the morning and it was of course a very chilly bus with A/C. Surinam is a very hot country which I wrote about earlier but especially this day was very hot. From cold Sweden to all of these countries we have been to, you kind of get used to it. I wonder how high of contrast the weather is going to be when we come back home to Sweden.

Since we were going to have a picnic together with the other students we were going to go to a kind of football pitch. But we weren’t allowed to play on the pitch which is too bad. But there was a volleyball pitch and the other students invited us to play a bit. It was really fun but they were really good at volleyball and they played with real rules. We played a lot of volleyball when we were in Las Palmas but we never really cared for rules, we only played for the fun. But playing volleyball makes you hungry and what did this picnic have to offer? We are from Sweden and what is the best fika you can eat there? Cinnamon rolls! Yes you heard me right, cinnamon rolls! Not having that much of homesickness anymore, only a little, these small reminding’s of home is very nice to get at times. No these didn’t taste like Swedish cinnamon rolls but that’s because we don’t have Swedish ingredients. They tasted amazing and paired very well with orange/apple juice which we also got. The other students also thought they tasted amazing!

Of course, the fun always has to end with saying goodbye to each other and meanwhile the other T/S Gunilla students had free day, we in midship were going back to the boat to work.

This work day I was “Backis”. That is more of a boat word of people who help the cook in the kitchen with different stuff like preparing food, wash the dishes and set the table for lunch and dinner. It’s a stressful job but it feels very rewarding when the cook found some old “Lussekatter” in the freezer which we got to share. This day almost all of the other students were going to eat dinner in the city which made it all easier since we didn’t have to bring out as much plates or glasses. We also listened to music all day and I promise i have like 5 songs that keeps replaying in my head. Music makes every work day fun so I’m not mad about it!

But of course this day also ended fun! When the clock hit 8pm we were surprised by the crew which had fixed a hotdog stand and game night!
When something fun happens that day usually makes you remember it much better. We, students, really appreciated this. We played Mario Kart on the crews Nintendo switch and our teacher had fixed the hotdog stand in something we call, room 13. It’s like a room where we keep different stuff for the boat. Even this didn’t mean that we “backisar” had to work more since the crew was very nice and took care of it all by themselves which was nice!

Even after this day, 43 tired but well-fed students fell asleep, awaiting another exciting day in Surinam!

Mim J