Off to Aruba

Our flight back to Suriname leaves from Aruba instead of Curacao. At 9.00 we say goodbye to Bonaire and Little Bonaire and head for the touristically most developed of the Dutch Antilles.

Asses????

Just an insider joke for the family....

Idyllic

If only I could have a view like this every day!!

Caribbean Christmas

Even Frosty the Snowman comes to the Caribbean during the holiday season. The tropical weather is a bit of a problem though....

Off to the Antilles

Tomorrow morning Anand and I, accompanied by Vasco Tonch, the guy we are working for at the moment, are off to the Dutch island of Bonaire to meet with the director of DIGH, a Dutch financial institution that finances housing projects. We plan to speak about setting up a project development company that will provide projects around the Caribbean for DIGH to finance. Additionally, there is a get together on Bonaire of Caribbean housing associations and the director of DIGH will introduce us to them so that we can promote the steel build houses that Vasco Profiles makes. That the meeting is in Bonaire is very advantageous because a couple of steel build houses happen to have been built on Bonaire already so it will be easy for us to show people around the houses and answer all their questions. Before we arrive in Bonaire, however, we will spend two days on Curacao. Daisy is still there, so I hope I will be able to meet up with her as well. On our way back to Suriname we will spend a day in Aruba to meet with the director of an aruban bank that has shown interest in our trust company and financing projects in Suriname. The trip won't be all work and no play, I'm sure. I have packed my swimming trunks and intend to enjoy the white beaches and clear Caribbean water!!

X-mas all year round

Paramaribo has a few strange shops. One of them is a chain of Christmas shops that sell santas, rudolfs and fake snow all year round! To make up for the fact that Christmas comes only once a year, the shops also carry products for Divali, Id, Sinterklaas and other religious holidays.

Early morning goodbyes

By chance we called Suriname Airways' information number to see if Daisy's flight to Curacao would be on time. To our great surprise we were told that the flight was not scheduled to leave Zanderij at 10 am, as stated on Daisy's e-ticket, but at 6 am! This meant leaving home at 3.30 in the morning for a check-in an hour later. Memories of early morning departures to Bristol came flooding back .

White Beach

Suriname has little in the way of beaches. To give the locals and the tourists that traditional tropical feeling an artificial beach was made a couple of years ago: White Beach. Situated just over half an hour outside of the city on the banks of the Suriname River, White Beach is a mini resort complete with cabanas, palm trees and a restaurant. An ideal place for a relaxing day!

Special sister

Daisy, Rebekka and I have always thought that our sister Melissa was a very special sister with a cocktail of qualities...

Shopping in Paramaribo

Shopping should always be an enjoyable experience, but for Bremmers it can be hilarious! Whilst walking through the main shopping area of the city, Daisy and I browsed many a clothing shop and ended our shopping excursion in Kirpalani's, Suriname's largest department store. Looking through all the extremely low priced items there were quite a few that made us laugh...

Let's Tube

My digicam has the functionality to record directly into YouTube format. This had to be tested...

Health & Beauty

This weekend the Health & Beauty Fair was held in the Paramaribo conference centre. The venue is in the heart of the colonial part of town, but the building itself is an ungly reimagining of a colonial building. With not much to do in the city, the fair itself was packed. Local representatives of cosmetic and wellness companies showed their wares and gave people the chance to sample new products. Anand, Daisy and I went home with some free shampoo samples, moisterising creme, toothbrush and soap.

A dark Divali

On the day that Hindus celebrate the victory of Light over Darkness, the skies over tropical Suriname are not their usual blue with a hint of cloud. Since this morning it has rained on and off. It's the first time since my arrival here that it has rained that much. Even for the locals it is unusual weather for this time of year. The 'small' rainy season is supposed to start in a couple of weeks, but perhaps climate change has come to Suriname too...

Cocktails anyone??

After a hard day's work and an afternoon of being a tourist a cocktail at 't Vat is an ideal way to relax the body and mind.

Brother & Sister

On her first day in Suriname Daisy and I casually strolled through Paramaribo and relaxed a while on the pier overlooking the Suriname River at the Torarica hotel.

Family reunion Part 3

As part of her travels in this part of the world, my sister Daisy has come to Suriname to visit me. She'll be staying for two weeks. Flying in from Miami via Curacao and Trinidad she arrived around midnight at Zanderij, the international airport that is about 45 minutes drive from Paramaribo. Although I still have to work during the week, I hope we'll be able to do some fun things and see a bit more of Suriname together.

Surinami art

This weekend the national art fair was held in Paramaribo. Welknown local artists and new up and coming ones exhibited their works of the past year. The majority of art consisted of painting, but woodwork, photography and ceramics also were to be seen. What struck me was that many of the painters were of Javanese background and that there were hardly any Hindustani artists.