The kid loves tech

Today I was babysitting my nephew Luca. Uncle Ben played with Manny, as he is also known in the family, changed his dirty nappy and gave him a serious amount of food. Luca is quite fascinated by the telephone. Perhaps it is because he sees his dad with a Blackberry almost permanently attached to his head or because he is trying to emulate his mum. In any case, Manny is intrigued by the back lit number pad, the beeps when pushing the buttons and the voices that sometimes come out of the handset. And he lets Uncle Ben use the phone as well.

Where's the summer???

Less than a day ago I was in the tropical heat of Suriname. Touching down in Amsterdam I was confronted with grey skies and low temperatures. It truly has been a terrible summer this year. Let's hope the autumn will be nice....

Crumbling history

Paramaribo has many wooden houses that were built in the nineteenth century. In the historical centre many are restored, but elsewhere in the city quite a few are in very bad shape. Slowly they are being restored as well, but quite a few house people who can't afford to spend what little they earn to restore their home. It would be a shame if these quaint houses would be lost.

Trusssst in meeee....trusssst in meee......close your eyes...

The jungle is full of snakes, but they rarely venture onto camp sites. This one is quite harmless, but some Surinami snakes can be quite poisonous.

Rain and flood

Although the dry seasons has supposedly started, the skies opened halfway during the evening and the rain didn't stop until the morning. Consequently our campsite flooded as the creek burst its banks.