Right after Heather left, we boarded a plane and headed off to do some training in some of the districts in the Caribbean. We continue to be amused how most of these little Caribbean airlines have the planes park blocks away from the terminal and then you walk out, rain or shine. Here's our plane to take us to Guadeloupe.
As we flew over the Guadeloupe countryside, it was interesting to see how many of the homes and buildings have colored metal roofs whereas the ones in the Dominican Republic are all just tin color. Hopefully, you can see the reds, blues, and greens below. They make everything look so much more festive.
Here are Nathalie and Claude Bouchaut - she's the Public Affairs director in Guadeloupe. She served a mission for the Church on Temple Square in Salt Lake, so she speaks perfect English along with her native French. And her husband teaches English. A really sharp couple.
There's a famous fort, Fleur d'Epee, high above the town of Pointe-a-Pitre. It was captured by the British then retaken by a French battalion which expelled the British from Guadeloupe on 3 June 1794.
There's not a lot left, but there is a beautiful view of the ocean.
Our hotel is at the end of the outcrop on the left.
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| Love a windy day! |
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Downtown Grand Terre. |
Here's another lovely view the other direction - Guadeloupe is a beautiful island.
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| Such a peaceful scene. |
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| This one was about three feet long. |
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| This one had an attitude. |
This was the beach area outside our hotel. We only had time for lunch out there.
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| This one was perched watching everyone eat. |
There's a colorful tower and a lovely waterfall welcoming visitors. We were here last July, but don't remember the welcome sign.
Our first stop was to visit a sister Souvage D’Oliveira who was given 40 chickens by the Church and the materials to build a chicken coopHer sign is posted outside her home. Notice that live chickens are $260 (US$1.27) but plucked ones are $350 (US $1.71) - a bargain at any price, especially for a five pound chicken! She also has ducks that are coming along. Please note that the sign shows she's not open on Sundays...
She has worked hard and now brings those chickens to market every six weeks (that's how long it takes for a chick to grow to a five pound specimen.) The ones in the picture need another week. Can you see the smaller chickens to the top left? These are layers that she is now raising to sell the eggs. And there are some baby ducks that will soon be for sale. She also is excited for the chicken manure which is helping her garden grow abundantly.
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| Our fancy canopy bed. However... |
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| we had to climb all of these stairs- both flights- to get to our room - no elevators. |
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| Here Rob is outside. |
And our final stop was Suriname which was formerly a Dutch colony - the folks mainly speak Dutch and English. Many of the people are of Indonesian and Indian descent who came as workers in the early 1900's. They drive on the left, just like Guyana and Guadeloupe. We visited with several member families. Here are the Salijos with their sweet grandson. He was blowing bubbles when we first arrived there - kids are the same all over the world.
On the plate are fried platanos with a spicy tomato sauce. Platanos, as you probably know, look like bananas, but they are actually a starch. They were so good - the best that we've eaten in the Caribbean. In the DR, they just fry them, and they are called tostones and are a little dry. These are batter-dipped before frying and are very moist.
Here's another family from grandparents down to great grandchildren, all members of the Church - Aroemans . They have a very nice house, but about 900 sq. ft. for all of them and an older brother who was at work.
Here's one of our Church buildings in Suriname. The basic construction of our buildings throughout the Caribbean often include this concept of two buildings joined by a breezeway. The building on the left was the original with a chapel and a rec hall. Then as the congregation gets larger, they had the other side which includes classrooms and offices.
On the left is the Great Mosque located in Paramaribo. And right next to it on the right is a Jewish synagogue - probably the only place in the world where the two are right next to each other.
And here's the Hindu temple nearby. It was built about ten years ago and is enormous. This picture doesn't do it justice.
And the cathedral of St Peter and Paul - 45 meters tall and 161 feet long, making it the largest wooden structure in Suriname, and supposedly the largest wooden structure in the Western hemisphere with amazing carving inside. There don't seem to be any religious conflicts among the different religions in Suriname.
The Jules Wijdenbosch Bridge is a bridge over the Suriname river linking Paramaribo with the rest of the country. It is most noted for it's height of 171 feet tall. It was made this tall so that there wouldn't be a reason for a drawbridge, but tall boats could go under it. The traffic was awful the day we were there, so we didn't get to go over it (this photo is a copy, not one we took) but we're not sure if it would be a little scary to drive over...So in six days and ten airports we visited these three wonderful countries and the folks that live there. Please note, that in the Caribbean, you just can't get on a plane and fly directly to most countries. Some fellow missionaries had meetings in Jamaica this weekend, and to fly there either via Miami or Panama. Our flights took us from Santo Domingo to Guadeloupe (that was the easiest), then a stop in Martinique, to Barbados, and then to Guyana (with a change of luggage because we were going on different airlines). Then we flew from Guyana to Trinidad to get to Suriname. And finally, from Suriname to Curacao to Panama to Santo Domingo on two different airlines. It's crazy.
