Bakaaboto, Suriname

Recently I got back from a trip to the interior of Suriname, about 150 miles south of where I am now. It takes five hours to get there by car, and is located deep in the woods, at the side of the Suriname River.
The first day we didn't do much. The swimming isn't that great because where we were, there are Piranha in the river. Prianha have been known to eat humans, so we really couldn't swim. But, we could go in the river. Right where we were there were several large rocks. These rocks caused a small waterfall, about two feet high. Since piranha don't like rocks, or fast water, we were able to sit in front of the waterfall and let the water pound on our backs giving us a massage. This wasn't dangerous. There were plenty of rocks for us to push our feet against to prevent the water from pushing us. Even still, the force was not that great. It was fun.
The next day we got to go to a tribal village just down the river. The people of that village live traditionally. When we got there I felt like I stepped into something out of National Geographic. The women do not wear shirts, some did, but most did not. Some just wore a bra. Some little kids (usually boys) ran around naked. Homes were hut style, about as big as our dining room. Roofs were made of thatch, dried out palm leaves hung on top of each other to carry the rain away. We even got to take part in a ceremony where the people of the village were mourning the death of a young man. At the end of their ceremony, they gave us two bottles of Coke, and poured us each a glass of beer. For them to do this is amazing, it's like giving away precious wine, or people pouring expensive perfume over the feet of Jesus. The chief then let us take pictures of him in front of his house. The rest of the day was spent swimming and relaxing.
On the next day we went up the river to a large lake, I think it's called Brokopondo lake. It should be on a map. The lake was created by a dam that was built by the people who were mining for Bauxite. They needed power. All throughout the lake there were dead trees where land once stood. It was neat to see the effects of man's intervention in nature, but sad to think that it was probably Americans who made the dam, probably without a care as to the effects. This part of the river, the lake, is said to have the most piranha. I think it goes without saying that nobody put his/her fingers into the water.
The guide next took us to some bigger waterfalls, about the size you see at Graue Mill. I was not impressed. Some people chose to sit under these falls, too, but I chose not to. We then took an hour-long hike through the forest to get back to our bungalows, which were made in much the same style as the village. We all slept in one large house (with open slat walls and a thatch roof) and slept in hammocks covered by mosquito nets. We did have toilets, but no running water, so we had to "flush" by emptying a bucket of rain water into the toilet bowl. After dinner, the guide lit a fire and we laid around it and talked, while looking at the stars.

Between March 22-26, 2002, I took a trip to Bakaaboto, Suriname. This will give you an idea of what I did there. To see my pictures from Bakaaboto, click here.