pic and a post!

Dinner with the Prez!

So I got 3 full days left before I return to good old WV. I have had a great time, but at this point I am really missing Gina and the dogs. Ok let me get you all up to date on what has been going on. Tuesday morning I was up 7am here (which is 6am in WV) I was excited because I was going on a river trip on a large boat to see some sights. So out the door I went. The boat was not much to look at but it did look like it would float so “no worries man” the driver told. Who total looked liked cheech of cheech and chong. I took my set on the boat and was ready to hit the river for the 8 hour trip. The boat slowly pulled away from the pier and I was ready for the driver to hit the gas. I waited and I wait…. So I came to learn very quickly that this was the slowest boat every made by man-kind. From the boat I could see bicycles passing us on the trail next to the river. Ok I can deal with this I thought to myself. We are going to see some wild life and other cool things. It will all be worth it. Well let just get to the point on this one. The boat made two stops on the trip. The first we walked 5 minutes to see two grave markers then back to the boat and the second to see two old house like look much like any other house you would see here in Suriname. The 3 hour boat ride back to the pier I was wishing the boat would sink to add something interesting to the trip. I was not the only one on the boat who thought so. Just about everyone was going out of there mind.. About one hour away from the pier I saw my first for of wild life, well sort off. I saw a dead sea turtle along the river backs. It was big, about the size of a coffee table. To make it even better there was about 20 birds eating it. When we finally got back to the pier I was so happy. After that I went home in bitter disappointment. That evening we went to one of the nicest places I have ever been so that really made up for the boat trip. My new friend Michael invited me to his private bar at his house. As my friend Melissa said “this place is pimpin”. It was in the old basement of his home which is over 250 years old. Words can not express how nice this place was and the best thing about it was that it was just us and we could really relax for a few hours. AHHHH! Footnote: The best rum in the Caribbean is in Suriname and it only $7 a bottle US.

The next day I had planned to spend the day shooting photos of the area but wouldn’t you know it the rains came. This is of course part of the Amazon some it rained most of the day. So with the rainout I took advantage to catch up on some well needed sleep. That even I got all dress up because I was going to the President of Suriname house for cocktails. Yes the real President. Don’t believe me then checkout the photo of me and him together above. How about that! It was really kinda of cool meeting a President even if you don’t even know the dudes name. How many people from West Virginia can say that? Well I off to meet with another photographer… Ohh be the way my workshop went fine. Two of them were AP photographers and one was another pro shooter. The biggest hit by far though was my camera. Having the top of the line Nikon which no one else down here has really makes it easy to start a conversation lol. See you all in a few days. Man this month has went by fast.

Not all the comforts of home..

Warning! This post is a little different from the rest. Ok above you see a photo of the toilet in my apartment. It is much different then ones at home. If you look at the photo you will see that the back of the bowl does not have water but a flat area for your deposits. OK someone needs to inform me why this is. Kinda gross if you ask me.

I made it to the Amazon

Well Sunday afternoon I made it Suriname around 2pm. There was a little problem trying to get my visa and it took a little extra time at the airport. The thing that hurt the most was giving the customs guys $100.00 U.S. to get my visa. Well everyone there went my gift money, sorry. On the bright side I have a visa that is good for 5 years lol!

After being freed from customs I was introduced to my host for the week outside the airport. My pal Gary and I jumped into Jack’s (our host) car and headed down the highway. For some reason the airport is 30 miles away from the city and I have no clue why. After Trinidad I was really looking for a new place to crash and on the way I was wonder what kinda place Gary and I would be staying. Well we hit the jackpot on this one. Jack hocked us up with one of his apartment and we have it all to ourselves! After 3 weeks of staying with different families it is a wonder full change of pace.

Suriname is a lot different from the islands I been to so far. Of course Suriname is a coast country of South America and not an island first of all. It has a population of 500,000 people and it reminds me more of a Asian country then South American. You see there is a very large Asian population here and they all ride around on mopeds like in some old Vietnam movie. The crime rate here also seems to be much much lower then Trinidad as well. I even walked to the store this morning to get a few things and didn’t get any weird felling at all. So needless to say I am much happier here.

Today I went on a site seeing tour of the city. I didn’t get any great photo but I still have 6 more days here so I will keep my figures crossed. Tomorrow I am teaching a 4 hour photography workshop at the Suriname Photographers Association, LOL.. Considering I was given 24 hour notice of it I hope these folks don’t have to pay to attend. Well I better get start on what I am going to talk about… Be home in one week!

cat attack!

JR lives in Trinidad?!

Ahhh! This blog is being written while I sit in the pool an relax for a bit. Today I had to get up around 6am so that I could be interviewed on CNT (Cable News Trinidad). Don't worry America I didn't imberus the country. I was two minutes to late getting to the studio and missed my spot. To tell you the truth I really was kinda happy about it. The last thing Trinidad needs on TV is me lol. After I had a few hours before my next appointment so I wen to the Trinidad version of Satrbucks for a iced coffee. It was so good!. While I was there two guys in cycling gear came in for a drink and you know me the cycling fanboy had to say hi. After talking wth them for a bit I found out that they both where pros from here and both have been Caribbean champions in the past.. So I gave them a iPlayOutside car and told them I would see about getting there photo on the site. They also invited me to watch them race on sunday but I don't figure I ill be able to make it because I fly out for Suriname that night.

Later in the after noon I spent the day at a local photographers house and we sent most of the morning talking shop. It started to get a little weird for me after about an hour because it was like I was talking to an older verison of myself. His wife gets mad at him for spending to much money on tools (camera gear), loves star wars and works in his sleeping clothes just like me. It was a great time. His most famous photo was of Micheal Jackson (in th late 70's) kiss miss Trinidad on the lips.. What ever happened to Micheal? He looked so normal in the photos. So
if i was black and was from Trinidad I found my older brother lol.

After lunch I headed to the Port of Spain zoo and it was a sad site. I really dont want to relive that so I am not going to say any more about it..

Well i better go I going to a play tonight. Got to get out of the pool and dry off..

pics

Highway to hell!

I know it feels like forever since my last post but with no access to the internet there is not much I can do about. I try to make up for it by getting you all up to date on what has been going on. Well Sunday I arrived on the island of Trinidad and as soon as I got off the plane I had an event to attend. It was a young Olympics kinda thing and it was fun to watch after sitting on a plane for two hours. After the finals of the tug-a-war it was time to head south to where I would be staying for the first three night of my visit. King Henry as I call him was a super nice guy in his late 50’s. His kids are all grown up and moved away so it was the bachelor pad since Henry was not married. No time to do much Sunday except sleep after the long day of traveling so I went to bed early.

Monday was a public holiday in Trinidad so everyone was off work and school was out. For me it was going to be one of the few total free days I had while on this trip. I was asked by a few folks if I wanted to spend the day with them on their boat for the day. Of course I had to say yes. The boating area of Trinidad is towards the North of the Island so it was about a 2 hours drive up the freeway to the boat yard. Sorry folks I am not pulling any punches on this one. Trinidad is #&^%i9ng nuts. The drive scared the @%&# out of me. 160 kmph is way to fast for me. For those who have a hard time changing kmph into mph just take 2/3 of 160 and that is kinda right. Now you see what I am talking about. So I did make it to the docks alive and without wetting myself surprisingly. The drive was soon forgotten after a day spent out on the ocean on a large speed boat. I even get a chance to do a little driving. The water here is not like the super clear blue water of Barbados. It is kinda brown because the water from Amazon River mixes with the ocean south of Trinidad. It really was a great time out on the boat but soon it would be getting dark and we had to head back to the docks. We got all the gear put away just in time because I was then able to take some great photos of the evening sky. Just before we went to leave a friend of one of the drivers I was with called to tell us that it would be better off just to stay where we were for the time being due to the traffic. You see, it was a holiday like I said and the whole island had come north for the day. When we final did start driving back traffic was unreal. It was like trying to leave a WVU game. Here is the thing though, when people in Trinidad get tired of sitting in traffic they just drive in the on coming traffics lane at high speeds I must add. You see the cops here don’t care and if you do get pulled over the fine is $20TT which is like $3 U.S. So the group I was with had enough of the traffic and decided to put over on the side of the road and have a few drink until the traffic thinned out. Please no more drinks I thought to myself. Side not, there are NO DUI laws in Trinidad. I had only 4 beers all day but the people driving had more then I even care to count. So against my better judgment after the cars started moving again we got back in the cars to finish the hour of driving we had left. So on the way home I had to take a xanex. 160kmph again but this time it was being done by a guy who had been drinking and still was while driving for the last 6 hours.. Shit I was freaking out! Thanks god I made it home… Damn after that I got to be more careful I what I get into down here… So that was my Monday!

pics

I finally got some internet! So for not blogginh but not much i could due about it.. Here are a few pics for now.. Hoping to write some stuff tonight because i have a lot to tell..

ok i am having issues but i try again tonight.. Ihope..