The Synagogue

It’s called the House of Peace and it was built in 1842 as an Orthodox temple but nowadays welcomes Reform Jews and even non Jews here in the middle of Paramaribo.

Suriname has a long history of Jewish settlers in the Dutch colony and while I was in Scotland Layne and Dale paid a visit to their 17th century plantation outside Paramaribo. 

Jodensavanne (Jewish Savannah) was founded in the early 1600s and got a boost in population when in 1660 when Portugal decided it was time for some Jewish persecution in neighboring Brazil. 

At its height the community had about 500 Jews and 9,000 slaves but it was isolated in the jungle on the Suriname River and got attacked from land and water by natives and neighboring French and so forth so they retreated to the city and helped build a synagogue on the site of the current structure. 

Nowadays the Neveh Shalom synagogue has between 40 and 100 members and lives next door to the main mosque in town. Orlando the caretaker told us they are good neighbors and friends.

There aren’t many more multicultural societies than tiny Suriname where everyone manages to get along.

For Layne who describes herself as a cultural Jew this sort of encounter is a reminder of the past when Jews were in the habit of fleeing. 

Nowadays Israel is the focus of a great deal of animosity all around the world but in Suriname its peace as usual. 

There are four synagogues in the world with their floors covered in sand. 

It’s symbolic of the need for silent worship in their countries of origin. Apparently one other such synagogue is in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. 

It is forbidden to touch the scrolls so they use a pointer to mark the hand written text: 

Orlando the caretaker who fortunately speaks English. 

There is also a layer of sand above the ceiling under the roof. That is there for a practical reason, it’s to act as a fire extinguisher in case something catches light. 

It was a partly overcast day yesterday and we had some rain which pushed temperatures down into the upper 80s which felt pretty comfortable for us after the intense heat we’ve been having above 100 degrees. 

And then we went to have a late lunch at a Javanese eatery, noodles with chicken and with rice, Bami they call it and the plates came piled so we will have lots of leftovers. 

We stopped on the way home at Choi’s for some fresh squeezed orange juice.

We are both fighting off head colds which we suspect we may have got from peripatetic Dale, so Layne tackled the don’t yourself orange squeezer at Choi’s:

It’s a good middle class store, not cheap but with two outlets in the. It’s and with brands we recognize. Not to mention a slogan we remember from Publix in Florida.

It’s time to get driving. GANNET2 is ready and with a rocket launch scheduled Tuesday evening we want to leave Monday morning to go to French Guiana and the European Space Agency launch pad. 

Rusty And The Vet

 Back in Paramaribo, back to work  

First up was our appointment with the vet. We like the Dutch vet here  she  recently fixed Rusty’s hotspots with the greatest of ease. This time she updated his rabies shot, gave us a solution for his ear wax buildup and checked his health and general vaccinations. Plus she organized Rusty’s exit papers for French Guiana. The European Union requires a titer test which, luckily Layne got done before we left. The test measures the dog’s response to the rabies vaccine and if the vaccinations are kept up it’s good for life. There are a handful of labs that do it and it takes months to get it done. And Rusty has a titer test  thanks to Layne. This whole  process including submitting the paperwork to the Department of Agriculture will end up costing us US$300. He’s worth it.

That was when we met Cynthia Alouf who had a cage of puppies for the vet. She feeds strays and rescues dogs around Paramaribo and loves the life I wouldn’t mind with 60 dogs at home. She loves our van so the admiration was mutual. I gave her a hundred Euro and hope she never loses her enthusiasm. 

Up next: a final malaria check at the public health office.

There was a doctor visiting to report another case of malaria in Paramaribo so they were getting ready to fire up their lab. 

We got a clean bill of health, both of us, no parasites lurking in our blood but then I have a second dose of blood for Layne to practice using the home testing kit. 

We left with two malaria kits so if we get any symptoms we can test our blood and then treat ourselves. Plus we have started the malaria prevention pills they gave us. This public health office is on top of it. 

One court with the disease was enough for Layne and we have thousands of miles of tropical jungles yet to drive. Meanwhile my nephew Solais sent me a photo of rain in Scotland from his back home cab. 

I miss them all. Anyway we then had a date with Dale before he flew out of Paramaribo. We are very grateful to him for being with Layne while I was at the wedding. 

He had to return his rental car and lunch was at the Marriott, his natural habitat and he cracked us up by describing Suriname as the most third world experience he’d had. 

For us Suriname is pretty organized and advanced. It’s all in your perspective I guess. 

I’ll admit we got a lump in our throats as we said goodbye. It’s back to being by ourselves off the beaten track. 

Our plan is to drive to the Maroni River Monday and cross on the ferry to French Guiana. We’re hoping to see a rocket launch at the European Space Agency on Tuesday in the town of Kourou. We’ve reserved an apartment in Cayenne the capital for four days when we want to take a tour to Devils Island where Papillon was incarcerated.  

Layne is back to her energetic self so between now and Monday we have sightseeing plans as well as doing laundry and that sort of thing. School was out obviously: 

The bicycle was towing the moped but everything is backwards in Suriname and yet it works. This country cracks me up and as much as I want to continue traveling I know I will miss this place.

One day at a time.