Tuesday, August 2, 2011

I'm Here!!!

Yesterday was crazy!  I was to fly from Memphis to Miami then to Suriname and from there to Belem.  Everything went perfectly until I got to Miami.  It took me at least 30 minutes to find the Surinam Airways counter to get my boarding pass.  Once I found the counter the people there told me that I needed a transit visa just to change planes in Suriname, even though I was told that I would not need one.  I had to lug my carry-on bags (50 lbs worth) and get a taxi to take me to the Suriname Consulate so I could get a transit visa.  I spent $15 on the taxi there then $15 on the visa and another $15 on the taxi ride back to the airport.  All this for a visa that I didn't even need, in fact the folks in Suriname never even looked at my passport.  I got into Belem and my ride was waiting for me as I came through customs at about 3:30 am.  They took me to my apartment, which I had to climb 2 flights of stairs to get to.  One was regular stairs, however very narrow, the other was a spiral stair case.  (I will have pictures coming soon, but my camera battery is dead at the moment.)  The next part of crazy is that both beds in the apartment were wet because the rain came in through the window.  So needless to say I had to change the sheets before going to bed. I finally crawled into bed around 4:30am.  I got a few hours sleep and got up around 10ish and tried to take a shower but I could not figure it out.  Then I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out the lock on the gate so I could get out of my apartment. AHHHH!  I finally got it to unlock and I made it to the school, so i could look around and meet people.  

4 comments:

  1. Good luck on your adventure, it sounds like it's been a crazy time so far! Look forward to reading more updates :)

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  2. Yay Christy! Glad you made it safety despite the craziness. Can't wait to see the pictures and to hear more about Brazil! Love ya girl!

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  3. Your adventure has truly begun! I'm sooo excited for you. What wonderful memories you will have! I'm greatly amused by your shower and gate escapade:) Can't wait for pic's and more details.

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  4. Hey girl! You are in my old apartment! A few things - you get used to the stairs and the locks. At first it took me like 10 minutes just to get out of the apartment (going slowly down the stairs and trying to figure out all the locks & keys), but eventually I got to where I could do it all in less than a minute! I'm so excited for you.

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