Die Fahrbahn ist ein graues band...
Last weekend I took a cab to the border with French Guyana, to a place called Albina. The place is a famous crossover to Saint Laurent, just across the water. There's a busy illegitimate ferry industry which brings people to either side of the border without any such thing as pesky customs officials or visa problems. Needless to say, I had to have a gander at that.
The cab driver turned out to be a local of the Marowijne province, specifically from the area where the inland wars of Surninam took a very ugly turn, razing several towns to the ground and actually destroying the city of Albina completely. There were still some pretty obvious signs that a major skirmish had ensued here, from burned husks to potholes in the road you could bury a rather large dog in. The driver, obviously seasoned by many rides to and fro' Albina, knew exactly where to swerve, slow down or speed like a maniac. I've seen shitty roads in Belgium before, but these took a really impressive cake, and he still drove 120kmph on the worst of spots.
The trip itself was pretty awe inspiring. The road was a grey band through lush green wilderness that expanded the more you left the city behind. Soon after leaving the suburbs, it was jungle time. The white stripes were missing, but yes: "Weisser streiffe, gruener rand" would be somewhat appropiate.
As I said, the driver was from the war-struck area of Marowije, and at a certain point we passed his home town. He decided on a detour and took a drive past his old town, showing the several sights of the place -including the war-torn ruins that still pocked the area. It would appear that Ronnie Brunswijk, the former rebel leader, had taken residence in several towns in the area, and this was one of them. The (in)famous restistance man had been making sure the area was somewhat taken care of, and it showed here and there. I also managed to witness the football stadium he had built for the town. All in all, pretty weird to take in.
After the detour, we went on our way to Albina. By that time the cabby had already managed to arrange for an accountable ferry man who took me to the other side so I could witness the famous market they had in St. Laurent...
The cab driver turned out to be a local of the Marowijne province, specifically from the area where the inland wars of Surninam took a very ugly turn, razing several towns to the ground and actually destroying the city of Albina completely. There were still some pretty obvious signs that a major skirmish had ensued here, from burned husks to potholes in the road you could bury a rather large dog in. The driver, obviously seasoned by many rides to and fro' Albina, knew exactly where to swerve, slow down or speed like a maniac. I've seen shitty roads in Belgium before, but these took a really impressive cake, and he still drove 120kmph on the worst of spots.
The trip itself was pretty awe inspiring. The road was a grey band through lush green wilderness that expanded the more you left the city behind. Soon after leaving the suburbs, it was jungle time. The white stripes were missing, but yes: "Weisser streiffe, gruener rand" would be somewhat appropiate.
As I said, the driver was from the war-struck area of Marowije, and at a certain point we passed his home town. He decided on a detour and took a drive past his old town, showing the several sights of the place -including the war-torn ruins that still pocked the area. It would appear that Ronnie Brunswijk, the former rebel leader, had taken residence in several towns in the area, and this was one of them. The (in)famous restistance man had been making sure the area was somewhat taken care of, and it showed here and there. I also managed to witness the football stadium he had built for the town. All in all, pretty weird to take in.
After the detour, we went on our way to Albina. By that time the cabby had already managed to arrange for an accountable ferry man who took me to the other side so I could witness the famous market they had in St. Laurent...
posted by Hung Laxley at
12:40 AM
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