A Swirsky Family Roadtrip in Suriname

My time here in Suriname is complete. I have now experienced everything I need for Suriname to feel like home. I have just returned from a ‘Swirsky Family Roadtrip’ Suriname style.

For those of you not familiar with the Swirsky Family and their roadtrips, I will tell you this: they are famous for their roadtrips not because they take unusual ones, but because inevitably almost always something bad can happen and/or just being in a car with the entire Swirsky family for an extended period of time can be an adventure in survival in and of itself.

Let me give you an example or two. On one Swirsky family roadtrip as they headed off to the mountains for a little family ski trip, they rolled their RV. Luckily for the 9 or so people squeezed in, not one person was hurt. My last Swirsky Family Roadtrip went something like this: Everything started off great. That’s the illusion you see, they always start off great. Then we got to Saskatchewan and noticed an odd smell. We rode it off and said, ‘oh that’s just how Saskatchewan smells’. Nope, that’s not how Saskatchewan smells. As the van came to a rolling stop on the side of the abandoned road late at night, we discovered in fact the smell was battery acid….nice! No problem, we had a cell phone. But Betty forgot to buy minutes. No problem, we could still call 911. But the battery on the phone died. We did finallyFINALLY manage to get the car towed to Regina (after a LOOONG slow ride in the car with the tow-truck drivers wife and some VERY funny shots taken of Matthew sprawled across the hood of the RCMP car that finally rescued us), but the only hotel we could find was a dive. Having lost to an epic battle of rock-paper-scissors with Dawn I got stuck with the dodgy looking cot to sleep on. Thing is, when it goes wrong on a Swirsky Family roadtrip, it all goes wrong. We arrived in a town first with no decent hotel rooms to spare and in the morning discovered there was also no cars to rent that would comfortably sit a group of 6 people. But we persevered...we had a wedding to get to after all. So we settled on the biggest car we could find. It was a 6 person car, but the front seats were slightly broken so the person in the middle sat with one butt cheek slightly higher on one side. I squeezed into the back with two tall Swirsky boys and we were on our way. The wedding was great. After the epic journey to get there, a few of us decided a drive home was not looking like fun so we booked a flight and left the Swirsky men to go back to Saskatchewan, return the rental and pick up the van with it’s newly rebuilt engine. The thing about the Swirsky family roadtrip is they often cost double what you think and they often don’t end with the trip itself. For one thing there is the extra cost of car repairs, car & hotel rentals and sometimes flights home. Then there is the story of the trip that gets told for weeks and sometimes years afterwards. And if you’re like me and were brave enough to go on a Swirsky Family roadtrip when your last name isn’t Swirsky, you can sometimes come home with more than you bargained for. For me, it was a case of scabies caught from that dodgy cot in the cheap motel. That said, I can officially say, I survived a Swirsky Family Roadtrip…can you???

So, back to Suriname. I headed out this past weekend for what was supposed to be a nice overnight trip to the western part of the country to a town called Nickerie. We were going to see the town and visit a spot called Bigi Pan – which essentially is a bird sanctuary. On the way we would pass the coconut groves in Suriname and get to see the rice plantations. Sounds good right?!!?! We even had two vehicles going so there’s strength in numbers right!!??! Yeah, well, like I said, this was a Swirsky Family Roadtrip in Suriname. No matter how sweet things seem when you head out, you have no idea of the adventure that actually lies ahead. Oh, there will be laughs, there will be unexpected discoveries, there will be singing, lots of eating, there will be peeing on the side of the road, and oh yeah, good chance the actual trip will take a good 2 to 3 times longer than it would for someone who doesn’t have the last name Swirsky.

So, I invite you to stay tuned this week as I unveil the Swirsky Family Roadtrip…..Suriname Style.

You’ll meet our tour guides (Bidjesh, Bea and Steven aka my coworkers aka the proprietors of what we have dubbed BBS Tours whose new slogan is: It’s about the Journey, Not the Destination).

Steven, Bea, Bidjesh

You’ll meet my fellow inductees into the “I survived a Swirsky Family Roadtrip Club” the newly formed Suriname branch...pictured here are Bianka, Corina, Maria and Berwyn with our trusty guides Bea and Steven.

And, unlike my previous Swirsky Family Roadtrip where I bailed out early and took a plane home, I stayed to the bitter end of this one so I can tell you what it’s like to stick it out and take the ride home. Word to the wise on this one people…when it comes to a Swirsky Family Roadtrip….get out before the bitter end…I’ve learned it may cost more, but you’ll be grateful for it.

So stay tuned….here’s a picture of the turning point from just your average tour to Swirsky Family Roadtrip…