Steven Pinkert Back to Curacao

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Steven Pinkert needed to make a quick trip to Curacao this week.  He frequently travels to Curacao to work on several ongoing efforts including a China-Curacao trade project.  Steven had the opportunity to visit a remote area of Curacao on this trip. It is relatively uninhabited and borders on a portion of the Northern Coast.  Here are a few photos.

Curacao Uninhabited Area North Coast - Copyright 2012 by Steven Pinkert

Curacao Uninhabited Area North Coast - Copyright 2012 by Steven Pinkert

Curacao North Coast

Uninhabited area of Curacao Copyright 2012 - Steven Pinkert

Interestingly, if you look carefully in the second photograph you can see the Dutch Army soldiers that were on exercise in this remote area.  It was very warm and humid – probably an important environment for training that is not available  in Northern Europe.

“Curacao is a wonderful island to visit with a very warm and open people” says Steven Pinkert

A Rough Trip To Suriname

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Steven Pinkert is heading to Suriname this afternoon – hopefully.  His flight was scheduled to leave from Miami at 3:30 pm with a stop in Aruba then on to Suriname and he was supposed to arrive in Suriname by 11:00 pm. Well it appears that Steven will arrive in Surinam well past midnight.  When the Suiname aircraft arrived in Miami this afternoon they blew out a tire during the landing.  So now as I sit at the gate, we are waiting for a new tire to be delivered.

As I have opined in previous posts, and as any frequent flyer knows, air travel is extremely frustrating and I can assure you that this is not a problem limited to Suriname Airways!

Steven Pinkert has been on American Airlines flights with loss of cabin pressure – in flight!  On another occasion we had no flaps on an American Airlines flight, so we had to land at a very high speed with ambulances chasing the aircraft down the runway – “just in case.”  And there have been a myriad of other mechanical and weather related flight delays.  Last year Steven Pinkert had 3 mechanical problems (and related delays) on American Airlines flights – IN A ROW!

So now Suriname airways just announced that the tire repair will be completed by 6pm.  That will put Steven Pinkert into Paramaribo at about 1:30 in the morning – if Suriname airways actually takes off at 6pm – which is extremely unlikely.

“Oh the wonders of modern air travel,” quips Steven Pinkert – again.

Steven Pinkert Heads to Suriname

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Steven Pinkert is headed to Suriname for a few days.  Suriname was Dutch Guyana and gained independence from the Netherlands in 1975.  Steven Pinkert lives in Miami and unfortunately there are no non-stop flights to Suriname, however, Suriname Airways has a flight that makes a single stop and you remain on the aircraft so that isn’t too bad.

Suriname is located on the Northeast corner of South America.  It has significamt bauxite, oil and gold deposits which have recently contributed significantly to the country’s rapid economic development.  Suriname is a fantastic ecotourism venue and toruism is growing rapidly.  Steven Pinkert and Victor Bao recently lectured in Suriname on prospects and plans for tourism development.  Suriname possesses lush untouched jungles and rivers to explore along with a wide array of wildlife. Access to these remote jungles is either via small aircraft landing on remote jungle runways or via car.

Suriname is the smallest (by population) independent country in the South American continent.  It is generally a safe place for tourists with a stable democratically elected constitutional government.

Steven Pinkert has traveled to Suriname before and is looking forward to this brief visit to the largely unknown gem in the Northeast of South America.