It must have been a terrible summer in the Netherlands thus far. Everyone is so white. We are sitting in the train from Nijmegen to Rotterdam. It is a beautiful new train. Even wifi is aboard. Unfortunely graphitimakers have found their way here already. I am afraid the Dutch have the worst graphitimakers in the world. Nowhere in the world you see such a lack of phantasy. It is cold and it is raining. When we arrive at the Central Station we see Robin, my son. The last time we saw eachother was in Chili a half year ago. And then we see next to him also Majorie, my daughter. We thought her to be in Dubai. The last time we saw eachother was in Syria, about 11 months ago. It is a big surprise to ... read more

Back in Europe After 9 hours flying with Iberia our plane lands at 9 in the morning at the airport of Madrid. We could not sleep last night. The time difference is 7 hours. Our next flight to Nice will leave late in the afternoon. So we have some time to visit Madrid. The airport is ultramodern and though we have to change two times the metro brings us in half an hour to the centre. We walk to the Prado where the Museo del Prado is. We would love to visit it to see the famous collection of Spanish painters like El Greco, Goya, Velasquez, but we are too tired. Instead we walk a bit over the Prado, eat some tapa's and then back to the Plaza Mayor. We love the old buildings. Madrid is ... read more

The first time we were in Venezuela we were not so enthusiastic. But it does not mean that Venezuela has not beautiful nature. Now we are in Santa Elena de Uairén. It is situated in between beautiful savannahs and also the people are nice. The savannah´s started allready in Brazil. Suddenly we are out of the jungle. Santa Elena de Uairén The Gran Savanah around Santa Elena Uairén is worldfamous. Here you can see the amazing Tepuis, tablemountains protruding out of a flat landscape. They are made up of sedimental sandstonelayers of the precambrium. It means that these mountains belong to the oldest mountains in the world. They are about 3 billion years old and were already formed when South-America, Africa and Australia were united in supercontinent Gondwana. They remind us of the mountains we have ... read more

Suddenly we are back in the European Union. We are in France. French Guyana is more French than just a French colony. It is a department of France. If you would not know you were in the tropics, you might think you are in the Provence. Of course everyone speaks French, but apart from that everything is directly imported from France. Like the food. ´La Vache qui rit´, roquefort, wines from the Medoc and also the baquettes are in the shops. The problem is that the prices are also French. So we cannot buy it. We can just look at it. Saint Laurent de Maroni Also the hotels are expensive, but because we are a little family of four persons (Thijs from Holland, Ben from New Zealand and Linda and me) we can get a family ... read more

Suddenly I am that young man of 21 again, who travels on the cruiseship 'Oranje' from Amsterdam to Paramaribo. The humid flavors of the Caribbean Sea, the flat water, orange coloured by the sun, disappearing behind the green mountains and the soft cool wind evoke strong feelings from 42 years ago. It is one of those rare moments in life that you submerge in time, meanwhile knowing what is still to come: the lucky moments but also the disappointments. But I am not on the Oranje and I am not on my way to Suriname. I am on the boat of Pier 1 Cruises, which cruises the sea from Guiria in Venezuela to Chaguaramos on Trinidad. The land we see is not the coast of Suriname, but the most western part of Venezuela, the peninsula of ... read more