Get on the Bus

The PJU bus is our primary transportation here in Suriname. We take it pretty much every day. Roughly 15% of the buses that run here are government buses. The other 85% are privately owned and operated. All of which are named by the areas that they service. We live in Uitkijk [pronounced urwt (like earth with a funny accent)-cake]. That is the U in PJU. P is for Paramaribo, the capital and all happenings of Suriname. J is for Jarikaba where the biggest plantain plantation is located. There are a lot of Haitians that work there and also live in Uitkijk. This is why we live in Uitkijk which is 25 or so kilometers from downtown Paramaribo. The PJU bus fare is a whopping 2.25 SRD (like 70¢ USD). Recently there was a major increase in gas, food, and pretty much everything in Suriname. A few days after the gas increase the bus fares immediately went up, like the next day.

The government told the buses to bring the prices down because the people weren’t really prepared for this yet. After the bus drivers heard that they went on strike. Practically all of the buses that run were like, ‘if we can’t get paid we won’t work!’. Thank God Jean and I had borrowed a car for those couple of days. Traveling on the streets was like being in a ghost town. Usually there would be so many buses and a lot of activity, but since there was a strike, nothing. There were even children that couldn’t go to school. One of our friends barely made it to work. She actually had to look out for the government bus that of course was running. To appease the bus drivers the government decided to subsidize the difference in what they would have charged and the expected bus fare. I don’t know how long this subsidy will last, but soon the bus fare will go up to 2.50 SRD/person. Imagine that is 5 SRD for both of us one-way. Round trip is 10 SRD for just one day. Just pray that we get a car so instead of spending money on bus fare we’ll just spend it on gas and we have the freedom to move where ever we want.

Yea we can drive here…