Suriname

After leaving French Guiana, we entered what was formally Dutch Guiana – now Suriname. This was a homecoming for one of our passengers. Gerrit who is Dutch, has been living in Australia since he was a teenager. However when he was nine, following the death of his father, his family left Holland for Dutch Guiana where he spent many happy years before fleeing the country when it went through independence. As we crossed over into Suriname, Gerrit was as giddy as a child before Christmas. His enthusiasm was contagious and we were all excited.
After crossing the border, we made straight for the capital city Paramaribo and camped at a campsite on the outskirts. It was my cook group again and we were busy mashing potatoes whilst the others were having fun in the pool or in the bar. At least it didn’t rain! The following morning as we were cooking breakfast, a school group turned up to have swimming lessons in the campsite pool. Our kitchen was set up next to the pool which made for a bizarre experience!
To get to our hostel in the centre of Paramaribo, we had to cross the huge Suriname river on the new bridge. The bridge span was vast but it was also the steepest bridge I have been on. At one point I thought we were going into orbit! Looking out of the truck, directly down to the river below was quite scary at times! Like French Guiana, Suriname is also a small country mainly full of tropical rainforests. Because of the Dutch colonisation, the swamps had been replaced with many canals. People still speak mainly Dutch here but it is intermingled with a local creole language as well. Trying to decipher signs and menus in Dutch is almost impossible! Only 550,000 people live in the whole country and the capital city, at times felt like a deserted village.

Gerrit immediately hired a moped and took his wife Marion on a sight-seeing tour. He took us all to see his former childhood house and taught us all about the history and customs of the country. I went on a hair-wrapping course and tried to learn how to wear head scarves. I wasn’t very successful! One of the stranger customs in Suriname is that of the bird singing contests. Men (only men – never women) keep songbirds in cages and train them to sing the most melodies. The birds (in their cages) are taken out for walks, taken for rides on the mopeds – hung up in public areas. On a Sunday morning from 6am, these men meet for competitions. The birds go head to head whilst multiple judges count the different tweets before a winner is announced. This is taken incredibly seriously and training methods are kept secret!
With a few others, I went on a dolphin spotting cruise down the Commewinje river. I managed to see a pod of dolphins in the river and even managed to take a photo whilst holding on to my complimentary rum and coke and plantain crisps and having to move from side to side on a very small wooden boat. It was a very enjoyable evening. We stopped at the tiny village of Marienburg which is still a coffee plantation and were offered some of the local snacks – one of which was a cross between a bread-bun and a donut but is then covered in a very hot sauce. They like incredibly hot hot spicy sauces here. I had mine sauce free!
As well as Dutch and indigenous people, there are also many Laos, Chinese and Indonesian people in the country. This makes for a great variety of food and tasty vegetarian options. I even went to a Chinese market on Sunday morning and stuffed myself with marinated tofu – it was a very pleasant change from just eating plastic cheese and eggs.

To get to our next stop in Suriname, we had to leave the truck again and head down river for 45mins in a small wooden boat to the settlement of Isadou. We were staying in some lovely lodges, the only downside being we had to take all our food and kitchen supplies with us. They provided us with a basic kitchen but all food and drink for a couple of days had to be carried by us. It is amazing how much food and drink a party of 15 people need – especially when it was Marion’s birthday as well!
It was great to relax in a hammock and watch the river go by. We bathed in the river and I did jump when the little fish started biting my bottom for the first time! I went on a night boat ride and saw the eyes of a couple of caiman but the sounds of the river at night were magical. The river in the moonlight looked like it was made from polished black obsidian. In the daytime we spotted the most amazing looking caterpillar and some from the group spotted a sloth. All too soon, it was time to go back and make our way to the next destination.