Suriname

Paramaribo, Suriname. It seems a little strange to be decorating for the holidays in sweltering tropical heat. But it was December after all, and not everybody gets to have a white Christmas.

Suriname River. Taxi boats line up along the only beach in town. You can use these boats to cross this huge river, or to run miles upstream into the jungle.

Paramaribo, Suriname. Unlike in neighboring Guyana, most of the historic colonial buildings have been well taken care of.

Paramaribo, Suriname. Suriname was formerly known as Dutch Guiana. As opposed to British Guiana to the west and French Guiana to the east. Europeans obviously liked this part of the New World. Each of these three adjacent countries has a different character, and in general the quality of life seems to get better as you go from west to east. I thought the capital city of Paramaribo (pictured) was much nicer and more orderly, better maintained, cleaner, and smelled better, than Georgetown in (formerly British) Guyana. This may be the calmest, most peaceful low-key capital I've seen anywhere. And a world of Amazon jungle-adventure awaits, right at your doorstep!

Centrale Markt, Paramaribo. The weird spelling of the market name is a reminder that Suriname has a strong Dutch heritage. This place is much more mellow than Stabroeck Market next door in Georgetown (see Guyana page).

Adventures on the river and beyond. Get on a water-taxi in the center of the city and you only have to travel a very short distance before you're really out in the jungle.

Top-left : Riding the taxi at rush hour can get a bit crowded.

Left : My rented skinny-tire European street bike wasn't really up to the task of handling some of the muddier jungle rides (above).

There are some tough characters in these jungles so you have to be careful out there. This poor guy wasn't lucky enough to be hunting in the wild; he was trapped in one of their pitiful zoos.

Ft. Niew Amsterdam, Suriname. The European connections to this place go way back. This fort was originally built by the Dutch in the 1700's to guard against French pirates. The big gun was added in WW2 to guard against the Germans.

Suriname River. Suriname is composed almost entirely of rainforest, and it must seem to some that it is an infinite resource just waiting to be exploited. For the most part the environment seems undisturbed but new threats are beginning to show up : the large freighter behind my water-taxi driver is loaded down with huge old-growth logs cut from the rainforest, bound for China. According to him, typically one or two of these ships come every month to haul away more logs. On a smaller scale of exploitation, he's holding a caged tropical songbird; locals have competitions with them.

Suriname is a peaceful place. People tend to get along very well with each other here and the Surinamese are proud of that. One of the examples of all this harmony that they love to point out is this sight : a Jewish synagogue right next door to a mosque. And everybody gets along. This got me to thinking about it, and I don't think I've ever seen the two side by side anywhere else.