Adventures in South America: Paramaribo, Suriname

I woke up Wednesday morning to some sad news: my tour to Kaieteur Falls was canceled. I was not entirely clear why this was the case, but it was clear that not only was it canceled, but there was little to no likelihood that it would be rescheduled any time soon. 

With no reason to be in Guyana anymore, I scrambled to see if I could snag a 13:30 flight to Suriname. I got ahold of the TransGuyana airline and they outlined what I needed and said if I made it to the airport for 12:30 I was good to go. I had my proof of vaccination, my Surinamese visa, etc., but I needed a COVID test, so I literally ran down the street to the pharmacy where I could get the test. No luck there, it would be an hour wait. I ran two more blocks and there was more successful. Fifteen minutes later I had my negative test result and jogged back to the hotel to pack.

Of course, now I became my own worst enemy, because the hotel had called me a taxi and told me it would be a few hundred Guyanese dollars. The cabbie quoted me 1,500 (about $10 CAD), however, and I balked. He would not move, and I threatened to go down the block to find another taxi, and he said go ahead. With not much time to spare, I walked off, only to end up walking several blocks, including past the same cabbie who had returned to his house! Needless to say, he had a good laugh at me as I trudged by with my heavy backpack in the heat, still without a taxi! In the end I found a taxi, and paid him 2,000, because at that point I could not afford to waste any more time bargaining! The most ridiculous part about it is I had way too much Guyanese cash anyway, and it is nearly impossible to exchange, so I was just being dumb about it all anyway.

I was flying out of Ogle airport, which is much closer to Georgetown than the larger airport I had flown into.  

Ogle mostly handles small planes flying domestically or to Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, or just across the border in Brazil. 

We had some good views as we flew.

Suriname is an hour ahead of Guyana, and I landed in Paramaribo's Zorg En Hoop Airport airport--even smaller than Ogle!--around 15:30. It was a fairly quick cab ride to the Hotel Palacio from there. 

Hotel Palacio is nothing to write home about, but it is quite close to the historic centre of the city, including the Saint Peter and Paul Basilica. 

The historic centre is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Unfortunately, it also largely feels like a ghost town. Many of the buildings are vacant, some derelict, others under restoration. Other buildings are apparently government offices, but even then there is very little activity. The neighbourhood has a lot of potential, but would require quite a bit to make it vibrant again.

Besides touring the historic centre of Paramaribo, I also made sure to try Suriname's most popular beer, the Parbo. Here is a can of Parbo with the Suriname River in the background.

Fort Zeelandia, which dates from the 17th century, is right next to the river here.

As much as I was interested in experiencing Paramaribo, I was hoping to see other parts of Suriname as well. Much like my experience with Guyana, I had difficulty while planning the trip in confirming any options to travel inland. In particular, I had been told significant flooding had made many roads impassable, so tour companies were having challenges accessing many of the usual tourist destinations. On Thursday morning I visited several tour companies offices and all told me more or less the same thing: I did not have a lot of options. I ended up purchasing a tour that involved visiting an old plantation and a nature tour along a creek in kayaks both in daylight and dark, but that would be on Sunday. I also heard about a Paramaribo city tour and a sunset dolphin tour where the Suriname River joins the Atlantic, and so both were on my radar. In the meantime, tomorrow I head off for French Guiana. I was also told to expect flooded roads there, so I am not entirely sure what to expect!