The capital of Suriname is Paramaribo. The old center of this city has many old and colonial houses and buildings like the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral and the colonial mansion that are still standing and made of wood which give the Capitol a village-like atmosphere. Paramaribo is located by the Suriname River.
In the weekends it is busier on the river where you can enjoy the nice cool water.
The market by the waterside immediately gives you a good impression of the local population and their city. Unfortunately, it can also be seen that the city suffers from a lack of maintenance. Nevertheless this is a nice piece of tropical Netherlands. For me being Dutch it's kind of special to read all the Dutch signs everywhere.
The Central market is also in Paramaribo and If you ever get there this market is an absolute must to visit.
There are stands outside by the river and inside the big hall. The vendors selling their often home grow vegetables and fruits and display their goods on long tables and really put in a lot of effort to make it all look nice.
The variety of fruit and vegetables is amazing and the friendly colorful people are more then happy to let you taste their home made Ginger Ale or hot pepper chutney. People come from far with longboats over the river bringing their whole family because going to the market is a day trip for everyone.
The fish comes from the many rivers,
The Suriname river is a 480 km long river in the center and east of Suriname. The river rises in the highlands under the name Gran Rio on the border between the
Wilhelmina mountains and the
Eilerts de Haan mountains.
The river is wide and shallow and has various rapids. It is provided with a few dams, of which the Afobaka Dam and the Brokopondostuwmeer that is the largest. The upstream part runs almost entirely through the district Sipaliwini and the downstream part runs through or along the districts of
Brokopondo, Para, Commewijne, Wanica and Paramarib.
The river leads you to the Atlantic ocean and to the only sandy beach by the sea in Suriname called
Braamspunt.
Braamspunt lies at the mouth of the Suriname River on the Atlantic Ocean near the fishing village of Pomona.
On the beach at Braamspunt there is a lot of washed up wood in the most erratic forms and certain periods the shrimp fishermen stay on the beach for a longer period of time. They dry their small shrimps called sara sara's on reed mats in the traditional way. The sara sara's are an indispensable ingredient in various Surinamese dishes such as the Moksi Alesi and is mixed rice.
The Braamspunt Matapica beach is 30 km away, mud banks and lagoons make the Suriname coast a prominent place for waterbirds.
If you are lucky you can see the brackish water or Guianine dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) close the Braamspunt coast. This river dolphin is called Profosu in Suriname. It is a small gray dolphin with a usually pink and sometimes white belly. Profosu live in shallow parts of the sea and in the mouths of the major rivers and the dolphin is protected throughout the year. Threats are fishing nets, collisions with boats and pollution of the Suriname River. In the Suriname River, Profosu used to be seen as far as Domburg and Paranam Nowadays they are not seen that far anymore. Pollution of the river could be the reason for this. In the Commewijne River they are sometimes still seen near Bakkie in the big dry season.
In part 2 of this serie I will take you from the capitol up the river to one of the old historical plantations. Since 1667 the Netherlands had the power over former English colonies in northeastern South America. Thousands of slaves worked on sugar and coffee plantations.
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