Fanta with no h’ice
I am so happy I finally made it to Suriname. My old self would not have booked that flight as it wasn’t planned for nor in the budget. But sometimes when opportunities present themselves you just have to take them. Growing up in Amsterdam, it was impossible not to be exposed to and engaged in Surinamese culture. They played a massive role in black Dutch culture. Besides I have Surinamese friends and I have often been told I looked like them. If you were to ask me what typical Black Surinamese features were.. I couldn’t tell you so this always baffled me.
My flight was disrupted due to the Boeing 737 grounding. I rushed to the COPA offices and waited three hours to be seen, I ended up having to fly a day earlier with an overnight layover in Panama. The good thing was that I was upgraded to Business Class. Wider seats, footrests, and being served coffee in ceramic cups. They also covered hotel, dinner and transfers. Apart from the queuing and waiting around, it wasn’t too bad of an experience.
If there’s something you should know about Suriname is that it is very multi-ethnic however what I didn’t expect was the volume of Dominican women on the flight. I didn’t realise that there was such an influx. I’ve been told the reasons, however never heard their perspective. I do wonder what the ties are.
My heart literally filled up with joy when I arrived. I couldn’t stop smiling. I’ve seen pictures and videos but it is obviously very different to be there in the flesh.
I had a list of things I wanted to do but I had to keep in mind that I only had a week. It also rained quite heavily for 2 or 3 days but I had to force myself to leave the house.
The week pretty much consisted of eating, chilling and running errands. It's pretty much the same that we do in Amsterdam. Just in another environment. Being a lover of markets, especially the ones in the Bijlmer, I couldn’t resist but go to the central market and see all the fruits and vegetables I am used to seeing for a fraction of the price.
The thing that fascinated me the most was seeing all the wooden houses. I had seen them online but never in the flesh. I somewhat felt like I travelled back in time or was in a period film.
My favourite part was doing the rounds and visiting family. Putting faces to names and eating home-cooked meals. I was warmed that they were all so pleased that I came all this way to check the country out. We went to a village on a Sunday afternoon and it was pretty lively. People were just hanging outside drinking and dancing. Young people playing on the football field. This reminded me a bit of Nigeria. Every time I was introduced to someone of Ghanaian and Nigerian heritage, they would immediately light up and say that they’ve also got the village here.
For some reason, I did think Paramaribo would, infrastructure and service-wise, be at the same bar as Accra. I expected more. The city had a very nonchalant feel to it. How can an establishment have the word ‘Coffee’ in its name but open at 17:00. That’s so weird. Unreliable opening hours. You can arrive somewhere within its opening hours and meet a closed door—poor customer service. The most surprising thing for me was the lack of visible taxis. Without clear public transport information, you are essentially forced to hire a car. Card payments not being widely acceptable. And if they are, they can only be from Surinamese banks, meaning you have to withdraw cash. Let me tell you, finding a cash point that accepted international cards was a myth and on top of that, you are extremely limited to what you can withdraw per day. Things were relatively pricey. Luckily I felt more on top of it than I did in Guatemala, but money went quickly.
I encountered a lot of mannerisms that I recognised from Surinamese people from the Bijlmer. First thing was loitering and perambulating. This was a thing here. Not just young people but generally, 98% were men just hanging outside shops, restaurants or just the streets. Another thing is their audacious confidence when approaching women. Lastly, if you ask me, the most annoying and frustrating thing is, referring to you in the third person to someone in your presence. I will never understand this but it is plain rude.
Despite all of this, I still loved my visit. Especially what it meant for our friendship of almost 25 years. Having been on both the receiving and giving end of visiting a friend’s home country, it is something I wholly recommend doing.
