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Suriname is a place you don't here much about. Is anyone from there on CD? Or anybody been there? I looked it up on the internet and still didn't find much. The stuff I saw made it seem like it is kind of dangerous or very high crime. It seems that the president is a convicted drug trafficker and suspected of murder. It does look like it probably has great foods, but one the articles I saw on the web thought the restaurants were pretty unremarkable.
I had no idea Suriname drive on the left as I didn't think any countries in the Americas did. Why is that, France and Netherlands have always drove on the right to say nothing of the rest of South America.
I was there last year. I was really looking forward to seeing the country, but I was disappointed with it. It didn't have the clean and tidy aspect that I would have expected from a country with a history of Dutch administration. There are quite a few Dutch expats there, but they are cliquish and unfriendly.
The Surinamese are conscious of their poor governing administration, and are in fact envious of the Guyanese, which by comparison is doing quite well, including a seemingly efficient universal health care plan.
Even casual shopping I found difficult, the street markets are not well stocked, and places called "supermarkets" are just dark and dreary shops where the staff (one cashier) speaks only Chinese. I usually try to be upbeat and optimistic in these threads about the third word, but I just found Suriname hard to like.
Suriname probably has the most undeveloped land of any country in the world, so it is attractive for the naturalist, who can get really deep in the jungles, but outfitters required. Virtually no derivable roads except the coastel highway.. Transport-wise, Suriname is an island, in that there are no roads or bridges in or out of the country -- only ferries on the roads to Guyana and French Guyane.
It's possible, but complicated to visit all three Guianas on the same trip. I flew into Georgetown, Guyana, stamped in at the airport. Suriname requires a tourist card, that you have to get in Georgetown. (Unless you have visa before you go.) Then a van across the twice-a-day ferry to Suriname. It's only a single entry tourist card, so if you continue to very expensive French Guyane, you need to go all the way to Cayenne and stay a day or to to get a new Suriname tourist card to get back again. But near the ferry, you may (or may not) be able to arrange a local boater take you over to the village in French Guyane, and then reenter Suriname without being noticed. It's best to take a Suriname taxi to the border, with a driver who says he can arrange a boat. Then go back to Paramaribo and take the van back to Guyana (stamped in at border) for your flight back home. From Guyana, there is also a road link to Brazil.
Did you think Guyana was more developed than Suriname? I always assumed it was until some trip reports and videos on YouTube, some from Guyanese, said the opposite.
I was there last year. I was really looking forward to seeing the country, but I was disappointed with it. It didn't have the clean and tidy aspect that I would have expected from a country with a history of Dutch administration. There are quite a few Dutch expats there, but they are cliquish and unfriendly.
The Surinamese are conscious of their poor governing administration, and are in fact envious of the Guyanese, which by comparison is doing quite well, including a seemingly efficient universal health care plan.
Even casual shopping I found difficult, the street markets are not well stocked, and places called "supermarkets" are just dark and dreary shops where the staff (one cashier) speaks only Chinese. I usually try to be upbeat and optimistic in these threads about the third word, but I just found Suriname hard to like.
Suriname probably has the most undeveloped land of any country in the world, so it is attractive for the naturalist, who can get really deep in the jungles, but outfitters required. Virtually no derivable roads except the coastel highway.. Transport-wise, Suriname is an island, in that there are no roads or bridges in or out of the country -- only ferries on the roads to Guyana and French Guyane.
That's disappointing, but it's in line with what I've found doing internet searches. Being closer to the United States, I figured a trip there would be more affordable than going to say, southeast Asia, but I found that airline tickets to Manila, Philippines are actually several hundred dollars less than to Paramaribo, Suriname. And since they don't get a lot of tourists and tourism is not big part of their economy, hotels and travel are pretty high too.
I guess it could be pretty great for ecotourists looking for lots of nature.
Thanks for posting about your experience there, Cebuan.
I would like to know more about the culture and daily living there though. It has an interestingly diverse population with no race\ethnicity in the majority or even a strong plurality. Looks like as a former Dutch colony, a lot of the Dutch people there are actually born there besides just expatriates.
Did you think Guyana was more developed than Suriname? I always assumed it was until some trip reports and videos on YouTube, some from Guyanese, said the opposite.
The infrastructure in Suriname is noticeably better, Guyana has more of a haphazard feel. You never feel in Georgetown like you're in a city proper, but Paramaribo has a definite planned urban feel to it. It gives Guyana more of a poor aspect. Suriname has about double the PPP of Guyana, about equal to those of Colombia and Bolivia. I have the sense that Guyana is aggressively developing its interior resources, creating jobs, while Suriname is basically remaining a city-state with no visible goals.
The infrastructure in Suriname is noticeably better, Guyana has more of a haphazard feel. You never feel in Georgetown like you're in a city proper, but Paramaribo has a definite planned urban feel to it. It gives Guyana more of a poor aspect. Suriname has about double the PPP of Guyana, about equal to those of Colombia and Bolivia. I have the sense that Guyana is aggressively developing its interior resources, creating jobs, while Suriname is basically remaining a city-state with no visible goals.
The infrastructure in Suriname is noticeably better, Guyana has more of a haphazard feel. You never feel in Georgetown like you're in a city proper, but Paramaribo has a definite planned urban feel to it. It gives Guyana more of a poor aspect. Suriname has about double the PPP of Guyana, about equal to those of Colombia and Bolivia. I have the sense that Guyana is aggressively developing its interior resources, creating jobs, while Suriname is basically remaining a city-state with no visible goals.
Actually Guyana has more PPP than Bolivia according to both the IMF and the World Bank. Colombia has about double both. Colombia is practically equal to Brazil in PPP, literally only $10 dollars away from the upper middle income threshold, Suriname is not too far off with $880 dollars from the threshold. http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPPC@WEO/THA
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