I recently hit a neat little travel milestone, in being able to spend time exploring my 50th country.
The country that will forever hold that distinction?
It’s one I wouldn’t have expected.
Suriname, one of South America’s least visited nations.
Suriname is one of the “three Guianas” that sit at the top of the continent, along with Guyana and French Guiana. I got to visit while spending a little longer in Guyana after discovering how relatively easy it was to catch a flight between capitals- Georgetown to Paramaribo.
My original plan was to attempt the border hopping by land, hiring a car on each side and taking the ferry. After trying to make those plans, it got a little too unclear whether or not all operators were still running post-Covid, so I took a 45 minute plane each way.
Most arrivals into Suriname will come by way of the Johan Adolf Pengel Airport, which sits about 45 minutes outside of Paramaribo. For an airport its size, it functions relatively well and feels a lot calmer than its Guyanese counterpart.
Display materials remind you that most of Suriname is an almost uninhabited rainforest with plenty of open space and biodiversity.
The drive from the airport to Paramaribo will also drive home this impression. You pass mostly open space, with the occasional small home. The houses you do pass by on this main road are modest, but well kept.
There is plenty of green around.
When you finally make it into town, you quickly discover that it stays relatively calm.
After spending a few days in Georgetown, this was really welcome. Guyana has a lot going for it, but one thing that made it a less-than-ideal destination for me was the fact that it had very limited walkable areas. The parts of town that were walkable by design tended to be more chaotic, and somewhat unsafe.
In contrast, most of Paramaribo consisted of calm streets and old wooden buildings. A very easy place to explore on foot.
It didn’t take long for me to find a few favorite spots in town. Zus & Zo was a cafe not far from the central streets. I heard good things about their breakfast and while I showed up at an awkward brunch time, the courtyard was a great place to spend a morning. Zus & Zo doubles as a hostel, and there were several opportunities to book ecotourism excursions through them. If only I had a bit more time!
Perhaps my favorite part of central Paramaribo was the waterfront. Right along the river were several kiosks, artisan stands, and mini-cafes. I found a pop up coffee-shop-slash-juice-bar and ordered a ginger juice. Not too far from there, I even found a stand serving up lumpia… extending my claim to find Filipino food just about everywhere!
Caveat… with the spelling Loempia and given Suriname’s history of Dutch colonization, I think the dish actually came by way of Indonesia, but hey, all roads connect.
This part of town also hosted the Palmtree Garden, and as simple as it sounds, I spent a long time wandering around there. It was a small outdoor space, but I wound up finding a spot to sit and be still for a good while.
After that point, I wound up walking all the way to Suriname’s Chinatown, which is about as chaotic of a space that the country has to offer. But, it was a spot where I could find a needed USB charger for cheap, and some pretty great foods.
Speaking of food, Surinamese cuisine ended up being one of the standout things I’ll remember about my short time in the country.
Suriname has a very complex history. It was colonized by the Dutch, who enslaved and brought in African populations. Some escape and intermarried with indigenous tribes, others were later emancipated.
Waves of labor brought in populations from India and Indonesia. All these cuisines and other regional ingredients shaped Surinamese cuisine.
It was a treat to have Suriname as my 50th country.
To be transparent, I find counting countries a little silly. Being able to cross one off a list can be a misleading indicator of how much you engaged or interacted with its culture or its natural wonders. My day in Suriname counts as much as my many months and multiple trips in South Africa.
But to also be transparent, I can’t stop my curiosity in counting how many countries I’ve set foot in!
One other reason I feel lukewarm about counting countries is that it devalues the return trip, and that’s often where you get to the next level in experiencing a place. While I don’t see a return to Suriname on the horizon, I certainly wouldn’t mind coming back again.
Ideally, I’d love to leave a little more room in the itinerary to explore some of that heralded forest space and take one of those nature based tours.