The Wild Card

Over the last few days I've been thinking about the fact that I really know almost nothing about Suriname, and other than booking flights and lodging, have done precious little to get ready for the final leg of my trip other than check the Carifesta website for nonexistent updates to the festival program. So this is it - the wild card, the place where you just show up and see what happens, a process that is further compromised by the fact that virtually all of the flights into Paramaribo, the capital city, arrive in the dead of night. Really. If you are not flying in from Holland or one of the Dutch Caribbean islands, you get to pick from flights that land at either 12:15am or 1:05am, depending on the day of the week. I, of course, got lucky with the later flight and since it is the only way into the country the airlines tend to wait for any other delayed flights at the transit point so we left Trinidad late and arrived in Suriname around quarter to 2am. Immigration was slooooooooow, and when I finally reached the officer he looked through my passport and told me I needed a visa. A VISA ?!?!? I swear I researched this, and I heard not a peep about it from airline or hotel but I'm obviously not the only American to make this mistake so he sent me off to another room to get a 'tourist card' from a very terse man who said that if I did not have the $25.00 US dollars I could get right back on a plane. I thought Ionly had about $20.00 US on hand so there were a few seconds of rather extreme concern before I remembered my secret $50 bill stashed in my little turquoise purse (thank you Mom) and tourist card in hand I got through immigration, found my bright green suitcase waiting patiently, walked through a nonexistent customs check, and found my scheduled taxi driver right outside where he'd been for an hour and a half. So, I said (I was very glad that he spoke some English - this is after all the only Dutch speaking country in South America) how far is it to the hotel ? It's an hour. We both sighed. And they do this every night - airport personnel, taxi drivers, hotel staff, etc etc etc. Surinam is trying to build its tourist presence, and everybody knows that something is going to have to be done about the flight schedules. It was probably around 3:30am when I arrived at my hotel where a sleepy night watchman let me into a two bedroom apartment that is a study in concise functionalism but by then I didn't really care about aesthetics and fell on my face in bed for a few hours.
The next morning (that would be yesterday) the staff was unbelievably helpful, and there just happen to be several very interesting traditional-looking pots in the lobby. Hmmmm. Then it was off to deal with logistics, easily done in this suburban neighborhood just outside the city center - ATM machine, hardware store (the voltage is 110 but the outlets have a unique configuration; must have adapters for American plugs), an 'apotheek' which I guessed right was a drug store where I bought fantastically expensive but absolutely necessary gel inserts for my soon-to-be hardworking feet (no rental car for me here), and a small hot 'supermarket' for bread, cheese, tea, and other breakfast essentials. Walking back to the hotel past the Shell station, Popeye's, and the inevitable KFC, it's hard not to notice the unbelievable diversity of the Surinamese people, as much Asian (India, China, Indonesia) as African and European. After getting my little apartment situated it was time for an initial reconnaissance of Paramaribo.

It's about a 10-15 minute walk into town and after passing the fabulous stalls of the flower market you run right into Fort Zeelandia, the remains of which are surrounded by both government and cultural offices in beautful old stone and wooden buildings. There's a museum here as well, but it closes at 2:00pm so will have to wait until another day and I've got lots of walking to do to get to know this town. Paramaribo is situated a little ways inland from the sea on the wide brown waters of the Suriname River, and the entire downtown historic district has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site.

Dutch Reformed Church, 1833

As you can imagine, some of the buildings are spectacularly well-restored, while others await much needed attention but as an artist its all absolutely gorgeous and fascinating to me and I have to stop myself from photographing every cool door and window but I could not resist the weird beauty of the barbed wire which is of course necessary despite last night's taxi driver's assertion that there is little crime in Suriname.

The historic district forms a big triangle along the river; maybe a mile or so on the long side by the water, with narrow streets on the eastern end occupied mostly by lawyer's offices and government ministries and big wide streets to the west with lots of commercial activity going on - produce vendors,  a big art gallery I need to go back to (most stores close by 4:30, just missed it), and clothing stores with  products on display that are guaranteed to celebrate your assets.

Maagden Straat

As a result of the incredible cultural diversity the food here is legendary and I can't wait to sample my way through the Carifesta food court once the festival starts. In the meantime I found a delightful air-conditioned (it is HOT and very very humid) European-style cafe/bakery and happily tucked into a composed salad with honey mustard dressing (yes, I'm eating chicken while I'm traveling...), garlic bread, and a Parbo, the Surinamese beer made from rice (again - asian influence) that is crisp and slightly bitter and really really good.

Meanwhile, the preparations for Carifesta are visible all over town - the schedule has finally been posted online (check it at www.carifesta.net) and the opening ceremonies start tonite at 6:00. They're building a huge stage with risers and millions of plastic lawn chairs right in the big park in front of the gorgeously restored Presidential Palace and yesterday it was a hive of activity. Everybody was watching, and everybody is waiting; I'm starting to wonder what is going to be my best strategy for getting a seat.

Multicolored banners wrap all around the stands; I can only assume that this refers not just to the arts of the Caribbean but also to the people of the Caribbean - truly the melting pot of the world.

So we shall see what happens next; this is an arts festival after all and I'm already starting to see beautiful things that I don't quite understand, don't know why this guy was standing on the corner of this roof with a screwdriver in a bright red shirt and face mask and while it may have just been construction work it sure looked like performance art to me.