The Surinamese interior is above expectation beautiful! What an excellent decision to include Suriname in our travel planning. The country has a rich and beautiful tropical rainforest, very green, a beautiful river with very clear water, beautiful villages along the side of the river and again very friendly people. Here in Suriname many different groups of people live in relative peace next to / with each other. The original inhabitants are Indians. In the golden age many slaves were brought here from Africa to work on the sugar cane plantations and they also form an important part of the population. The whites settled here during those good rich times and some of them stayed. Mixed marriages have brought even more diversity.

To know more about the history of Suriname I read the book 'How expensive was the sugar'. A novel set in the 18th century, the time of the sugar cane plantations. That sugar was very expensive. Without the slaves those plantations wouldn't have been able to produce that much wealth and there have been many victims. Something from which the Netherlands also benefited greatly. A lot of blood flowed during that time. It is very impressive to read more about this while you are in the country itself and see old plantations and visit the river villages that originated from runaway and freebought slaves. According to the guide who guided us to the interior, the last 5 to 7 years Suriname has been doing better than ever. It is a third world country, but relatively rich. Not comparable to, for example, Gambia, which was much poorer. Suriname is rich in raw materials such as bauxite, gold and oil. Within a few years they expect to be able to produce their own diesel and petrol. The Surinamese gold is very rich and therefore popular, and also bauxite (from which aluminium is made) on which Suriname has been tarred for years still brings in a lot of money. President Venetiaan has done good things for the country, but is conservative and less of a man of the people. That is why Bouterse, who is a true folk man, is becoming more and more popular especially with young people (who do not know the December murders of 1982 very well).

On New Year's Day we leave in the afternoon with the current in the direction of Domburg, an hour sailing up the river. There it is full of only dutch departures. A nice lot, but difficult to anchor because there is so little space, the depth is 10 meters and the river flows quite a bit (with 6 hours of current in one direction and then 6 hours in the other direction). That requires a lot from the anchor and eventually from us with a couple of shifts, very annoying during our domestic voyage when we bump into another boat (no damage luckily) and an interesting discussion about this when we just came back. We have never experienced such restlessness as we have anchored here in Suriname. But no real annoying things have happened, so it is not that bad and Suriname is fantastic so it is more than worth it.
Domburg is a small village with a cozy waterfront where Rita's restaurant is located. Every evening at 17.00 hours the whole sailors community gathers at Rita's for a beer and good food. We also join in and for a couple of days it's great to meet so many other people. On January 2 and 3 we do some schooling, during the day we mainly stay on the boat with a book or some chores, and in the evening we are on shore. The children can play their game of tag and tackle which they discovered in Paramaribo and can spend hours playing with old and young together.

On Monday the 4th of January we leave early by bus for a domestic trip of 3 days. Together with the Barbarossa and the Valentine, and also the Jonathan (with three children of 8, 6 and 3) will join us at the last moment. So we are a couple of days long with his 18 and that is very nice. The adults get along very well with each other and the children all the way. The bus ride takes over 4 hours and is only the first hour on asphalt and then on a huge bumpy road. The last hour we sit in a beautiful wooden boat, a hollowed out tree trunk, also called korjaal. With a powerful engine and very shallow a good means of transport for the river which is quite shallow at this place with a rapids every now and then. A beautiful and adventurous trip with on both sides of the river tropical jungle interspersed with Christian and traditional villages.
Anaula resort consists of small cottages with beds and a shower and a communal area where we get delicious food those days. When we get there we immediately go out for a swim in the river at a rapids. The water is very clear and refreshing to swim. We also get some heavy rain showers over us and then you understand again why it is so tropical green here. After dinner we take the boats out to spot caimans (a kind of crocodile). We see two of them along the riverbank (to be found with a flashlight, then you can see their red eyes). At 23 the generator goes off and there is no power left. Good reason to go to bed on time.

The next morning, after breakfast, we go a bit further down the river to visit two villages. We're allowed to stroll through them for more than two hours as long as we don't take any pictures. Wonderful to see how the people live there. Still very primitive, but a few degrees more luxurious than in The Gambia and they're much more used to tourists. In the afternoon there is time to swim in the swimming pool and the children are in the water all afternoon. At the end of the afternoon we have a nice forest walk of an hour and we see monkeys and learn all about what you can use from the jungle for medicines. That's how we meet the quinine tree (component of paracetamol and that's how it tastes ....). Just before that the Barbarossa discovered a 5 cm bush spider in their house (such a hairy one that looks a lot like a tarantula). Brr, they are here too, don't think too much about it! In the evening after dinner there is a dance evening with traditional Surinamese music and four Surinamese dancers who effortlessly move their hips in all directions. We are invited to join in and above expectation this is very nice and the whole group including children is swinging.

The last day we spend the morning in another resort where we can swim in the river at rapids. After a delicious lunch we leave with first an hour by boat and then another four hours by bus. We arrive at the boats tired and shaken up and then unfortunately our boat doesn't seem to be lying well. Immediately we move the boat and then we have dinner at Rita's again. This made us decide to go to Paramaribo the next day and from there we clear out and do some more shopping. But first we go to the plantation village Laarwijk on the other side of the river. There we make a walk through the fruit plantations. You can very well imagine how these plantations have been run here for centuries. However, the weather is very warm and we encounter biting ants and bush pegs on the trees. Back at the waterfront we buy fresh fruit, just picked; bananas, grapefruits and oranges. The Barbarossa also takes a stem of sugarcane with her. Back on our boats we sail the hour back to Paramaribo. When the boats are well anchored we have a nice and cosy drink on the Jonathan. What a huge boat they have. Afterwards we have dinner alone with the Chinese.

The last day Paramaribo (that's today) I go into town together with Ellen and Monica and we do a lot of shopping (hammocks, fabrics, books, souvenirs etc). The guys take care of the clearance and Jan and Toine go to the hotel. frietpunt.nl with the children to redeem the bet (eat unlimited fries). Around 15.00 hours we are all ready to leave for the trip of three days to Trinidad (Barbarossa, Jonathan and us) and Tobago (Valentine). There are still some troubles with the engine of the Jonathan. When that is made again we sail down the river at 16.30 to the sea. Nice to have the peace and vastness of the ocean around us again. And we are curious what Trinidad will bring us again!