Other places in Paramaribo
There are many more places in town worth visiting. One of them is Spanhoek, near the headquarters of Telesur, the national phone company. Amidst a large dry fountain, the 'Statenmonument' is accompanied by a glockenspiel that broke down shortly after its donation by the Dutch government in 1975.


Close to Spanhoek, at the Kerkplein, the terrace of Orlando's is a great place to while away the hours on a relaxed Saturday afternoon or Sunday, when everyone has moved to their 'boitis', their outhouses. The middle of the square is occupied by the Centre Church with on one side a statue of Simon Bolivar and on the other a monument in honor of Nicolaas Helstone, a Surinamese musician of some influence.

Orlando's is a great place to experience the diversity of the Surinamese people. Not only Peacecorps volunteers, tourists, Suralco workers and gold diggers stop by, the four people that work at Orlando's are a Creole man, a black girl, a Lebanese woman and a Javanese man.
Close by Orlando's, the Keizerstraat is home to a large synagoge and a very large mosque. Just around the corner, you can find the rundown wooden cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, which still is the largest wooden cathedral in South America.


Our visit to Suriname coincided with the Chinese new year. Since most of the casino's are run by Chinese, we needed to know which places to go to at what time. After talking to the owner of a Chinese supermarket, we found out where to go on Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Free food, drinks, pagara's (fireworks), dancing snakes and more, a whole weekend long.