The Waterkant
The Waterkant (waterfront) is where locals hang out to be seen. The boulevard has many small eateries and bars which have been recently renovated by the, some say corrupt, bank director Henck Goedschalk.
A number of buildings on the waterfront are worth seeing. Among them the Corner House, the central bank, the ministry of Social Affairs and the Waaggebouw. The balcony of the Waaggebouw was used by Anton de Kom to deliver his speeches to the masses in the 30s of the previous century.
If you look out across the river, you can see the Goslar in the middle of the stream. The former German vessel was sunken by its crew near the beginning of the second world war, mainly to block the entrance of the river.
Behind the Waaggebouw there’s the dock of the SMS, the Surinamese Shipping Company, from where it’s possibly to take boat rides on the Suriname river. On the other side of the road from the Waaggebouw, the former police offices was completely shot to pieces in 1982, by Bouterse’s forces.
Just a little up the road there’s the central market, the biggest covered market in the Caribbean, where you can buy anything you might need, from clothes, through second hand wigs to spices. Close to the market, three slaves are remembered with a small monument. The three, Codjo, Mentor and Present, were burned alive after being suspected of lighting the city fire of 1932.
Up to a few years ago, when money was still exchanged on the black market, the central market was the right place to change your cash and from every corner you could hear voices whispering at you ‘wisselewissel’ (changechange). Nowadays, things are slightly more professional where almost every street corner is fitted with a drive through cambio.