Paramaribo, Suriname Report of what it's like to live there - 12/08/14
Personal Experiences from Paramaribo, Suriname
Background:
1. Was this post your first expatriate experience? If not, what other cities have you lived in as an expat?
Prior experience living in Asia (Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong).
2. What is your home city/country? How long is the trip to post from there, with what connections? How easy/difficult is it to travel to this city/country?
DC and SLC. 14 hours to DC, 20+ hours to SLC. No direct flights from U.S. to Paramaribo so you have to transit Curacao, Aruba, Port of Spain, Georgetown Guyana, Schipol, or Cayenne. Most of these then only connect to Miami and New York directly. The airlines running these connections are Surinam Airways (Georgetown, POS, Aruba) Insel (Curacao) Carribbean Airlines (POS) KLM (Schippol) and Delta used to fly out of Georgetown, and a few other American airlines can get you from the islands to the U.S., but the local airlines seem to purposefully time their schedules to make the layover for a U.S. flight in the 8-20 hour range. You can only fly into Paramaribo at 12-1am in the night, and only fly out from 6-7am in the morning. Usually 1 or 2 airlines per day fly either in/out as nobody does service 7 days a week. There are a few other time options that get you in at 10pm on a Sunday I beleive. Flights in/out are difficult, prone to delay, subject to stolen items from baggage they will not account for since you changed planes, and other typical frustrations. Airport is about 1 hour from the city. Difficult to get away for a long weekend because of difficulty of getting a flight to get you back in time to make it worth it.
3. How long have you lived here?
2012-2014.
4. What brought you to this city (e.g. diplomatic mission, business, NGO, military, teaching, retirement, etc.)?
Government, U.S. Embassy.
Housing, Groceries & Food:
1. What is your housing like? What are typical housing sizes, locations, and commute times for expatriates?
Large homes, with usually small rooms. Personal pools are not common. Local style is to ventilate with the windows open, but many Americans didn't like the idea of letting bugs in so end up running A/Cs all day. Entire city is only about 7 miles across so you are never too far from anything but it can take about an hour to traverse during certain times of day (such as all the times you want to go anywhere). Sundays are very relaxed because most stores are closed.
2. How would you describe the availability and cost of groceries and household supplies relative to your home country?
Very little is produced in Suriname so almost everything is imported. Shipping can be inconsistant so one week there is lots of a product and then you may not see it for a few weeks. Even local milk did this. I'm not sure if they switch and do 1% all one week then produce whole for a week and switch or what but there were weeks when there just wasn't any local 1% that we bought all the time at any of the stores. Most imported goods run 2-3x the cost of the namebrand item in the U.S. No real discount brands available, although many will sell the soon-to-expire items at a discount. I frequently bought stuff about to expire and froze it, although I can tell you cereal does get stale and expire and it's not worth it :) but frozen cookies on the other hand are a gold mine!
3. What household or grocery items do you wish you had shipped to post?
Water toys, kids' birthday presents for last minute parties.
4. What typical restaurants, food delivery services, and/or takeout options are popular among expatriates?
U.S. chains include Subway, McD's, Burger King, Popeyes, and Smoothie King for usual prices. A few good local fast-food for similar prices. I highly recommend the Leckie burger from Leckie's. Strangely flavored patty with egg, cucumber, lots of mayo and kethup and it tastes way better than I just described it. Also Nas Kip has an amazing 1/2 fried chicken served over greasy fries that is slightly spicy and really great. A few local curry places are good. There seems to be about 1 of each of every kind of food you can imagine, and they're all pretty decent, usually in the US$10 range for lunch and US$20-30 range for dinner. Nicer places can be US$50 pretty easily and surprisingly.
5. Are there any unusual problems with insects or other infestations in housing?
Lots of mosquitoes. The interior has some other biting insects and flies that I couldn't feel biting and then the next day I almost couldn't concentrate becasue the pain was so intense. They subsided in about another day. My son and a few friends had really bad reactions to the mosquitoes, would swell up the size of a silver dollar, so he slept with a mosquito net and wore DEET spray outdoors, and would still get bits sometimes. Lots of ants! Be careful if you mow your lawn and upset them. Loved to bite my daughter, but son who the mosquitoes loved never got bit by ants.
Daily Life:
1. What is the availability and cost of household help, and what types of help are typically employed by expatriates?
Very rare to find anyone willing to work full time (8 hours). Most help will only watch the kids or do the cleaning/cooking, rarely agree to do both. Rate was around US$5/hour I think.
2. What kinds of gyms or other sports/workout facilities are available? Are they expensive?
2 main ones, The Dolphin and Oase. I think you need a referral and they might be around US$50-75/month. I may be way off on that estimate.
3. Are credit cards widely accepted and safe to use locally? Are ATMs common and do you recommend using them? Are they safe to use?
Never used them. Stuck with cash the whole 2 years.
4. What English-language religious services are available locally?
Very few. We attended in Dutch and it was one of the hardest parts about being in the country for our family.
5. How much of the local language do you need for daily living? Are local language classes/tutors available and affordable?
Wife didn't know any Dutch or Sranan Tango and got around fine. It defintiely helps though.
6. Would someone with physical disabilities have difficulties living in this city?
Nearly impossible. Very few sidewalks, let along ramps or any sort of accessibility considerations.
Transportation:
1. Are local buses, trams, trains or taxis safe and affordable?
No trains. Buses probably ok but nobody I knew took them. Weren't timely as they might wait for the bus to fill up (just small ones). Taxis were frequently used and people could arrange for a driver to regularly take them to/from work. Then sometimes it seemed they'd made enough money for a while and disappear. We used one who lived nearby on occasion when I had the car and my wife needed to meet me. We found it from a placard stapled to a phone pole that said "Johnny" and a phone number. Luckily it was for taxi service as we suspected and nothing else.
2. What kind of car do you recommend bringing to post, given the terrain, availability of parts, burglary/carjacking risks, etc.? What kind of car do you advise not to bring?
Hondas and Toyotas are most common and easier to get parts. There was a Ford service center that just opened as we left. If you want to drive out of the city or are afraid of water getting in your car, bring something with high clearance. If you're going to stay in the city and are ok with possibly finding a different route home occasionally almost anything will do.
Phone & Internet:
1. Is high-speed home Internet access available? How long does it typically take to install it after arrival?
High speed being a debatable term. I think we paid US$75/month for about 1-2MB.
Employment & Volunteer Opportunities:
1. What types of jobs do most expatriate spouses/partners have? Locally based or telecommuting? Full-time or part-time? Can you comment on local salary scales?
Not really. Schools and a few NGO's
Health & Safety:
1. Are there personal security concerns to be aware of at this post? Please describe.
Crime is a concern. Some pretty violent stories in the paper that were alarming. We weren't out much at night and had a secure home so we grew accostomed to it.
2. Are there any particular health concerns? What is the quality of available medical care? What medical conditions typically require medical evacuation?
With 4 kids we went to the Dr. a lot, and we had some pretty frustrating and scary moments. One child had an ear infection and instead of prescribing antibiotics they wanted to just pop the 1 year old's eardrum with a needle. OB/GYN visits usually went like this. Dr: "So what do we need to do today?" Us:"You're the Dr., you tell us" Dr: "Well I don't have anything to check, do you want to do another ultrasound then?"
3. What is the air quality like at post (good/moderate/bad)? Are there seasonal air quality issues? Does the air quality have an impact on health?
Pristine. Very little industry within hundred of miles, frequent rain and wind blow anything else away.
4. What do people who suffer from environmental or food allergies need to know?
Peanuts are in everything! Super delicious for me, near deadly for my son.
5. What is the overall climate: is it extremely hot or cold, wet or dry, at any time of year, for example?
Hot and humid most of the year. Kind of chilly in the mornings as the sun is coming up if it's windy. Rains in the morning and afternoon most days with the sky clearing in-between storms rolling through. Lots of flooding and the canals don't always drain so they can stink pretty bad at times.
Schools & Children:
1. What is the availability of international schools? What has been your general experience with them, if any?
Suriname International School - New school that's small and growing while we were there. Consider it pretty liberal. Our kindergartner got sex-ed for Easter without notice, 3/4 grade had ethical issues hour where they discussed gay marriage, and you got notes sent home if the school didn't consider your kids' lunch to be healthy enough. Mostly growing pains and things were tightening up as we left.
Fogot the name of the other school just now - much larger and more established, better facilities, but the exact opposite in being too conservative and religous for our liking.
By the time were left, I think both had come back to a middle ground somewhat and we knew parents happy with both schools, but nobody was super thrilled with them. At one point they both lacked accredidation and several families with teenage kids decided that was the last straw and left at that point. Both are accredited now I believe.
2. What accommodations do schools make for special-needs kids?
Not equipped for this. All the schools are too small.
3. Are preschools available? Day care? Are these expensive? What has been your experience with them, if any? Do the schools provide before- and/or after-school care?
Yes, not many. Usually in Dutch, unsure of the cost.
4. Are local sports classes and/or activities available for kids?
Lots of the sports programs for kids to run through these 2 gyms so I wish we would have signed up for them because we missed out on a lot by not joining one. Pick-up games are very rare. I spent a whole Saturday morning driving to 7 different soccer fields and found a single person jogging at one of them. Sunday and evenings is when people play, and it's usually organized because they are lighting it (gets dark at 6 usually) so it's tough to get involved in pick-up games like I have other places. No pick-up basketball outdoors (rains too much) so likewise only really attached to gyms and schools.
Expat Life:
1. What is the relative size of the expatriate community? How would you describe overall morale among expatriates?
Very small. Maybe a few hundred in the whole country. Morale fluctuates widely depending on who is at post.
2. Is this a good city for single people? For couples? For families? Why or why not?
Probably best for families with small kids who spend most of their time entertaining themselves. Most the singles I knew were miserable, and people with older kids either disliked the schools or didn't bring their kids or spouses with them. Couples without kids seemed to do ok, but also got bored or later had kids and then dealt with the lack of good medical care.
3. Is this a good city for LGBT expatriates? Why or why not?
Ok and improving. Suriname is quite open and accepting, but still harbors some predjudices in this area.
4. Are there problems with ethnic, race/racial minorities or religious prejudices? Gender equality?
Some tensions between different groups, but mostly accepting and it's more the quips and comments you'll hear people mutter anywhere about other races, religions, etc.
5. What have been the highlights of your time in this country? Best trips or experiences?
Cultural fairs, swimming and playing outside year round, trips to the jungle and coast, kindness of local friends.
6. What are some interesting/fun things to do in the area? Can you recommend any “hidden gems"?
Someone I met said it best once when he told me he brought his kids to the area for an adventure, not a vacation. If you have this perspective you can have a lot of adventures such as turtle viewing on the coast, ziplining in the jungle, black water creeks (I wish I'd found out about Kola Creek sooner because we would have gone once a month with the kids) there is also a fun water park and bike riding area for kids under about 10 in the middle of town that is a really nice place to relax. Most of the playgrounds are metal and rusting and falling apart so they are hot and varying degrees of dangerous depending on your kids ages. If you can get up the river, there are nice resorts to visit. Think of backpacker camping in huts as opposed to the Hilton in Hawaii however. The movie theater shows recently released films from the U.S. and India at around US$5 and has 3D and is really nice inside (coldest location in town)
7. What are the particular advantages of living in this city?
Culturally it is the most diverse place I've ever encountered. Large population of Hindustanis, Indonesians, Africans, and Chinese, and some indegenious peoples and some Europeans. Long history for each of these groups and lots of people share heritage from several groups and they all get along relatively nicely. They are very proud of the fact there is a Jewish synagouge next to a Mosque and there are lots of national holiday celebrations for each of the different cultures and religions. The interior is relatively untouched and if you can get into it is among the most pristine jungle you'll find. Which makes it really expensive to get to because you're forging your own trail via small airplane or riverboat and taking everything with you. It rains a lot, but is warm and my kids loved playing outside in the yard when it was raining.
Words of Wisdom:
1. Knowing what you know now, would you still move to this city?
Yes if our youngest was older than 2 when we arrived and our oldest was younger than 10 when we departed.
2. If you move here, you can leave behind your:
Idea that living in the Jungle is going to be like "Dora the Explorer" and you'll be lounging on the beach drinking mojitos. Unfortunately the wildlife all want to bite you and the shoreline is mangrove swap or sand fly infested gravel and the rivers have piranhas. Remember, this is an adventure, not a vacation in any sense of the word other than being cut off from everyone back home. I saw lots of people show up convinced they would be miserable and they were. Lots of people were optimistic about enjoying it and still struggled to find things to enjoy. It's a totally different place in a lot of ways that are difficult and it can be hard to find things you're familiar with to enjoy there, but it's definitely doable if you try and are creative.
3. Do you recommend any books or movies about this city/country for those who are interested in learning more?
Wild Coast: Travels on South America's Untamed Edge (Vintage Departures)
