Suriname

Maybe my expectations were to high as I thought it would be quite isolated and a bit more of a final frontier in the jungle kinda feel??? I'm finding it hard to say to much positive about the place but we were only here for 4 days so I could be well mistaken also. It's Dutch and there's no mistaking it and the Dutch sailors we met seem to love it and a couple of them have even settled here and built houses so it must be good for some. From what little I saw it didn't impress me though, a lot of money from oil and gas is obvious with a massive processing plant in the middle of town and with all of that you can see blatant corruption everywhere with the many casinos to launder their money and massive houses along the river but with also a lot of poor people just getting by. Unlike most other countries we have visited where you get an instant feel about a place, here it seems like it doesn't have much souI, think maybe as there are too many cultures here and they really don't seem to mix with each other at all. Lots of creole african type people, many Indians, Chinese, Muslim and then the Dutch and they all seem to live very different lives in obvious separation of classes. Town is very busy with many shops and if you needed to repair something I'm sure you could get it here easily though nothing is cheap and most boating/hardware things imported from holland it seems.
Domburg is nice and quiet though 22nm up the river and is were we anchored. Very secure with a clubhouse/bar with showers and a pool. You pay €6.75 a day for the privilege to use it which really is to just leave the dinghy secure. They have beer which they sell for 14$ Suriname and costs 3$ Suriname in the shop which I really felt was taking the piss for a place that's for the sailors and there are no other real options for food or beer close by that really interested us.
There is another marina resort about 5 miles further up called Waterlands were we went for a Sunday lunch. Very isolated but Noël the Dutch owner has done an amazing job and seemed like a very nice guy. His marina berths are €1.50 mtr per day with good pontoons and 6 luxury villas and would make a great place to stop if you had friends or family coming. The buffet lunch was delicious but not cheap at all but worth it as a treat. Suriname food is very basic chicken noodles and eggs and standard fresh veges very hard to find even at the massive market apparently the locals to lazy to grow them themselves which is crazy as it's the perfect climate to grow anything I'm sure.
I feel bad to write this and sound like I'm whinging but it just didn't seem to do it for us and is strange as it's the first country we have never really liked although it's not like we didn't have a good time. Was nice to relax though and meet a few new nice sailors but for us the 4 days was enough and we are looking forward to anchoring in some nice clear water in Tobago in a few days.
Maybe just also this isn't the place to come straight after Brazil were the people were so warm, friendly and bursting with life and atmosphere :)