Shopping in Suriname

Shopping in Suriname, for groceries, souvenirs or whatever, is quite an experience. First of all, every little shop that carries any food products at all calls itself a supermarket. So there are lots of supermarkets listed that are no more than your typical mom and pop corner store. If the floor space is large, they call it a warehouse, even if the shelves are not stocked. It took us awhile to find Tulip, a bona fide first-world kind of supermarket for stocking the larder. The prices are relatively high here since most everything is imported from the States or Europe (Holland). I was amazed at the number of American products on the shelves … from Celestial Seasonings teas to Skippy peanut butter to Campbell's Chunky Soups and Velveeta cheese (really?). There was a rather large display of Old El Paso Mexican products and Pillsbury dominated the cake mix section. Even Newman's Own products have made it to Suriname. Lay's potato chips were available in mouth-watering flavors such as bolognese and paprika.

We were shopping for basics … canned tuna, rice, pasta and looking for exotics like Surinamese coffee or local specialty items. The only Surinamese products we saw were Parbo beer, Borgoe rum and Paloma rice. Rice is obviously a starch staple here, available in sizes from 1 kg to 50 kg. We'd already tried Parbo beer, but bought some rum and rice to support the local economy.

The selection of fresh produce was not impressive. The lettuce and grapes looked pitiful. Of course, they'd come all the way from California, so what can you expect? Nothing looked appealing. We'd rely on the Central market and roadside stands for our freshies.

We were a bit surprised at the check-out when we found that credit cards were not accepted here either. Once again, only cash. We had enough on hand, but really, trading in cash is mighty cumbersome.

We headed back downtown to the Central Market area. Along the road, several vendors had set up shop and were offering crops from their gardens. Melons seemed to be in season.

There were also several flea markets going on and business was brisk.

The Central Market was a bit of a disappointment. Not because of the quality, but rather the selection. The locals obviously sell what they grow and root vegetables and leaf vegetables seemed to be the prevalent offerings. Manioc and starchy tubers are not on our best buy veggies list. We gave them a pass. Little Surinam bananas were tasty and we picked up a watermelon. Hardly enough for a couple of days.

We wandered through a couple of souvenir shops that offered local Maroon carvings, baskets and all-things-marked-Surinam imported from China.

Fashion ranges from fancy Indian saris to high end men's shops to sportswear in Suriname's national colors of green, red, yellow and white.

The American influence is so noticeable, it's embarrassing ... from Angry Bird and Mickey Mouse to neon lighted Coke signs. We heard American music (old stuff, not current … think Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass). We saw old sit-coms and soaps and sports events on the flat screen TVs in restaurants.

Walking in Paramaribo is challenge. Where there are sidewalks, there are usually cars parked unless the sidewalks are in too bad a shape in which case they're left to the pedestrians.

We managed to get what we needed other than freshies. We'll ferret out some other options or settle short term for the tinned veggies we have aboard. As always, shopping is an adventure in and of itself.

Dutch word for the day - winkel - shop or store

Salamanca Market

For over 40 years, the Salamanca Market has operated every Saturday morning* rain or shine. We walked along Salamanca Place and through Salamanca Square last week on our self-guided historical walking tour of Hobart. There were people having lunch at sidewalk cafes and a few browsed in the many boutiques along the avenue. We strolled along, hand in hand. It was nothing like the throngs we saw on a sunny Saturday morning. The whole place was transformed. Add 300 vendor stalls, close off the street, then entice thousands of people to come and you're bound to see a difference.

Like many American seaports that have seen gentrification over the years (Portland and Baltimore come to mind immediately), for more than a century, Hobart's waterfront was a rough, tough place where whalers and sailors ruled. Huge Georgian-style sandstone warehouses line the streets now known as Salamanca Place. A change came about in the 1960's. At first, it was a cheap rent district for artists. Then the “market” happened in 1972 and rents gradually crept up and abandoned warehouses became retail space and restaurants. Today, it's trendy and touristy and mobbed.

Charles and Camilla were here in Hobart a month ago. How could we have missed them? They, too, visited the Salamanca Market. They also visited the Antarctic Division (so did we) and historic Richmond (so did we) and a Sorrell sheep stud farm (no...we did NOT do this). We've pretty much adhered to their itinerary though we've done it with a lot less hoopla and it's taken us months instead of a day. Of course, they had wheels...and a driver.

The market street, Salamanca Place, is described as “plane-tree lined”. What the heck is a plane tree? Judging from the leaves and a little research, we'd call it a sycamore tree in the US. Big, huge shade trees that really did their job in the brilliant morning Tassie sun. We fought our way up one lane and down another the whole length of the avenue … no casual strolling today.

There were buskers. We like buskers. A blue man statue caught my eye. He winked at me. I threw him a few coins. There was a bagpipe ensemble playing Christmas carols. A one-man band serenaded us for awhile. Santa had come to town and was set up under a small marquis (tent), listening intently to his little supplicants, making his list, checking it twice, all the while sweating in his Santa suit in a Tassie heatwave.

And then the 300 vendor stalls. Oh, my, that's a lot of vendors. There were food booths selling everything from wood-fired pizza complete with pizza oven on site to Turkish coffee to fairy floss to sizzling sausage. There were produce and flower stalls. A green grocer shouted out prices for his fresh corn, raspberries and Tasmanian cherries. There were some chintzy souvenirs and t-shirts at triple the price we'd seen for them in Sydney. Mostly though, there was a diverse mix of wares and though we bought little, we enjoyed looking. Antiques, used books, Tasmanian lavender products, Akubra hats, handmade jewelry, pottery, Tasmanian woolen socks, native plants, carved native woods, Tasmanian honey... you name it, it was there.

We enjoyed it enough to return this week on a rainy Saturday morning. We wore our foul weather gear and trekked down the foreshore walk to the market place, splashing through the puddles. All the vendors were set up. People huddled beneath umbrellas to keep dry. There were definitely not as many people around … our kind of shopping day.

So, what did we buy? A loaf of putanesaca bread, a large punnet of fresh Tassie strawberries and most importantly, some tiny buri palm Australian animals to use as Christmas decorations. Distinctive, different and a fond memento from our holiday season in Hobart.

*A note: when Christmas or Anzac Day fall on a Saturday, the market is held the following Sunday.