Suriname

Suriname
SUR
Surinamese Florin

The Republic of Suriname is located to the north of the coast of South America and it is well known after the proclamation of its independence like Dutch Guiana. It is a rare cultural enclave of extraordinary and ethnic variety that derives from the Dutch and English colonization, who contracted workers from India and Indonesia and due to the import of African slaves. Most of its 163,270 km2 is formed by tropical forests, some are completely virgin. In the rear area there are two authentic cultures: Amerindian and the one of the slaves. Also Chinese, European Indians, Creoles, Javaneses and other racial groups inhabit in this territory. The official language is Dutch although a reasonable number of people speaks English and other languages derived from the ancestors that came from India, Africa, Indonesia and China. The international language in Surinam is the Sranan Tongo, Creole language spoken by almost all. From 1998 on, companies of tourism have stimulated the ecological tourism in the interior, establishing houses of guests and packages of trips. One of the recognized organizations is the METS (Movement for the Echo-tourism in Surinam), which works with indigenous people to visit their communities. The best time to visit Surinam is in its dry season, from the beginning of February to the end of April and in the middle of August at the beginning of December. Here there is no day without sun, not even during the rain season. The average temperature is of 27º C and at night it can be lower until reaching 20ºC.