OK – Getting here and back to the States was a bit of an ordeal (more on that later), but there is a little more to Parimaribo than our previous stop.  The capital city of Suriname was originally settled by the Dutch and still is greatly influenced by them.  The main language is Dutch, and for some reason, the Dutch consider this a vacation paradise.  Still, some of the architecture is outstanding, and the wooden church in town is the tallest wooden structure in the Western hemisphere.

Not sure why the Dutch consider Parimaribo a vacation paradise, but we are surrounded by them at the hotel.  The town is 15 miles from the ocean, we can almost glimpse the river from out hotel room, and the food and rum is just okay.  The Dutch even traded what is now NYC for this place way back when because sugar was such a rare commodity.  Go figure.

There is a neat fort nearby, Fort Zeelandia, built in the 17th century to protect the Dutch West India Company, and much of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to the architecture here.  I discovered a lovely place where an Arawak woman sold her hand woven purses.