Pepermont Plantation & Nature Reserve!! Today I had organized to meet up with Dana again and go and visit The Pepermont Nature Reserve on the far side of the river. In the morning I sleapt whilst waiting for CJ to return at 11am and let me out of the apartment. I headed straight for the market and brought some avocados, some more smoked Chinese chicken and some smoked and dried codfish for myself and CJ tonight. I then rushed over to the other side of the city where I was to meet Dana at 12pm. Dana was on time and we headed off in her car towards the other side of the river. On the way she remembered another street market so we went for a look. This market was even better then the central market with more snack and sweet foods and cheaper prices. We walked around looking at all the bits and pieces and Dana explained to me all the different sweets and snacks. We tried this delicious fried rice and cane sugar treat and some Indian sweetened berries. I had to hold myself back from buying as I still have a bag full of snacks and sweets from my last two countries. After the market we headed for the park and after getting a little lost and taking a few wrong turns we arrived. It was rather disappointing at first and it looked as if there was nothing there except a Forrest. The entry price was quite steep at $6 for me and $2 for Dana but Dana managed to tell them a little white lie about me being an intern here and they let us both in at $2 each. We headed to the Plantation part of the park first and it was as expected very uninspiring with a couple of old wrecked buildings, a church and then a heap of houses new and old that a community of people were still living in. I did get a few nice photos and Dama and I had a great chat and tried to organise our trip together to Guyana and Brazil. Next stop was the nature reserve and we both had high hopes for this; unfortunately it wasn't to be and after walking down the trail 4km and seeing nothing as we were on a trail through a thick jungle we turned back. We couldn't help but laugh and think what a con this place was. Funnily enough the park has a very good website and makes the park out to be a whole lot more then it is - after laughing it off and agreeing it was still fun hanging out and walking we made out way back to the city. Dana kindly dropped me off at CJs apartment and we agreed to do some research on possible islands of the coast to visit. I had brought smoked fish, avocados and a few other bits and pieces so that I could cook dinner for CJ tonight. CJ is very fussy but I did my best making a vegetable stirfry with the smoked fish and an avocado salad. In the end the dish turned out really well considering I only had a rice cooker to cook with. As my upcoming host in Georgetown Guyana cancelled on me last minute I still don't have a host there so its unlikely I will be leaving Suriname on Friday now. I sent out a few more requests and tried to work out my next travel move before heading to bed around 11pm.

OBSERVATIONS:
- Pepermont Park nature reserve and Plantation - disappointing
- Smoked, dried cod - steamed with vegetables