Hotel Torarica

                               Story Time: 

     Pool day at hotel Torarica in Paramaribo

Hello my dearest Story Time friends from around the world, how has the new year been treating you so far? I am back with a new Story Time episode. Fingers crossed that my schedule allows more posting this year. I have a lot of stories to share with you from my different adventures. In this adventure, we are having a pool day at hotel Torarica in Paramaribo. When I filmed this video I had just reached my first 10.000 views on Youtube. That was a while ago when I just started my Youtube journey.  Filming for Youtube and my blog has been quite the learning journey. From all the technical difficulties to the content I lost and figuring out how to get better shots. But when you are as determined as I am you learn while you are on the go. I am excited to see what fun content I'll create in the coming year. It helps a lot when you subscribe to my blog by filling in your e-mail address when that Story Time U.F.O. pops up on your screen. That way you will be the first to receive a notification in your e-mail when I publish a new post. My friend surprised me with a pool pass to hotel Torarica. I told you I get spoiled a lot 😋😁😏. I am grateful for those positive people in my life. Of course, I made use of the opportunity, you know I love swimming. This pool day was going to be my relaxation day in Paramaribo. Hotel Torarica has been in Suriname for more than 60 years. This hotel is a popular tourist choice in Suriname. No wonder when I visited that the place was packed with tourists who all wanted to cool down at their beautiful swimming pool. When I arrived and showed them my pool pass they offered me a towel in exchange for my Identification card. When you want to leave, you bring back the towel and you get your Identification card back. I got there pretty early in the day, so I was in no hurry to jump into the pool. At the time I was busy following the Google founders Friday program, which meant that I needed to find a quiet place where I could follow the founders Friday session. I asked the friendly waitress and she showed me the empty bar area that is close to the pool. 

I set up my gadgets and made myself comfortable while I was offered a menu. Sorry in advance that some of my pictures came out blurry. At the time I was having difficulties figuring out what was wrong with my camera 😣😤. But thanks to my Facebook friends I found a solution to that problem. Turns out my memory card was too big. Apparently, my Nikon camera works better with 16 GB memory cards. All the 64 GB memory cards that I used were giving a memory defect notification. And the lens, well I had to figure out working with that. Apparently, I had zoomed in too much, and that caused some of the pictures to become blurry. But like I keep saying you learn as you go with the flow. I had to order the Pina Colada from their menu. I like trying those everywhere I go. The Pina Colada cocktail that they served was good. But not the best that I had in Suriname. For lunch, I ordered pasta with chicken and shrimp, and as a dessert, death by chocolate cake tempted me. Little did I know at that moment that it was almost going to be the death of me as a chocolate lover. 

The shrimp was nicely seasoned and flavorful. Hotel Torarica didn't skimp on the cheese and the bun had a nice butter-tasting dough. I couldn't possibly finish such a large meal on my own in one sitting. The pasta really filled up my stomach and the Alfredo cream sauce was thick.  I needed another drink during my meal. I took my time to finish my food since the Google Founders meeting was still going on and I didn't want to miss a thing. They were very fast in preparing the food because while I was busy following the meeting they served it up in front of me. I like the efficiency, an employee was busy cutting up coconuts the entire time. Coconuts seemed to be very popular at hotel Torarica. Being a coconut lover myself, I knew I had to get one of those later on. But for now, I needed a cocktail. That's when I ordered the Iguana. The name made me curious. 

The Iguana cocktail had a sour lemony taste to it. This one is definitely a slow creeper. Keep that in mind if you are planning to order multiple of those. After my meeting was finished, it was time to head to the pool. That's right outside of the bar as you will see when you watch this awesome Youtube video I made for you about my pool day at hotel Torarica in Paramaribo. At least it is as authentic as it gets. The pool area was very crowded with tourists despite that I came to the pool on a weekday. When I do these outings I like to go on random days throughout the week, hoping that it won't be busy. This wasn't the case today, they had a lot of lounge chairs. But only a handful of umbrellas. Torarica please add more umbrellas to your inventory in the future. That death by chocolate cake and the Surinamese sun emptied my stomach in their bathroom. I was honest about it and the staff was at least friendly enough to help me out and check on me every now and then. I did ask them for an umbrella before I started to feel really sick 😰. The waitress told me that they had run out so I just sat there cooking in the sun throwing my towel over my head. I go on a lot of adventures in the sun. But that day the Death by chocolate cake combined with the heat could not compare to sitting in a boat for hours in Sipaliwini (The greenest district of Suriname, the heart of the Amazon rainforest where a lot of Story Time adventures take place.). Now all that delicious and expensive food went to waste. I ordered a coconut and had some coconut water with coconut meat to make my stomach feel better. If you are curious, there is nothing special about their coconuts. It's just an average coconut that's overpriced. You could get them way cheaper locally. Or do what I do, make friends with Surinamese people who have them growing in their yards. About 98 percent of my fruit and vegetable intake comes from my friend's yards. Thank you guys for helping me save on that iron and vitamin intake. 

As it got darker the place became less crowded. Finally, I could get a chance to dip into that pool with gorgeous water fountains under their Budha statues. That's when my inner child went all wild as I took multiple dips. Going into the night I could move closer to the swimming pool. They have some lovely private cabanas at Hotel Torarica. I took a walk around their property to show you guys around in my video. Did you know that they have a tennis court at Torarica resort? They also have a pier where you have a breathtaking view of the Suriname river. We might not have blue waters but that does not make our part of nature any less beautiful. Here in the Amazon rainforest, one can find healing and grounding just by observing the mysterious ways of mother nature. The pier at Torarica is often rented for parties and other events. Some people even rent it out for their wedding parties.

Except for being barbequed in the sun and having the death by chocolate cake come out, I had a relaxing experience at Hotel Torarica. If you do end up visiting this hotel during your travel to Suriname, make sure you try to visit their pool when it's not crowded. Or at least take along some sunscreen, and that's coming from a local! I hope you guys enjoyed this Story Time article about my pool day at hotel Torarica in Paramaribo until next time right here on Story Time. Feel free to share with your friends and family as I wish you nothing but the best in this new year. 💖💕💓 Thanks for helping me reach 30 k on my channel. I just love being able to create these stories and write them on my blog for you. It feels like taking my best friend along with me on my adventures.