Exploring Suriname, A Sunday Afternoon In Paramaribo

Hello, Story Time friends from around the world. How is it going in your part of the world? Today I am back with another travel and foodie adventure! This time I am taking you guys to explore the city of Paramaribo.  Suriname has 10 districts and Paramaribo is the capital. The city of Paramaribo is a shopping center on its own! 🛍It's filled with more stores than you'll see houses. 🛒During the weekdays it gets as crowded as a small city in a South American country with less than 500.000 living in the country can possibly get.👽Since I was a kid I felt like an alien in this country. But either way, I still love my hometown! Practicing self-love has helped me learn to be myself. That was the only way I could discover what my strength was all about! Turns out that's only the beginning when you're living life. After I found myself, I had to let all parts of me free to be able to evolve, grow, and explore! I am happy I did that because, without all the good and bad experiences, I wouldn't have been blessed with my life! The older I grew, the more friends I gained who actually loved and appreciated me for who I am! It's important to know the difference between the people who love you when they need you and the people who love you even when you can be of no use to them. If you lose the ones who stick around because you're a good friend or because your gifts can serve their benefits, it's not a loss! Let life do its work and clear your path! I am glad that the part of me that chases dreams, no matter what the circumstances are never gave up! If I did, I'd never be a writer! Ha, take that, teachers who said that my talent for writing was useless! Or that a girl shouldn't be spending her time writing rhymes! I've sold books on 5 continents, without bragging to the people from my hometown about it. So at least here on my blog, I can inspire other kids who feel alien, or get told that they aren't good enough, aren't worthy, or can't make their dreams come true to not listen to people who reflect their own insecurities onto them! If that voice inside of you, ( Of course I meant the good voice, don't feed the bad one😉)believes that you can make your dreams come true go for it! It might take a lot of work, and practice and you'll make a lot of mistakes on your journey! But that's how you learn and improve! As a Surinamese person, for example, I've always rocked writing and speaking in English. I passed my English exams with an A plus or a score of 10 in Surinamese standards and skipped a grade that year.But I still make mistakes! When I speak to foreigners, I learn new words. For my work, I deal a lot with International companies and sometimes I stutter and stumble across words that are new to me. I've always had a passion for languages, maybe that's why I confuse some people? Because some people are like you have a blog and you are Surinamese? Most of my readers didn't even figure out I'm from a Dutch-speaking country until I began posting more about Suriname in my blog posts. Don't worry, this isn't a self-love article!😂 It's still a foodie and travel adventure. Suriname is in my heart, and plays a big role in my identity! That's why I enjoy taking you guys along on these travel adventures! The more you understand my home and my people, the better you'll understand my brand. 👀😍I've invested a lot of my heart, soul, time, and energy into this blog. I do wish I had more time to post more often! That's why it helps when you subscribe to my blog. By subscribing, whenever I hit that post button you'll be the first to receive a notification in your e-mail!😍😎The video that I made for you guys isn't scripted. 📹I just went to the city because I wanted to show you what Suriname and its people are really like. 😆 As you can see in the video, we're generally friendly and enthusiastic people. From Tian You centrum I made my way to the Dominee straat. In the Steenbakerij straat (street) I came across  Readytext. A popular art gallery in Suriname that also sells souvenirs and artwork. If you want to bring back memories from Paramaribo to you're loved ones waiting at home, this is the store to be! Most places were closed, because it was a Sunday. But I wanted to give you a feel of the city without the crowds buzzing through it. When we approached Waterkant there was a bit more life to be found there. We saw people gather at the Onafhankelijkheidsplein (Independence Square) and most of them were wearing bright colorful clothes. When we got closer it turned out that the Christian Dance groups from Suriname, Guyana, and French Guyana were holding a parade. They were going to march through the city. But I didn't stick around to wait until they started. We walked in the direction of Palmentuin 🌴( Palm garden in English, it's named that way because it's literally a garden of palm trees. This place has been in Paramaribo since the time we were a colony) Right next to Palmentuin you'll see the statue of Henck Arron.  He played an important role in the history of Suriname. Because of this man, Suriname became an independent republic on the 25th of November 1975. On the other side of the street, there is also a statue of Baba and Mai. They resemble the first Indian Immigrants who arrived in Suriname. When slavery was abolished in 1863, the slave masters didn't completely let the slaves free. They had to work for 10 more years on the plantations for a low fee. Only when they completed these 10 years working on plantations were they allowed to actually be free! The Dutch, who made a lot of money off the plantations needed new workers. Thus they began bringing in immigrants from  British India, China, and Indonesia. They also brought in farmers from the Netherlands to work on the plantations. However, these Dutch farmers had difficulties adjusting to the tropical climate. Doing the same amount of labor as the slaves did in the tropical weather wasn't an easy task. Let's keep a long story short and say that most of these immigrants couldn't stand working under the conditions that the Dutch kept them in. So you can only imagine how awful the slaves had it back then. They didn't even get paid compared to the immigrants and had no choice but to tolerate the harsh circumstances that they were in. It was either that or face torture at the hands of the cruel slave masters. Either way, our history happened and it is reflected in Paramaribo, its people, and its food! I ended up at 'T Vat and was hungry! This cafe/restaurant is very popular among tourists. It's also closeby to a lot of popular hotels like Ramada and Torarica from our previous Story Time adventures. There are also many clubs close by. During the night this area is buzzing with life. It's the place where locals and foreigners come to sample the Surinamese party life. We ordered some food at 'T Vat and it did take a while to arrive. While waiting for our food we saw the Christian dancing groups march by. I caught that on film for you guys! The food finally arrived and when I had my first bite of that sweet pom it was worth the wait! They made that pom with patience and love, and it was based on a good traditional Surinamese recipe! Rijst met kip en pom ( Rice with chicken and pom) is one of our country's national dishes! Pom is originally a Jewish dish that was brought to Suriname by the Portuguese Jewish people. They came to Suriname in the 18th century to own plantations, and yes they also had slaves. So because of our rich soil and natural resources different ethnic groups with their own religious backgrounds ended up in Suriname. The pom with that oven chicken blew my mind away. It felt like eating homemade pom that, that one Surinamese aunty who knows how to cook makes for all the family parties! The burger was juicy for a chickenburger and it came with a side of fries. I'll let you guys watch the video and explore Paramaribo through my lens. Enjoy and until next time!💓