Tuesday, February 11, 2020

My Trip To the Clevia Park Suriname & Things to Know if You Visit

It is well-known that visiting markets on Sunday is one of my favorite things to do in Suriname. On this specific Sunday, I had an appointment with Graciella, Cynthia and Dynaida to visit the Clevia Park, which I will call Clevia Health market.
At the entrance I enjoyed watching a mother and her son on a horse ride.
On the other side of the entrance, I could clearly see the stand to make arrangements to go fishing at the fishpond. I loved walking through a tunnel while viewing the different products and activities from fresh chemically untreaten green vegetables, healthy snacks, juices with and without sugar, gifts of the indigenous, books for children, a location for children with "everything you need to know about bees", options for children to schmink, all kinds of honey, information about sugar cane, peanut, kurkuma and a lot more.
On the Clevia Park Menu, there is variety of healthy snacks and other food products prepared from chicken, fish or veggie. I loved to see people enjoying their food. For us, it was Fish "kibbling" and "bakabana" (fried banana)
Watching the Ice-man prepare shaved ice for a visitor was quite exciting. An amazing thing at this market is that all the sales people seems so friendly and happy.
We even took some time to relax while drinking our fresh coconuts and juices. From our relaxing spot we could easily watch people catch fish or at least trying to.
We walked to the end where there is a Breakfast lounge. It was a location full of visitors who where enjoying their lunch. On my next visit I will definitely have pancakes or scrambled eggs on my list.
After the breakfast lounge we climbed the stairs and walked through the cabins and in every cabin we read the brief history of various inhabitants of Suriname. There is a history of the indigenous, Chinese, Indian, marrons, Javanese. Also nice see was the products which they took out of their home country, which are now part of the Surinam culture and daily use at home. At the last cabin, you completely understand why this Suriname blend is such a amazing way of remembering the culture. Makes you proud to be part of this beautiful culture. From upstairs I could already take a sneak-peak in the garden. Looks like it was silently inviting me to come and just have a breathe "inhale- exhale for 5 - 10 minutes". I followed my intuition and sat on a bench in the garden for minutes without doing any thing else. I could stay here for hours and hours to come.
What was meant as a quick trip ended in an amazing, joy-full visit at the Clevia market. February 04th 2020, was the second anniversary of Clevia Park. I was informed that management of Clevia has a lot more plans for this coming year. I will follow them on Facebook. Make sure you do the same or that you visit on a regular base. From time to time Clevia Park management organizes a lecture on certain health prevention topics. On the 9 th of February there was a topic on Cancer.
If you are ever visiting Suriname or if you are a local and are looking for some healthy, relaxing, amazing environment, Clevia Park is definitely the best option in Paramaribo. Almost everything, related to health and entertainment for children and adults is available at the market. Clevia Park is open from 8.00 am - 14.00 pm And is located at: Clevia Park Kasoedjieweg, Paramaribo 556-550 https://maps.app.goo.gl/qDYr7TDh9HnsLENP6