Curaçao

I had a hard time getting to sleep last night and realized this morning why - I had purchased a big Diet Coke in a bottle at the port yesterday and it’s been more than a week since I drank any. So, sipping away about an hour prior to bedtime was a really dumb thing to do! But it tasted sooooo good!

Today we’re up and about for our tour to discover this island.  Miralva Hansen (Call me Wawa) is our guide and Lisa our driver. The bus is air conditioned but much smaller than yesterday’s; Barbara and I were thigh to thigh in a space smaller than an economy airline seat! 

We passed the Queen Emma Bridge, the only one in the Caribbean on pontoons; it’s been used since 1888 and was only closed to vehicle traffic when the Queen Juliana Bridge was built. Now it’s only for pedestrians, but you are warned that when the lights flash you have to move quickly to get off the bridge, otherwise you’re on it as it swings 90 degrees to allows boat passage. So, hold on.  B and I planned to walk it after our tour, but her ankle hurt and I was exhausted from step climbing in the cave. Those conditions combined with the heat have made us aware of our years. So “the Swinging Old Lady” will have to feel our feet on a future cruise here.

The Hato Cave was amazing. Turns out B is a 
closet caver; who knew she loved these places. I am awed by them and don’t get claustrophobic but wide ladies sometimes don’t do well in tight spaces. The brochure warned that there were 49 steps up to the cave entrance. I thought no sweat, then saw them and flashed back to the stairs of the cliff walk in Guernsey. They weren’t anywhere near as bad as the railing was iron, not rope, but the varying heights of each step made them a trial. Nonetheless, I kept up and was one of the first to the top! Unlike many caves I’ve been in, this one was hotter the deeper into it we went. We were only allowed photography in one place because of the delicate nature of the cave. I wanted to have a picture of the baby stalactite that was within touching distance of my head in the ceiling - it was only an inch or so long, but I watched a drop of water fell from it onto the floor by my foot. The bats in the cave were tiny and quiet and mostly flew in the upper reaches. Our tour was the first of the day, so the creatures were just getting settled. Shasta, our guide, lost her corporate job a couple of years ago and came here due to a family connection, now she is enameled of this career and her enthusiasm for this remarkable place is evident in her demeanor and knowledge.

We stopped by one of the remaining salt flats on the island to see the flamingoes. I chuckled at my fellow tourers who’d never seen one. Whoever would have thought I’d become jaded about flamingoes??? These flew over from. Bonaire and never went home because the salt flats are so abundant in shrimp that they felt they found Nirvana. Wawa asked if anyone had ever eaten flamingo. I was astounded? EAT a flamingo?? It never occurred to me, but I guess some somewhere must have them as a food source. 

Wawa tried to teach the bus a few words in her native language...the only two that I remember are “Dushi” meaning sweetness or dear one or special one and “masha donkee” meaning thank you.

Like, Aruba, Curaçao gets its water from a reverse osmosis sea water desalination plant. Their water is very pure. B and I tried a bottle and I have to admit it was refreshing and tasted clean! The World Health organization has graded this water as most pure.

This island is much larger and more industrialized than Aruba. Just up the shore from the Dutch Coast Guard lies a US military installation. I never knew we had a base here. B opined it was probably due to the Shell oil refinery and the proximity of Venezuela (about 30 miles - you can see it from the mountain top) Also, the hotels are not limited to one area but are scattered over the island.

Curaçao is derived from the Spanish Corazon and means “heart.” That tidbit I enjoyed. 

We paid a visit to the curaçao distillery, where I became enamored of the different flavors of the liquor after sampling three varieties: Blue Curacao, Tamerind and Chocolate. I could be come addicted to Tamerind.  The distillery reminds me of the distillery in ST. Augustine that makes liquor from sugar cane not refined sugar, even to the old devices display. 

Our tour included the island’s historical museum. All furniture is mahogany and very heavy. The place was “air conditioned” by putting these bronze grates in the floors and having completely open lower (basement) levels that allowed the trade wins to move air through the house...until the lower level got filled up with stuff and to be cleaned out. the doorways fascinated me. 

Today this former dwelling is part museum, part art gallery. It includes a stained-glass painting/mural of the entire Caribbean nations that was a created for a New York exhibition and had to crated panel by panel for shipment. 

I adored the polka dot kitchen, then learned it was not an aesthetic option but a fundamental health one - since this house was built pre-window screen days, the paint scheme was actually a fly deterrent. Flies have multi-faceted eyes and the paint pattern distracts the flies and prohibits their settling Genius! I wonder who figured that out? 

KLM had the first trans-Atlantic mail service back in 1934. This SNIP is part of of the Fokkers from that service that is stored in this museum. I've never heard of a SNIP before, but it's amazing. How incredible that if flew from Amsterdam to Curacao. 

Finally, Wawa treated us to a solo performance on the carillon (a music device that looks like a loom and a pipe organ had a child) which controls 47 bells atop the building! (I hope I can figure out how to upload the video!) How scary cool it must be to play an instrument that’s more than 200 years old!

By the time the bus dropped us off at the ship, I was fading and B was walking slowly. We collapsed back in our cabin with every intention of going back out and doing a bit more sight-seeing, but that never happened. I have no idea why I felt so depleted, but it was hours before I was perky again. B was much improved after an Ibuprofen dose and getting off her ankle. Nonetheless, we were basically useless for the rest of the day. Our balcony was a haven.

B got to watch the ballet that is the Longshoremen removing the hawsers form the dock bollards as the Zuiderdamleft the pier. 

Barbara finally located a note pad, but still no pen anywhere in this stateroom. I think I am too harsh about the amenities, but I am trying to be open-minded. My favorite part of this stateroom is the window alcove over my writing desk. 

Tomorrow is at sea while we prepare for Cartagena.

Random thought for this day: Who is today’s Norman Rockwell in America?