Day...14?

We moved villas last Saturday (to our first choice villa), which wasn’t available for the full three weeks, so we had to get somewhere else for the first week. It felt slightly as if I was on a second holiday, as I had to pack and we got driven to the new place and had to get ourselves accustomed to the new area. The new villa is stunning, open plan and I haven’t had a single insect bite since we arrived (which is amazing since i’m always the first person on the menu).

The next morning I was treated to a particularly rude 5.30am awakening to catch a 7am boat to Kleine Curacao. This is a small island a few miles off the coast of Curacao, which is used as a day getaway for tourist groups, diving and as subject matter for the occasional mad scientist. I was under the impression that the boat ride would be around 30 mins, but at the speed of the leaky tub we were in, it took two hours. The island is uninhabited, although companies have set up shaded areas, toilets and barbeques for day trip visitors. There were at least 4 different medium-sized tour groups on the island on the day that we went, but they all stuck to themselves.

Despite being barely able to walk so early in the morning (I was too tired to even complain!), I still appreciated the beautiful sunrise and took a few shots of it on my phone. However, they were poor in comparison to the ones Marcel took so I’ve stolen a few from his camera.

It took me under 5 minutes to settle down on a sun lounger and delegate the task of setting up parasols to Marcel. When we arrived, there wasn’t much shaded space left on the beach so we encroached on another families space. We hadn’t realized that there were 6 of them as there had only been one beach towel on the spot, but it turned out not to be a problem as they spent the entire time playing beach football and sea-ping pong poorly.

The sea in Kleine Curacao is beautiful, and warmer and clearer than in Curacao itself, and it’s perfect for snorkeling and diving. I went swimming three times (I meant to sexily sprawl myself on a chair all day and haughtily read War and Peace, but I just couldn’t resist running to the sea like an excited puppy and splashing everyone).

Kleine Curacao has a few landmarks to explore: a Shipwreck and a Lighthouse, both of which are at least 100 years old. You can’t enter the Shipwreck by foot as it’s… well.. in the sea, but divers and experienced snorkelers go there as it provides shelter to sea creatures and therefore there’s lots to see. The lighthouse is literally falling apart, but it didn’t stop Marcel climbing up on it and taking a few shots.

When the day (and the HUGE free barbeque) was over, and we snuck onto a fast boat on the way back which cut down our journey time to 1 hour. The captain of the boat was a little confused, but luckily some of his original passengers had snuck onto our (slow) boat so there was more than enough space for us. The couple that snuck onto the slow boat looked really chuffed with themselves, but when we left Klein Curacao, and their boat disappeared on the horizon, I imagined their gutted faces and giggled to myself.

DAY 8

The next day was essentially a day off, with a walk around town and a nice lunch being the main highlight. The walk around town was nice, but after two hours in the midday sun it began to get a bit warm. Luckily there was a ben and jerry’s hut to refresh me, and you can see me pigging out below.

In Willemstad, there is a wide river dividing the two parts of the town (Punda and Otrabande), and there’s a large bridge that joins the sides. When the bridge is not available (when it’s being moved to allow a boat past), a free ferry service jumps into action, although the bridge is never out of service for more than 5 or 10 minutes.

The bridge floats on the surface of the water, and unlike the drawbridge style opening and closing of most large bridges that I’ve seen, it opens by swinging across the surface of the water to create a small gap at either end to allow a boat to go past. The gate only gives people 10 seconds of notice for when it’s about to close; a bell rings and you see people literally RUNNING to either end to avoid getting caught by the closing gates.

The funniest thing I saw was a woman, pushing a baby in a buggy, running to the closing gates and literally JUST making it. I thought it was going to be one of those things where she propels the buggy out in front of her, throwing it through the gates and then getting trapped herself, HOLLYWOOD-STYLE!

It was that level of PURE PANIC in her face.

We did a little shopping, and I bought myself a blinging monopoly dog keyring with cash. It didn’t avoid me getting the 3rd degree from the shop assistant who wanted to know my name, DOB, villa number, postcode, email address, last 3 known addresses, DNA fingerprint and madness such as that. If I had known I had to fill out a giant form to buy a trinket, I would have put my 12 dollar keyring right back down.

We saw this sign whilst out shopping, which felt the need to point out that wheelchair users were actually allowed in. It made me laugh as signs and adverts in Curacao seem to have this running theme of ridiculousness.

On Wednesday we went horse riding, which was hilarious. One of us always gets a dud horse who stops and eats all the time, or is just crazy or has one eye. This time it was Marcel on the dodgy horse that had to be at the back because it 'liked kicking' :-/ This picture was taken just before his horse, hearing the kept Parrots screeching, freaked out and started running around in circles with Marcel still on its’ back.

As soon as the ride started, I instantly realized that I had chosen the wrong outfit: low cut tops and horses don’t go together, especially when your horse likes trotting. I managed to get control after 5 minutes or so, but that was after being thrown about in the saddle and desperately wishing that I had worn a sports bra.

The horse ride was really relaxed; we were shown around the island and got to see some great views. On the way back we went through the farm area, and saw the kept parrots, goats, ostriches and more!

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Afterwards, we went to a local place for lunch, where all the locals go to eat. AS the place was so rustic and basic, I was expecting the food to be amazing. However, I was told that it was sorely disappointing (I didn’t eat as I was being put off by a bloke eating gloopy cactus soup with his hands). This was in contrast to the gorgeous meals we ate at a place called Yanchee’s a few days later. Serving the same local cuisine, but with FLAVOUR. The only disappointment was a one hour wait, but it was more than worth the wait. I almost ate the plate.

It was a large, airy restaurant surrounded by hundreds of beautiful wild birds which we could see at the window. With quirky decorations, amazing food, and a friendly owner, I could eat there every day. The only downside is that it’s at the other end of the island, and a 50 minute drive away.

The picture below was taken JUST after our food was served (after a one hour wait), and my dad decided to try to get us to smile for a photo rather than start eating. It was TORTURE! He took at least four shots and I had food in my mouth, waiting to chew. I was SO HUNGRY. Ronans face says it all…

I’m going to leave you with this picture taken by Marcel. She's inbetween two salt n pepper shakers.

Siobhan x

Day 5

Spending the day doing nothing besides splashing about in the pool, watching lifetime and going out for pizza, this post is going to be a quick one.

We all sat down and watched wife swap which was painful with the million and one ads that chop up TV programmes out here, but was pretty hilarious. In the American wife swap, they set up scenes and coach the families so it is always more entertaining. What did amuse me were the earrings of one wife in particular that you can see below.





Marcel found a dead lizard in the pool which grossed me out but also was a little sad. I looked up curacao lizards and discovered that it was likely a male 'Whiptail' lizard, and male by it's greenish colouring. The females and babies are brown. Locals in Curacao eat lizards (but only the larger Iguanas), and Iguana soup is a popular delicacy. The eggs and meat are supposedly powerful aphrodisiacs.



On the way out to the pizzeria, it was dusk and i took some great shots of the sunset. The pizzeria had a great atmnosphere, but we noticed the language barrier more than ever when a pepperoni and ham pizza turned into a mushroom one :-s The pizzas were delicious though, and i really enjoyed my half pint of Amstel with a slice of lime.



That's about it for day five.

Siobhan x

Day Four

Todays post is going to be a little back to front as i'd like to talk about the food first. Not that it's any surprise to anyone whose ever spent more than 10 minutes with me...



Last night we went to a beach-side restaurant called Perla Del Mar which served a range of grilled fish and meat dishes.





After we ordered, i noticed the waiter approaching our table with what i thought were the smallest free bread rolls in existence. Instead, we were served a venezuelan speciality called 'Arepas', which are little fried corn breads filled with melting cheese. They were served with chilli salsa sauce on the side, which went surprisingly well with them. I love cheese on literally ANYTHING so to have it oozing out of fried food, i was as happy as a kid in a candy shop. Or... me... in a candy shop.



You can fill Arepas with a variety of savoury fillings including bacon and even advocado. As Curacao is off the coast of south america, they have adopted some South American customs and i'm LOVING this cheesy one in particular.

For my main i selected Filet Mignon which i was trying for the very first time. I also made the best decision of my life to have it with coconut rice. It was essentially a mouthwateringly tender steak wrapped in bacon, topped in a creamy, peppery, oyster mushroom sauce.



I'm completely sold on the idea of steak wrapped in bacon. In terms of things wrapped in other things, it literally couldn't get any better.

I will also never eat regular rice again, now that i've tried coconut rice. When asked what it tasted like, i said ' it's amazing.. it's like... coconuty... and ricey'. I'm not very eloquent when i'm stuffing my face. I've also noticed that meals in curacao are usually served with coleslaw, which unlike in the UK has little mayo and the veggies are chopped extremely finely (almost gratered).

The only disappointment of the meal was my apple martini which was served in a regular glass, with two tiny straws that reduced my usually impressive rate of alcohol consumption. There was also no set of three tiny olives skewered on a cocktail stick. I actually hate olives with a vengence but i wanted the CHOICE to pluck them out and throw them into the sea if i wanted to.



It was a great end to a relaxing day on the beach, and definately a step up from the comically expensive 9 dollar servings of chips that they served at the bar.

From 12-5pm, we had been relaxing at a private beach near Willemstad (the capital of Curacao) called 'Blue Bay Beach', which was part of a beautiful hotel and villa complex.



I spent the first hour or so laughing at my Ricky Gervais audiobook, and noticing the antics of a very lost looking pelican alternately drifting on the waves and trying to catch its dinner.



Whilst relaxing on the sun lounger, i was approached by gorgeous little blonde boy who couldn't have been older than 9 years old, that i thought was lost. Oh how wrong i was.

He was a WAITER, and was offering me drinks from the bar. I was so shocked that i couldn't do anything but shake my head. I wondered what kind of person would be comfortable having their drinks brought to them by a child... eek!







During the course of the day, around five deep-sea divers surfaced and made their way towards the hotel. There are over 65 diving locations in curacao including the aeroplane wreck, and a site called 'Barracuda Point', where you'll be followed by curious barracuda, which despite having never attacked anyone in curacao, must be slightly terrifying.

Following our stay at the beach, we visited a local shopping centre called 'Centrum', which is one of the larger supermarkets on the island, and has its own bakery. Whilst wandering around trying to find a band name that i recognised, i stumbled upon this delicious looking snack, modelled by pip:





I'll leave you with that...

Siobhan x

Day Three

I have very mixed feelings about the island tour we went on today...

On the one hand we got to see some beautiful tropical sights, and get all the free curacao liquor samples that we could handle, but on the other hand, the tour guide had this insatiable need to fill every second of the tour with meaningless jabber. I am now fully qualified to tell you what happened at every single bus stop on the island since 1903, and how many years his wife has left until retirement at her government job.



Our first few stops were just picking up other people on the tour, and the guide mentioned some local history of... the banking district. He took us past some old buildings that had 'building cancer' which i thought was a very unusual way to say 'dry rot', and he showed us a big yellow building that was currently being used for car fines and ticket payments. I found it fairly amusing that it was a Jewish church just 30 years ago. I'm sure that there's a joke in there somewhere about money...



Straight after that we went to the distillery for the famous curacao liquor which is made from the rinds of oranges that grow only in curacao. Supposedly you can grow the plants in other countries, but due to the different acidity levels of foreign soil the fruits turn out bitter and consequently the booze made from it isn't particularly nice.



I didn't quite buy the glamorous story of how the liquor was invented since it's far too close in composition to 'Pruno' (prison alcohol made by convicts by fermenting fruit in garbage bags) :-s



The distillery was literally a madhouse. Put the word 'free' in front of anything and people will be literally selling their own mothers to get to it. There were trays and trays of the stuff (it wasn't likely to run out anytime soon), but it didn't stop the pushing and shoving. It was like the edmonton IKEA opening all over again. Memories of people swinging nun-chucks for bargain sofas springs to mind...

This was the reception desk where you could get information and also as much free dried coconut as you could handle.



After the distillery, we began driving to 'Hato Caves'. On the way the tour guide stopped abruptly (and woke the 10 of us that had fallen asleep). I wondered what was going on, and had a giant cactus pointed out to me by Marcel. There were four or five vultures sitting on top of it, looking at us with hungry eyes. I would have gotten off to take a closer look, but i know i look tasty so i didn't.



Never missing a photo opportunity, i took a few shots as we got off. We visited the caves the last time that we came to curacao, but it was soggy and wet, and there was a very real flooding (and therefore drowning) hazard which put off everyone but the few people with a point to prove, slipping around the cave in their flip flops.



This time it was gorgeous. From the viewing platform on the lower level, you could feel the mist from the waves in the air, and hear them crashing into the rocks. On the higher level was a view of the island stretching into the horizon.












After that we went to a hotel and resort for lunch called 'Hotel Kura Hulanda Watamula'. I chose the 'tropical dream burger' which consisted of blue cheese, pineapple slices, jalapenos and about 20 other ingredients that i couldn't quite put my finger on. Was tooo good. I didn't think that i'd like blue cheese but it was melted and not too strong). Delicious! My dads string of bad luck didn't improve though: his burger was 10 minutes late, but we got a round of free drinks (fresh lemonade) so i personally felt it was worth it.



This shot was taken inside the eating area. The roof was literally made from leaves. I don't know how it was staying up.



After the meal, we drove past a few other beaches, and saw some flamingos. Oddly enough all of my flamingo knowledge comes from centerparcs in england. Supposedly the babies are grey, and they get their colouring solely from their diet. If they don't get enough bacteria and beta carotene from their diets, their colour fades. Pale flamingos are under-nourished. I noticed that all of the flamingos i saw were quite pale (barely standing out from the mud), which i wasn't too happy about.



Following our flamingo encounter, our last stop-off was the beach. Nobody on the bus was prepared for this (aside from three very mature ladies from Florida), so we all sat around and i listened to music for the 40 minutes that we were there. It was beautiful though, and i'm really looking forward to our day at the beach today.

That's about it for today. Coming up in the next post will be candid photographs of unsuspecting people at the beach, and i will try to avoid taking pictures of the five ice creams that i'm likely to have today.

Siobhan x