Definitely not the most beautiful island in the Caribbean Sea, but it does have its charm ......... Several hundred years of being under Dutch control has left its mark in language, customs, architecture and ways of doing things ......... Initially established as a 'trading center', nothing seemed to have changed in that regard ....... Warehouses and supply houses everywhere and the prices for most commodities are considerably lower than anywhere else in the eastern island chain ............ It certainly is a mega tourist destination for the Netherlands, for last night at a beach hang-out near one of the resorts, we were left with the impression that there must be very few people left back in Holland ..... Not exactly true, because those left behind are the ones who used to live in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, according to some tourists ............ The island of Curacao is predominantly made of uplifted seabed with huge exposed sections of limestone ...... Actually it was the sea level dropping that exposed the island, and in the process the island is honey-combed with caves ........ The photo above is not an aerial photo at all, but a close-up of calcite ridge formations found in one of the caves ....... Water perculates inside a cave forming minute 'rice-paddies' where the standing water evaporates and the dissolved lime builds the wall a little higher each time .......... Nature, even deep inside a dark cave, is fascinating and beautiful as are the nightly sunsets we seem to get ......... Do a double-click on the photo and you'd never guess what it was ...... Not ever ......
One of those cultural differences was lunch ............... Here we observed a whole bunch of people eating 'pannekoeken' ....... Pancakes done with batter, fried apple and raisins with a thin dusting of powdered sugar, and on the side a delicious 'croquette' a crumbed roll containing a paste made of chopped veal, lightly fried in oil .....Not the average lunch combination now, is it .....
We are in the anchorage of 'Spanish Waters' which is really shaped like a hand, in which the fingers are all deep water inlets and the wrist is connected to the ocean through a narrow pass ..... Very secure and safe, but far removed from town so that we need to catch a bus for a thirty minute ride .... Could be a lot worse ... Near the bus stop are all the little fishing dories that seem so fragile, but they hug the shoreline and troll for fish, sometimes with amazing results, one of which we saw was an 80lb yellow-fin tuna .............. The waters run deep very close to shore here .............
We teamed up with Peter and Yutte of the good ship "FREYA" once more, to do a little tour by car around the island and away from the industrial side of things, for there are huge ship repairs and refineries on CURACAO .... Just past the airport are caves in the exposed limestone beds, inhabited by tourists during the day, and by bats and iguanas the rest of the time .......... Initially these sub-subterranean caves were discovered and occupied by runaway slaves, but the lack of food eventually drove them to stealing food and subsequent capture ..... The blackened roofs of their fires have persisted in this very dry climate ...... For the several weeks that we have been here the wind has not moderated nor have we seen rain .............. But we have seen plenty of cacti and plenty of iguanas who love this climate ............
The tour guide to the caves gave his discourse first in Dutch and then in English ......... Echoes of both came out of the darkness ....... Photos were only allowed where there was natural light so as not to disturb the fruit bats that give the caves such a distinctive 'flavour' .......
The 'Madonna' statue, a stalagmite formation inside the cave, is the most arresting of the natural sculptures ...... The authorities have even broken off the stalactite to prevent further deposits on the lower part, despite the fact that it only grows 1cm every hundred years ..... That has to be the absolute, absolute ultimate record in 'foresight' anywhere on the Planet .....
The original 'Caiquetio' Indians who inhabited the island about 1500 years ago left some religiously-inspired carvings in the walls that have been preserved with synthetic lacquer to prevent decay by mold and air pollutants ....... Similar carvings have also been found in the Orinoco River Delta in Southern Venezuela, near to Guyana, from where those native Indians are believed to have come .....
Fenced off for protection, the hieroglyphics are difficult to discern and interpret .......
Typical of Dutch rural homestead architecture, this is 'Landhuis Docterstuin' now converted to a restaurant, with its display of historical items and furniture and caters for lunch ....... Interestingly, we were the only 'tourists', but the place was packed with at least 80 locals from Curacao ...... All eating, all talking in Dutch or Papiamento which is the local dialect, and all drinking local beer ..... All very well dressed and happy ...... Perhaps it is a tradition to eat out on Saturdays ...
Saw some others also eating out ....... The historical salt-flats are no longer worked commercially and are now home to migrating flamingos that move around to different flats on the island...... We were fortunate to see a few of them shoveling for the pink crustaceans that give their feathers the pink colour, though we were told that they are becoming white, because the crustaceans are becoming white ............ Have to admit that they looked pretty pink to us ........
Back in WILLEMSTAD, we once again grab some fresh fruit from the 'floating market'....... Floating market, because the fresh fruit comes from Venezuela by boat ..... Or at least it once did, for the stalls attached to the vessels seemed to have an awful lot of oranges, peaches, grapes and plums with California stickers on them ..... No doubt part of the America 'free-trade' Agreement .... Very colourful and very reasonably priced .....
Directly across the street from the fishing boats and the floating market are the residences of the merchants who have historically 'traded' here for Centuries .... You don't have to dig deep to find cobble-stones streets here and much of the traffic is one-way ....... For it has to be, since all lanes and alleys are exceedingly small ....... Donkey-cart small .....
We even saw the long floating foot-bridge swing open to allow a speedboat into the harbour ........ Even imported wine like this little beauty from Bordeaux, is very reasonable priced in the supermarket at Fl 10.00 (that's Antillian guilders) which equates to about $US 6.00 ........ Weak price for strong red plonk ......
Throughout the night our anchorage has been lit up by the construction that has gone on around the clock on this oil-drilling platform ............. Well, we finally saw it being towed offshore into Venezuelan waters ........... VENEZUELA is reported to have one the largest oil reserves in the World, and also one of the least reserves in common-sense diplomacy, but that may change .............. Certainly with such untapped wealth, the prosperity level of the people should be going ahead in leaps and bounds, but all we heard from Venezuelans was the opposite ........ VENEZUELA lies only about 30 miles to the west of CURACAO .......
A great day touring with Peter and Yutte ......... Thank you both ..... Now back to getting chores done, for there is always work to be done and now especially, for it is hurricane season and we will remain landlocked for several months ....... Things are not bad though, for we have an incredible plan in the making ........ Can't wait to tell you ...... Just don't know how to do that just yet ........... Working on it ......
At least we don't have the problem of this home-owner, whose gutters are due for a clean-out ............ Or maybe they just like it that way ............ Sort of 'one-up-manship' on the window flower-box theme ...... I wonder if the neighbours have 'cactus envy' ........
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