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Much confusion about this place, not least amongst your correspondents. We know where Curacao is, hopefully so does Cap'n Dave's rinky dink navigation computer (we reckon it's much like the aircraft autopilot, dial in a destination, press a little button and we can all toddle off downstairs for a quick kip until the buzzer goes), trouble is nobody seems clear on what it is.
It used to be part of the five islands of the Netherlands Antilles, an old colony (can you still call them colonies?) of the Dutch, but in October 2010, Curacao with one other island became independent "within the Kingdom of the Netherlands", work that one out. The other three islands are classified as "cities within the Netherlands". But the currency is the Guilder. Our blog database does not recognise Curacao as a country, but the internet currency converter will only recognise "Dutch Antilles", confused? To lessen confusion for aged tourists (and arrogant Americans) virtually everyone speaks English, reducing the need for us to speak slowly, loud and adding an "o" to the end of every noun; isn't Johnny Foreigner an accommodating sort of fellow? They also accept dollars, not so sure about some of their conversion rates, maybe Johnny Foreigner isn't quite as daft as we would like to think sometimes.
It's prosperity, and it does appear quite developed, is based upon large oil refineries and flourishing tourism. It lies outside the main Caribbean hurricane belt and so has year round tourism, with temperatures averaging around 27C. The capital city is Willemstad, architecturally unique it is characterised by typical Dutch gabled end houses painted in a wide range of pastel shades, even new buildings continue with the pastel shades, and very pretty it is too. The story has it that a former colonial Governor believed his frequent migraines were brought on by the harsh white colour of the old buildings, nothing to do with the imbibing of large quantities of schnapps or rum I guess, and so decreed they should be repainted in more gentle pastel shades. It is not recorded whether his migraines improved! It is noted that the local tourist board recognised a unique marketing opportunity when it saw one. Enough background already?
We docked at the new cruise terminal just on the edge of town to a warm and cheerful welcome, in marked contrast to some recent stops. A gentle walk through a shopping/ hotel area takes you to the old Rif fort, an old fortification, that's a surprise, now developed as a retail precinct. The fort guarded the river mouth which Willemstad lies across.
The river itself is pretty deep, large ocean going vessels still pass right through the centre of the town to the port and refinery which are several hundred yards inland. Two bridges span the river, nearest the river mouth, the older of the two, is a floating bridge nowadays for pedestrians only, supported on a series of 15 or so pontoons. The final pontoon is motorised so that the whole structure can be pivoted through 90 degrees to open up and allow shipping to pass. This happens quite frequently, occasionally for extended periods, and so two aged ferry boats are on standby to swing smoothly in to action.
A half mile or so upstream a flash new bridge has been built, with mega grants from my Euro budget, damn it. If it's not insult enough to bail out the Greeks because they refuse to pay their taxes and all retire when they're 18, along with the Portuguese, the Irish and Berlusconi's bunch of crooks, we now have to build bridges in South America. Good job we've got an honest bunch of politicians looking after our best interests. Did I mention I've written to Dave Cam down on Millionaires Row apologising that I can only afford
£ 3.27p when I call in for lunch at Chequers, so I don't expect the big slap up do like the hedge fund boys, few sarnies and a plate of chips will do nicely. The guy's got my vote every time. Anyway, I digress slightly. The new bridge is many feet high to allow uninterrupted passage for the largest ships and is well worth every penny we've spent on it.
We spent most of the morning wandering the town, from the touristy restaurants built on decking out over the sea to the old market now converted to open air food stalls, frequented mainly by locals, where food is fresh cooked over charcoal, but more about lunch later; from the floating fish market to the many stylish watch and jewellery shops for which the town is renowned. The town is characterised by narrow streets and alleys with a wide range of of shops. The main churches reflect the broad trading history of the colony. We paid, literally, a visit to the local synagogue with it's unique sand floor, said to remind the congregation of their forebears passage out of the desert. Macdonalds let us down for once, wifi and fries, normally an unbeatable combination, failed on this occasion. For lunch we returned to the old market. We had spoken, at some length, to one of the stall holders when we walked through earlier and he had extolled the virtues of the local cuisine and we had promised to return. We were not disappointed, made to feel really welcome, as so often in the poorer countries we have visited in the last three months.
We sat on benches and shared an old wooden table with two delightful young ladies on a week's work experience from a college in the Netherlands, (beats sweeping the floor and making the tea in the neighbourhood hair salon eh?) and were served up whole, grilled, red snapper, fried rice and beans with fresh lemonade (I swear the snapper winked at me when it was put on the table). Well good it was. The Dutch girls were taking part in carnival week helping local children with street painting and street statues. Toddled off to a local ice cream parlour for pudding (first one of the entire trip - how's that for restraint??) and then did a bit of shopping.
Curacao is a duty and tax free zone for tourists and 20% discounts seemed to be about the average, with offers like that you have to make the effort don't you? One of our number, not renowned for the speed at which he makes his mind up, nor for his willingness to spend money, has been umming and arring (spell checker has gone in to meltdown at that) about a new watch for weeks, or maybe months, finally gave in for the said 20%, and is now flashing the new timepiece. And so, it was back to the ship around four o'clock time.
- comments
Derek ... or maybe it was very roughly 4 pm or maybe half 8 - according to the discount timepiece!!!!
Ros Lovely to read this one as reminded us of of 2010, our silver wedding, learning to dive, during 17 happy days in Curacao. Jerry talked himself out of the timepiece after talking himself into it for 16 of the days Arrghh! We loved the island and its people and we are still loving your blog!