Anniversary

One year on Curacao and that makes this a moment of reflection. Let’s see what I discovered on this island and what I consider keepers!


CasAbao Beach



1. Cas Abou beach definitely. The white sand, spacious beach, facilities and of course the view! I’m not surprised that Cas Abou is one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. All in all, going to the beach to swim, relax, snorkel, read a book, drink a frozen strawberry or play beach tennis is definitely what I like most about Curacao.

2. Salsa. When I came to Curacao, I was not able to make one salsa move, although I did great pretending! A year later, I am flying around the dance floor. Currently, I am taking lady styling classes and greatly improving the way I look on the dance floor! As a lady, I only need to know five salsa moves, so I have plenty of time to improve my skills ;-) And, it definitely is time for a compliment: respect to all salsa dancing men! I applaud you for learning and remembering all those salsa combinations ….I impressed! I really like dancing salsa with you, especially on the beach. I just love body in the wind & feet in the sand salsa! Pretty sure that next year, I’ll be writing about body to body Zouk…but then in first place! When is that course starting at Salsation Dance Company anyway?

3. Warung Jawa, a little Surinam toko in Salina. Warung Jawa makes the best soto soup! It’s a little family business and the staff is by far the friendliest on the island.

4. Dolfijn FM! Since 2008, a TV-set is among the history items in my household. When I arrived on Curacao, I started listening to a local radio station, so I could learn the local language (Papiamentu). After a couple of weeks, it turned out I was listening to a Spanish radio channel from Venezuela… I speak a lot of languages, but Spanish and Papiamentu clearly are not among them. I switched the channel to Dolfijn FM, a local Dutch radio channel and I have not moved channels since! I even became the first listener in the history of Dolfijn FM to guess the correct answer to a scientific question! My name is on the wall of fame of Dolfijn FM!

5. Diving. In 2008, I became a PADI open water diver right here. By now, I have made over 30 dives and I am a PADI rescue diver. Diving, especially night diving is the most relaxing thing ever. My best dive was the Dolphin Dive; I saw a dolphin, a sea horse, a lobster and a turtle!
 

Caracas Baai

6. BBQ at Caracas Bay is just perfect! This is a beach where you can bring your own barbeque, sit at picnic tables and just relax! So instead of a BYOB (bring your own beer) restaurant, here you bring your own beer & barbeque. So, I call it: BYOB&B at Caracas Bay.
 
7. Movie City at Bellisima mini mall in Santa Rosa. This video rental store has the latest movies so fast, I don’t need to go the cinema anymore (ok… I boycott Cinema’s & The Movies due to annoising (annoying & noisy) guests. Definitely my favorite stop before an incredible evening at my home theater!


Klein Curacao



8. Klein Curacao. An idyllic little island with gorgeous white sandy beaches. It’s a two hour boat ride from Curacao and definitely worth getting sea sick over ;-)



9. Galina batata tur kos. Local fast-food: chicken and fries with everything [ketchup, mayonnaise, peanut sauce, cocktail sauce (I think) and pika (spicy stuff)]. It’s seriously delicious and a great calorie boost!

10. Hard to decide what should be on number 10:, local food at plasa bieu, sushi at Craving Sushi, Chopstix, Ema-Tei or Matsuru, live music on Friday Night at Mundo Bizarro or Cabana, happy hour at Wet & Wild, yoga at Kirtana 168, lunch at Terazzo, ice cream at Bella Italia, moccacino at Café Barista, awa lamounchi (lime juice) at Zanzibar, frozen strawberry at Mambo Beach, shopping at Renaissance Mall or sailing on Spanish Water. Altogether, this is a great place to hang out!


Of course, what really is in first place is having the opportunity to meet and spend time with my –long lost - relatives & Vuvu! Also, there is still so much more to discover:

• Sites & activities: Hato Caves, Museum Kura Hulanda, Savonet Museum, Gallery Alma Blou, catamaran sailing, wakeboarding, surfing
• Restaurants: Brakkeput Mei Mei, De Kleine Wereld, Snapper, Fort Nassau, Indi’s Spice Bar, Omundo, Boathouse
• Beaches at Blue Bay Resort, Holiday Inn, Sunset Beach, Boca Santu Pretu (black beach)

Who is next visting me at this award-winning 'Hottest location of 2011'?

weekjenederland

Tja, welke verschillen dan zo opvallen als je zo'n 9 maanden bent weggeweest....

heel lieve familie & vrienden & Luna in Nederland!
& te weinig tijd om iedereen te zien; verheug me nu al op de volgende keer!

mist
oliebollenkraam
hoogbouw en liften
warm water uit de kraan en dat begint al in 't vliegtuig
zwartbonte en roodbonte koeien en schapen in de wei
met de auto harder rijden dan 80 km per uur (yoehoe)
zoeken naar een vuilnisbakje om je toiletpapier in te gooien
silhouet van een molen dat opduikt in de opkomende zon en lijkt te zweven in de mist (prachtplaatje)
zadelpijn & pijnlijke bovenbeenspieren! (na een half uurtje fietsen....)
verkoopster die niet achter je aanlopen in de winkel
zelf de boodschappen inpakken in de supermarkt
fietsers & trams op de rijbaan
zwanen in een weiland
bruincafe

Dia di Banda 'Bou

Awe tabata dia di Banda 'bou!


Feet in the sand



Today, was Banda 'bou day! Banda 'bou is the country side on the west side of the island. It's know for beautiful beaches, there are a lot of them: playa cas abou, playa lagun, playa seru pretu, playa santa cruz, playa grandi and many more. As the beaches, the country side is gorgeous.



On the way to Banda 'bou, there's a part which I call 'little Tuscany'. Although, I've never been to Tuscany, to me it looks a lot like Tuscany, you just need to imagine cypress trees instead of the cactuses you will see. Unfortunately, in a couple of years about 10.000 houses will replace this beautiful part of the country.

Banda 'bou is also on the way to Mount Christoffel. Once you leave the city and drive westward, it will become more and more hilly. As it's been raining a lot lately, the country side is very green and looks beautiful and healthy. Except for a couple of goats and lizzards, there wasn't a lot of traffic on the way to Banda 'bou. Which was surprising because today is Banda 'bou day.

Due to havy rain last weekend, the day was moved ahead one week. The idea is that at various place around Banda 'Bou you will find little stands selling jewelery, clothes and food (of course): Chicken with fries, sauses and hot saus (Galina ku batata tur kos), Sopi Mondungo (soup with intestines) and more. And let's not forget the music!

I took the road trip with my aunt. The first place where we went to was the market of Barber. We found a few stands even one with antiques and a whole area of food stands. The second place, we found on the way to Soto was a little bigger; less food, more stands selling stuff and a band singing Tambu. There was also a very Dutch 'Frietkraam' (fries trailer); I could not resist a 'patatje oorlog met ui'. Pretty good! 

After a day of driving, smelling food and listening to loud music, it is always very nice to drive to a beach. With my feet in the sand and walking in the water, seeing the sun go down and feeling the wind on my skin, I totally calm down. It's very relaxing. I can recommend it!!!! Today, we ended up at Playa Santa Cruz. It almost replaces Cas Abou as my favorite beach. Since this one is free, I guess it's my favorite free beach!

Playa Santa Cruz

Tropical Depression

August until November is hurricane season in this part of the world. Curacao, Bonaire and Aruba are part of ‘Islanan Abou’ the western islands (Benedenwindse eilanden). St. Martin, Saba and St. Eustatius are the Islariba, the eastern islands (Bovenwindse eilanden). The Islariba are more prone to actually getting hurricanes. Once in a while Curacao is hit, but here it’s more storms and tropical depressions. In August we saw some rain, but September is really something else. It’s like all the rain that falls in the Netherlands in a year, falls her in a couple of days. Of course, the soil can’t handle it, neither can the sewers. Streets are flooding, houses are flooding, the gorge behind my house that is normally dry turned into a river.

Last night, I got home just in time to save my apartment from flooding. Though the consideration of staying at a beach hotel (I was there for happy hour ;-) was a pretty good one. The drive home was dangerous. My brakes didn’t work as well as they normally do and they made a terrible noise. Scary! I had to drive around to find streets that weren’t flooded which turned out to be impossible. The crossing Nacht by Schout Doormanweg and Cas Coraweg was totally flooded. A car wouldn’t drive anymore, so people were pushing. Two cars had bumped into one another. It looked spectacular, though it wasn’t. It kind of felt cool at some point as I was actually ‘driving on water’. Something like ‘walking on water’. Here’s the film.
Driving on Water

Finally I got to Gosieweg, the main street near my house. But the cars in front of me were not moving anymore. They looked like they were floating in the water. Luckily on my right there was a parking lot which lay a little higher. I took the exit and that way was able to pass over the other cars. I found a road that went up to my street. Since I live on a hill a lot of water was just coming at me. Luckily I was still able to drive up. When I got to my appartment I saw a little lake in front of my house. Seriously, it would have been easier to get to my house by rubber boat! It turned out that a stone was covering the hole that normally lets out the rain. We’d put it there because Vuvu would escape through it when she was still a tiny little puppy. So, a good thing I didn’t stay at a hotel!
Just to let you know: I got home safe, my house is fine and my car is still in good shape. As of now…I’m paying a little more attention to the weather forecast during hurricane season.

And what’s most beautiful, today the sun is shining brightly and we have a clear blue sky!

This post is a week late….because..i got a bad case of the cold…

Elections

Pink, orange, white, gold, light blue, yellow, red, blue, cream and green. Ten colors. Ten political parties. The first prime minister of our new to be formed country Curacao (by 10-10-2010) will be elected today. Wednesday was the last campaign day and  that evening I spend at the party house of FOL. Like every other party, FOL painted their party building in the party colors.

Orange party house - Frente Obrero Liberashon

There I decided that if by Friday, I still did not know what party to vote for, I could always vote for orange. The Dutch would certainly get that. Anyway, we were standing outside the orange builing. There were orange flags everywhere and two stages. On one stage the well-known band from Aruba 'Tsunami' was playing. On the other stage a well-know band from Curacao 'Simplemente Perfecta' was playing. And that was the main reason, I was  there. Of course to experience some culture, but also because my cousin was playing. And that was fun! 

Green party house - PNP Partido Nashonal di Pueblo

Cars were driving around and there were real traffic jams. Only a few parties celebrated the last day of their campaing that evening. The other parties already celebrated the evening before. So you actually had the chance to visit different parties....to get free drinks, free t-shirts, free poker cards...and some people went to sell their vote; in exchange for cash, or by having their electricity bill paid. Yes, this really happens here. Two radio DJs actually sold their votes on air to the highest bidding party! And apparently, that's legal....I should have tried to sell my vote for my car insurance or something. But honest as I am, I did not sell my vote.

Pink party house - Laboral

I went to the school  building today to vote. I brought my neighbor...how else was I going to find that place. Entering the voting hall, I saw tables that were covered by paper boxes, apparently to give the voters some privacy. I handed by voting card and my ID to the gentleman behind the desk. He called out my ID number. Another lady then called out my name, there were persons from different polical parties present to coordinate the process (to eliminate corruption). I received a voting sheet and went into one of he cubicles. With a red pencil I colored a dot on a voting sheet. After that, I entered my voting sheet into another paper box. It was certainly interesting. Not an easy task...since I don't know the history.

The streets have been decorated with flags in all party colors for weeks.

Voting is a big deal here. Some people don't like to vote because of how the politicians behave. Apparently, they tend to call eachoter morons instead of presenting their political program when they have air time and they make no progress. But what else is new in politics..... Since 2 pm today, everything is closed, supermarkets, gym, public offices, etc. Everyone get's time of to vote. Some call it that, others call it ' just another excuse not to work'.....

More flags: people are proud of the party they vote for
and put the party's flag on their car.
This flag on my car is just for demonstration purposes...I did not vote for FOL.

Children seem to have the most fun: during the campaign parties they dress up in the colors of all the parties; the more colors you wear, the better. Imagine this: yellow pants, pink shirt, green belt, white cap, gold earrings, blue left shoe, dark blue right shoe, cream, red and orange bracelets.

I got to vote for the first time here and it makes me feel proud.

Here's an opportunity I couldn't miss;
in a picture with the party leader....
even though he was just
made out from paper.

The birthday party

Party Decorations

My grandmother and my aunt & uncle celebrated their birthdays in the same week. So, I got a new experience: the traditional family party. As my aunt and uncle turned fifty on the same day, they organized a big party. Already the day before, my - other - aunt backed some cakes and again another aunt helped to tidy up the house. My cousin also helped out a lot and once the party started she looked so tired that I dismissed her of her duties and told her to enjoy the party since it were her parents celebrating. Meanwhile, I got experience in waiting tables. By the end of the evening I was able to carry three plates and remember about 6 drinks!

Kala

Anyways, enough about me. The party preparations started with decorating the house and preparing snacks. My aunt (yet another) made kala and pika balls (spicy meatballs). There were also oysters in ham topped with cheese (delicious and spicy) and sausages wrapped in bacon.

BBQ-box

Already hours before the party my uncle started the barbeque. He’s my BBQ-King, he makes the best meat. So once everyone arrived, dinner was served. It came in a nice box (luckily for my cousin who came between his daytime job and his nighttime job - he plays in a band – so he could take some food w/ him). And then there was the cake. In the Netherlands we start serving cake when guests arrive. Of course that cake is accompanied by a nice cup of coffee. It’s a little different here. Once you arrive at the party, the cakes are presented on a table.

Presenation of Cakes

Sweet Take Home Candy

They stay there all evening. Once you are ready to go home, you take a piece of cake with you. It is tradition, so people at your home who were not at the party, can share the cake with you. In addition, you receive some kind of candy – I don’t know what it’s called – but it’s made of condensed milk and tastes very sweet. I tasted it ones...this time I put mine back in the basket without anyone seeing....I just wanted to make sure some enjoyed that piece of candy.

Oysers w/ Ham & Cheese

Sausage w/ Bacon

Pika Balls

B-day

Me at 39

OK....it's been almost a month that I turned 39 and celebrated my birthday, but it's never too late to tell you about it. Since my birthday was on my day off, I had the whole day to prepare for the party. It was a beautiful day, and I have lunch with a close friend at Zanzibar, on the beach of Jan Thiel. What a beautiful location for a birthday lunch. And my first present: a voucher for a massage at Beach Body. Wonderful. I've finally made an appointment for next Monday. Looking forward to that. Ok. Back to the party.

Ready to party

Since I have a small apartment and a small yard and only a few chairs, I decided to keep it small.

Some more family

Just family, some neighbors and a few close friends. Unfortunately, some could not make it due to car issues...the reoccuring problem of the island. I'm glad my car is great.

More family

So, in the evening about 22 people arrived at my doorstep. It was wonderful. We ended up putting my sofa bed outside to have more seating places.

My neighbor let me borrow a couple of chairs and my other neighbour brought some extra chairs. I invited a cousin whom i never met, but who was on vacation here at the moment. He brought his girlfriend and they are the most wonderful people.

After Party

Two days later we had an after party at Cinco's. A local discotheque. It was a wonderful day, it was the first time celebrating my birthday with my family on the island of Curacao.

More After Party

Grandma and aunt

My grandmother was amazed; she never expected to see so many people at the party since I've only been here a couple of months..but hey, what can i say, it's a really large and great family!

Presents

When the party was over, I had some time to unwrap my presents. Thank you everybody! By the way, I'm sitting on one of my presents, outdoor chairs from grandma.

Unwrapping presents

B-day presents