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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
-Mark Twain-
Fireworks are legal in Curacao. Revelers shoot off rockets on New Years Day. During my last visit I went to a store that specialized in rockets. The solid fuel models ranged in size from pencil thick to a hand held missile. If I had more time and didn’t have to have to been home before New Years I would have purchased the largest one! The projectile stood nearly four feet on its fins and was over two inches wide. That thing was capable of reaching the South American mainland 40 miles away in mere minutes! Glad they don’t sell them in Chicago; imagine the carnage those things would cause if our street gangs had them!
Curacao has a very influential and close knit Antillean-Asian community. Influential because the Chinese appear to own most of the stores or at least the ones I shopped in. The primary snack food on the island is fried lumpia a Filipino delicacy. There’s only one restaurant where this delicious treat was sold; lines are long. The only negative twist to the Antillean-Asian scenario is that many Asians appear to hold the majority black islanders in disdain and treat them accordingly; maybe that has changed.
Willemstad is separated in two sections Punda and Otrobanda. Both are divided by the aforementioned Santa (Sint) Anna Bay by the Queen Emma pontoon bridge and the Queen Juliana Bridge that arches high over the bay. UNESCO designated Willemstad as a world heritage site!
Curacao is comfortable. Transportation is easy and cheap. There are two major bus terminals in Willemstad. One is in Punda near the post office and the other in Otrobanda near the underpass. Nearly all major tourist attractions can be reached by public transportation. I rode the bus whenever I went outside the city, cabs for inner city travel but mostly walked.
Willemstad is divided in two halves by shark infested Santa Anna Bay. These critters stalk people; one misstep you fall in the water you’re shark food! Point—my son was walking near water’s edge I sensed something wasn’t right. I warned him not to lean over the embankment; he listened and drew back. A medium sized shark leapt out the water a few feet from where he stood, flipped over and swam away! A metallic shark net separate public beaches from shark infested areas. I kept well within the netted area when I swam. Like Palawan Curacao is pretty yet dangerous. It’s a relatively safe place but use common sense.
Curacao has contributed a fair number of players to MLB. Reader, ever saw a Caribbean baseball game? Its’ an experience you won’t forget. My wife and I went to an all island championship game during a visit. Festivities started with the singing of the national anthem. The contest got underway promptly at 7 PM. This game was raw emotion at its best! Lots of arguments, fights, plenty extra base hits, mucho errors, bad calls, umpires verbally harassed, players on their knees who tossed up infield dirt in disgust after called out on steals and pick-offs, drums that beat to chants from frenzied fans, bells ringing but when this guy smacked a three run homer pandemonium seized the stadium! Members of the local press ran the bases along with the players! Too exhausted to finish the game we left after midnight. We heard about the winner in next morning’s news.
Willemstad has the oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere. The Snoga Synagogue was built by Sephardic Portuguese Jews from Amsterdam and Recife, Brazil. Originally modeled on the Esnoga Synagogue in Amsterdam the one in Curacao was built in 1692. This building has a very unique feature no other house of Jewish worship I’ve seen has; the floor is covered with layers of fine sand. When I was there you removed your shoes before the guard let you in. I felt that I was in a desert instead of a building which I assume was the intention of the builders who wanted worshipers to remember the sands of Sinai during the Exodus.
The Dutch have a flair for authenticity. Point—the buildings in the central business district resemble those old 16th century buildings in Holland around the time of the Reformation. The lone Islamic mosque looked like it was transported directly from Cairo tall minaret in all and the old but still lived in slave quarters reminded tourists of life during the nefarious African slave trade.
Touring Curacao on foot is the preferred mode of travel; however after a few days of hoofing it can get tiresome. My brother-in-law and I took the bus to Christoffel National Park. If you’re a serious hiker Christoffel Park can’t be beat. The jewel of this national park is the 1,227 foot Mt. Christoffel (Christofflberg), the highest point on the island.
Reader Curacao is a few hundred miles north of the Equator; its’ hot. We arrived at the park around 6 AM. We immediately started our trek up the mountain. The park is a smaller version of one of the islands that make up Palawan back home except it’s in a desert.
Reader if you’ve seen those old adventure movies with tall vines, twisting foot paths, odd wildlife scurrying about, dangerous plant life yet a place of incredible beauty, that’s Mt. Christoffel. When I was a kid I used to watch those old Tarzan and Jane movies. I especially enjoyed it when Tarzan used to swing from those long hanging vines; since then I’ve always wanted to do that. I grabbed a long vine and swung from it. With my loud Tarzan yell I was in business; problem was I had contacted a skin ‘rash’ that left large dark brown and white patches on both arms! It took me months for the patches to disappear.
The view from the summit was splendiferous! The entire island was visible including snatches of the South American mainland. To celebrate we had a picnic lunch. I broke out the wine and the fried chicken. After spending most of the morning hiking up Christoffel we started our descent. It was high Noon when we reached ground level. The desert heat started to get to us. The sun stood straight up in the sky. Sweat soaked our bodies. The hot sun on sand almost melted my sneakers. Sun bleached skeletons of various sizes lay scattered on the ground but it was the ‘caw-caw’ sound of the big birds that circled overhead that scared me. We wandered around the park for hours yet couldn’t find the way out. My brother-in-law lied when I asked him if he was familiar with the park; like me it was his first visit.
Around 8 o’clock that night we stumbled our way back to the Visitor’s center. A park ranger informed me they thought about sending in a search party to rescue us after they feared the worst. After a few ice cold beers at the concession stand we were back to our old selves. We took a bus back home. I was in bed sore all over; he went dancing.
Reader I have a more stories but I’m outta’ word space. If you want to visit the Netherlands Antilles please go to the following sites for additional information:
• Curacao Tourist Bureau
• www.curacao.com
• www.curacao.com/en/discover
• www.tripadvisor.com
• www.christoffellpark.org
God be with you and Happy New Year!