cur-a-wow

We are on our long-awaited R and R. I am sure it must seem like we gallivant around and go from island to island, but our mandated breaks are 8 weeks a part and when you are living in a place like Haiti, 8 weeks can seem like an eternity. Especially when you are working at least 6 long days a week, running cholera clinics, breathing in polluted air, eating processed food, seeing poverty daily, dealing with armed robberies in our vehicles (did we mention we had two of those last week??) and getting bitten on the bum by mosquitoes every time you go to the bathroom in your outdoor toilet. (true story). Not that we are complaining, I am just justifying why our  blog appears to have frequent reports from  new tropical locales here and there. 🙂

Well, it is settled. I love the Caribbean. I love how each island is so uniquely cultural and quirky and filled with its share of personalities and island folk.

Curacao is wonderfully vibrant, with houses painted these cheerful yellows and purples and blues so you feel like you are  driving around inside of a postcard. The island was a spot for slavery in the 18oo’s, and many plantations still exist, now turned into museums and other establishments. The local art reflects their heritage. The language is Papiamento (which I dont feel too dumb now that I had never heard of it because spell check doesn’t even recognize it) and it’s a mixture of Dutch and Spanish and French. On our way to our place when we flew in we pulled into a divey restaurant, the Fourth of July Snack (what’s that name all about??) and our eyes scanned the menu outside, scrawled on a chalkboard. The only word I recognized was Kabrit- goat, and I knew I didnt want that. We were like, um.. we have no idea what these words are.  I keep finding myself speaking Creole and it’s getting me nowhere.

 

I’ve been trying to figure out how best to describe Curacao. It’s kinda like Arizona mated with the Galapagos Islands and had a baby island. It’s this striking mix of cacti and brilliant blues and rising green peaks, speckled with Iguanas and coral and all the loveliness of a beach getaway.

Our first couple days were filled with simple things, like snorkeling and taking in the lulling underwater world:

It’s not too shabby, I suppose:

We were enjoying our snorkeling paradise when we heard mention of a turtle feasting away. Some of you remember my sea turtle interest from Turks and Caicos (okay, it was more like a freak out obsession) so we asked this 16-year old snorkeler near us if he saw where it was. He kept hovering around me which I thought was kinda weird, and pointed across the way. I sped off in a flurry and Justin followed behind him. We were all bobbing for a while, floating, and we realized he didnt really know what he was talking about. Justin comes up and shouts, “The only thing this kid is looking at is you! Little creep, I’ve been watching him stare at you under water.” He got red and swam away. Good times.

Next we visited Captain Feel Good’s place (yes that is his name) and there was a similar vibe to sleazy Schmitty’s place… (for those of you who followed our meanderings in Anguilla). Electic. Junk everywhere. Bachelor pad is next to the restaurant, that sort of thing. There were a couple of parrots outside the place that kept saying “boobies” I think. Classy sayings like “women at work: cook your own meal” hung about. It was visual candy. The Captain, it turns out, moonlights as the cook and bartender, and also leads fishing and kayak tours, and hosts a crazy beach party at night with scantily clad women. Nice.

For dinner last night we found a lovely local place for dinner, Sol Food, run by a New Hampshire-turned-Curacao couple, Sunshine and David. They fell in love with Curacao four years ago and moved down to start a little restaurant (which is also their home). David has a mountain bike club for local kids and has made miles of technical tracks in the northern part of the island (more on that tomorrow) and hosts races for the kids… a really neat outreach. Sunshine is spilling over with energy and wears shirts that say “Hugs and Fishes” on them, and has painted heart all over the place. I mean, she’s really got  a thing for hearts. She goes from table to table on her little deck, and talks loudly about the island’s gems. At dinner she gave me a 6 page front and back, single spaced document of all her favorite things to do. It took some time to write. Justin and I were thinking it’d be pretty fun to come run a little place on a Southern Caribbean island at a later time in life.We’ll see…

Oh there is so much more to write about! But I must get my beauty sleep for some more snorkeling and exploring tomorrow. Justin is slumbering contentedly by me as I type. More soon, from our little piece of Caribbean goodness.