The capital, Willemstad, and its colorful colonial architecture.
Another throwback this week, this time all the way back to September 2014 (And don't worry folks, while I used to have a good memory pre-children, I don't just remember all this stuff anymore. I keep a journal usually when we travel)...
After a crazy summer with me starting full time work again, various hurdles in life, and craving a travel opportunity we managed to sneak in a getaway sans Emma. A couple months earlier Emma experienced her first night without us and with glowing reviews from her babysitter we asked my parents if they would tackle five days with her. We spent a long time contemplating how far away we could go with that much time that met the requirements of having a good Marriott, nice beaches, a few outdoor activities that enticed us, and one that preferably required the use of a passport. We eventually settled on the small Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, about 40 miles off the Venezuelan coast.
Not a bad view at the hotel.
My parents arrived to our house the night before we took off. I honestly don't think we told Emma much of our leaving her in advance, all she knew was she was going to have a lot of time to spend with Grandma & Grandpa over the next few days. The next morning Steve and I had a flight out at some ridiculous hour and my dad was kind enough to shuttle us to the airport. We did what any parents traveling without their child do, slept on the flight and tried to read our books like they were foreign concepts, something we had long ago given up on during travel. Upon arrival and our cab ride to our resort we were not utterly impressed with our surroundings. We knew Curacao was not given the highest reviews for natural beauty that some of the other Caribbean islands boast, but we knew it should have some of the bluest water we had ever seen. Following check-in and welcome drinks (an interesting choice of 8 oz bottled Polar beers) we found the pool and the beach. We also found out that the local people are very friendly as not once, but twice we had hotel staff simply enter our room to deliver something to us rather than knocking first! Although we greatly enjoyed that friendliness during our dinner conversation with our waitress that night as she taught us a lot about the island and the fact that children are taught at least three different languages when they go to school - Dutch, Papiamento (a local Creole language) and English. Needless to say I felt pretty stupid after this conversation.
Day two arrived and we realized that for the first time ever we literally had not planned a single thing for our trip other than our flights and our hotel. In realization that we might get bored just staying at the resort we decided to rent a car for a couple of days and plan a few activities. We still enjoyed the bulk of that day at the hotel, but decided come mid-afternoon to make the less than 10 minute drive to "downtown" Willemstad, the largest city and capital of Curacao. We were excited to see the picturesque colonial buildings, the Queen Emma pontoon bridge, and floating market but were somewhat disappointed by much of the feel of the downtown area. We found sushi in a small, new, trendy area of the city but only wandered around for a short time after it got dark. It seems that even when traveling sans child we are boring and head back to the hotel shortly after it gets dark!
The photo you'll find every time you do a google search of Willemstad - the Queen Emma Pontoon bridge and colorful dutch colonial buildings.
More colorful buildings!
Steve in front of the Queen Emma pontoon bridge and it in action below.
Oil is big business in Curacao.
Our early night the evening before was somewhat warranted as we knew we would be getting up relatively early the next morning. Sunday morning we headed 25 minutes south to the Seaquarium for what was certainly the highlight of my trip, swimming with dolphins! While a lot more time was spent prepping and educating us for the swim than it was actually swimming, it was still well worth the 20 minutes with the dolphins. My group of six swimmers (most others were Dutch, which we came to find that Curacao was a very popular place for the Dutch to vacation) had the pleasure of getting to know Annie (an 18 year old mom) and Machu (her 2.5 year old son). Annie was perfect, listening and responding to every command and Machu was pretty good, but one might also say he was a typical toddler - getting easily distracted, showing off, and in general just needing a little extra time to follow directions! Nonetheless it was a phenomenal experience and so much fun as I got to take turns giving commands such as singing, shaking hands, kisses, and having them both take me for a ride!
Giving Annie & Machu the command to sing!
Kisses!
Shaking hands and a few fun videos below...
Afterwards we enjoyed a nice brunch on a quiet inlet in the water and then made our way nearby for our other adventure of the day - parasailing. Steve had passed on swimming with the dolphins as he said he was just as happy watching, but I am honestly surprised he said yes to parasailing. While not terribly afraid of heights, its still not his cup of tea. But we booked the lower of the two height options (100 meters vs 300 meters) and greatly enjoyed our private boat ride with a Dutch father/daughter combo as our guides and 20 minute experience in the sky. I loved the scenic views and the smooth, seemingly effortless ride, I think my husband on the other hand was happier to say he had done it when he was back on the ground than to actually do it...
Firmly grounded we made our way a little further south on the island to relax the remainder of the day on the popular Jan Thiel beach. It was certainly a popular spot considering the actual beach was surprisingly small. It was also a nice spot for a sunset and dinner on the beach with more of a local vibe. While don't get me wrong, I love the pampering of staying on a resort, and the security and ease typically afforded to you when you're in another country. A resort is a very artificial interpretation of its surrounding landscape at the end of the day.
Dinner view on Jan Thiel beach.
Monday morning arrived and it was our last full day in paradise. We started the morning off early again with a 40 minute drive to Christoffel National Park for the 60 minute hike up Mount Christoffel (375 m). While far from the most challenging hike we've done, it was certainly quite warm and had at least a few fun boulders that required climbing over. During the hike we found the signs in the park humorous that called for no guns and no slingshots. The view from the top provided a nice opportunity to see the majority of the island. Much of the island was quite dry and burned out, but still some greenery and glimpses of blue water in various coves. There were a few other hikers on the trail, but most of our encounters were with salamanders, goats, and the army doing a training hike.
The hiking path up.
The view from the boulders on top!
Following our hike we were on a bit of a time crunch to get the car returned but we still canvassed most of the northwest of the island in an effort to get a glimpse of the blue water that we had seen advertised in our trip planning. They were not lying. The beaches of Gross Knip, Kleiner Knip, and Playa Jeremie were all stunning and left us wishing we had planned our time better so we could actually go swimming. Nonetheless we got our car returned and still managed to enjoy ourselves at the Marriott beach that afternoon. It was windy with plenty of waves, but perfect to cool off from the intense sun, and nice to not have to worry about a little girl in the sun, heat, and waves.
The water color was stunning!
I love how the water so distinctly changed from clear to dark blue.
After dinner Steve had to put his "free" money to work at the hotel's casino. I enjoyed watching him play blackjack and laugh as the older lady, who was clearly a regular, tried to tell him how to play.
Tuesday morning arrived and we got our last chance at the pool before packing our bags for the trip back home. We again witnessed the chaos that was customs in the Miami airport that we had seen just a few months earlier on our return from South America. Otherwise it was a smooth trip and we were starting to get quite anxious to get back home and see a certain someone! I was so thankful that we picked what seemed like just the right amount of time to be away from Emma. We got relaxing time to ourselves, had enough planned that we didn't sit around the whole time feeling guilty for not bringing her, and we knew she was in excellent hands, probably not even noticing we were gone. Our arrival home that night was after Emma's bedtime, but I of course had to sneak in her room and give her a squeeze and good night kiss.
It was good to be home, but it had been a great trip as well.
Safe to say Emma and Dakota had a great time and kept cool as well!
Wow, this trip really was a long time ago - Emma looks tiny!
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