Curacao is a large island with over 159,000 inhabitants including 50-60 nationalities and 20 different religions.  Most of the population is European and African.  We learned that all kids learn 4 languages in primary school including Dutch, Papiamentu, English and Spanish.  In secondary school they can elect to take 2 more languages which is usually either Spanish, German, French, or Portuguese.  So, with our limited linguistic skills we can get by with “American.”  Sure, makes me feel “less than” considering I only know English and a bit of Spanish so I am trying my Papiamentu out as much as possible and the locals sure seem appreciative.  I found a bartender who teaches me something new every day.

We decided to walk to the car rental place which was in the Papagayo Beach Resort.  We had stopped by yesterday but only Jan Theil Car rentals was open and they had a 3-day minimum.  Avis had a car for a total of $68 per day which included tax and insurance.  Matt would take on the challenge of driving around the island, but the good news was that the wheel is on the left side of the car and you drive on the same side of the road as the U.S.  But, there are tons of round-a-bouts and very few street signs.  Unfortunately, we did not grab a map from Avis so we were trying to find our way around the south side of the island with a hokey tourist map which only had major cities and no roads or streets listed.  It grew frustrating very quickly.  We did manage to find Fort Beekenburg which was built in 1703 with stones from Walloon region.  The ships used the stones as ballast on the way here and then filled their ships with salt on the way back.

After driving around aimlessly, we got lost a little and made several wrong turns, so we decided to head to the airport to try to find a map.  Somehow, we managed to find the airport and I scored an island guide road map book which had detailed maps of several main cities including a great overall island map!  Wayne, our navigator, is fully armed now!

We tried to find Koraal Tabak because we heard there was a nice hike to a cave.  We found the bay, but we could not find the hike entrance.  We finally gave up because we had gotten too far off the main road and were bumping up and down on dirt roads in our small Kia.  Matt and I will circle back to this area as I want to find this hike and explore the Hato Caves which are nearby.

We did stumble upon a great little find in St. Joris Baai, a place called Fundashon Sint Joris Baai which helps children learn to windsurf who do not have the money to pay for lessons or gear.  They also teach kids how to kitesurf, kayak, mountain bike, and do art. There was nobody home when we visited, but we looked around anyway.

There are a few other places I’d like to come back and visit on the South side of the island, but we just did not have time to get to them all.  I’d like to see the ostrich farm, do the hike at Koraal Tabak and find the cave, visit the aquarium, Mambo Beach, a few art galleries, and the Hato caves.  Good thing we are here for a few months.

We headed north toward Boca Ascencion to find another hike that lead to turtle beach.  We found Ascencion, but did not find the trail entrance and frankly got tired of driving on the bumpy dirt roads again.  At this point, we were hungry so food became a high priority.  We drove through a small town called Soto and there were no places to eat, no restaurants, nothing.  The next town was Barber and we were certain we would find a thriving metropolis.  Well, no not really, but we did hope to find several places to eat.  We did not find a selection, but we found “4^th of July Snack” on the corner of a closed strip mall with several locals hanging out in the parking lot.  When in Rome!  Ruby our super friendly helper, ordered a burger for Wayne, chicken stew for me, and a cabbage dish for Matt.  The burger was Caribbean style on Curacao bread, the chicken stew had a curry sauce and was really tasty and Matt devoured his cabbage with pork that fell off the bone.  A really wonderful local experience!  I’d include a link to this place, but it is so small I could not find anything on the web about it, but you cannot miss if when driving through the small town of Barber.

As our day was coming to an end, there were two more stops we wanted to make.  We were looking for the mushroom forest and the famous blue room  which we thought were located on Playa Santa Cruz.  But alas, we did not the forest or blue room.  Not a problem because the beach on Playa Santa Cruz was beautiful with thatch roofs over picnic benches.  We will come back here tomorrow to snorkel and explore some more.  (Several days later, back at the boat and online, I learned that mushroom forest and the blue room are located at Playa Santu Pretu which is not reachable by car.  You park at Playa Santa Cruz and hike 10 minutes to Playa Santu Pretu).

Off to the next stop, Playa Lagun which is a small beach with a few fishing boats, free lounge chairs, huge covered cabana, and a restaurant at the top of the hill overlooking this quaint little bay.  The water was absolutely gorgeous a crystal clear turquoise color.  This is at the top of our list for a return visit tomorrow.

We decided to head back to town to try a new place out for happy hour.  We had heard about a local bar called Pops Place which is within walking distance from Fisherman’s Harbor.  We found a breezy table, ordered a couple of drinks and admired the scenery.

They must have just caught some fresh fish as there was a bit of a smell coming from the kitchen so we packed up and headed back to the Pirate’s Nest to capture the sunset and the last remaining minutes of happy hour.