Curacao Friday 5/21/21

 It was the final full day here at the resort.  We had to get up and out early to get our  COVID test to return home.  Then we were off to breakfast.  

Everyone  went to get their breakfast and I was there waiting on the coffees, etc....I like to have a few sips before I eat.  Michael came back and I hadn't asked for cream so he left his full plate of food and went to see if by chance he could find some cream.  Well, I wasn't paying attention and this couple across from us started laughing and then I looked over towards Michael's plate and the waitstaff across the room were trying to get the birds off his plate. There was a large black bird and a smaller bird sitting with me. The waitress came and snatched the plate up and said please tell him to get more.  Moral of the story don't leave Judi in charge of the table and plates of food.  😜 

Yesterday at lunch Wayne moved his plate aside and went to get something and a bird landed and started eating the rice that was left on his plate.  We see  the birds take the sugar packets off tables and fly off.  They don't mess with the Splenda just the white sugar packets.  Does anyone know why they like sugar?? Just curious! 

I have to say everyone here at the resort has been so nice and helpful. Everyone always wants to be sure you have what you need and that you are having a good time.  

We headed to the pool after breakfast and the resort definitely has more guests and they are working on thing here and I had a jack hammer in my ear so I moved to the breezeway to site and relax and people watch.  Which was perfect for me since today is hot. Michael and Wayne joined me later.  

After lunch it was time to come in and cool off and relax for a while since the afternoon sun and humidity is harsh for us.  

We had dinner at a new restaurant that is only open on the weekends tonight and they had NO ice cream for dessert.  Thankfully the Italian restaurant was happy to do carryout ice cream for those that wanted ice cream. I mean no ice cream really?  How does that even happen? Vacation rule #1 ice cream daily!! 

We have our negative COVID test results in hand and we leave the resort tomorrow around 1:30ish to head to airport.  Our flight is scheduled to depart at 4:30 to head to Charlotte.  

Pray for us that we do not have any delays and we arrive early in Charlotte and Richmond so we aren't too awful late getting home. 

Bon nochi 

Curacao Thursday, 5/20/21

 Wow can you believe it is Thursday already!   We had a couple of brief rain showers this morning but in typical Curacao weather the sun was out and it was hot by noon. 

I can't believe I forgot to share a picture yesterday of Michael's shopping haul.....yep he got them both.  This shop owner thanked us for coming in he said we were his only customers so far yesterday. Like I said yesterday the shops were so happy to see tourists.  

Today we had breakfast and relaxed by the pool. No water aerobics today our friend Mary wasn't there at the pool.  We saw her with some children so she was probably do children's camp today.  We have really enjoyed the water aerobics so we were a little disappointed.  

We had ice cream today in memory of Frieda's dad's birthday.  Her family usually go to DQ but we celebrated with a cup of ice cream.

After a while it  was lunch time and time to get out of the sun for most of us.  There is a nice open area which we like to sit and read or talk because it is nice and breezy and we can escape the sun..... but again everything here is open other than your rooms, 

After relaxing a few hours in our nice cool rooms we headed to dinner.  Tonight was a buffet and I only got some pictures of a few desserts. :)

After dinner we checked in about out COVID test to come home and we do that at 8 am so will start our day earlier than usual but we will get that done so we can head home Saturday afternoon.  

Curacao Wednesday, 5/19/21

Today we took a break from the pool and sun and headed into Willemstad after breakfast and obtaining our 2 negative COVID test results. One more to go! Our hotel bellman got us a cab and we were off for the day.  

"Willemstad, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to 16 museums, is the capital of Curacao and where most of the action is. Separated into two portions – the Punda and the Otrobanda “other side” – by St. Anna Bay.

The Punda is the start of town and where you will see most of the tourists shopping and eating along the water’s edge. Otrobanda on the other hand is where most of the residents live. It’s quite the contrast and if you want to see what it’s like being a local take a stroll through the streets of Otrobanda and feel like you belong.

You can walk back and forth between Punda and Otrobanda via the Queen Emma Bridge."

A story about the Queen Emma Bridge I found to share with you!

"The Queen Emma Bridge, called the “swinging old lady” by locals, is a wooden pontoon bridge originally built in 1888 and restored in 2005/2006. Charla told me with a giggle that it is free to cross now but originally there was a fee of 1/2 a cent to walk across the bridge if you were wearing shoes, but it was free if you had no shoes on (people caught on very quickly).

As I was walking across the wooden bridge (with my shoes on) I could feel a slight bobbing motion and the slight sway of the bridge as it floats over the water. If you are crossing when it is windy, or the water is rough, it’s as if you are drunk, and I can well imagine this because even in calm waters I found it difficult to walk in a straight line."

We agree that walking across it does make you bob and sway.  

The guys hanging out on the Queen Emma Bridge 

The 167 meter (548 feet) long bridge opens and moves to the side about 30 times per day to allow for ships to enter the harbour. When the bridge is open, free ferries called “ponchi” are set into operation to accommodate people who wish to cross from one side to the other.

When we were ready to come back we took the ferry because the bridge had been open to allow big boats to come through.  Michael thought he had a video of the bridge opening but it didn't work for me to show you how it operates in a swinging motion not upwards. But the picture below shows it moved away from the shore.

The buildings are so pretty as you can see from the picture above.  

So, the story goes about the colors of the buildings......

"The walls of the buildings were initially made from sea stone and mortar. Over time salt started to leech out of the stone walls giving the exterior walls a white chalk appearance (also known as efflorescence). The Governor of Curacao at the time felt that the bright sun reflecting off the white buildings hurt his eyes and gave him headaches, so he declared that all buildings be painted in a colour other than white. It was later discovered (after he left office) that he was part-owner of the local paint factory!"

Today, for uniformity and easy identification, all official government buildings in Curacao use the same shade of yellow for their exterior walls. The building below was a church we think but it is now a government building. 

We shopped in several small shops that were so happy to have tourist back they told us.  At the end of the day we went back to a couple of the 1st  stores for things we thought about that we hadn't picked up and because they were so happy to have us shop there with them. 

We did sample some of the local food with a stop at a cafe with side walk seating. We each had an Arepas - fried cornmeal kind of like a fried pancake and you could pick your filling...we had a grilled chicken with cheese one, a chicken salad one and a seafood salad one.  They were delicious pictures below. 

Yes we found a firetruck too!!  Of course we did. 

A few misc pictures for your enjoyment!

After a fun afternoon we headed back to the resort!  We ate at the Oceana Seafood Restaurant tonight...we had a good giggle they had Lobster Bisque on the menu but it didn't have any lobster in it just shrimp. Again I failed with the photos! But I did capture this one it was a Mixed grill...salmon, shrimp, octopus, and black mussels with potato disks and garlic aioli.  

Tonights sunset view from the restaurant!

Curacao Tuesday 5/18/2021

 Happy Tuesday everyone!  I bet my post this morning was confusing.  I started it and had it about done before dinner however, after dinner I didn't finish and post it until this morning.  I will endeavor to get it right today. 

Not a lot of excitement today just more relaxing.  We enjoyed breakfast then had our COVID test that Curacao required on the 3rd day after you arrive.  So that is now done and we wait until Friday for our 3rd test to come home.  

Before the test we went to the beach for a while but the water really pulls you into the sand and sometimes you go down.  So that was short lived for everyone but Michael....but this afternoon the knee is sore so hopefully I can hold him back from the ocean for the rest of our trip.  He did enjoy some time in the pool and admitted that it did feel better than fighting the ocean and sand. Of course I am always right so explain to me why he won't listen.  

That is Michael out there in the red. 

After our COVID test it was time for water aerobics.  We are definitely improving each day.  We love the instructors and since the resort isn't full at all we were the only 3 participating today. But we had a blast. 

It is much hotter today so after lunch we came back to our room and we took a nap....oh no will I sleep tonight??  We shall see.

I thought I would share a little but about the island.  Curaçao 🇨🇼, a Dutch Caribbean Island constituent country, of the Kingdom of The Netherlands 🇳🇱, in the Lesser Antilles & southern Caribbean Sea, 40 miles north of the Venezuelan coast 🇻🇪 !!!!!!   - I didn't realize we were so close to Venezuela.  

We have seen some of the prettiest birds while we have been here. See the yellow and black one in the tree?

As I told you in the last blog all the restaurants our outside and really everything is outdoors other than your rooms.  These swings are the guys favorite to sit and relax....some even sleep!   

Another beautiful sunset tonight.

We ate again tonight at the Seaside Grill.Right now only 2 restaurants are open daily.  However, Curacao is lifting a lot of their restrictions tomorrow so we heard guests say that they hoped they would open all the restaurants but really there is only one other one so we shall see.  

Some pictures of food tonight. 

Tomorrow we are going into Curacao so stay tuned for more fun!  Oh don't worry about water aerobics our new friend is off tomorrow getting her vaccine so she won't miss us.  We will be back at it on Thursday I am sure.

Day 2 Curacao

 Hello everyone!  Today is more about relaxing and enjoying vacation.  This morning Michael and I got up and took a walk to explore the property and find locations of other restaurants and other things.

We found this tree and clearly we don't want to eat the fruit of this tree. 

The main hotel complex is located on the shores of Piscadera Bay, but the resort stretches along the Caribbean Sea around the southern coast of the island.

It has a small beach area and right now there are not a lot of people here so you never have to worry about getting a good spot on the beach.

The is also an activities shop where you can book scuba diving, snorkeling and boat outings.

There are some beautiful flowers all around the resort.

Trying to catch a picture of the crab on the rock.

After our walk back to room to get ready for breakfast! Headed to the pool for the morning after breakfast.  We also did water dance they called it today.  They were so nice to me and we all moved down to an area that clearly was more shallow and I could participate better today.  Y'all in fact our instructor told me I dance really well.....I need to work on my left hip a bit but I will be perfect by the end of this trip!  I was beaming. LOL  💃

It is hotter here today with less breeze so we came to rooms and got ready to order room service so we didn't have to sit outside and eat.  It was a true feast....yep I forgot the pictures to share. OOPS

Time for some of us to head to the spa! Ahh what a treat that was for us!

We had dinner at the Portifino resturant...now remember it wasn't breezy during the day but oh it was by dinner time.  We thought this restaurant was indoors.  NO all the restaurants are outdoors the Portofino isn't on the beach but is open air so when the wind whips up you better grab your napkins and sometimes your food or it is gone to another plate at the table. Dinner was really good and I didn't get many pictures but we all started with a small piece of Hawaiian pizza and pesto for everyone. Then Michael and Grace had Caprese Salad.  I tried the Burschetta all very good. And again no other pictures....maybe tonight I will remember. 

Dinners are slow and leisurely here so we were all ready to call it a night and head to our rooms.  I think I slept better last night than I have in weeks after that massage.  Today we have our 3 day antigen test that Curacao requires....😏  

Have a great day! Remember to Smile!

Stay tuned.......