Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Life's a beach
We made it back from Curacao. It was a lovely, lovely vacation.
On Friday, we woke up hella early and left the house around 4:15am. We got to the airport to try to make the first flight out to Miami. I was scared, because the flights were looking really bad. I figured we wouldn't even make it out. Somehow, we managed to get first class seats on the first flight out from Miami! We made it to Miami in time to catch the first flight to Curacao. We had to leave the secured area and check in for the flight, though, and then go back through security. We barely squeaked through, but we got back to the gate in time to catch the flight. First class seats again!
Flying over the Caribbean is a lot of fun, because you can see all of the little islands and the blue, blue water surrounding them. I always try to figure out which island I'm over, but I usually can't tell. I took a couple of pictures of the Bahamas on the way back, because the water surrounding them is absolutely gorgeous. The flight took about 3 hours... time enough to watch a pretty bad movie (Failure to Launch), eat a light lunch, and drink several vodka tonics. Ah, first class... I love you so!
We got to Curacao around 2 or 2:30 and hopped in a cab to go to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Kura Hulanda, Spa & Casino, which was absolutely wonderful. It is located in the capital, Willemstad, kind of in the middle of town. The hotel is a complex of restored 18th and 19th century buildings, complete with a village square, a bar, shops, and restaurants. There is also a museum there (but we did not get a chance to visit it). Our room was one of the hotel's smallest, but it was fantastic. It was on the second floor of a tiny building and had a long staircase leading up to it. Our bathroom was full of marble fixtures. The only drawback was that there was no internet connection. Turns out that a couple of rooms there do not have internet access... and ours happened to be one of them. We had taken the laptop with us, but we never got to use it. Our favorite feature of the hotel was probably their Eco Pool, a split-level pool that is lined with rocks and comes with a big waterfall. It was fun to swim under the waterfall, and just lying next to the pool was relaxation in itself.
We visited two beaches while we were there, Blue Bay and Playa Kalki. Blue Bay is part of another resort, but Kura Hulanda guests get to use it for free, because there is no beach at the Kura Hulanda (it is in town). We spent two afternoons there. The beach itself was pretty small, but the water was nice and there were plenty of lounge chairs for sunbathing. We mainly just lounged around and read, and had yummy sandwiches from the snack bar. I had brought some silly chick lit books to read, and I devoured them.
Playa Kalki, on the other hand, was at our hotel's sister hotel, the Kura Hulanda Lodge. It was in Westpunt, on the other end of the island. The beach was larger than Blue Bay, and one half of it was under a giant cliff made of coral. There was a good snack bar there, and they delivered drinks to you on the beach. We went snorkeling there. Neither of us had ever been snorkeling in the ocean before, and it was a real treat. There were tons of fish to look at, and we even saw a sea snake! The water was so clear, so the visibility was great. The water dropped to about 15 feet in depth for a while, and then just plunged down with a terrific coral reef. I took a disposable underwater camera, so I'm hoping the pictures turn out alright. We both got horrific sunburns on our backs from the snorkeling. We didn't reapply the SPF 30 enough, I guess, especially since we're both so pale. We're already peeling.
On Monday, we kicked around Willemstad for a while. Willemstad is built around a huge bay, and the city is split into two sides by the channel: Punda and Otrabanda. Our hotel was in Otrobanda. To get to Punda, you have to walk across the Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge, a floating bridge that opens and closes when ships need to enter the harbor. We saw it open to let in a big ship (oil tanker maybe? There is an oil refinery in Willemstad). When it's open, you can take a ferry across the channel. In Punda, there were lots of shops that were mainly targeted toward cruise ship passengers. There is also a floating market where boats from Venezuela dock every day to sell fish, vegetables, fruits, and other goods. The oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere, the Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, is also in Punda.
Being Mandy and Victor, we also enjoyed the food and drink while we were in Curacao. Every day we had happy hour at the hotel... half price drinks! Since we were in the Caribbean, I let myself order pina coladas without feeling cheesy, and they were SO GOOD. We ate at two of the hotel's restaurants, Jaipur (Indian/Asian fusion - incredible) and the Museum Restaurant (casual but tasty). On Saturday night we went across the street to the Gouverneur de Rouville, where I had something called Keshi Yená, which is a local specialty of Edam cheese stuffed with chicken, prunes and raisins. Sounds gross, but it was really tasty. Our last night was spent at Bistro Le Clochard, a highly-rated French restaurant. It was divine. I had escargot soup, which was better than you could even imagine, and a Parisian cafe-style steak.
We had no trouble getting on flights to come back (first class again!), although our Miami-Dallas flight was diverted to Oklahoma City because storms at DFW. It took us much longer to get home than expected, but it was OK. I was able to completely relax during the trip. I feel so much better now, and I can't wait to go back someday. There is a flickr photo set here, so take a look at all of the pictures we took!
We made it back from Curacao. It was a lovely, lovely vacation.
On Friday, we woke up hella early and left the house around 4:15am. We got to the airport to try to make the first flight out to Miami. I was scared, because the flights were looking really bad. I figured we wouldn't even make it out. Somehow, we managed to get first class seats on the first flight out from Miami! We made it to Miami in time to catch the first flight to Curacao. We had to leave the secured area and check in for the flight, though, and then go back through security. We barely squeaked through, but we got back to the gate in time to catch the flight. First class seats again!
Flying over the Caribbean is a lot of fun, because you can see all of the little islands and the blue, blue water surrounding them. I always try to figure out which island I'm over, but I usually can't tell. I took a couple of pictures of the Bahamas on the way back, because the water surrounding them is absolutely gorgeous. The flight took about 3 hours... time enough to watch a pretty bad movie (Failure to Launch), eat a light lunch, and drink several vodka tonics. Ah, first class... I love you so!
We got to Curacao around 2 or 2:30 and hopped in a cab to go to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Kura Hulanda, Spa & Casino, which was absolutely wonderful. It is located in the capital, Willemstad, kind of in the middle of town. The hotel is a complex of restored 18th and 19th century buildings, complete with a village square, a bar, shops, and restaurants. There is also a museum there (but we did not get a chance to visit it). Our room was one of the hotel's smallest, but it was fantastic. It was on the second floor of a tiny building and had a long staircase leading up to it. Our bathroom was full of marble fixtures. The only drawback was that there was no internet connection. Turns out that a couple of rooms there do not have internet access... and ours happened to be one of them. We had taken the laptop with us, but we never got to use it. Our favorite feature of the hotel was probably their Eco Pool, a split-level pool that is lined with rocks and comes with a big waterfall. It was fun to swim under the waterfall, and just lying next to the pool was relaxation in itself.
We visited two beaches while we were there, Blue Bay and Playa Kalki. Blue Bay is part of another resort, but Kura Hulanda guests get to use it for free, because there is no beach at the Kura Hulanda (it is in town). We spent two afternoons there. The beach itself was pretty small, but the water was nice and there were plenty of lounge chairs for sunbathing. We mainly just lounged around and read, and had yummy sandwiches from the snack bar. I had brought some silly chick lit books to read, and I devoured them.
Playa Kalki, on the other hand, was at our hotel's sister hotel, the Kura Hulanda Lodge. It was in Westpunt, on the other end of the island. The beach was larger than Blue Bay, and one half of it was under a giant cliff made of coral. There was a good snack bar there, and they delivered drinks to you on the beach. We went snorkeling there. Neither of us had ever been snorkeling in the ocean before, and it was a real treat. There were tons of fish to look at, and we even saw a sea snake! The water was so clear, so the visibility was great. The water dropped to about 15 feet in depth for a while, and then just plunged down with a terrific coral reef. I took a disposable underwater camera, so I'm hoping the pictures turn out alright. We both got horrific sunburns on our backs from the snorkeling. We didn't reapply the SPF 30 enough, I guess, especially since we're both so pale. We're already peeling.
On Monday, we kicked around Willemstad for a while. Willemstad is built around a huge bay, and the city is split into two sides by the channel: Punda and Otrabanda. Our hotel was in Otrobanda. To get to Punda, you have to walk across the Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge, a floating bridge that opens and closes when ships need to enter the harbor. We saw it open to let in a big ship (oil tanker maybe? There is an oil refinery in Willemstad). When it's open, you can take a ferry across the channel. In Punda, there were lots of shops that were mainly targeted toward cruise ship passengers. There is also a floating market where boats from Venezuela dock every day to sell fish, vegetables, fruits, and other goods. The oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere, the Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, is also in Punda. Being Mandy and Victor, we also enjoyed the food and drink while we were in Curacao. Every day we had happy hour at the hotel... half price drinks! Since we were in the Caribbean, I let myself order pina coladas without feeling cheesy, and they were SO GOOD. We ate at two of the hotel's restaurants, Jaipur (Indian/Asian fusion - incredible) and the Museum Restaurant (casual but tasty). On Saturday night we went across the street to the Gouverneur de Rouville, where I had something called Keshi Yená, which is a local specialty of Edam cheese stuffed with chicken, prunes and raisins. Sounds gross, but it was really tasty. Our last night was spent at Bistro Le Clochard, a highly-rated French restaurant. It was divine. I had escargot soup, which was better than you could even imagine, and a Parisian cafe-style steak.
We had no trouble getting on flights to come back (first class again!), although our Miami-Dallas flight was diverted to Oklahoma City because storms at DFW. It took us much longer to get home than expected, but it was OK. I was able to completely relax during the trip. I feel so much better now, and I can't wait to go back someday. There is a flickr photo set here, so take a look at all of the pictures we took!
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