Bon dia de Willemstad, Curacao!

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Hello everyone,

Well I arrived here safe and sound last night and was welcomed by my three friends Elizabeth, Amarelys and Farida at the airport. The flight was uneventful and for the last leg I had my three seats to myself... I read mostly. Last night we chatted a fair amount here with everyone and caught up. Elizabeth's mom and sister speak little English so I am speaking spanish most of the time. Thank God I still remember a lot of it and I am getting better at remembering the tenses too... If I don't remember words I am asking for translations but so far so good.

Today I got up with Eliz and Melissa, sister and went to see where they go to school. I then took a mini-bus down into Willemstad itself. This is still very much an architecturally colonial town with beautifully painted buildings in pastels and bright colours. I wandered around and found the tourist information and then headed to look out on the sea. I decided I would get myself acquainted with the town but walking down different streets which are called straats. The main area on one side of the St. Ann's Bay is called the Punda and the other side is called Otrobanda which literally translates to the same-"other side". To get from one side to the other you cross the pontoon bridge called Queen Emma Bridge. It moves to the shoreline if there is a boat needing to pass through. In the latter part of the morning I went to the Kura Hulanda Museum that is fantastic and very fascinating highlighting many items from The Fertile Crescent in the Middle East with old pots, slate with cuneiform written on them and little sculptures. There is also a little house full of dolls made by a local woman. In another section, there are artifacts beautifully displayed about different regions of West Africa and a very informative section on the slave trade in Curacao. There is at the end an interesting exhibit on the civil rights movement featuring Martin Luther King, Malcom X and lots of other events in the 1960-1970s in the US. There is a fantastic sculpture in the centre of Africa both as a continent and with a face.

I met Melissa for lunch at the Cafe Habana and we walked into the Rif Fort Village when has some interesting touristy shops. There were lots of tourists from the cruise ship walking about. I even met two women from Ajax, Ontario. Who knew!

Any way, I am enjoying the warm temperatures of 27C and the breezes too. I hope you are all coping okay with the snow at home. We will be going to some of the carnival events on the weekend. Should be fun.

Miss you all... thinking of you.

love Katy

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Comments

[martha]

Bom Dia!
Glad to hear you are enjoying Curacao so far :) Please give my love to Farida and anyone else from YAM 2003. XOXO, M