May 9, 20189 min read

When Europe, South America, and Africa Come Together

Updated: Feb 3, 2023

Day 1

Marks my first international trip since moving back to America from Germany back in 2008, and I was itching to get to a brand new country I have not yet visited. On October 26th I left work a few hours early to catch my morning flight from Austin to Miami at 630 am. As for me that's all I remember from that flight, I literally slept the whole 3 hours there. Upon arriving in Miami I had a short 1 hour layover before taking off to Willemstad, Curacao. Now to things I do remember, most of our 3 hour flight to Curacao Plants vs. Zombies occupied most of my time with a short nap to follow. So for all who are/were like me and know absolutely nothing about Curacao here is a quick run down. Curacao is a constituent country of the Netherlands, that resides off of the north coast of South America nearest to Venezuela. Once we arrived in Curacao, around 2 pm, I was greeted by the blazing sun and my Airbnb hostess Muni, who owns various apartments on the island about 20 minutes from the city. I made it to my weekend home and freshened up and was all ready for my first outing on the island.

It took me about an hour to find a taxi driver that spoke English as I speak little Spanish, and I speak absolutely no Papiamento, the native language of Curacao. With a few calls and the help of Muni I contacted my soon to be travel companion for the weekend Max, owner of the taxi company named Taxi Max. Max is an awesome character who was very helpful in suggesting a million things for me to do while in Curacao. I chose to be dropped off at the Queen Emma Bridge, which is a floating bridge that connects Punda and Otrobanda quarters of Willemstad. The bridge is opened 24 hours a day and occasionally rotates to allow boats to access the Caribbean sea from St. Anna Bay.

First thing on my list to do was to grab a bite to eat, which Max recommended I take a stab at the Steak and Rib restaurant, which is located inside the Rif Fort shopping area. The food was amazing and I enjoyed the amazing view of the Caribbean Sea from the top deck of the restaurant. I tried to slowly devour the chicken breast in garlic sauce alongside spanish rice and beans, but it was so tender and delicious it was gone in no time. After dinner I walked around the Rif Forts various shops and then made me way to the Punda Quarter, which has a few small restaurants, casinos, and other shops for merchandise purchases. Walking the streets gave a feeling of being back in Europe due to the street setup to the brightly colored buildings, it was all amazing and good for photo opportunities. After a few hours of exploring and buying local snacks and drinks I headed back to my apartment for some rest to be ready for our next adventure in the morning.

Day 2

Started in the early afternoon for me, since I was completely tired from the previous day travel. I wrote a quick Whats app message to Max and informed him on what I would like to do for the day, and he arranged for my pick up. My first stop of the day was Pirate Bay Restaurant, located on Piscadera Bay in Curacao. Pirate Bay is a nice opened restaurant with an awesome view of the ocean from the small sandy beach. At Pirate Bay you can find an assortment of meals from, sandwiches, pasta, locally caught fish, soups, and even a breakfast menu. I decided to try out the lamb shawarma, and I went with fruit filled frozen drinks to wash it all down. After a good meal I decided to walk around a short distance to Parasasa beach.

I enjoyed Parasasa beach, because it is a quieter beach to enjoy the scenery and the amazing sunsets of Curacao. While at Parasasa Beach, I managed to get some nice footage of the ocean, but at a coast. While my camera was filming the ocean I went to grab a lens filter, in doing so I was unaware that my camera had just been wiped out by an incoming wave. All in all my Samsung NX1 was destroyed on the second day of the trip. After weeping great tears of sorrow, not really, for my camera death I decided to call a taxi and head back to the apartment.

At the time Max was unavailable so I was forced to use a different taxi service. The driver picked me up and we agree that $25 would be the fare to drive me to the apartment located on the other side of the island. This is where it gets sour, I decided to ask the taxi driver if he could stop by a nearby eatery so that I could grab a bite before heading home. After about a five to ten minute drive he stops at a restaurant I don’t even remember the names of and tries to charge me $25 for driving not even half the distance. At this point I get really irritated and an all out argument starts between me and the driver, after all is said and done he finally agreed that $10 would be a fair price for the trip. At this point I wasn’t even hungry anymore and I just decided to walk about 45 minutes away to get back to the apartment and rest.

Day 3

Started out in the early morning to beat the traffic to the city, where my first stop would be in the Punda District. The Punda District is the main shopping district in Willemstad, and consists of many different shops including womens and mens clothing, electronics, jewelry, restaurants and souvenirs. The entire district is mainly an alley and small street pedestrian only zone with a few roads that allow cars to travel on them. I decided that I would grab food first before exploring the many alleyways and different market places. My choice for food today was none other than the famous Plasa Bieu, which is an amazing cafeteria style eatery that serves local food from the island. Plasa Bieu has a very warming environment with locals and tourists alike, and you immediately smell the variety of dishes served. I chose to go with the best stewed goat I have ever had in my life with a side of rice and beans. After I finished my meal I decided to try out the local Batidos right outside of Plasa Bieu.

Batidos is the term equivalent to a milkshake or fruit smoothie in English. In my case it was more of fruit smoothies I enjoyed at 100% Batidos, which is a small batido truck that serves freshly squeezed juices and smoothies. After my refreshment I headed to the New Market where locals sell a variety of items including souvenirs, fresh fruit and fish, hair products, and much more. With all the vendors you can negotiate prices, in most cases you come out winning, because they are looking to get some kind of compensation from you rather than letting you walk away, and leaving them empty handed. After gathering a few souvenirs I made my way towards the floating market which consists of various small boats selling fruits and vegetables, most brought over from Venezuela to sell in Curacao. It was really cool to see the various boats, just because I have personally never seen a floating market, and due to the fact that these individuals were essentially traveling merchants.

Next I explored a few of the various souvenir shops in the alleys of Punda, and by this time I was hungry again, tired from all the shopping and heat of the sun I stumbled upon a Surinamese and Indonesian restaurant called IndoSur. The wait staff was very friendly and inviting, and I enjoyed talking with them over a few drinks and some awesome food. I went with a pork chicken and lo mein style noodle dish which was really good. After a good meal I decided it would be best to head back to my apartment to try and get some much needed rest, and prepare for my next outing.

Day 4

Began another day in the early afternoon, which at this time of year it is still very hot in Curacao, so I burned quite often during this trip. I started my day off by calling Max so he could drive me to my next destination, which would be around the old market area. My first stop was a little bar/ restaurant called Mundo Bizzaro. It was a good time to stop in this area due to the live music filling the area. I chose to sit outside and enjoy a quick snack of nachos, which were really good, before I made my way around the shopping areas. I spent most of this day buying souvenirs to take back to my family. I made my way around the shopping district stopping at numerous shops to fill my gift giving needs. Slowly and surely getting devoured by the sun, I chose to end my shopping spree and go back to Indosur for more food, which this time around I went with the fried rice, beef sate, and roasted chicken, and once again they did not disappoint on a great meal. After stuffing my face I decided to walk around the city a bit, and ended up stumbling into a casino where I quickly lost all of my allotted money on the old school slot machines. The casino I went to was fairly small inside, and seemed to have about 100 slot machines crammed into it somehow, but nonetheless I enjoyed my quick L and headed out to walk around a bit more before heading back to my apartment for some more rest.

Day 5

I started day 5 off bright and early because I needed to be awake early enough to receive my rental car that was being dropped off at my apartment. My rental was dropped off around 8 am, and that was when i started my daily adventure around the island of Curacao. My first stop was a beach on the western side of the island called Kenepa Beach / Grote Knip. The cool thing about this beach is that it is completely free and there are tour buses that will drop you here for a visit. At the time I was there there were a good amount of people, but not to the point where it felt overly crowded. I took some time walking up and down the beach and took a quick swim, carefully watching out for sharks and sea urchins, too many terrifying Jaws views for me as a kid to not you know? After about an hour or so I worked up an appetite and figured I would drive until I ran into a place to get some food.

My drive took me to a small cafe called Boka Largu, meaning long mouth fish. The cafe is just atop a cliff from the beach which offers an awesome view of the ocean and clear blue waters. After looking over the menu and getting a few instructions on what to eat, I decide I would go with the fish soup, fish of the day, mofungo, french fries, side salad, and a side of rice and beans. This was my first time ever eating fish soup but it was amazing, very flavorful with a full small sized fish in it as well. The fish of the day was also great, so great I forgot to even ask what kind of fish it was, all I know is I loved it. Next I tried the mofungo which I was told as an acquired taste, and they were definitely right, because I did not care for it at all. Although the food and at Boka Largu was amazing the one thing that got under my skin was...................... wait for it.............................. the FLIES!!!!! This is an outside cafe and the flies in Curacao or legit savages, they will pester you as long as you are around with food, it seemed completely normal to everyone else dining here, and I tried to tough through it, but eventually I got to a point where I was just tired of them. I ate most of it, but left the remaining food for the flies lol.

After eating some amazing food I decided I would drive over to the Christoffel mountains and do a little bit of exploring. This was a very interesting drive as the trail paved out for driving goes all around the mountain, and has some very steep points where I wasn't sure if I would make it, especially with other cars on the road. There are spots where you can park and do some walking around for some pretty cool views. I decided I would do a bit of drone flying to capture some photos and videos of the mountain and the island itself. After s great hike, I decided I would head back to my apartment to chill for the rest of the night and get ready for my flight in the morning back to Austin Texas. All in all Curacao is an awesome place to visit, although if I g again I would probably only stay about 3 days or so, after the 3rd day I was kind of ready to go back home, you can drive across this island in about 3 hours or so from end to end. If you are looking for great food, fun sites, cheap vacation, and interesting shopping bazaars I would definitely recommend Curacao, see you next time Curacao.