Day Four - Willemstad, Curaçao
The captain cruised really slow all night to get to Curaçao at 8am. Before 7:00 we are woken up by the metallic sounds of the ship doors below our room opening to navigate into the canal. At least we got to see the beautiful sunrise. Willemstad, the capital of Curaçao is definitely one of the prettier port towns we have seen in the Caribbean. Curaçao is the 2nd of the Netherland Antilles islands.
The story goes that back in the 1800's the governor of Curaçao said that the sun reflecting off he white buildings gave him migraine headaches, so everyone should paint their homes and businesses any color except white. Turns out that after he died, they discovered he owned the paint factory. But, the result is a picturesque town of bright colours.
While eating our room service breakfast, we watch the "rope show" as the ship docks and ties up. By 8:20 we are off the ship and heading for our tour... By 8:25 I am running back to our room because I forgot my sunglasses. By 8:30 we are on the bus and heading towards the first stop of our tour.
Cueva de Hato/ Kueba di Hato/ Cave of Hate is a series of small sea caves carved into the hillside, escaped slaves used them as hiding places. Even before the arrival of Europeans and slaves, the Amerindian Arawaks used them for shelter, and left behind cave drawings, or petroglyphs, estimated at 1,500 years old.. It is a very hot and humid cave, full of stalactites and stalagmites, and cute little baby bats.
I could only take pictures in one area of the cave as they want to protect the walls from algae causing light sources such as flashes and those red or orange autofocus beams.
It's almost hilarious to see the prune set rush to get to the stairs and climbs first, then have to slow down because they can barely climb the 49 steps or ascend the inclines inside the cave. The next stairs or climb, they rush to be first again. Luckily, there is only 20 or so on our tour, not the whole boat or we would still be there. I am shocked at the number of complaints about the heat...
Welcome to the Caribbean grandma, what did you expect?
With the caves done, we head back to Willemstad on the bus, where we unload for a walking tour around the town. Our guide is very funny and interesting as he takes us over the famous swinging Queen Emma bridge into the Punda part of town. Punda was established in 1634, when the Dutch captured the island from Spain.
The bright yellow cluster of buildings are the parliament and government buildings, the main structure was built in 1769 and updated in 1903. Kind of puts Vancouver's historic buildings to shame.
We check out the government buildings, and then arrive just in time to see the ringing bells that chime and play at every hour. The nice thing is every time he stops to tell us something, he stops in the shade, it is HOT HOT HOT!!!
From the bells we meander through the narrow streets past shops, "but ladies, no shopping until the tour is done".
The next stop is the floating market, a mix of vegetable stands and docked boats selling fresh fish right off the side. The smell is something I wouldn't describe as wonderful, but the toothless guy trying to sell us a Barracuda is.
A big focus of the tour is the three main bridges of Willemstad, each of them named after a past dutch queen; Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge, Queen Juliana Arch Bridge, and the Queen Wilhelmina draw bridge. The Queen Emma Pontoon bridge is the most interesting, built in 1888,it is hinged on one side, and a boat motor rotates it to rest parallel against the shore while the boats pass.
From there we are back at the bridge, and are free to return to the ship or wander the town... We chose the town. First stop, a little snack and a cold drink at the Iguana Cafe, nestled right on the water, with tents and mist sprayers. Never have I been so excited to see a can of Arizona Iced Tea. A great viewpoint to watch the Pontoon bridge open and close for the Coast Guard ships to pass through.
For the next hour or so we wandered through the shops, and ended up at a local craft market on the Otrobanda side of the Queen Emma bridge. We had to wait a few minutes as the bridge was open when we got there. There is 2 flags that are raised when the bridge is opening, a light flag to indicate it will only be 10 minutes, a dark flag to indicate it will be more than 30 minutes.
The colourful train tour that we didn't take 
The little ferry that runs when the bridge is open
Having found a few unique souvenirs such as the Chi-Chi doll (a girl figure based on the happy-go-lucky older and smarter sister), each one being hand-painted and unique, we are ready to head back to the Zuiderdam. Along with a painted seashell, a couple more unique additions to our Christmas Travel Tree.
Before getting on the ship, we stopped to listen to a couple Rasta guys playing music. When the song was over, the bearded guitar player comes up to us... "Canadians?" We were shocked, "How did you know" we asked. "I can tell" he responded, "body language, smiles, I can tell you don't like war". We talked with him for a while as he told us about his town, the forts on either side of the harbour, and the hidden faces that can be seen when you look at things the right way. We put some money in his tip jar!
This island was definitely a highlight, so colourful, unique and friendly.
Large 3D Art piece of the historical harbour Rasta Car Wash, buckets and empty beer cans
Best Infinity pool I have ever seen The enemies cruise ship
Back on the ship, we cooled down a bit, grabbed a quick bite, and headed to the air conditioned theater on the ship to watch 'Life of Pi'. But first we had to drop off our RSVP, apparently the captain has invited us to a special lunch tomorrow... Ooh la la.
Oh, ok, apparently old people like to watch movies, it's one of the excursions they can handle... The theatre is full, so that's out.
After relaxing for most of the afternoon, we caught up with our dinner guests for another fantastic 3 course plus dessert. We shared our adventures of the last few days, except Maria who stayed on the ship while we were in port. After dinner it was a hilarious juggling show called "Comedy and Other Dangerous Things". Everything from bowling balls to axes and machetes were juggled, very funny.
Tonight was supposed to be 80's night at the nightclub, but apparently the DJ thinks that means the disco era, ummm that was the 70's you young whipper-snapper. After a bit of dancing the music went further south with Nicki Minaj and other indecipherable house beats, so we left (Apparently this cruise is making me old). We check out a band "The HALcats" quickly, then explore a little more.
After watching the lounge singer at the piano bar do his best Bill Murray impression (those of you that used to watch SNL will know what I'm talking about), it was time to call it a night. Tomorrow is a day at Sea, and our lunch with the captain, so we can sleep in.
Sea Day
Lunch with the captain was an intimate affair with the Captain and about 300 other past cruisers. i spot a definite flaw in the marketing use of this lunch, as the Captain spends all his time talking to the oldest of the ladies, seriously, how many cruises do they have left in them? The meal was excellent though with braised short ribs and a cold fruit Gazpacho appetizer.
The day would be pretty low key, we found a nice spot on the deck and lazed around, checked out a presentation on cruising tips and some other Holland America cruises including one to Antarctica and another to the Sea of Cortez that were pretty interesting. A great tip for couples traveling together, rather than having 1 bag each, split your stuff 50/50 in case 1 bag gets lost by the airline... It's very rare both bags get lost, mind you it has happened to us a couple times.
Dinner was great, again, this time with Prime Rib and shrimp cocktails. It was one of our table mates anniversary so we bought the table a round of Southern Comfort-Grand Marnier shots. That started a night of drinking at the Piano bar. The highlight of the night though was definitely a steel drum quartet from Trinidad & Tobago called Island Magic, using steel drums they played everything from Broadway to Classical. It was so good it even got the grey hairs out of their seats. We bought the CD's and are happy to hear they will play again later in the week, this time more contemporary and Island music. (I have included a Youtube link so you can see what they are like)
Tonight's towel creation was a cute little dog, probably made cuter by the drinks we had..
