Curacao

​After enjoying a few days in Aruba, we were excited to head to neighboring country, Curacao! It was only a 30-minute flight so we figured it’d be great to experience two different countries while we were out there. It’s interesting how the two islands are so close in proximity, yet so different. They both have gorgeous beaches and plenty of entertainment, but Aruba felt much more Americanized and touristy while Curacao has more of a Dutch influence with colorful colonial style buildings. Both are beautiful in their own ways!
 
When we arrived at our hotel in Curacao, we immediately put our swimsuits on and headed straight for the huge infinity pool that overlooked the ocean. Just gorgeous! Unfortunately, the dang wind decided to be obnoxious and made it too chilly for the boys to want to play in the pool. Well, back to the room we go to put our clothes back on. That’s ok, we still had a nice dinner by the pool instead and sipped on our welcome drinks.
 
Later than evening we went for an evening stroll that took us through an old fort, along the riverbank and over a beautiful bridge into the historic town of Willemstad. The first thing the kids sniffed out was a food cart on the street corner selling Oliebol which is pastry injected with the most delicious custard and covered in powdered sugar. Just heavenly! Our faces and hands were covered white but well worth it! The town is very charming with lots of cute little shops and cafes. After checking out a few boutiques, we were all super tired and ready to call it a night after a long day.

The next morning, we took it slow and ordered room service. Over breakfast we mapped out where we wanted to explore that day which we all agreed would include several beaches and great food. We kicked off the day with a little walk to La Boheme coffee to get Frappuccino and fruit smoothies. You never know what you’re going to get when you ask for a Frappuccino at a local coffee shop in another country (almost never works out) but this one was actually pretty tasty. 
 
We sipped our drinks as we walked over to the car rental place to pick up our SUV for the day. The first stop on our list was a beach 45 minutes away called Playa Abou. When we pulled up, we saw several young guys cliff jumping into turquoise blue water below. The boys thought it looked so fun! Buuuuuut, we steered them away from wanting to try that and headed down the stairs to the beach. While the boys were playing in the sand there were these two guys in speedos doing a little photoshoot of each other posing all sassy with a blow up pink flamingo in the water. I thought it was hilarious so I discreetly took a picture of Tyson on the beach aiming my camera at the guys in the background. Shhh, don't tell them!
 
After sunbathing and playing in the sand for a while we were ready to grab lunch. Not too far down the road was a restaurant overlooking the ocean called Blue View Sunset Bar and Grill. There were people cliff jumping there too! It was very entertaining watching these brave people jumping off a cliff while we were enjoying our lunch.
 
We continued to our next stop, Kokomo Beach. The first thing we noticed were two wooden swings about 20 feet in the water which I’m sure is a very popular Instagram spot. The swings were a little too high for the boys to get on, so Marshall helped them up. They weren’t really diggin’ the swings but they stayed on just long enough for me to snap a cute pic.

We made one last stop at Playa Piscado beach that was known for having lots of sea turtles. We walked out onto the dock and saw several turtles swimming all around us. So cool! Tyson couldn’t wait to go swimming with turtles on Marshall's back. We didn't have any snorkeling gear so I would point out turtles close to them while I was on the dock and then they would dip their heads in the water to get a closer look. Wesley was having fun watching the turtles with me from the dock but had no interest in swimming with them. 
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We made our way back to the hotel to change out of our beach clothes and get ready for dinner. We walked to the old town to a restaurant called Grand Cafe Gouverneur De Rouville. It’s a historic building along the river that was built in 1737 and has the best iconic view of the colorful buildings Willemstad is known for. We lucked out and got the table with the best view! Whoop whoop!
 
On the way back from dinner we stopped at a playground that the local kids hang out at. I was surprised how many young kids were playing that late in the evening. The boys had a great time spinning around on one of those merry go round toys with two little girls. It was great for them to get all their energy out before heading back to the hotel for the evening. Unfortunately, that night we didn’t get any sleep because an obnoxious car alarm was going off all night. Ugh, I am not a happy camper if I don’t get my solid 8 hours of sleep.

The following morning, we were excited for another full day of adventure! We headed over to the sea aquarium that is right on the oceanfront which makes for a great backdrop. As we walked toward the line to get in, we caught a sneak peak of a sea lion show. The boys got a kick out of all the cool tricks they were doing. There happened to be a dolphin show shortly after, so we made our way to the stadium seating that was facing the ocean. This was the most impressive dolphin show I’ve ever seen! Not that I’ve seen many, haha. This was the boys’ first! One of them jumped up into the air with a guy balanced on his nose. A dolphin, not one of the boys. So cool! After the show we found an old boat that was a viewing exhibit for the ginormous fish below. There were glass floors all around the bottom of the boat. The huge fish were swimming all around us! 
 
Once we had explored all the exhibits, we headed a short drive away to Mambo Beach for lunch. We snagged some chairs on the beach and scarfed down our lunch as Tyson was very eager to get in the water ASAP. Marshall jumped in with him and they had a blast body surfing in the waves. Meanwhile Wesley and I had fun building sandcastles and of course crushing them.
 
We continued our adventure to Hato Cave which is over 300,000 years old and is the biggest cave on the island. Luckily, we got there right before the next tour was starting. The tour was 45-minutes long and the guide spoke in both English and Dutch.  It started with walking up 49 steps to the entrance of the cave (Tyson counted every one). As we entered inside, we immediately saw lots of bats hanging from the ceiling. It was slightly creepy, but the boys thought it was super cool. We also saw lots of stalagmite and stalactite formations which were fascinating to see and learn more about.
 
When the tour ended it was time to get back to our hotel to change and get ready for dinner. We walked nearly a mile to a restaurant called Mundo Bizzaro that was located in a random residential neighborhood. The place had lots of character and interesting décor. The couches on the front patio were so worn that they looked like an angry tiger had gotten ahold of them. Maybe that’s the look they were going for? Haha! Across the street was a rundown apartment complex with barbed wire strung all around its walls but strangely not the front gate to get in (clearly didn’t think that one through!) Marshall ordered butter balls which was like a fried meatball but the meat inside was gooey. Looked absolutely disgusting but Marshall said it was pretty descent. The boys love playing cards while we wait for our dinner at restaurants, so we busted out crazy 8s and then played a few rounds of telephone. We all had a great laugh at how botched the stories got by the end of the telephone line.
 

The following morning was our last fully day in Curacao. We started our morning with breakfast at Plein Cafe Wilhelmina which is right across the street from the big Curacao sign. It was entertaining watching everyone take goofy pictures in front of it while we ate our breakfast. Of course, we had to take our own silly picture of the boys in front of the sign, but only after a lot of patience waiting for a random lady to get out of our shot. Take a hint lady, we got places to be!
 
We strolled back through town toward our hotel and had to stop at an ice cream shop to get my daily Frappuccino. If you can’t tell already, that is an absolute must for me! When we got to our room, everyone wanted a little relax time. Marshall and Wesley played with toys while Tyson and I played a few rounds of Uno and Phase 10 and he beat me every single time. He has definitely mastered those games!
 
After mustering up our energy, we headed out to the pool for lunch and a swim. This time it wasn’t nearly as windy, so the boys enjoyed splashing around in the pool. Tyson had a grand idea to have us to bury his legs in sand, lol. Marshall, Wesley, and I piled on sand until we couldn’t see his legs anymore. Tyson then did a countdown and busted his legs out with sand flying everywhere. Oh, the things kids find entertaining!
 
Today just so happened to be Carnival which is Curacao’s biggest festival of the year. The Carnival festival is always a few days before Lent. It’s an opportunity to enjoy all the things that people are planning to give up during Lent. This is actually the second time we’ve experienced Carnival. The first time was in Rio de Janero which is the largest Carnival festival in the world. There were thousands of people lining the sidewalks downtown waiting for the parade to start. It goes for several miles and lasts from morning until late in the evening. While we waited, the boys enjoyed played on a big playground swarmed with the local kids.
 
We started to hear the music getting louder and louder so we made our way to a great viewing spot on the sidewalk and made sure to squeeze Tyson and Wesley through all the people to get in the very front. There were thousands of people in the parade with fancy, colorful costumes dancing around in the street and on the floats. Such a fun experience!
 
After a half hour of watching the parade, the boys were getting a little bored and ready to eat dinner. We walked over to Gouverneur restaurant for dinner and just so happened to get an outdoor patio spot with the best view of all the colorful buildings on the other of the river. Dang right! While we were enjoying the beautiful view we all of a sudden hear lots of screaming and cheering! We looked down at the river dock and see a huge crowd of drunk navy guys stripping down and jumping into the river after they were done marching in the parade. I guess that’s one way to celebrate, lol. Within minutes several police officers ran over to the dock and made the guys get out of the river. Talk about a buzz kill for those guys but I guess it’s for their own safety.
 
We couldn’t believe the parade was still in full swing after dinner. By that point everyone in the parade looked exhausted and were all pitted out and dripping sweat by the gallons. Definitely gotta give props to all those brave souls performing in the blistering heat for over 12 hours. We were exhausted just walking from dinner back to our room. Of course, we had to take a rest break at an ice cream shop along the way. The boys were so excited they had Superman flavor ice cream that we’ve only ever seen at one other ice cream shop in Canada.
 
The next morning, we woke up early to start our adventure back home and flew a couple hours to Miami. We had an 8-hour layover, and the next flight was out of Fort Lauderdale which is about 30 minutes from Miami. We rented a convertible Mustang and took the long way exploring Miami for a few hours! Awww yeah! For lunch, we drove straight to a rooftop restaurant called Terrazo. It was a little windy, but they had great food and a nice view of the beach. We had some extra time after lunch so we stopped at Hollywood beach and played in the sand for a bit before heading to the airport for our last flight home.
 
Overall, Aruba and Curacao were great destinations for a week-long vacation. You can experience a lot with only a couple days on each island. It’s a great mix of beach time, fun activities and beautiful architecture!
 
Next stop: Coronavirus lockdown three weeks after returning.