Bon Bini, - Welcome on Curacao - to my newest blog.
So you may have picked up a theme from the original post.
It's all about the view.
Diane and I wouldn't settle for anything other than a full on sea view. We knew that when we first started to contemplate a project in the Caribbean.
( An aside here ---- is it Kar - ib- beun. Or Kara - beun) ( po ta toe, po tat toe i guess)
Anyway we hunted it down to a final two locations. Both similar and yet different in their own ways. It came down to a perceived influence from Thailand believe it or not. These are my words as you know, so Deeds may have more or less to add in her words.
The apartment we chose is located very close to downtown Willemstad. Maybe 3 minutes by car to the bank's head office, where Deeds will likely be 3 out of 5 days a week. If she takes the car in the morning it will only take me 15 minutes to walk there to get it. Her other location, the IT office is only 10 minutes by car. BTW, the later is nearly cause to pack a lunch by Curacao standards but more on that later....
But that wasn't the Thailand factor. On Thursday night we went out for dinner. Tripadvisor talked about a restaurant called Mundo Bizarro. Rated very highly amongst the restaurants on the island. We decided to go. As is the case with old towns, the streets are not well marked, and in addition the streets in Punda (eastern half of Willemstad) are a mash of one way roads twisting and turning around houses, the sea, etc. We took three passes at the location clearly marked by that search engine map service. Still no luck. Deeds got out of the car and asked a guy sitting on a cement block drinking a beer if he knew of Mundo Bizarro. He inflected that he did and commenced talking about it. Diane had to interrupt him and tell him it was a restaurant, not a political remark, at which point he shrugged and turned away. Upon returning to the car I pointed to a hair salon that was still open with a customer in the chair. Deeds poked her head it to ask directions, the customer got right out of her chair, came out onto the street and started pointing and talking. English with a dutch accent. "Yesh, I know it. Very good. Turn around down this street, first left, at the stop go right, over two speed bumps, turn right, then right again and it is near the end of the street. Next to the Bank parking lot". The drive took 82 seconds. The restaurant was just down the street from an open air bar, many tables out on the street, people drinking beers, jazz music wafting through the air. We parked out front of this joint and then walked the short distance to Mundo Bizarro. It too had tables out on the street, in the alley way between the buildings. There was a rooftop area also. Great looking place. The food that night was very tashtee. A heavy Dutch influence. Good bottle of wine, well priced. We were very happy when we left, knowing we would be back.
This is what I am referring to as the Thai factor. It is what we did in Bangkok. Went out to nice restaurants, close to home. Enjoyed the city, the culture. Lived where we were living. Not be a tourist. It's ok to be new or even to be a foreigner. But we want to live there.
There were two other occasions of dinning out that proofed our picture of living in Curacao. We asked a work colleague for a good seafood restaurant. He gave us a choice. One, coincedentally two short blocks from the new digs, was expensive, upscale and very good. The wait staff were, in my opinion a little out of line, but I think I can put up with that.
The second local we were told was where the islanders went to eat. That has Deeds and Jer written all over it. This is a "restaurant" on the beach. In hyphens because the cookhouse is a large metal shipping container. There is a wooden deck built out front underneath a divi divi tree or perhaps it was a council tree. I'll find out and let you know. The setting was perfect for us. A cold beer, the sea 50 feet away, kids were diving in the sea from a pier. Fishing boats were up at the shore. The proprietor told us he had fresh red snapper. Caught only three hours ago. Pan fried with salt and lime. Served with a helping of rice with island grown beans and a wee salad. Wow. Going back there for sure.
So it was those three local adventures, by local I mean very close to our apartment, that made up our minds. This is what we want to do. Live in Curacao as best we can for the short time we are there. Experience it. Our feeling was that the large house on the sea out in the east end would keep us on the level of tourist, not really experiencing the culture and fare of Curacao.
So now you know why we are where we are. The pics only do the apartment views justice. I will get out and get the neighbourhood and environs for you when we get back.
We hope to be going back around the 15th of Mouvember.
Will write more later.
Ajo (Goodbye pronounced ah - yo)
So you may have picked up a theme from the original post.
It's all about the view.
Diane and I wouldn't settle for anything other than a full on sea view. We knew that when we first started to contemplate a project in the Caribbean.
( An aside here ---- is it Kar - ib- beun. Or Kara - beun) ( po ta toe, po tat toe i guess)
Anyway we hunted it down to a final two locations. Both similar and yet different in their own ways. It came down to a perceived influence from Thailand believe it or not. These are my words as you know, so Deeds may have more or less to add in her words.
The apartment we chose is located very close to downtown Willemstad. Maybe 3 minutes by car to the bank's head office, where Deeds will likely be 3 out of 5 days a week. If she takes the car in the morning it will only take me 15 minutes to walk there to get it. Her other location, the IT office is only 10 minutes by car. BTW, the later is nearly cause to pack a lunch by Curacao standards but more on that later....
But that wasn't the Thailand factor. On Thursday night we went out for dinner. Tripadvisor talked about a restaurant called Mundo Bizarro. Rated very highly amongst the restaurants on the island. We decided to go. As is the case with old towns, the streets are not well marked, and in addition the streets in Punda (eastern half of Willemstad) are a mash of one way roads twisting and turning around houses, the sea, etc. We took three passes at the location clearly marked by that search engine map service. Still no luck. Deeds got out of the car and asked a guy sitting on a cement block drinking a beer if he knew of Mundo Bizarro. He inflected that he did and commenced talking about it. Diane had to interrupt him and tell him it was a restaurant, not a political remark, at which point he shrugged and turned away. Upon returning to the car I pointed to a hair salon that was still open with a customer in the chair. Deeds poked her head it to ask directions, the customer got right out of her chair, came out onto the street and started pointing and talking. English with a dutch accent. "Yesh, I know it. Very good. Turn around down this street, first left, at the stop go right, over two speed bumps, turn right, then right again and it is near the end of the street. Next to the Bank parking lot". The drive took 82 seconds. The restaurant was just down the street from an open air bar, many tables out on the street, people drinking beers, jazz music wafting through the air. We parked out front of this joint and then walked the short distance to Mundo Bizarro. It too had tables out on the street, in the alley way between the buildings. There was a rooftop area also. Great looking place. The food that night was very tashtee. A heavy Dutch influence. Good bottle of wine, well priced. We were very happy when we left, knowing we would be back.
This is what I am referring to as the Thai factor. It is what we did in Bangkok. Went out to nice restaurants, close to home. Enjoyed the city, the culture. Lived where we were living. Not be a tourist. It's ok to be new or even to be a foreigner. But we want to live there.
There were two other occasions of dinning out that proofed our picture of living in Curacao. We asked a work colleague for a good seafood restaurant. He gave us a choice. One, coincedentally two short blocks from the new digs, was expensive, upscale and very good. The wait staff were, in my opinion a little out of line, but I think I can put up with that.
The second local we were told was where the islanders went to eat. That has Deeds and Jer written all over it. This is a "restaurant" on the beach. In hyphens because the cookhouse is a large metal shipping container. There is a wooden deck built out front underneath a divi divi tree or perhaps it was a council tree. I'll find out and let you know. The setting was perfect for us. A cold beer, the sea 50 feet away, kids were diving in the sea from a pier. Fishing boats were up at the shore. The proprietor told us he had fresh red snapper. Caught only three hours ago. Pan fried with salt and lime. Served with a helping of rice with island grown beans and a wee salad. Wow. Going back there for sure.
So it was those three local adventures, by local I mean very close to our apartment, that made up our minds. This is what we want to do. Live in Curacao as best we can for the short time we are there. Experience it. Our feeling was that the large house on the sea out in the east end would keep us on the level of tourist, not really experiencing the culture and fare of Curacao.
So now you know why we are where we are. The pics only do the apartment views justice. I will get out and get the neighbourhood and environs for you when we get back.
We hope to be going back around the 15th of Mouvember.
Will write more later.
Ajo (Goodbye pronounced ah - yo)
