We made it to Curacao!
July 3, 2018
This Saturday we hopped on a plane to Curaçao! The airline was a hassle… we paid nearly $200 US to get our bags on the plane and then they almost did not let us on because we refused to put our personal items (containing all of our electronics!) in checked baggage because apparently there was no under seat space in our particular spots!
Luckily, we, ourselves, asked some fellow passengers who were happy to let us store our bags there! Then after taking off we saw our emergency exit door had literally been DUCT TAPED on!! 😱
Yes, DUCT TAPE. Not that fancy plane tape. DUCT TAPE.
We only found out later that the airline we went with was ranked one of the least safe in the world, sitting somewhere in the bottom 8. It was so bad it was not even permitted to fly in many countries. Yikes!! (As of re-updating our blog, this airline is no longer operating, so don’t worry!)
Since arriving, the people here have been incredibly friendly (well, except for the immigration staff at the airport), and the city itself is full of character!
We’re staying just a 5-minute walk away from the iconic Queen Emma bridge and Willemstad, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We’ve been spending most of our time just exploring and we’ve come across some well-preserved old forts that were once used to protect against pirates – they’re pretty cool to see!
We got really lucky because our visit coincided with Curaçao’s Flag Day! (Which is basically like their independence day). It has not happened yet, but it has been awesome to see the town at its most festive!
We’ve yet to find a grocery store nearby our place and are basically surviving off Nutella and bread…. there is literally nothing else around in terms of food shops hahaha. Hopefully we can find some local food tonight at the festival and everything opens back up tomorrow after the holiday weekend.
While here, we also had the pleasure of learning that Curaçao receives only about 20 inches of rainfall each year in total! We visited during their dry season… so did not expect much rain, but despite this, we got lucky enough to get caught in a massive lightning storm which caused a small flash flood around town. It was so bad that it flooded and backed up the sewers and we walked home in poo water. 🥲
Additional Photos:
