Curacao has temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius all year round. An ideal summer destination all year round. The rain showers in the rainy season from October to January are often very short-lived.
The main language on Curacao is Papiamento. Due to the colonial past, Dutch, English and Spanish are also widely spoken. In 2010, the Netherlands Antilles were dissolved and Curacao became an independent country within the Kingdom.
In Willemstad there are definitely a number of neighborhoods that are worth seeing. One of them is Punda. Punda means Point and there is a fort at the point of the bay.
The Spanish gave the island the name 'Isla de los Gigantes', or island of the giants.
After the Spanish left the so-called useless island to the West Indian Company, led by the Dutch in 1634, they built a fort. They called it Fort Amsterdam. The 18th century colorful houses on the Sint Anna Bay are one of the most photographed houses in Punda.
In 1449 the Spanish conquered Curaçao.
One of the most striking buildings in Punda is the Penha building, a former trading house built at the beginning of the 18th century.
Punda has been connected to Otrobanda since 1888 by a 168 meter wooden pontoon bridge, called the Queen Emma Bridge. The bridge crosses the Anna Bay, a bay that flows into the sea. Punda and Otrobanda have been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1997.
Number 17: KURA HULANDA VILLAGE
Number 16: Kura Hulanda Museum
The country houses of Curaçao were the main buildings of the island's plantations. They date from the 17th to the 19th century. We visit Landhuis Jan Kok surrounded by salt pans with flamingos. The plantations on Curaçao were used after 1634 to supply the ships of the Dutch West India Company. Slaves were put to work.
Adjacent to the Ascension country house is a nature park that you can walk through. A little further down the street is a small museum that catches our attention. The small museum Kas Di Pali Maishi. Here is a small authentic Kunuku house made for and by slaves. It consists of cow dung and coral stone, among other things. Corn stalks were used for the roof. The houses were inhabited until around 1950. The borders were demarcated by kadushi, a common cactus on Curaçao. Soup was also made from cactus. The Arawak Indians already lived on the island before the arrival of the Spanish. They took them as slaves to the Dominican Republic. Later the Dutch brought them back to the Antilles. You will find the flamingos especially close to the salt pans of Kokomo Beach and the neighboring country house of Jan Kok, a cruel 18th century slave master.
A beach that we just mentioned is Kokomo Beach. If it were not for the fact that this place was named after the song ‘Kokomo’ by the Beach Boys, this beach is a bit disappointing. There are beaches where there is more to do, such as Porto Mari, Jan Thiel, Blauw Bay, Grote Knip and Mambo Beach.
On many menus you will see Stoba. This is a stew of goat meat, chicken, beef or iguana with vegetables and rice or with fried banana.
Kadushi soup originated with the slaves. They were only given cornmeal to eat. To make it a bit more varied, they made soup from kadushi cacti.
Of course everyone knows Blue Curaçao. It is a liqueur that has been made since 1896 in the Chobolobo country house. The Spanish planted citrus trees but the fruits were not edible so they made a liqueur from them. The blue color that gives Blue Curaçao its color is a dye. You can also get it in other colors but they all taste the same. There is also a liqueur made from chocolate and from Tamarind beans. The liqueur on Curaçao is also the basis for Triple Sec.
Every menu features Awa Di Lamunchi, a drink made from freshly squeezed lime with sugar water.
Pastechi is the best of the sweet dishes. It is a fried pastry filled with fish, meat, cheese wrapped in corn or banana leaves.
Most plants on Curaçao must be able to withstand drought. Of the five hundred types of plants, cacti such as the tall Kadushi stand out. The dividivi is also common. A wind-blown tree that is forced to grow to one side by the trade wind. There are also many palms, bougainvillea, oleander, kibrahacha, jasmine, cordia and many others.
The fauna on Curaçao is richer than the flora. Curaçao is a real bird paradise. There must be more than 160 species of birds such as the West Indian parakeet, the sugar thief, a small yellow bird that loves sugar in addition to nectar. You also often see the red and green hummingbird. Very often you see the black and orange troepial. Of course there are also the Caribbean flamingos, pelicans and birds of prey such as the caracara, also called warawara.
In addition to birds there are many lizards such as the blue-blue and green iguanas. White-tailed deer and sea turtles are also common animal species.
Shete Boka, Christoffelberg