Stay Rad

Hello!

It’s been a little while!

Kara and I spent a bit of time last week on the island nation of Curaçao for a wedding…

Wedding on the Beach

Of course the wedding was beautiful, so let me tell you a little bit about the island instead…

Curaçao

Founded in 1499, Curaçao is a self-governing Caribbean nation under the Kingdom of the Netherlands.  While the official language is Dutch, the natives speak a language called Papiamentu.  Due to its proximity to South America (35 miles North of Venezuela), locals are also fluent in Spanish.  Due to the bad-assness of this country, this is also a go-to destination for American tourists, so you know that everyone speaks English too.

Basically, you could get by in Curaçao speaking any language you want.

That being said, there is one word in Papiamentu that you MUST learn…

Dushi!

Much like Aloha in Hawaii, Dushi has many meanings in Curaçao.  Literally, dushi translates to delicious or flavorful.  On the real, though… Dushi means that something is good or awesome.

On our first full day in Curaçao, Kara and I explored the capital city of Willemstad to see why this place is so dushi…

We stopped by the Plein Café Wilhelmina to have a Hoegaarden…

And a Carpaccio Pesto Sandwich!

We then took a walk through the Waterfort Arches. Bon bini means welcome, by the way.

Willemstad is divided into two sides by the Saint Anna Bay. From the side we were on, Punda, you can have a great view of Otrabanda (translated to The Other Side).

Here’s another shot of the streets of Punda.

And there’s Otrabanda again!

What’s really dushi about this place is all the random artwork you see in the streets. Check out this three-dimensional mural!

There are plenty of water front restaurants where you can get some tasty tropical drinks…

If you’re lucky, you’ll see some massive ships sail by.

To get from Punda to Otrabanda, there is a pontoon bridge that swings open and closed to let ships through. While walking across the bridge, I got this picture of Punda.

While walking the streets of Willemstad, I was able to pick up a nice wine from one of the convenience stores to bring to dinner…

Baron Philippe de Rothschild 2011 Pays D’OC Pinot Noir

Now, you know that Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Chateau Mouton Rothschild makes one of the most epic Cabernet Sauvignon blends in Bordeaux, France.  If you’ve got a grand to burn, I hear that is some great stuff.  If you don’t have that kind of scratch, you may want to give this guy a try.  It was only 25 guilder (14 bucks).

Nose: Definitely old world characteristics on this wine.  Heavy on the earthy mushrooms, but with some good red currant fruit.

Taste: Oh man!  Mushrooms, soil, bacon fat, and black pepper.  There’s some good red fruit on the palate, with a long acidity that is begging for food.

Score: A great value if you can find it.  I had to fly all the way to Curaçao to get this bottle.  88 points.

The next day was the Queen of The Netherlands’ birthday, so we decided to walk around and see how the people of Curaçao were celebrating…

I spotted some more awesome art on our walk downtown.

The Queen wears orange. On Queen’s Day, everyone wears orange.

We ducked into a sports bar to catch some of the ceremonies on TV.

On the way back to the car, we walked by a party that was being set up in an abandoned lot. We were thinking about stopping, but we had a wedding to get to…

While driving back to get ready for the wedding, we did see a little graffiti. I got a kick out of this one.

Back at the wedding, the Champagne was flowing…

Back at the abandoned lot, the party kept going…

Man!  This place is Dushi!

Stay Rad,

Jeff