BLACK FRIDAY IN CURACAO

November 26, 2010
Sunny—80s F

I can’t help but think of our daughter in law, D, today. I know she will have a very busy day today, Black Friday. The rest of the season will be very very hectic for her and I hope she had some rest yesterday.

There was no Black Friday in Curacao. Prices did not improve one bit on things I am looking at like a new Canon camera. In fact, it is $150 more here than on the Internet. But, the weather is great—80s F—and we had a leisurely walk around the town of Willemstad.

Curacao lies about 40 miles off Venezuela, 38 miles long and 7.5 miles wide, with a population of 140,000. Amerigo Vespucci was the first European to find the island, but it did not play a great role in colonization until 1634 when the Dutch West India Company claimed Curacao. In 1915 the Royal Dutch Shell Company built one of the world’s largest refineries to process crude oil from Venezuela.

We were looking for a post office when we found the island market meant for the islanders. We have visited the fish market before but we had never walked through this one. There had to be at least 20+ vendors selling the same fruit and vegetables (bananas, melons, guava, oranges, apples, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, etc.) and all were displayed in the exact same way on each vendor’s cart. There were no prices visible. I really wondered how a buyer would know which vendor to purchase his groceries from. A mystery!

We had lunch back on the ship, lasagna Bolognese and fried zucchini for me. The food has been very good. I do think the passengers are a little older than we are and very conservative.

Dinner for two in Michelangelo: pineapple and prickly pear with tequila sauce, wild mushrooms and truffles (both appetizers), and turkey pot pie for me. Ceviche and avocado, oyster and leek soup, and strip steak with garlic butter for TK.

The Vista Lounge was so full that the staff brought in folding chairs. We were willing to try this if the comedian/ “illusionist” was good, but as always, the tallest people in the world sat in front of us and we could not see. Peter Gossamer seemed very good, but we could not see the tricks. I ended up in the piano lounge again (Josef Bober) and started Michael Crichton’s Pirate Latitudes. A very appropriate read for a cruise.

TK’s Takes: TK found green beach glass in the small cove area on the walk to Curacao. We both got $5 free play in the Curacao casino and walked away with almost $30! It cost TK $1 to mail a postcard to his friend in Erie.