It's all double dutch to me.... (1 - 2 February 2010)

Or should that be quadruple dutch? I arrive in Curacao to find my language skills challenged. It is part of the Netherlands Antilles here and the Papiamentu language (an eclectic mix of loads of other languages) is common, with Dutch as the official language, then Spanish, then English. Talking of language the Americans have one all of their own. Flying into Miami we were told they were having a “rain event” - all that meant is that it was p***ing down – all day – I was at the airport for four hours and it pelted down non stop – now if that had been Heathrow there would have been delays all over the place. But it was an interesting journey as it took me two flights via Miami of almost three hours each to travel from Grenada to here – and they less than 500 miles apart. But that was one reason for coming here – the ticket allowed it, and that together with it being a shiny new pin for me and there was a Hilton where I could use up the last of my Hilton points for a free luxe week made it an easy decision! Oh and of course the fact that they produce that bright blue liqueur, Curacao so the cocktails should be good... The flight was made even longer by a rather alarming “go around” just as we were coming in to land – the pilot told us later that there was a small plane identified on the runway so we had to accelerate back up rather quickly... But I made it.
Curacao looks a little different to the other islands I have visited. It’s much further south just off the coast of Venezuela and below the hurricane belt. It gets much less rain than further north in the Caribbean so it looks much less lush and has quite a few rocky, sparsely wooded outcrops that almost look like a Greek island in places.

But the hotel is lovely – the grounds are enormous and there are beaches everywhere, three nice pools and lots of palm trees and little thatched sun umbrellas. It’s even got its own bit of old fort with cannons – useful if too many Americans want to come in. The menu though does feature rather a lot of odd Dutch food except of course for the ubiquitous Caribbean theme nights complete with steel bands or the seafood on the beach night complete with the cultural show. I have managed to avoid these.... so far. All the usual fripperies that go with a Hilton too, things I would have given a lot for in Guatemala, sea view, loads of smellies in the bathroom, turndown with chocs on the pillow and even hot water in the shower! The downside is that as I sit outside on my balcony writing this the strains of the hotel trio playing at dinner waft up – but I suppose you can’t have everything! But it’s windy – locals think this is great as it dilutes the effect of the strong sun but sitting on the exposed beach this morning ended up with me looking like a sand statue as the flying sand particles stuck to the suncream – I repaired to the pool where it is much more sheltered – now if only those kids would stick to the kids pool a hundred metres away where they should, it would be perfect.... ok call me a grumpy old woman!