I briefly talked a little bit about Curacao, and instead of doing a full-fledged recap post, I’m joining up with Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC to talk about my five favorite things from Curacao!
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been THREE weeks ago since I was on the beautiful beaches down here. Can time slow down at any point, please?
Anyways, my 5 Curacao favorites!
1. The beaches.
Why else would you go to a Caribbean island? I mean, there are other elements but the beaches are quite amazing down there! We hung out at our resort beach (we stayed at Kontiki Beach Resort which was gorgeous) and also went to a beach club down the street and overlooked the (rocky) beach from their patio pool area. I would love to go back to Curacao and check out some of the other beaches on the other side of the island because I’ve heard those are amazing!
2. The culture.
This is probably an obvious one, but I absolutely loved the Curacao culture. It had a Euro feeling, but it was a mix of that along with some strong Caribbean elements… and then of course, since it’s so close to Venezuela, a little bit of South America seems to influence the country as well. It was just a mish-mash of culture that seemed to work and create a unique experience.
3. The unique mix of food.
As you can imagine because of #2, there is a unique mix of food in Curacao. They have some Dutch dishes mixed in with seafood, traditional Caribbean fare, Latin America-inspired and then of course, some Western dishes. It was all over the map, but it was absolutely incredible.
I loved Kome (which is one of the top restaurants in the city) and we also went to Fishalicious, which was the perfect place to experience some seafood. So good!
4. The safety.
The island only has about 150,000 people that live there and it’s TINY. It felt like everyone knew everyone (that were locals) and I loved how safe the island felt. Casey and I went off resort a few days and just ran around the area around us and never once felt terrified. (On the flipside, when I went to Jamaica a few years ago, I tried to leave the resort for a run and was strongly advised against it by the locals and instead, had to taxi and run around another resort property.)
5. Dushi.
As soon as we got in the shuttle from the airport, our driver started telling us about “dushi.” It’s a word from the local Curacao language that means sexy, beautiful, wonderful, etc. It’s pronounced as sushi only with a d… or basically how we say “douchey” for douchebag here in the states. We were called this numerous times while we were in Curacao and it definitely means what the driver told us (we initially did not believe him).
I’ve had so much fun torturing people with this word now that I’m back in America.
These are just 5 Curacao favorites… there were a lot of other things I loved about this island! And, Curacao is still on my list to visit again in the future; I feel like we sampled a piece of the island and there’s much more to explore! It’s relatively easy to get to from the U.S. and definitely not as expensive as traveling to other areas. So, if you’re looking for a vacation spot, definitely check it out!
What’s the last place you went on vacation? What’s the next spot you want to visit on your wish list?
What’s your favorite Caribbean island?