Biba Dushi! - Living the Sweet life in Aruba and Curaçao
Aruba
Ever since we had gotten to the Caribbean I had been dying to get under the water and see some fish and corals. I’m a certified PADI diver, and I’ve kept coral reef aquariums for the past 4 years. I’m fascinated with all things that live in the ocean, and I missed my calling as a marine biologist. Ashley on the other hand is famously terrified of sharks and a bit apprehensive about getting into the ocean. She has snorkeled before as a kid, but the concern of sharks is never far from her mind. We agreed to book a half day snorkeling excursion that took us to swim over a small shallow reef and then to the Antilla ship wreck.
The first location had some pretty, brightly colored fish, and a few living corals. The majority of the coral was dead or dying. It is so sad for me to see all the dead coral. It was disheartening to see the damage to the reef, but it was still very peaceful to observe the underwater world. I could have stayed in the water for hours swimming deep under the surface staring at the oddities to be found growing off the reef. Ashley was a good sport and enjoyed the beautiful fish.
We jumped back in the water, this time much deeper. The Antilla was sunk in about 40 feet of water. On a clear day with good visibility you could just about see to the bottom. We had a bit of wind and good visibility but in my opinion unless you’re diving down next to a wreck it’s not as exciting to snorkel over it. It was still pretty cool to see how corals have grown on the old ship and the salty ocean has started to disintegrate the ship. The Antille was sunk on purpose by its owners. It was a German ship, and the Dutch approached the ship and told them they had 24 hours to take their belongings and disembark the ship. The German captain would have no such commandeering of his ship. He strategically said, “Aye aye,” to the Dutch, and before the Dutch could come back for the ship, the German captain instructed his crew to jump overboard and swim to shore while he exploded the engine. Ashley liked learning about the history of the ship and thought it was cool how the wreck turned into its own ecosystem. We had fun snorkeling in the clear waters of Aruba, and neither of us got eaten by a shark!
Coincidentally, the day before we arrived in Aruba, we checked facebook and found out some of our friends would be there at the same time. All we needed to do was get a cab to their hotel. After our snorkel fellows dropped us back off at the main pier we walked out to where the ground transportation was. A woman with a limp ambled up to us, her mouth was full of food she was still chewing, and she asked, “Where you going?” “To the Riu Hotel” “I take you there.” I told her, “We’re looking for a bus that’s two dollars that will take us there.” “I take you for five dollars both of you, but don’t tell anybody.” Slightly hesitant of the “but don’t tell anybody” we agreed to the ride. She ushered us up to her minivan and put us inside. As we settled in she collected 3 more passengers and crammed them in the back. I went to push the button that used to close the sliding door and she slapped my hand out of the way. From outside the van she grabbed ahold of the door and heaved all of her body weight to close it. She limped around the front of the van and settled into her driver seat. She took a full Code Red Mountain Dew from below her seat and chugged down the entire bottle in one swig. I glanced at Ashley like, “who’s van did we just get into?” There was another passenger in the front seat, and as she started driving her hoagie sandwich started rolling around on the dashboard. She instructed the man sitting shotgun, “grab my sandwich before it rolls out the window!” He handed it to her, and she tucked it under her seat for later. We drove past the hotel where she was supposed to drop us off. I told her, “that was the hotel back here.” She told us she was going to drop off the other passenger first and then swing around and drop us off at the end. Fine. We drove another two minutes and she pulled into a hotel where the other passenger was going. He got out and she found another four people who were looking for a ride. Suddenly she told us, “This your stop, time for you to get out.” “No it’s not, we passed ours, you said you would take us back.” “I need room for these people now, I got to make money.” I wasn’t in the mood to argue so we just ended up walking 5 minutes back to our friends’ hotel.
Luckily we were greeted with with some warm hugs and some cold rum and cokes. They took us along a cool boardwalk that links a few hotels together. We wandered out to the beach and stood in the warm clear water and caught up for a while. After a few rum punches and some laughs it was time to make our way back to the ship. We were thrilled to see some familiar faces, and our impromptu meet up was perfect!
Curaçao
The old town of Willamstad is considered a World Heritage UNESCO site for its unique neighborhoods and homes made from brightly painted coral stones. Because the coral stones leak salt, the paint peels off very quickly, and the homes have to be re-painted every six months to maintain their pristine condition. Originally the homes were white because the coral stone was white. A governor in the 1600s said all the white homes were giving him migraines, and he directed people to paint their homes in their favorite color. After the governor died people learned he owned a paint company and was profiting from all the paint sold to get rid of his “migraines.” Homes in the area are no longer built with the impractical material of coral stone, but these old homes cannot be destroyed now that they are a protected historical site.
Before the Dutch arrived to make these unique houses, the Arawaks lived on this island since 600 B.C.. Cave etchings revealed that they lived a rather peaceful existence for over a Millenia until Europeans arrived in the 1600s and altered their existence forever. The Spanish brought Valencia oranges to the island, but the hot island climate dried up the oranges before they could ripen. They evolved into a bitter fruit that could not be eaten, which are now known as laraha. Centuries later it was realized that the peel of the bitter fruit could be dried and fermented to make liquor. This is where the famous Blue Curaçao comes from.
Along with the Dutch and Spanish settlers, there were many Portuguese Jewish families who emigrated to Curaçao during the 1600s. The descendants of these settlers began producing liqueur from these bitter peels, and a blue dye is added to give it the signature name Blue Curaçao. There is also red, orange, green, and clear Curaçao liqueur, but they do not differ in flavor, only the color of dye used. Since it was a Jewish family who originated the process of making the liqueur, all of the ingredients and the drink itself is certified Kosher. Furthermore, genuine Curaçao is only bottled and sold in circular bottles. If you see Curaçao in any other shaped bottle, it was not actually made in Curaçao, and therefore isn’t genuine. As well as being known for this kosher liqueur, the island is home to the oldest operating synagogue in the western hemisphere, Mikvé Israel Emanuel, built in 1732 still stands today.
We spent our day doing a variety of activities. We started by getting on a “submarine” to observe fish and corals. It was advertised to go “up to 200 feet below the surface,” we were skeptical about it, but it was an included excursion from MSC so we decided to do it. We ended up boarding a boat that had seating and windows below the surface. Whoever writes the tour descriptions really take some liberties. We also took a trolly through the UNESCO neighborhood, walked through the market, toured the Curaçao factory, and marveled at the Queen Emma pontoon bridge.
Curaçao felt like a pretty diverse place. There are four languages spoken throughout the island. In school they learn English, Spanish, Dutch, and Papiamento - the local language. We learned a few words in Papiamento: dushi (pronounced doo-she) - this means a few things 1. Biba dushi roughly translates to “living the sweet life/island life” 2. dushi also just means “sweetheart” as in, “mi dushi and I had a wonderful day in Curaçao.” Sushi means trash, so if if you say, “We had sushi for dinner last night, you might get some weird looks.” Donki means “Thank you.”
We quite enjoyed living biba dushi for a few days through the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao) and we were sad to leave the crystal clear water behind. Donki for the dushi days!