We spent 4 hours toodling around Willemstad, the capital city of a nation that was formed less than a week ago. Curacao had been part of the Netherland Antilles, but last year voted to become an independent nation, and Sunday, October 10 was their independence day. There have been very cordial relations between the nations of the Netherland Antilles and the Dutch, but the time for change had come.
One of my talks was about Curacao, and so there were several places in Willemstad that we wanted to see.
The first version of the bridge was built more than 100 years ago as a toll bridge. If you were poor, you did not have to pay. You demonstrated your diminished financial capacity by going barefooted. Well, the poor did not want to be identified as poor, so they borrowed shoes, and the rich, not wanting to spend the money, went barefooted. The toll was eliminated when the current bridge – the third – was constructed in 1939.
One of the unique features of this very uncaribbean city is the brightly painted houses. If you have seen Rainbow Row in Charleston, you have an idea. But this is the whole town. They used to paint the buildings white, but in 1817 the governor complained that the sun’s reflection gave him headaches, and so the current paint scheme was adopted.
One of the places we wanted to see was the Postal Museum that has a collection of stamps from throughout the Netherlands Antilles, and a rotating exhibit that is changed every four months. We set off in the general direction, and when it did not pop into our view, we asked a policeman for assistance. We were close, but close only counts in horseshoes, quoits, hand grenades, or atomic bombs. Following his directions, we continued our quest. Sadly, the museum is closed for repairs.
The second stop on our wandering was the Mikve Israel-Emmanuel Synagogue (the yellow building), the oldest continuing house of Jewish worship in the Western Hemisphere. I was required to wear a yamuka to enter the sanctuary.
One of the most interesting things about this beautiful house of worship is the sand floors. Hundreds of years ago when Jews were being persecuted in Spain, they began constructing their synagogues in this fashion so as not to be heard going about their worship. The local congregation put in sand floors for that reason, and also as a reminder of the 40 years they wandered in the wilderness under Moses’ leadership. The congregation has several Torah which are hundreds of years old, but they were not on display today.
You have probably been with Bonnie when she has spied a coin in a parking lot, or on the street. With total disregard for her safety or her dignity, she bends over and picks it up. Today she found Netherlands Antilles coin with the denomination 5 on it. You’d’ve thought she found a hundred bucks.
Back on the ship, we had lunch with two couples from Canada, one from Calgary, and the other from Montreal. I forgot to ask the Calgary couple if they knew the Hart family, but the husband is a retired elementary principal, and his wife is a PK and the mother of Pks.
After lunch it was nap time, and then we booked a sight-seeing tour for Grenada, our next port of call – the young lady who helped me is from Ukraine, and it was neat hearing that accent and speaking a few words to her. We have a day at sea tomorrow, and so I will give my third talk, this one about Barbados.
Oh, one last thing. If you need to go to the potty in Curacao, you must pay for the privilege. The price ranges between 50 cents and one dollar. I remember handing over rubles for the privilege in Russia, and being supplied with two squares of toilet paper. They are more generous in Curacao.
Until tomorrow then. TTFN!
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