3rd Port – Curacao - Part 1

Curacao,of Curacao 

that sweet orange liqueur 

distilled on the Isle for which it was named by the Senior Family whose decedents to this day still produce it, will be a highlight of the IRIE East Side Tour – more about that later…

But first, our hardy band of bouncing boat funsters have to get off the Ship {please don’t call it a Boat in front of Kathleen}.

Since we won’t dock ‘til 1PM - it was a sleep-in-day and a lazy one at that.  The Wacky American Tourist and the Ever-Lovely, but still butt sore from pounding ride to Saona, Dragon Lady managed to hug the pillows ‘til almost 9:30A – which for her is unusual.  After dragging themselves from a much needed slumber – yea… the day before really did take its toll - it was time for Breakfast on the Lido Deck.  Then Chucky had time to wrap up the Grand Turk saga with Crab Diggin’ dogs, Sandy Va-JayJay’s and what-all.

The Roll Callers met in The Atrium once more at 1PM {this time Everyone including the Captain got the memo} to await the “Get off the Boat… Err… uh, sorry Kathleen, SHIP”, signal and once again followed the mob headed to the forward gangway, regrouping on the pier to search for the IRIE representative.  After the obligatory Photo at the “Welcome {Bon Bini} to Curacao” sign we found the IRIE dudes, or should we say, several of them, found several of us and after some confusion we all got stickered with a little “I” and herded towards a bus already half full.  
Realizing they were mixing us with another group we convinced Sylvian, our driver-to-be, that we had enough for our own bus but had to wait ‘til he found 4 more brave souls to fill the bus and for the taxi’s behind us to move before we could get underway.

Sylvian was a HOOT, a very experienced and funny Guide, he took us through the various areas of Willemstad, the capital of Curacao and regaled us with tales of:

How the Coral Rock used in the early construction still leaches salt through the stucco of the houses causing the paint and outer layers to blister and need repair every 2-3 years, 
The reason for the multi-colored houses – a former governor declared that all the white houses gave him migraines and decreed that they must all be painted in more eye {and headache} pleasing pastel colors.

It was later discovered that he owned a paint factory.  Crooked Politicians… it’s the same everywhere.

Curacao, first colonized by the Spanish in 1499, Dutch colonists began occupying the island in 1634 after the Netherlands achieved independence from Spain, gaining self-government in 1954 and becoming a Country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010.

Arriving at our first stop, the Curacao liqueur Plant, and after the obligatory pose in front of the Plant sign - we took the basic tour seeing the distillation, bottling and hand labeling process and then on to “The Tasting” {YEA} of the various liqueurs produced here. 

Curaçao liqueur was first developed and marketed by the Senior family in the 19th century and is flavored with the dried peel of the laraha citrus fruit developed from the sweet Valencia orange transplanted by Spanish explorers. Naturally colorless, it is often artificially colored, most commonly blue or orange, to confer an exotic appearance to cocktails. Recently added flavors are rum, raisin, coffee and chocolate, the mixture of the later two rivals Khalua.  Unfortunately the Curacao Liqueur name was derived from the country’s name and since the Senior Family could not copyright or patent a countries name, other distilleries worldwide are able to produce their own “Curacao” in varying colors and applications. But the “Senior” produced Curacao remains the Original.

And of course, a bottle of the Chocolate is accompanying the Dragon Chic home for her after dinner coffee, the purchase of which took so long that upon exiting the tchotchke shop the Traveling Wackos find the bus is on the move!!!

Fortunately MD-NK-M&M noticed that they where missing and alerted Sylvian to “Whoa Up” as un-phased Chucky and now panicking DL -
{Reminiscent of the wild race for the departing bus in Milan after Chucky lost his hat in the Cathedral} 
- came trotting along. 

Oh… this isn’t the only mad trot of the day, but you'll just have 'til the next episode for the rest of our day on Curacao and to find out what that’s all about.

Ciao 4 Now,

Uncle Chuck & The High Stepping-Fast Trotting

Dragon Lady