Curaçao

My family traveled to Curacao in 2015 it was a last minute replacement for wanting to go to Europe. Not a bad choice, not because it is so much like Europe but because it is a charming place to visit and it does have a European flair. 

The combination of the floating bridge and brightly painted building makes this place easy on the eyes. The local food has a fusion of European, eastern and Caribbean flavors, The beaches were plentiful and beautiful. I think we went to a different beach each day. Our favorite was Mambo beach.  Some of the beaches were topless which my 10 year found fascinating even nicknaming one beach "booby beach".  Some beaches were very dutch serving Dutch food and speaking Dutch it was almost like we made it to Europe. Almost......

The choices of accommodations are great.  You can go high-end low end but they were much more costly than south-east Asia. about twice as much. That being said it is not the cheapest place to travel but it has character and charm. We are a mixed race family and traveling is always interesting as people are still curious in this day and age,  and some cases not impressed but really ....who cares. It seems everywhere I go other than my home country the 1st impression people have is that I am from that country. Canadians still have a ways to go. In the US people are open and blunt about the racial opinions in Canada we are just more polite about it. 

This was my 7th trip to the Caribbean, this island felt like one of the safest. This Island was one of the biggest trading areas for slavery and instead of hiding it they have created a fascinating slave museum. I did not know what to expect when I entered and therefore was pleasantly impressed by the honesty of the displays and information. One of my ancestors may have come through this Island. Traveling on the torturous ships that were on display. Even my 10 year old enjoyed the journey. OK.... I will be honest African people were treated worse than livestock.  Talk about needing a strong constitution. To know that two of my ancestors made it through makes me proud. You think we would have evolved past this but it is still done to today with women, kids, in other parts of the world and Canada. ( read more here)  

The island has various types of terrain, desert-like and forest. Giant cacti and lots of pink flamingos ( never seen before ). That what traveling is about for me seeing, smelling, tasting, touching something new, relaxing and changing the perspective for a moment in time. ​

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