Justin's Journey

Today started a bit tough. My rental car wouldn’t start this morning before I left the hotel. The rental company sent a guy over. All he did was replacing the battery and the car started! It’s an easy fix but I had to wait for them to come over. I kept reminding myself the island time – have enough of flexibility in terms of time.

I then drove to the south of Willemstad and visited an herb garden near Oranjeberg. Dinah Veeris established this herb garden to collect plants for preserving Caribbean herb medicine. It’s a rusty garden and very interesting to walk around. I don’t know much about plants or herbs. However, there were plants that are fun to see. I also picked up a bottle of honey, and a jar of Aloe cream for scratches or bug bites. Both of them are made at the garden. It’s a nice gift to myself. And it’s practical.

I ran into a couple from Vancouver, who traveled to Curaçao with the cruise. Since I started late today, I was a bit hungry when I walked around the herb garden. I mentioned about looking forward to finding a place for lunch. The couple generously offered me some cookies. That’s very nice of them! I planed to drive to the Aquarium for lunch. Although I tried to follow the direction on the map, the roads were not marked clearly. I ended up back to Willemstad. I noticed that because I saw the lunch place I went to on the very day. Well, I was hungry. I managed to find a road side parking spot and paid the parking. So I could stop by and get some lunch. This time, I decided to get some goat meat with rice and bean. It’s delicious as usual. I shared the table with a Dutch guy. He told me this is an authentic place to get delicious local food. He is right. I enjoyed my goat.

I managed to find the aquarium after missed a couple of turns. It’s not a big aquarium but they were lots of stuff to see. In addition to fish tanks, touch poosl, and shows, there was an underwater observatory boat. The guide for the tour was very enthusiastic. He knows his sea creatures. He even asked his assistance to jump into a tank. So he can have the shell of the lobster after the lobster shed its shell. I didn’t know lobsters do that! It’s fascinating to see it. Especially, the tour guide was very exciting to show it to us. He even got me to touch the skin of a live shark, and fed the shark. Crazy guy he is… After the sea lion show and the dolphin show, it’s about time to say good bye to the aquarium.

Time for beach hopping! The Cabana beach and the Mambo beach were near. I drove to the beaches and got cool down in the sea water. After it got dark, I went to the restaurant at the Cabana beach. I got a 3-cup soup and a pasta with clams. It felt like a long day today. I was happy I had a good meal and called it a day. It took me some time to get back to my hotel. Well, I missed a couple of turns, again. I was happy when I returned and crashed!