The "Our Favorite Port of Call" Story

It was an ordinary day. Final Port of Call on our Panama Canal Cruise. Willemstad, Curacao. Yep, the same Curacao that always has those great Little League baseball teams in the Little League World Series held in Williamsport, PA. A team from Willemstad, Curacao won the World Series in 2004. As we pull into the dock early in the morning, the first thing I see is a huge baseball complex. Lights and all. Even had green grass. As soon as I saw that, I remembered about their little league teams. Willemstad, capital of Curacao and the Netherlands Antilles, is one of the richest cities in the world in terms of culture and diversity. The population of 135,000 is composed of 55 nationalities. The city is divided into two sections, Punda andOtrobanda, which are connected by a floating bridge called the Queen Emma Bridge. The St. Anna Bay (a small river) lies between them. The city is a rainbow of color, since an early mayor of the city suffered from migraines from the glaring white buildings and ordered all buildings painted in pastel colors. I could livehere! Love the colors. Carol and I saw that they had an ostrich farm and decided to take a tour of it. We tried to book the tour months ago and it was full so I emailed the place and they told us to get a taxi at the pier and they would know where to go. So, upon arrival, we found a taxi and told "Wendell" the driver, our plans. "What is the charge for the round trip if you wait for us?" I asked him. He told me he could do it for $90. "What? $90!!" Isaid. "That is the fee that everyone will charge you," he responded. "How long does it take to get there?" I asked. "Half an hour," he replied. Wow! An hour ride with an hour tour for $90 plus the fee to get into the place. I asked Carol if she really wanted to spend that much. We talked and talked and agreed that we will never have a chance to do it again, so let's go for it. And, we had a really nice time. Wendell took us over the Queen Juliana Bridge which is a 200 foot tall bridge that leads over the St. Anna Bay. We passed rows of colorful houses until we finally arrived at the ostrich farm. Boarded a truck and took an hour tour of the facility. They raise the birds, which grow to about 400 pounds, for meat. They are impressive in size and dumb as can be. We got to hand feed them and I got to stand, yes stand, on an ostrich egg. The shell of the egg is extremely strong. Has to be to support a 400 pound bird sitting on it. There were about a dozen tourists on the trip and I hoped I wasn't the one who would break the egg. On our return trip we asked Wendell to drop us off on the Punda side of Willemstad. This is the side with the beautiful colored buildings along the waterfront. The buildings which are featured on all their ads and on their license plates. We weren't disappointed. Just outstandingarchitecture. The only thing that hindered us was our lingering illness and the heat. About 10 degrees above the equator and it felt like it. We walked around the area, dodging into shops to avoid the heat, and then crossed the pontoon bridge to theOtrobanda side of the city. Then we heard it. Loud!! A military helicopter was hovering over the waterfront. We inquired and found out that they were celebrating their independence from the Netherlands today and the son of theQueen was in town for the celebration. Security was high today. We found a restaurant overlooking the water and enjoyed a leisurely lunch while taking in the sights and sounds of the city. Probably one of my most favorite places I have ever traveled to. We watched as the pontoon bridge opened and a large freighter passed. We walked back to the cruise ship, stopping only to buy Carol a bracelet at Tiffany's for Christmas. What a day! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - pixs from the top are: one of many streets with colored row homes, ostrich farm occupants, feeding the beasts, standing on the ostrich egg, Willemstad waterfront, panorama shot showing the pontoon bridge and another panorama showing the city with the Queen Juliana Bridge and part of the baseball complex in the left side of the pix.