Day 8-Monday, December 14, 2009

Well, today was our last full day in Curacao and I truly believe that we made the most of it. First, I have one more bodily injury update. This morning when I woke up, the first thing Shelli said to me was “I am ready to go home now.” When I inquired as to why, she threw back the sheet and revealed to my horror a bottom lip swollen to possibly three times its size! She’d been bitten by a mosquito right on her lip, and it had a spectacular swell that was further emphasized by Shelli’s indelible pout. My poor baby! I encouraged her that we only had one more night to go, and agreed that it would be nice to be back in our own bed, not having to worry about being feasted on by mosquitoes or sweltering through the night under a sheet tent.

We got moving around 10:00 a.m., back off to Willemstad Punda. This time it was my turn to shop for clothes. We hadn’t spent much time in town on the first visit, so we also  really wanted to walk around and explore the rest of it, this being our last chance to do so this visit (we will definitely be back!!). First, shoe shopping at the Adidas store where I bought 2 cool pairs of beaded flip flops. Shelli picked up a couple more t-shirts which were on sale.

In the next store I finally found a few dresses and shirts in my size. They were all beautiful, but given the amount of money left in the budget, I could only purchase a few of the items I had picked out. Still, it was nice to have my fears of not finding anything in my size in Curacao be unfounded. While there isn’t a Lane Bryant, Ashley Stewart, Torrid, or Mode Plus, several of the stores do carry “big sizes”, usually up to 3x, which is my size, and I even saw some 4x. I wish I could recall the names of the shops themselves, to help out my big sisters that might be reading this blog as they plan a trip to Curacao and are curious where to shop. Unfortunately as of this writing I don’t recall the names and I’m too lazy to dig up the receipts at the moment. In lieu of, here’s my best general advice to a big girl (sizes 18 and up) shopping in Curacao:

1. Visit EVERY store, and look at EVERYTHING. If you find an item that you like, either ask the salespeople if they carry it in your size, or if you are too shy for that, then go to the rack that the item is on, and look in the back of the rack for the larger/largest sizes.

2. If you are a size 20 or higher, don’t bother with any of the apparel items that say One Size Fits All or Free Size. Take it from me, a proud size 24/26 (that’s right I ain’t ashamed to blog it!) that one/free size does NOT fit you.

3. Try everything on! Every shop we went into had private dressing rooms, and the people are very friendly and helpful. Seriously. Don’t grab and buy. Grab, TRY, and buy. Even stuff in your size can turn out to be very unflattering in the mirror. Better to be sure that you want what you’ve got before you go to barter with the cashier on its price.

After I’d spent all the money I was willing to spend on myself, Shelli and I began to tour the town in earnest. It was a warm and beautiful day, and not very busy. There seemed to be more locals than tourists milling about. We entered this round building labeled “department store” and marveled at the many consecutive tables that were overflowing with hair relaxers and other beauty products. It really stuck me as odd to see HAIR STRAIGHTENER everywhere I turned, and I realized why our afros were so “foreign” to people. We grabbed a few souvenirs for our families, purchased a beautifully carved wooden box (I negotiated $15 off the price) for ourselves, and then headed away from the more bustling parts of town towards the water. We snapped pictures as we went along. The great thing about international travel is that your eyes seem to be open to unique gems all around you–things that say “You are not in America. You are here.” License plates, bumper stickers, and even the graffiti in foreign languages all gave me this feeling. It was quite a rush!

On the way towards the waterfront, we passed this beautiful mural that had caught my eye on the first visit from Thursday. It was a colorful and lively flower garden mural that was part painting, part sculpture. It was so beautiful, and yet hidden out of place in a narrow alley–you might miss it unless you have an expressed affinity for flowers and butterflies like I do and are drawn to either by the sheer need to delight in their beauty. The mural was so large, it was impossible to capture in photo so I asked Shelli to try and get a panoramic video of it on our digital camera. As she was doing so, a gentleman approached us in the alley, and asked if we liked the art. We told him we loved it, and he said that he was the artist. We were thrilled and took a picture of him in front of his work. Shelli asked him if there were anymore installations like it in town, and he offered to show us another one. We walked towards the center of town, then around another corner to find a stunning sculpture of a blue woman. “This one is not my art” he told us. But boy, it was pretty! I took a picture of it and we thanked him for showing it to us with a few local gilders. We snapped a few more photos around town before I started to get hot and miss the water. We decided to catch the bus back, walking to the bushalte along the waterfront, which had a view that looked straight out of a postcard.

We got back to the resort with a few hours to spare before our massage appointment, so I was quickly back in my suit and back in the water. After cooling off from a dip, Shelli and I sat at the Beach Grille under one of the fronded huts on the shore and drank countless margaritas. Suddenly the sky got a little cloudier and it began to sprinkle, so we headed back to the room to shower for our massage.

I had been fantasizing about getting an sunset massage on the ocean since I first read about the spa service in the brochure on the internet after booking our stay. So, I was more than a little disappointed when we arrived at the spa and were informed that our massage could not take place on the beach, due to rain. We could either get a massage inside, or reschedule. But since we leave tomorrow, rescheduling was not an option. We ended up getting our massages inside–it was still very nice and relaxing, even though it couldn’t possibly compare to the bliss of an ocean sunset massage. Once again, next time. Perhaps to compensate for the last minute change in venue, the masseuses did throw in some hot stone work during the massage, much to my pleasure (Hot Stone Massage would have been my second choice to the Ocean Sunset Massage). My masseuse really worked my shoulder out, and as with any massage or pampering treatment, it was over far too soon.

We left the spa relaxed and happy enough, especially since the experience had been at no cost to us, thanks to the Curacao Now coupon–we didn’t even have to tip! We stopped by the gift store again to purchase some stamps and postcards to send home to our parents, then went back to the room to change for dinner.

We had our last dinner back at the Starlight Grille. We both ordered the same thing–beef for me, ribs for Shelli. Skipped the carrot cake this time. We didn’t linger long after dinner, since we still had to pack and I wanted to get up early to have one more go at the water before we had to check out and catch the 12:30 shuttle to the airport. 8 days into the honeymoon and it only just NOW occurred to me that I could fill my water bottle with cocktails from the bar to take back to the room and enjoy later. I can’t believe it! Oh well…we drank plenty this week, and now I have plenty to drink tonight as we pack up.

Tomorrow is our last morning here, and then a long afternoon and evening of traveling back home. I’m not really sad about leaving–like I said, we made the most of this vacation, and we are missing our bed. If there is any regret to be had, it’s that we never got to find/visit that gay bar, Lyric’s Gay Cafe! Next time! Well, tomorrow I’ll write my last Curacao Honeymoon blog. Until then, sunchi sunchi dushi (kiss kiss sweetheart)!

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