Bright Light – Willemstad, Curacao – [05/11/2017]

I had no intention of going out today. We’re still in a very warm part of the world (goddess I’m looking forward to Boston) and I’ve been having difficulty dealing with the heat…that said, sometimes it feels like I’m having difficulty dealing with most things these days…

But I promised Mum I would go out, because she knew that the fresh air would help me to feel better (and she’s right really, barricading myself in a windowless cabin is not really a great remedy for anything). So I scooped A.J into my bag and headed out.

For those of you who may not know who “AJ” is, she is the tiny stuffed pony that has taken up permanent residence in my suitcase since Amras’ and my road trip to DC last summer. Carrying her about with me has provided me with an amusing way to make myself take more pictures, and since she is in my carry-all at almost all times, she has nearly begun to take on a personality of her own.

Anyway, that’s what this contract has really been about…just AJ and me.

If AJ could speak I’m sure that she would delight in Curacao, because it absolutely explodes with colour and sound. But as much as she is a ham for the camera, AJ is perhaps not the best of conversationalists…so I’ll never really know what she thought. I, however, did enjoy a few minutes amble through the brightly coloured market stalls lining the harbour, although for once I didn’t buy anything. There’s lots of things here to tempt my compulsive home décor tendencies, but I try to keep those in check since as of this particular moment in time I have nowhere to put said décor.

Instead I kept wandering towards the end of the harbour where the historic and restored hulk of Fort Rif dominates the low-lying skyline. The lower level now houses high end shops and tourist traps, as well as an excellent ice cream parlour (duchle de leche ice cream….yum yum!) but tucked away in one side of the wall is the staircase to the upper level. Now safely floored with wood paneling, it’s hard to imagine that these were probably once ramparts. I entirely missed coming up here the last time I was here, and I find myself wishing that I hadn’t, as the ocean breeze sweeping through the now-empty ramparts where the cannon’s once stood watching the ever-changing sea did wonders to calm my over-anxious mind.

Not many people bother to come up to the top-level ,and most of the storefront real-estate up there is either empty or set aside for administrative offices of some kind, so there’s not much in the way of noise except for a bit of background music.

Peering down over the railings that barricade the old cannon slots reveals a sea that is a seemingly impossible shade of green. Like you’d see inside of a faerie ring.

We – that is to say AJ and I, because she, after all, has no choice but to go where I go – made our way back down the harbour and across the city’s famous floating bridge that seems to be constantly shifting, swinging and adjusting with the motion of the tide; if you find yourself half way across the bridge when the closure bells go off (which they do every time a vessel of any kind needs to leave the harbour), you have no choice but to simply hang out in the middle and wait while the bridge swings open and then closes again. That hasn’t happened to me yet, though I’ve seen it happen to other people.

The other side of the harbour is where the city proper is located. All sparkly tourist shops and crazy bright colours. Willemstad is a photographer’s dream, as even their street art is beautiful.  I did remember rather quickly why I don’t tend to do much shopping in places like this…the clerks follow you around a little too closely for my liking. In one little shop, having had a perpetual shadow for the last five minutes, I finally turned around and demanded to know whether or not she was following me for any particular reason as I was only browsing and hadn’t even touched anything on the shelves. She laughed – clearly having had this kind of encounter quite often – and explained that no, it was just the way things are done around here, whether you like it or not you have your own personal sales assistant. Finding myself thoroughly unsettled by the procedure, I made sure only to go in busy stores after that where all the salespeople were already occupied. What can I say? No matter how friendly, people silently staring at me kind of freaks me out.

Eventually I found I couldn’t take the heat any longer, so I proceeded back to the welcome air conditioning of the ship, taking AJ with me…whether she was ready to leave or not.