Getting the Boot in Curacao

Lela, Jane, and I just spent six wonderful days in Curacao. It was sort of a last minute trip. Lela’s fiancée Avery wasn’t able to join us as he already had plans to visit friends in Seattle and Los Angeles. I guess I should mention that Lela is now 75% of a doctor. 

Last Friday Jane and I flew from BWI and Lela flew from Hartford. We met in Miami and landed in Curacao around 2:00. After checking into the Curacao Marriott Beach Resort, we headed straight to the beach. We had dinner that evening at C Spice in the hotel. 

Saturday we hung out again at the hotel and spent our time lounging at the adult pool. Since it was my birthday, Jane planned a nice dinner for us. We took a taxi  into Willemstad and had a delicious dinner at Gouverneur de Rouville.  We then went next door and got a round of beers at Swinging Old Lady Brewery. 

Sunday was another day spent on at the beach at the Marriott. For dinner we walked about 15 minutes and had an underwhelming meal. 

I picked up a rental car on Monday and in the afternoon we drove into Willemstad. We explored the town and first stopped for ice cream. After a little more walking, we stopped for drinks. After a little more walking, we went to dinner. We had a wonderful waterfront meal at De Heeren @ Sea.

When we got back to the car, we found a boot on the car. I never saw any type of parking restriction sign. Luckily, the people parked next to us — a very friendly couple from Curacao — were incredibly helpful. He called the local number to get the boot removed, and he stuck around until the boot enforcement people arrived. During that time, it took three phone calls from our new friends as the enforcement people were not very prompt. We struck up a nice conversation with them, getting restaurant recommendations and learning about their backgrounds. My new friend said he called the head of the business district to complain about our boot. He was embarrassed that this happened to us. He said that the parking enforcement and booting of cars was a relatively new thing. 

A guy from the boot enforcement team arrived and he was unable to get the boot off the car. After twenty minutes one of his colleagues arrived and he was unable to get it removed. Two police officers stopped and they did not have success. Finally, after doing a FaceTime call, they received the proper instructions on how to remove the boot. All this for a $15 fine. 

Tuesday we drove near the Northern tip of Curacao and went to Shete Boka National park where we hiked along limestone bluffs and went into a cave as we watched the waves pound against the coral rock formations. 

After our hike we headed to Cas Abao Beach where the water was a lush turquoise color. The water was very refreshing. 

After showering at the Marriott, we went back into Willemstad and had dinner at Taqueria Maya where it was Taco Tuesday. 

On our way back we connected in Miami. Wow, this airport is a dump, has it been updated since 1965? The food choices were terrible and the condition of the place is just atrocious. 

It was great having Lela traveling with us for the last few days. There were plenty of conversations about wedding planning, medical school, and residency matching. Lucky for her, we get to spend two more weekends with her this month.