As I sit to write this my feet are kicked up on our balcony overlooking the calm turquoise water, a cup of coffee on one side, Marcus on the other, and the sweet chirps of local birds singing fills the warm air. Is this Heaven?? Despite the cliché I truly do feel that this is my idea of what Heaven should be. When I die, I want to go to the Curacao in the sky.
We arrived around 2pm into the adorable little Hato airport. Nothing like our big boisterous, granite slab countertop in the bathroom SFO. Petite and colorful, the airport sits surrounded by cactus and adjacent to the ocean (the landing strip was no more than 30 yards from the ocean). As we landed we gawked at the unreal bright blue water and reefs clearly visible from the plane. Already we could tell this was unlike any place we have been before.
We made our way through customs and immigration still in that “Oh my gosh I can’t believe we are really here!!” mode. There was a snag when we picked up our rental car as they tried to give us one with a broken radio/CD player. Marcus spent a good portion of time before we left making us Island CDs to listen to while we were here so we were really bummed. We eventually got a different car (a BLUE one at that!!) and headed to our Hotel.
Somehow, despite all odds against me and my natural lack of direction, I was able to navigate as Marcus drove to hotel with ease. The drive to the hotel was very interesting itself. The architechture here is simply beautiful to me. The colorful, ornate, and somewhat European Victorian little rundown houses that were scattered along the drive had my camera fluttering. We arrived to the hotel around 4 pm. We could not be happier with our choice to stay here, this place is simply stunning. Covered in local flora and fauna and built in the traditional “Dutch” style architecture, the Avila sits perched right on the beach. As we checked in we were presented with a glass of sweet carribbean fruit juice. Why thank you. We quickly unloaded the car and headed up to see our room. We were given an Ocean View room with a little patio equipped with table and lounge chairs… definitely going to be our breakfast spot most mornings. Our room is in the newer building of the hotel and is very modern inside, nothing like the tropical exterior. I’m super stoked about the little kitchenette and look forward to cooking up some fresh catch of the day to eat on our balcony at least one night.
After settling in we walked down to the beach where we grabbed a spot under a nice big palapa. There is an adorable ship turned into a bar that is conveniently situated on the beach where we grabbed a couple drinks to take back to our beachside seats. We layed there most of the evening as the sun faded, getting up only a couple of times to take a dip. There were schools of fish in the water right in front of us, and boy were they friendly. Obviously used to visitors, the fish swam right up to us. One little guy seemed confused and kept circling Marcus and I like we were prey? I’m not sure, but he was cute and I even got to touch him.
When the sun completely sank we rinsed off the sand, got a little fancier, and took a cab over to Mambo Beach for dinner. We had heard that this was the place to be on Sunday night for live music and dancing (the guy who helped us with our car rental called it “local night”). Well that was correct indeed. The place was swarmed with people and loud club music right on the beach. Everyone looked to be having fun but I am an old soul, and something just didn’t feel right. We decided to walk along the beach to Lions Dive Resort (two min walk), home of Hemmingways. Ahhh, much better. The dinner tables are set up on the sand under light strung palapas. We grabbed a seat and just relaxed for a bit as the live band set up. They were not offering their normal menu as it was their buffet night, so we delightfully indulged in some fresh local fanfare. My favorite was the Bangamary, a white fish which I was told is similar to Grouper. Everything was good though, and given the setting and company I’m not sure I could complain even if the food had been terrible. A few Mai-Tais, Margaritas, and some fruity little green things later we called it a night and took a cab back to our hotel.
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