Caribbean editor Gay Nagle Myers is attending the Caribbean Tourism Organization's annual State of the Industry Conference in Curacao this week. Before the business meetings got underway, she had a chance to explore. Here is her first dispatch.
WILLEMSTAD, Curacao __ I'd forgotten how much I liked this island. I was last here about four years ago, but the sight of the sherbet-colored colonial merchant houses lining the waterfront in the capital of Willemstad brought it all back.
Before the CTO conference held me captive in the World Trade Center meeting rooms, I got out and about.
Here's the thing about Willemstad: It's a very walkable capital city, with the Punda neighborhood on one side of the canal and Otrobanda on the other.
A tour guide told me to picture the shape of Curacao as a bikini top with Willemstad in the middle, the left side as the more rural countryside part of Curacao and the right as the residential and commercial section.
I heard "bon bini" (the Papiamento word for "welcome") uttered more often than I heard "good morning" as I strolled the Floating Market along the waterfront, snapping photos of freshly caught grouper and snapper still flapping in the fishing boats.
Fishermen and vendors called out "dushi, dushi" as I moved from boat to boat.
I misunderstood the word, thinking they were saying "sushi," referring to what someone could do with the fish.
Wrong. Dushi is a term of endearment or affection, meaning "sweetie" or "honey," a typical Curoacoean greeting.
Thanks to a quick tip from my guide, I replied, in Papiamento, "masha danki" (thank you).
It's unusually hot in Curacao right now, more like summer temperatures rather than mid-October, and the natives were complaining about the heat.
I'll take hot over cold anytime, but I did stop at a street stand for a mango batido, a yummy smoothie-type drink made with fresh fruits and ice in a blender.
The heat was blasting when I stepped into the Plasa Bieu (Old Market) shortly before noon where large vats of okra soup, stewed plantains, fish soup and pieces of goat were simmering and bubbling over coals.
The cooks were readying for the lunch crowd who pack the place daily, sitting at long wooden tables chowing down on the daily specials.
Because the Queen Emma pontoon pedestrian swing bridge, also known as the Swinging Old Lady, was temporarily out of commission for some restructuring repairs, I took the 30-second ferry ride back across the canal to Otrobanda.
Before heading back to the Renaissance Curacao Resort & Casino, I dropped in at the Maritime Museum, housed in a building that once was the residence of a Jewish dentist, then a classy hotel and later a budget hotel for sailors before opening in 1998 as the present-day museum.
It was fascinating, with exhibits of nautical charts and original maps of the region from 1666 painted by sailors on merchant ships who mapped the coastline and plotted distances based on compass settings, the stars and a lot of guesses.
Dinner that evening was at the Mundo Bizarro restaurant, a charming throwback to the retro-Dutch/Mediterranean scene in the artsy, hip Pietermaai enclave of Willemstad.
I had a great meal of fish balls, pesto with garlic and goat cheese, ceviche and fresh tuna steak.
Masha danki, Curacao, for a great first day.