Reunion

We had a lovely day yesterday! My buddy and her sisters took me out for brunch at a landhuis--a former plantation house. The soil on the island is rocky and not conducive to farming. Plantations here did not serve agricultural purposes, instead their owners built and maintained them to show off their wealth. The landhuis we visited yesterday is now a restaurant and serves incredibly large Dutch pancakes. I had a pancake topped with ham and melted cheese. Mmmmm.

After brunch, we visited a nearby beach, out on the western end of the island. Wilemstaad, the capital city is located on the eastern end, so most of the population lives on that side. On the way out to the beach, we passed a group of flamingoes basking in the sun. It seems so strange to see those animals in the wild! Beaches on Curaçao often have maintenance groups, so there is an entrance fee. The sand on the beach we visited was white and fine, and the water so clear that I could easily see my toes.

In the evening, we went out to a bar that is set on the sand--literally! Our table was a picnic table on the beach. There we met up with my good friends from Turkey, whom I hadn't seen in about two years. It was strange and wonderful to see them again. Their son was scared of me at first--he was only four when he saw me last. He quickly decided that I was fun in a scary way. (Can't be helped--we were playing witches and vampires. He told me he would turn me into a witch and I asked, "How are you going to do that? I AM a witch.")