November 3rd – Curacao

I like Curacao. It has plenty of tourist activities to keep visitors happy, but it also has the look and feel of a "real" place where life goes on without being wholly dependent on the tourist dollar – and, it's all set in a truly picturesque environment of colourful Dutch colonial buildings.

In the morning I took a trip to the Curacao Aquarium, where I had the unsettling experience of hand-feeding and stroking a vicious-looking nurse shark who thrashed around violently as he snapped a fish off the hook I nervously fed into his mouth. Much more relaxing to witness was the sealion show, where the handler seemed to get a disturbing amount of fun from kissing the fishy chops of her intelligent friend, while the dolphin show was entertaining.

In the afternoon, we explored the colourful town, mainly trying to find a good bar to go out to in the evening. In the end, we did a pretty good job, as we found an entertaining place to go to with our lovely friend Silvia.