|
<Home Page>
December
10 days later our next house guests arrived! This time it was my Dad and
his wife Loretta, laden down with post and items requested from home and
Christmas pressies as they were staying until the New Year. As it was
our busiest time of the year we had to leave them to their own devices
for the first week, but as they pointed out it was the first holiday
they had had all year so were happy to just relax on the sunbeds on the
terrace or go to the beach. This meant them getting up early every
morning to take us to work, and master driving the beast, but on the
whole they seemed to cope quite well. It didn't take them long to
discover Hooks Hut, a beach bar next to my work which makes particularly
good cocktails. It soon became a regular event to pop next door after
work to join them, and by the end of the week they were on first name
terms with Marcello the barman, and he had their Pina Colada's and Long
Island Iced Teas ready without
needing to be asked!
|
|
|
|
Sarifundis.....Reserved!
|
|
|
|
MMMmmmmmm! Irish Coffee
|
|
|
|
BBQ Boy
|
|
|
|
Sunset at Hook's Hut
|
|
|
|
Oh no.....
|
|
|
|
The tarrace at the Gouvernor
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cocktails at Hook's
|
|
|
|
Hook's again....
|
|
|
|
Cocktails at Porto Mari
|
|
|
|
...round number 2...
|
|
|
|
Happy campers.....
|
|
|
|
Teeny Tiny visitor to the house...
|
|
|
Once again the weeks seemed to be a never ending round of eating and
drinking too much which was fine by us! As it was well into the festive
season there were some memorable nights out including a night at Wok Wok
with live salsa music, which got hijacked by a large Christmas party
group and the most amazing drum band who literally cycled up into the
bar and took over the dance floor, the compulsory night at the Governor
watching the ships sail past the terrace up the canal whilst
sipping...you guessed it - more cocktails and steak at our favourite
Sarifundi's. On Christmas Eve we went to Kontiki beach for Mexican food
and a hugely embarrassing serenade by the 'local' Mariachi band (see
photo!). After dinner the whole of Curacao seemed to congregate on the
beach for an extremely impressive fireworks display which almost put
Edinburgh's hogmanay to shame!
Sailing
|
|
|
|
Jim Bob
|
|
|
|
Aryan
|
|
|
|
Andy
|
|
|
|
Jim and Andy
|
|
|
|
More champers anyone?
|
|
|
|
Aryan's J24
|
|
|
Aside from the drinking and eating we did manage to do some
exercise...laying on the beach, reading, swimming and snorkelling are
all very tiring activities you know :-)
One beautiful day we chartered Aryans yacht (the local sailing
instructor who had taught me Sheena and Richie for an afternoon). Well
OK he sailed the boat while we enjoyed the view and drank champagne and
rum punch and ate smoked salmon and pate with crackers. Anyway he must have made it all seem
easy as Andy and I soon signed up for sailing lessons after Dad and
Loretta went home.
Diving
|
|
|
|
Porto Mari
|
|
|
|
Jim bubbling
|
|
|
|
Loretta bubbling too
|
|
|
|
Snorkel points the way.....
|
|
|
Of course no one is allowed to visit without being forced under the
water at least a couple of times, so we took them on a refresher dive at
Porto Marie and a few other dives. Dad was trusting enough to get back
into the water with us after his near drowning incident on his last
visit in Egypt, but although he looked terrified he assured us that he
was actually enjoying himself :-)
Xmas Day
|
|
|
|
Xmas morning...
|
|
|
|
Dinner table
|
|
|
|
Crimbo Tree
|
|
|
|
24lb Beast...
|
|
|
|
Must give it a good stuffing
|
|
|
|
Additional dinner guest
|
|
|
|
|
|
Festive Cheers
|
|
|
|
Special Diners
|
|
|
|
Cooked bird
|
|
|
|
Anyone for Squwabble?
|
|
|
|
Xmas Balls
|
|
|
|
Pretty twee
|
|
|
|
|
|
Talking bollox
|
|
|
|
Passed out.......zzzzz
|
|
|
Well what can we say - Dad and Loretta, or 'the staff' as we came to
refer to them did us proud with all the preparations for the big day. As
Andy and I were both working right up to Christmas eve it was hard for
us to get to the shops, so they did all the food shopping and even
treated us to a proper live Christmas tree! I was quite amazed however
to come home one day and find a whopping 24lb frozen turkey stuffed in
the freezer! They claimed it was the smallest one they could find, but I
think they just wanted to see us eat turkey curry for the next year.
So there I was on Christmas eve preparing to defrost the beast when I
noticed the best before date....May 2006!! So now we were left with a
dilemma - either brave the supermarket on Christmas eve with a very
slippery turkey underarm, or do the sniff test and hope. Guess which
option won? :-)
So Christmas day came and we all pitched in peeling chopping, baking,
stuffing and of course cocktail mixing. Dad managed to get addicted to
Sudoku so that was the last we saw of him for the rest of the day :-) We
were on strict instructions to open my brother Marks presents from home
before dinner, so once the turkey had been manhandled into the oven we
opened them to find a real treat; Waitrose Christmas pudding with Remy
Martin, mince pies and even some Christmas crackers that actually went
bang this year!! What a star - he had guessed correctly that these were
the few items we wouldn't be able to buy on a Dutch Island and lo and
behold our Christmas meal was complete.
After a few games of squabble (a new variation of Scrabble that Loretta
taught us) and a few more drinkies (hic) and watching the Queens podcast
(how very modern of m'aam) we sat down to dinner just as Santa turned
up. So the Caribbean version is 6ft tall and made of rubber but it was
the thought that counts - cheers Joyce! We then made a short Christmas
message on video for our pals back home then did the obligatory thing
and fell asleep watching old war movies. All in all a very British
Christmas :-)
Boxing Day Party
|
|
|
|
Nice ears.....
|
|
|
|
Mark nose the answer
|
|
|
|
Gentleman's relish?
|
|
|
|
Jim with the Magic stick
|
|
|
|
Magic Stick in Action
|
|
|
|
Santa Boogie....
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ozzie Claus
|
|
|
|
Stick on mouser
|
|
|
|
Andy and Graham
|
|
|
|
Giggles.... :-)
|
|
|
Well no Boxing Day would be complete without a silly party and no one
better to host it than our fancy dress experts and good friends Graham
and Hes. So, reindeer ears and silly hats on heads we sat down to a
Danish game of pass the parcel with a very big difference, you basically
bid for the best presents and it all gets very vicious! Benta and I
fought over a lovely full size Santa suit all night whilst Dad fell in
love with his musical totem pole. As the pictures show it was a very
amusing night with some very dubious outfits - what is it with Andy and
wigs....?
Andy's Birthday
|
|
|
|
Pre dinner drinks at the Caribbena Bar
|
|
|
|
More cocktails
|
|
|
|
|
Dinner at the Kura Hulanda
|
|
|
|
Birthday Boy!!
|
|
|
|
Special Cake
|
|
|
|
|
|
Need a Fire Extinguisher?
|
|
|
As if we hadn't partied hard enough Andy had to go and have a birthday
in the middle of it all. One year shy of the big 40 so we thought
a nice ice cream cake from Ben & Jerry's would soothe his sorrows - well
it is hot here! We booked a dinner at the V posh Kura Hulanda for Andy's
favourite ever food curry, where we had a table right next to the
landscaped rock pools and the service was impeccable. We felt like
'normal' people again eating in the type of restaurant that we used to
take for granted in our previous lives and now have to save up for a
month to afford! As it was right next door to the Caribbean bar it was
rude not to pop in for at least a couple of ...erm cocktails :-)
Sadly the next day Dad and Loretta had to jet home for their own New
Years Party back in ole Blighty. Needless to say it was a very emotional
farewell again - god I hate airports! However they have promised to come
and visit us in our next destination and take up the role of man
servants once again - can't wait!!!
NEXT UP........................Sarah and Shanice come to
visit......
<Home Page> |
