Wedding in Curacao

There is a lake in the golf course at the Blue Bay resort which has an assortment of water birds including pelicans and flamingoes. Chris took a few photos and today we all set off to find some flamingoes in the wild, in their natural setting.

We headed north to the natural reserve

We had a wee walk along a path, the flamingoes were far off in the distance (top left in photo)

Chris and a few others walked back and took a second path which got them closer to the birds

It was hot in the sun and we still had not visited a Landhuis (country house) so we decided to go to Landhuis Chobolobo where we learnt a bit about the history of the Curacao Blue Licqueur.

The licqueur is made from the lahara orange

There are more clolurs / flavours than just the original blue. We were offered three flavours to taste - the blue, tamarind - orange, and the chocolate - brown in colour.

Today Karen and Jordy were married on the beach and they had lovely weather. There were only 15 people at the wedding but they represented all the other family members and friends who could not come.

The setting was very romantic and everything went to plan.

The 'wedding chapel'

the 'naked' cake

The table set for dinner

Our cousin Arjen and his fiancée Judith took us up to Christoffel Park.

We drove around the green and blue route, parking and walking to points of interest. We all had water with us, 28C and high humidity is tiring and thirsty work.

We enjoyed views of the wild north coast, saw two native deer, lizards, native snails, a cave, dry looking bushes, more lizards, geckos, cacti and other prickly plants. It is really a moist desert island!

The highlight of the park for us was the Boka Grandi where we watched the waves crashing against the rock platform. The north coast has rugged rocky shoreline, battered by rough waves - no swimming here!!!!

We went up to Grote Knip, which is a beautiful beach, and very popular. Sadly, the rubbish strewn around for metres and metres, reflected badly on the care of the island.

We had a lovely day out and saw more of the island.

karen treated us to a Chi Chi painting workshop at Serena's Art Factory.

we were given a little tour of the workshop, then we sat at atable under a shadecloth and tree. Serena explained we are all artists and we need to release that. We were given tips how to paint and how to use the paints. First apply the base colour, decide length of pants, and then paint design. The paint has a final protective element in it.

We got inspiration from other chi chi on display, and then we started. We each had a medium chichi and 3 brushes. At first we were unsure what design to do, but once that was decided, we all got into it.

This is mine - I made sure at least one of the houses has the base colour of each of the other chi chi.

With base colour

Final result

the groom took the men sea fishing and they caught two fish, a tuna and a barracuda.

The boat owner took the tuna and filleted the barracuda for them. The plan was to have 'fish and chips' for dinner that night but Jordy heard that barracuda can be toxic due to a particular algae they have in their body, when they eat smaller algae eating fish. We found a health website that advises NOT eating barracuda over 3.5 ft or 1m long.

We had chicken and little potatoes roasted instead. No one wanted to be sick tomorrow - the big day!!!