We were married Saturday-October 10, 2009. Monday we drove to Cookeville, Knoxville, through Chattanooga to Manchester, Murfreesboro, and then back home. Cody worked on Tuesday and Wednesday. Of course, we waited til Wednesday to pack, because we needed to do laundry first. That’s where the chaos began.
He got home from work before I got back from getting my hair trimmed; he was working on putting up our microwave... once we realized it was more work than we thought we drove down to Arby’s for some 5 for $5. We decided there that we were not motivated at all to do anything… and decided to just go home and do laundry and pack and save all other work for when we returned. Little did we know that the washer and dryer would be a behemoth of a task. Without going into detail, the hookups for the dryer are across the closet from each other, and that is where fun pictures of Cody climbing over the washer and dryer come in. Finally, after getting them hooked up, we decided to wash our first of many loads of laundry. Water soon flooded the floor. We couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. There was a little drain in the bottom corner of the washer that was not plugged in. We corrected the situation, and tried once more. Success. As we were drying the last load, we began to pack, first thing first, locate passports… Cody’s was nowhere to be found! We looked all over our wreck of a house for this stinking thing. Two hours later, and our brains fried we decided to call Zac to see if it was still at the apartment. Praise God, it was. So we drove across town to pick it up and back home. At 1 am we finally began packing. An hour later, sleep overcame us, and 2 hours later we were up and on our way.
The drive to Atlanta seemed longer than usual, and being a sucky wife I had to take a nap. We finally got to the airport and parked the car. The race was on. Why do you always feel so rushed in these situations for no reason? We were checked in with plenty of time, and through security without a hitch. We grabbed a drink outside our gate number and waited. Our plane was supposed to board around 12:15, I don’t think it got there til close to 1 pm. We boarded, and my heart raced. I was really excited about flying, and nervous because of all of the horror stories I had heard. Well, the engines turn on, the plane begins to move. I’m sure my face was white; we made our way toward the runway, and then made a big U Turn back to the gate. Our captain announced over the loud speaker, “Ladies and gentleman, I am sorry to inform you that we are having technical difficulties.” Great choice of words. So now I am thinking the worst. Any minute he is going to turn the plane back on, we’re going to take off, and then crash. So I turned my phone back on and text my mom, dad, and sister my “I love You”s About an hour later our captains tells us it is the windshield wipers and that FFA law requires they be in working order before the plane can fly. He politely tells us that maintenance is working on it, and if they cannot fix it, they will have to replace the motor to it, and that may take hours. All hope of catching our connecting flight in Miami is gone. We waited patiently while others grew restless, some even exited the plane. The captain informs us shortly there-after that the plane is now ready for takeoff. Sike. We didn’t even leave the terminal before he changed his mind and told us that we needed to get off the plane and go inside to see if we can get on a different flight. I have never seen so much bilingual chaos. We stood in line for what felt like ages. I lost my understanding about two hours in, Cody remained calm and collected. My legs and hips were killing. I just wanted to be on the beach. By the time we reached the counter, the once cheery flight attendant had grown angry and snappy. Cody, being the sweetheart he is, tried to lighten the situation. As we suspected, they put us up in a hotel and gave us food vouchers for our inconvenience. Our new flight would be in the morning at 6:50 am.
We got to the air port and lathered, rinsed, repeated the day before. We reached our gate and waited. We boarded the plane and were immediately greeted by people who shared our anxiety the day before. Most of us had been upgraded to first class. The flight attendant gave us some orange juice, and we were all set. Flying was amazing and beautiful, and I felt like a little kid. I was in awe at God’s beautiful creation, and how pure and wonderful the sky was. We reached Miami and welcomed the warm air. We made our way to our connecting gate, and the waiting game played out again. Six hours in an airport is a long time. Luckily this flight left just a few minutes late and we headed to Curacao. We had an in-flight movie, Flash of Genius, and watched the sun set. Once in the Curacao airport we waited in line in Immigration, and made friends with a Dallas couple. Thankfully our bags made it along with us, and we were back in one more line. This line was to check your luggage through a big X-ray machine. We were next in line and it was 9 pm. The air port closes at 9, so they told us all to just leave. We walked outside and looked for the car that was supposed to be picking us up… it never showed. We walked toward the line of waiting taxis and loaded up and headed out. Of course I was nervous; it was my first time being out of the country. Our driver took us down some back roads, and eventually I began to think she was taking us some where to kill us. Finally, many dark, bumpy, and sketchy roads later, we arrived at the hotel.
Trying to shake off the past two days, we got up, got dressed and headed for the beach. To no surprise at all, it was raining. We decided to go out any way and sat under an umbrella/table. Shortly the sun came out in full force, and it was on. I was so happy to see sunlight. We layed around outside for a few hours and then had lunch. After our bellies were full we decided to get our feet wet with exploring and took a small path around the beach that led to the other hotels in the area. It was then that we made the plan to snorkel.
We woke up with a purpose the next morning, and headed over to rent our snorkel equipment. We walked into the water, awkward and nervous, and tried our hand in the underwater adventure. I was disappointed that I couldn’t see far because the waves were kicking up sand. The lack of vision also made me nervous, and trying to breathe out of what felt like a straw was also a little unpleasant. We left that area in search of calmer water. The day before, we found a little cove area. The water was calm and clear and the rocks were worn down and smooth, it felt amazing on our feet, so we headed over there to swim around. Beautiful. Absolutely amazing. The water was so clear; you could see at least 50 ft in every direction. There was once a bridge that led to a small dock out in the middle of the water. The bridge is since gone, but the remnants were still under water. There was a box of old bottles on the sea floor. As we headed out toward the dock the water immediately faded to a deeper blue on the other side. Below us was a steep drop off, and the water was instantly too deep to see bottom. We steered clear of that area at first, decided to head towards the other hotels and docks to see what else we could see. We swam around for a few hours excited about colorful fish, sea urchins, and coral formations. I cannot describe adequately how beautiful it was to be among God’s sea creatures, to be so close, the water so clear. Wore out and a little burnt we decided to swim back where we put in. Once near the small floating dock I decided to venture out toward the deep water. I was ready to go into the abyss. About two feet on the dark side of the dock, I could see what looked like a large fish in the distance. Out of curiosity I decided to swim closer… What was this thing? It almost looked like the fins were backwards. My eyes strained to figure out what was swimming towards me. All of a sudden I realized it was a sea turtle!! Headed right toward me! I immediately thought of Finding Nemo, and the deep blue. I tried to wave Cody over quickly, and it felt like he couldn’t swim fast enough. After the turtle was out of sight we headed to leave. Once on land I realized just how tired I was, and how much of a workout swimming around had been. We headed to wash up and eat and call it a night.
Cody was toasted from the previous two days, and I was a little pink, so we decided to rent a car and drive around the east side of the island. He decided to go upstairs and rent a car while I finished getting ready. About ten minutes later he called me from another hotel down the road and said, “Our hotel was out of cars so I came down to the Hilton to rent one. I’ll be back in a little bit”. He left without even telling me! In a foreign country!! I was ready, so I headed to lobby to wait. A good thirty minutes later he was nowhere to be seen. Worried sick, literally sick, I went to the room to see if he had called and left a message. Nothing. About fifteen more minutes of intense worry and fervent prayers he strutted into the lobby. I wanted to kill him myself. Thankful that he hadn’t been taken away and tortured and murdered by someone else, I decided to drop my worries. We went to the island’s capital, Willemstad, first. It was a colorful and crowded area. We ate at a shop that sat on the bay and walked around all the shops. As our sightseeing in town drew to an end we headed back to where we parked the car. Out of the crowd we heard “Hey Tennessee!” It was the Dallas couple we met at the airport. Out of the whole island we knew two people and ran into them on our third day. It was a fun coincidence. We headed to cross the bridge back to the parking lot and a loud buzzing came out of no where, and the gate started to close. Following the lead of the woman who ran onto the bridge before it was closed off, we made our way onto the bridge. To our surprise it closed off and began to move! The bridge moves to let boats pass through the channel.
Let me continue by saying that I will never take for granted America’s labeled road ways ever again. The Curacao map we had was labeled by land marks, like Pizza Huts, KFCs, and beaches. Although the roads were labeled on the map, they were not labeled in real life. The east side of the island had turbines and a lighthouse. We were soon hit with the reality that if we wanted to go anywhere cool on this island we would have to take back roads. When I say back roads I mean dirt roads. We were in a little bitty Hyundai Getz, which Cody compares to a clown car. We decided to take them anyway, and we put the poor little car to the test. Fairly certain a flat tire was in our near future, we attempted to see the lighthouse first. Every road we took in that directed either ended in a dead end or a no trespassing sign. Giving up on that we headed toward the turbines, our little car was a trooper. These were dirt roads in what felt like the desert, and I’m certain the car was scratched to death. On our way, we ran across a drag strip. Definitely the most random thing on the island. It was litterally in the middle of a small desert surrounded by big boulders and cliffs. Finally reaching the turbines, we took a quick two pictures and attempted to find a way out, before someone or something else found us. Every road in this country was sketchy, like roads you would only be found dead in, here in the US. Needless to say, we found our way back safe and sound, ready to adventure another day.
On our fourth day, we decided to venture onto the other side of the island and visit beaches. We asked a worker upstairs where we should definitely go, she kindly marked a few beaches and we went after our snorkel gear. With equipment in tow, we headed out, pumped about water adventures.
First beach on the list- Porto Marie. It was a small secluded beach, with not so many people there. It was a beautiful and sunny day, and the beach was breath taking. We quickly geared up and entered the water. Although we saw the same type things under the water, you cant really shake the excitement because it is so beautiful. We swam around the whole beach, and exited for pictures.
Second was Cas Abou, which is a beach the worker marked on the map. It was definitely pretty, and apparently a lot of the locals’ favorite places. We actually ran into the guy we rented snorkel gear from; he said that he believed this was the most beautiful beach on the island. I don’t think we would agree, but it was not a letdown in the least. We entered the water once again, more comfortable each time. We took off in our normal circle pattern and headed for deeper waters. We started on the right side of the beach and worked our way to the left. About two-thirds of the way there, Cody began pointing. I could see something dark, but my eyes wouldn’t focus on it. As we swam closer I realized it was an eagle ray! (I actually just found that out, we’d been calling it a manta ray this whole time). Ill post a picture so you can see what we mean. But it was indescribable. It couldn’t have been 6 feet beneath us, swimming to different spots and eating shellfish out of the sand. Yet again, one more of God’s amazing creations takes us by surprise.
Third on the list was Playa Lagun. This was my favorite beach. It was very small compared to the others, with cliffs surrounding it for about one hundred yards til it opened up to the ocean. It was not crowded in the least, and there were three scuba divers there also. The water was deceptively deep here. It didn’t take long to drop off about 30 feet or more. We swam to the edge of the cliffs until the water was too choppy for our liking. On our way, what did we see? Another sea turtle!! This time is swam right under me! It couldn’t have been more than 6 feet beneath me, if that. I felt like I could swim right up and touch it. I watched it swim toward the shore in wonder and excitement. When it was out of site I continued on and caught up with Cody. We swam out into the deep water and headed back in on the left side. The water was warm and clear and the little boy scuba diver liked to wave at me =). We piddled around and decided to get out and climb up the rock stair case to the top of the cliffs.
Our last beach was Grote Knip. We were told this was the tourist destination, and they were right. People were everywhere, and they were coming in bus loads. It was beautiful though. The beach itself was amazing, the water was blue. This was Cody’s favorite, and it would’ve been mine, except for the litter that was in the water when you first got in. We geared up once more, and headed for the deep. We were in a more playful mood here, so if there was anything too cool, we didn’t see it. We swam around the beach end to end and cut across the middle to get out. It was beautiful white sand and colorful fish and we were out. More tired than I realized, we headed back to the hotel, I pretty much fought sleep the whole way, and lost. We showered up and went to supper.
I thought whether or not I wanted to add this in here, but since we’re still talking about it here, I thought I would share. There was a restaurant close the hotel on top of a hill, it was crowded the past few times we drove by it, so we assumed it had to be a great place. It looked nice on the outside and it carried to the inside, after the waiter gave us a hard time for not making reservations, we were seated. As we started to look around, we realized it was an Indian restaurant. Neither of us had ever had Indian, so we decided to stay and check it out. They brought out three different types of dipping sauce, one tasted like spicy fruit, one was lava, and one was garbage juice. They also brought out two different pork skins to eat with the dips. Cody was immediately turned off; I wasn’t quite ready to write it off. I am picky about one thing, which is food, and not even food, but texture and fat on food. I ordered a rice mini table. I was thinking it would be different types of rice. I was wrong. There was rice in the middle, covered in some cinnamon something. Around the rice ball, there was an assortment of scary looking things. One being half a boiled egg, that I’m convinced I ate beak. Next were two different roast type tasting things... In other words- puppy dog and kitty cat. On the right side of the plate was chicken on a stick (we call that rat at Chinese restaurants, so you can imagine the same here). This was no normal chicken on a stick, it was covered in chocolate. The green beans were also sweet. I was no less than mortified when we left here. I did eat enough to try not to offend the chef.
On our last day we took a boat ride to two diving sites. We decided to drive ourselves, and that was an adventure all in its own. We were late, and arrived frustrated at the lack of road signs and directions. Lucky for us, the tour bus full of people was much later than we were. We sat around til they were ready to take us to the ship, where we boarded and immediately offered alcohol. The crew was so nice, and spoke many different languages (as did the whole island). When the bus load of people arrived, we were off. It was fun being on an old ship like this, even though we really didn’t go too far. Before we knew it, we were at the first dive site- a sunken tugboat. I am ashamed to admit that we did use snorkel gear out of their buckets. Yes it’s gross… but hey, we were in Curacao. We made our way to the tug boat, where there were mass amounts of fish that literally swam right up next to you. After hanging out there, we headed back to the ship. It felt like such an ordeal getting in and out of the water we decided to just hang out on the ship when the next dive site came up. It was fun and all, but after driving around the day before and seeing those beaches it really didn’t compare. They did cook for us, and the food was the best I had eaten in days! They also eat a peanut butter flavored bbq sauce that was quite good. Once we were back to the car we decided to drive all the way across the island to the northwest tip to see a cave. The camera died here.
Curacao was formed by a volcano that is long since been inactive, but is now the hightest point on the island.
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