Curacao + Willemstad (Day 1-3)

We spent a fabulous week exploring the island of Curacao, staying at the Sunscape all inclusive resort, spa & casino with my parents. Mike and I actually planned the whole trip, which was the first time we planned an international vacation ourselves. Curacao is a small island in the Caribbean (one of the ABC islands with Aruba and Bonaire) which is just off the coast of Venezuela. The language of the island is Papiamentu which is a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English. However most of the locals were fluent in 5-10 languages. 

We used this trip as a celebration of Mike's graduation and our 2 year anniversary. I loved every minute of the island- the snorkeling, beach activities, swimming, and walking everywhere. 

The vacation was more active than I had thought it would be. The  first day went like this: woke up at 8:30 & ran a 5k (the treadmills were in km), then beach yoga, breakfast, water zumba, and 1 hour of snorkeling... all before lunch! We walked everywhere except for when we took a taxi to Willemstad.

A 5 minute walk from our hotel was Sea Aquarium Beach. Sea Aquarium beach was a public beach, which surprised me, because most public beaches (in the USA) are not very nice.

One thing that was super cool about this vacation, was that Americans were the minority. The majority of the tourists were from the Netherlands or South America. There were many people I thought were from the states, until they opened their mouth to talk.

We swam out to and jumped off of the rocks. There were tons of huge crabs on the rocks. 

Many people also wore thongs and speedos, or at least super short European board shorts. Mike by far had the longest board shorts on the island. 

Our hotel had 5 restaurants, 4 pools, 6 bars and a cafe. The restaurants were all out doors and one of the pools had a swim up bar. We drank a million virgin pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris. "Beach elegance" was the required attire for the restaurants after 7 pm.

The "desserts" on the island seemed like they had no butter or sugar in them. They almost tasted like nothing, it was very deceiving because it looked delicious. No wonder all the other countries are smaller than us. They did have delicious ice cream though. So we got ice-cream from the little shack like 2- 3 times a day.

The 3rd day we took a Taxi into Willemstad to explore the city. In the first shop I bought a Brazil Jersey for $12. It was funny because my dad told me not to buy it from the first place we stopped in because I would find one down the road for $8. I decided to buy it anyway bc I did not want to have to find the shop again. Sure enough, about an hour and half later, we saw a Brazil Jersey hanging in the window of a shop with a large $8 sticker on it. We died laughing that it was the exact amount my dad had said earlier. We had fun talking to a shop owner from India who was telling us about the people on the island. He told us that "the younger generation doesn't want to work, but everybody wants an iPhone." For the rest of the trip we ran around saying "everybody wants an iPhone" in indian accents. 

World cup by day:

The whole town shut down and everyone made their way to cafes or bars to watch the game. Whenever a team would score, there would be a loud uproar of cheering. Whenever the tv picture or sound would temporarily go out, there would be a loud uproar of profanities. (Followed by cheering when the glitch had passed)

We watched the game at Plein Cafe Wilhelmina.

I ordered nachos. Their "salsa" was more of a tomato sauce and was not spicy at all. It was interesting. 

Celebrating with ice cream after a Brazil victory.

 World cup by night:

The first night of the cup, there was a huge world cup themed parade.

complete with flame throwers, fire dancers, and acrobats

 The nice thing about staying at a beach resort, is that we started every day and ended almost every day in the ocean.

Curacao: tugboat wreck snorkel (day 4)

Day 4: We spent the morning swimming, snorkeling, paddle boarding, eating... the usual. We went on a walk around the town and ran into a herd of unmanned goats. In the afternoon, we signed up for a snorkeling expedition and sailed to a sunken tugboat. The water was very clear and we were able to see cool fish. The waves were a little rough because there was a tropical storm off the coast of Venezuela, so Mike felt a little sick on the ride home. Once we got back to land he felt much better though.

As we were getting off the boat, we hear a loud roar coming from Sea Aquarium Beach. We ran over there to find that the Netherlands had just won their first world cup game. Since the Netherlands own Curacao, the whole island was ecstatic.

Sunset strolling on Mambo beach. My mom and I both have the same beach cover up- gotta love Title 9!

Dinner at the Italian restaurant at the resort. It was awesome getting to run around the whole week with out any cash or money, since all food, drinks, snorkeling, and activities were included.

Curacao: Westpundt (days 5-6)

We split up from my parents for the day. They rented a car to explore another beach while we went Jetskiing in the ocean (got attacked by flying fish) and read/ napped on the beach. 

Taxi Dave came and picked us up in the late afternoon to drive to the opposite end of the island. The island is 38 miles long, and it took just under 1 hour to get there. The roads and drivers in foreign countries are crazy! There were no stop signs! Inland of the island was a totally desert full of cactus and a few mountains. We got to see the whole island along the drive. 

We drove at Playa Kalki in Westpundt to see the sunset

We went back to the resort for dinner, pool in the clubhouse, and watching the NBA finals game.

One of the restaurants was a hibachi/ sushi grill. The hibachi and the Italian were my two favorite restaurants. I ate seafood practically at every meal- which I LOVED!

NBA finals on a big projector screen on the beach. While we laid on the recliners watching the game, people came around to take our drink orders. The resort had a small buffet of american food near the projector whenever the NBA finals games were on. When the Holland WC game was on, they served Paella, a rice dish and other food I did not recognize.

My parents smoked us at pool. (Had it of just been my dad and Mike, I think it would be a different story because Mike is pro.) I can usually only get 2 balls into the pocket- the white one, and the 8. My white ball will swerve in-between all the colored balls to get into the pocket. Without fail, I knocked the 8 ball in, winning my parents one of the games.

My "Happy Father's Day" picture with my dad outside the resort.

We love Curacao! We would definitely go back.

Denver: Shanna's Wedding

June 4-7th I went to Denver for my best friend Shanna's wedding. I did not want to drive alone, so I devised a plan with Alyssa and LaRae so I could have company. They picked me up in Orem and we headed to Rawlins, along the way stopping to visit Denae and Bryant. We stayed in Rawlins overnight and then Alyssa and I drove down to Denver while LaRae stayed behind. This was my first time visiting Denver. They have some of the best shopping! Alyssa and I went to the Park Meadows mall two days in a row because we could not get to all the stores in one day. We also worked out every day and tanned at the pool. Friday was Shanna's wedding in the Denver temple. She was such a beautiful bride! I am so happy for her and her new husband Kelsey!

Alyssa was the best travel buddy! I am so lucky to have her as a sister.

The Wednesday I left for Denver was also my last day working as a hygienist for the Braithewaite brothers at Elite Dental in American Fork. I was blessed to work at such a great office with so many awesome people!

They even got me a cake!