Curaçao

[Etoile]

Does anyone have any familiarity with Curaçao? My wife and I just returned from the Caribbean, and we fell in live with Aruba. We were initially talking about living there, but it turns out Curaçao is more gay-friendly and has a school for the deaf (meaning job opportunities for me). So we are looking closely at Curaçao, including the possibility of living there, making the move in the next 3-5 years (after I graduate college). Does anyone know about this little island, or have you been there, or anything like that?

 

[FurryFury]

I've never been there. All I know is like Aruba it's one of the Dutch ABC Islands and it's larger than Aruba.

*shrug*

Sounds great though!

 

[Primalex]

Does anyone know about this little island, or have you been there, or anything like that?

I raided it in Sid Meiers Pirates. This doesn't count, hm?

 

[00Syd]

I thought you were talking about the liqueur of the same name, my mistake...

 

[Etoile]

Heh, you guys are silly!

Oh, and that apparently IS where the liquor originated!

 

[Untamed_Tygress]

My boyfriend spent 3 weeks in curacao. It is a part of the Netherland Antilles, and as such, Dutch is the prevailant spoken language with english and french coming in a close second. He says that there are 2 parts of the island... The tourist portion is close to the main harbor and as with all tourist-y areas the prices of goods are inflated as opposed to the rest of the island. The western side of the island (the higher ground) is populated with the very wealthy living in the hills and the average citizen living in the two valleys. He recalls that unemployment and poverty were not as prevailant as with some of the other islands in the carribean. Some of the interesting local facts are that Curacao has no natural feshwater sources and produces most of thier drinking water through saltwater desalinization and filtered rainwater storage. The water from the faucets is like high end bottled water. Also, most of the locals use taxi's to get from place to place. Taxies there are extremely affordable and most cabbies transport their friends and neighbors for free. The climate is mild for the carribean and bright sunny days are the norm. The coast stays cool while the interior can get a bit stifling at times. He honestly doesnt remember any GLBT bars or scenes there but says that everyone there was tolerant of just about anything and everything.

 

[Etoile]

Actually, the predominant language is Papiamentu, which is spoken mostly in the Netherlands Antilles as well as Aruba and a couple of other islands down there. Unfortunately there are very few resources for learning Papiamentu! So we'll probably learn Dutch so we can navigate the paperwork involved with moving, and pick up Papiamentu when we get there - it shouldn't be too hard, all the billboards and road signs are in it! A friend of mine did mention that they seemed like a very tolerant place, but I already knew that from searching the web - http://www.liveincuracao.com even has a section about how gay-friendly they are! Your boyfriend is quite right about unemployment, poverty, and saltwater desalinization - we saw all those in Aruba and they apply in Curaçao too. Good to know about the taxis - we'll have to see how much they cost vs. the cost of buying a car and paying for gas! The temperatures are probably the same as Aruba's - 87 degrees 365 days a year!

 

[catalina_francisco]

From what I know, the main language is Dutch (especially in education as it is a Dutch education system) but most speak all 4 languages (Papiamentu, Spanish and English) associated with the area, with all but Spanish being classed as official languages. It is also due to become a self governing state of NL this year, and also given it is a Dutch colony, prostitution is legal as it is here. Could be a nice place to live but I imagine expensive.

Catalina