Beaches of Curacao, a photo essay of my break adventures

While eating iguana was a feast indeed, hopping the beautiful beaches of Curacao was my favorite thing to do in the Dutch Caribbean. Thus, this week’s Beach Thursday feature are the magical waters of this south Caribbean island!

The Tourist Trap…

beaches of Curacao, Mambo beach sign

Unfortunately, the first beach I went to was a tourist trap called Mambo Beach. Not only is it a man-made beach, but I felt I was overcharged for everything. Moreover, I didn’t think the vibe was any special to deserve such pricing. but hey, some people are into these type of beaches, so if you are willing to fork out some money to pay for beach entrance & additional fee to sit on a chair at an artificial beach full of tourists and not real Curacaoans, be my guest 😉

beaches of Curacao, Mambo Beach

beaches of Curacao, Mambo beach

Wherever there’s water and sand though, I always find some fun. Typically in the form of posing for pictures (I wanted to be a model in a previous life, apparently)…

beaches of Curacao, Mambo modeling

beaches of Curacao, Mambo beach

beaches of Curacao, Mambo beach modeling

Bottom line: As a budget traveler, it would be counterproductive to pay for the relatively-long bus ride here to then have to pay for everything — on an artificial beach. Sorry, but I can’t stress that enough, I felt cheated… 😛

The “Passable” Resort

Blue Bay, Curacao

The second beach I visited in Curacao was Blue Bay. It is located inside a gorgeous, massive resort and the drive to the beach itself was great. Some of the houses were beautiful and seeing the mountains reminded me of home!

beaches of Curacao, Blue Bay

This trip, of course, was possible thanks to a Curacaoan young man that some Dutch-Latinos I met in Punda knew. He picked us up and took us to Blue Bay. His words are still clear in my head: “If my business keeps doing well, I am buying a house here. It is one of the most beautiful resorts in Curacao. Plus, I like to live the good life!” Funny, charming young man 🙂

Curacao beaches, Blue Bay

me with our young Curacaoan entrepreneur!

beaches of Curacao, Blue Bay view

chillaxing on a cloudy day is still done better at the beach!

Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy for most of my stay in Curacao. In turn, my photos don’t do justice to the beautiful waters! Still though, we had a great time at Blue Bay and was one of my favorite places to hang out, especially with the locals (and many visiting Latinos). Hearing Spanish frequently made me feel at home once more 🙂

smiling in Curacao

being at a beach always makes me smile

Long enough of a photo essay for today! Stay tuned though, as I will continue this Beaches of Curacao mini series next Beach Thursday. Some of the best beaches are yet to be featured, so come back next week for more eye candy! 😉

Curacao beach

Can you name this beach!? Come back for the full scope and more photos next Thursday!

Have you ever been to any of the beaches of Curacao?

Europe: Through the eyes of a 17 year old (photo essay, pt 2)

For Travel Tuesday this week I decided to resume the mini series of journal entries/photo essays I published back in 2005 on Kiwibox.com from my first Europe trip travel journal. Back when I was a newbie 17-year-old blogger with no real English training or travel experience. Back when I went outside Puerto Rico and the U.S. for the first time! Hope you find the photo essay cute and humorous =P Below, part two!

[for PART ONE of this photo essay, click here]

Please note, I have not edited the grammar nor writing style: That’s the whole point of the post! Yeah? 😉 🙂

Oh and don’t forget: Click on any image to enlarge! 🙂

Posted on 06/20/05, 4:38 PM on Kiwibox.com

Europe trip 2005

After around 4 hours, we are out of the castle! We took lunch first, then we had to *walk* to the castle for like what, 45 mins.!? And YES, a super-huge hill all the way. But, all that heavy walk (or hiking) was REALLY worth it! The castle was just *gorgeous*, and the views all over simply *breath-taking*. Oi! And I finally got the name right! Schloss *Neuschwanstein* 😀 Schloss is castle in German, btw. And “Neuschwanstein” means New Swan Stone. The king was obsessed with swans or something; they were *all over* the castle’s furniture, paintings, etc. I also bought some lil’ souvenirs, like postcards and patches (1 of Germany and another 1 of Austria), which I’’ll now start collecting of every country I visit. Btw, that’s all I could basically buy during the entire trip! All of my money went mostly in food (which was DAMN expensive) and the most rest to excursions/museums :/ it sucked, I wanted to buy soo many things, and sp a better thingy for my bff Clody! 🙁 oh wells.

Europe Trip, German hotel

Laurie and me in front of our hotel back in Rothenburg, the morning we were off to the castle

Europe Trip, Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle! Oh and, did u know this the the actual castle in which is inspired Disney’s?

Europe Trip, Neuschwanstein 2

Neuschwanstein castle, different angle

Europe Trip, Neuschwanstein entrance

entering Neuschwanstein! =D

Europe Trip, Neuschwanstein window views

Just an example of the spectacular views from the castle’s windows

Europe Trip, Neuschwanstein window views

more spectacular views from the castle’s windows

Europe Trip, German yellow castle

Some other yellow castle that could be seen from down there

Euro Trip, German yellow castle closeup

closeup of yellow castle

Taking supper now @ Ausburg. Oh and @ this Italian ristorante, I *finally* found someone nice! Germans were starting to piss me off, sp when they looked Laura oddly (ya know ‘cause of her dark skin). Anymoo! It was a super-cute Italian waiter, *so* freakin’ nice and sweet. We would talk in Spanish and he would reply in Italian, and we could understand each other really well! Btw, we saw a dangerously-HOT German (about 19-2O-ish) there: …DAMN! The funny thing is that he was with his *fiancée* having a family dinner for her rents approval, or so it seemed. And still, we checked him out BADLY. We are bad girls [:p] It was sooo funny, her rents looked us *quite* hostile, haha! :p about the food, it was awesome and quite yummy; the ristorante persé was *really* purdy as well. For dessert, we got ice-cream around the corner. I got a latte-something flavor: that was outstanding! I FINALLY tasted *real*, yummy coffee like back home: very rich and sweet, an super charged of flavor, just like an actual coffee should be, not all watery and flavorless like American or German ‘coffee’ (no offense!). Then, we finally hit our hotel. Btw, the only thing I liked was a chair and curtain @ the end of the hallways of every floor; my room was just *extremely* small (I had to put my luggage in the closet ‘cause there was no space to walk! So u can imagine), and the had a lot of stupid rules and we couldn’t even go walk outside. I disliked it VERY much. Rothenburg’s was WAY better, and it wasn’t in the city! So yeah, I like Germany’s countryside much better, or at least for now. It’s 1O:3OPM so I’m going to sleep now; we are off to Munich tomorrow.

June.12th.2OO5

Just took breakfast, now we are on our way to Munich. Btw, I just met an American hottie named Mike (lol), from Indiana. Oi, he IS good looking. He’s on another different EF tour, but staying another night just like we are so I’ll prolly see him again tonight (we were looking at each other non-stop during the *whole* breakfast, until my group left. I then stayed, walked up to him and said “where are u from?” he told me then I answered back and he loved the fact I‘m from Puerto Rico :p then we asked each other’s room #’s and that was it :p).
Soooo then the bus was off to Munich. Omg, that was SUPER! I felt like if I was in London! The whole buildings and stuff, everything was gorge. Now my view of countryside Germany and the city are pretty similar :p we went to some palace (where I froze my booty off; that must have been the coldest time while in Europe!) before going to the BMW museum and Dachu Nazi concentration camp. Couldnt see much because the movie the showed us was so graphic and Laurie felt sick it affected her too much, so I wanted to be a good friend and accompanied her outside until the tour was over. We walked through the gas chambers and everything. very very emotional…
Later on, we went shopping and to the Hard rock café and HB, were most of my classmates (and even TEACHERS!) nearly get drunk drinking strong German beer [:p] about me well, I had a yummy German sausage for lunch! *nods* oh and, finally, I bought a li’ something for myself: a pink Heartbreaker top @ Hard Rock which also has a big 71 in burgundy in the back and also says Munich. Then, when we arrived to the hotel @ like 9PM, I met Mike again and we went to the Eia (?) Tutti Frutti café around the corner and ate some ice-cream together and talked some more, then same thing back @ the hotel’s lobby. Guess what!? He’s a CHRISTIAN! I mean he is even in a *Christian* METAL band called Bloody Sunday, and he is the vocalist.

Euro Trip, Munich palace

Me in front of the palace

Euro Trip, Munich palace 2

another view of the German palace

Euro Trip, Munich palace garden

by the palace balcony and garden. Oi, that garden and palace are sooo big it’s GORGE

Euro Trip, Munich square

MUNICH! Who took the pic cut off the nice big clock tho! =(

Euro Trip, Munich surroundings

around Muncih

Euro Trip, Munich surroundings 2

what's that? I dont remember...(Munich)

Euro Trip, Mike

Mike and me, that day. Turned out like crap *shrugs* he’s much hotter in person, btw

Euro Trip, Munich surroundings 3

bye bye, Germany! Next stop Austria and ITALY!!!!! =D

Europe adventure to be continued on a different Travel Tuesday! ;)

#Travel bucket list items & photos of the week – it’s #TravelBL time!

What’s Travel Bucket List Wednesdays? Click here to learn more

Epa! This shall be the fifth weekly Travel Bucket list Wednesday! I’ve decided that the weeks I don’t get many submissions from you, I’ll complement the entry with interesting travel bucket list items I find around the web that week. Remember: If you wish to be featured next week don’t forget to submit your travel bucket list, links of your travel sites and Twitter handle on a comment below. There is no limit: As long as you post new items on your travel bucket list every week, I will feature you every time! So c’mon, get greedy here. And don’t forget to join us on the Twitter #TravelBL chat every Wednesday at 12 & 6:15 pm (EST)!

Travel bucket list, St Barts

In Lola's travel bucket list: "New Year’s Eve in St. Barts with Beyonce and Jay Z" (Photo: Tripadvisor.com)

* Lola’s travel bucket list
You’ll be inspired by her list if you’re interested in: Celebrities, parties & sun

travel bucket list: Mount Huashan, China

On any thrill junkie's travel bucket list: "A trek with a difference: At one point one kilometer above the ground, you have to traverse a slim wooden plank stuck to the face of a vertical cliff" -by Ivy Zhang, Jane Leung & Tim Cheung, CNNGo.com

Trill seeker’s travel bucket list – CNN Go
You’ll be inspired by this list if you like: Heights, magma & dangerous animals

travel bucket list, Barcelona

In any European travel bucket list: Gaudi's Barcelona! (Photo: La Sagrada Familia church, Wiki Commons)

Spain’s travel bucket list – Global Grasshopper
You’ll be inspired by this list if you’re interested in: Spain’s 10 most beautiful places

travel bucket list: Kamchatka, Russia

A must-add to any outdoors travel bucket list: Helicopter ride over volcanoes & lakes in Kamchatka peninsula, Russia! (Photo: Helen Flamme, sputnik_mania on Flikr)

“Middle of nowhere” travel bucket list – Lonely Planet
You’ll be inspired by this list if you’re interested in: Beautiful desolation & nature

travel bucket list, Thuringia

Thuringia, Germany: Added to my travel bucket list!

New item on my own travel bucket list: Thuringia, Germany
Thank you once again, Lonely Planet! I just stumbled upon this destination & got so excited about it. I had never even heard that name before, ever. Officially “The Free State of Thuringia,” it is located in central Germany & is the sixth smallest by area. Also, it happens to be the home of Germany’s most infamous hiking trail: Rennsteig (Wiki). However, what sold me about Thuringia is the spectacular mosaics and architecture of 900-year-old Wartburg Castle. Thank you for the travel bucket list inspiration, Lonely Planet (and photographer Mr Matt Munro)!

travel bucket list: Schmalkalden, Germany

Thuringia town Schmalkalden, as photographed by Matt Munro

For more items of my own travel bucket list, you may click here

What are you waiting for?! Go run to your blog, put together that awesome travel bucket list of yours and come back here to share it with us. Be part of the new, exciting #TravelBL Wednesdays! And of course, feel free to use hashtag #TravelBL any other time of the week when tweeting your items – you’ll get a guaranteed RT from me!

“LIFE, if well-lived, is long enough”
-Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

What’s on your travel bucket list?