A Very Curaçao Thanksgiving

One more from the islands!!

There was a lot to be thankful for today! Please enjoy pictures and a high text to footnote ratio to get you through the holiday.*

 The morning and early afternoon were spent on the beach.** AT enjoyed watching the ships come in and I enjoyed the sunshine. 

The afternoon was spent strolling around the town and a ferry ride when the bridge was unavailable.***

   

  

We took some obligatory Curaçao photos but mostly were in awe of other people taking photos and their fantastic posing game. We tried to recreate it but ultimately went with the classic family pose. 

 

 

We had a crazy delicious dinner and, even though we were not in America, we lived up to all the American thanksgiving stereotypes.**** No food is pictured because we ate it all. 

 

Finally, on the walk home we saw a Santa***** parade and fireworks****** and a street party and everything!! This was Thanksgiving to us but just a Thursday to Curaçao.

It's a bit much to live every day like Thanksgiving, but if you live even half your Thursdays with the enthusiasm of Curaçao, you'll be doing alright!

-KT

*For you, Kyle!!

**You guys!! This beach is a sham!! You can't even tell! We are on the second floor of the hotel here at a salt water with sand infinity pool that overlooks the harbor. It was trippy and the perfect solution to a no-beach problem. 

***The bridge floats and moves out of the way sometimes to let ships through! IS THIS WHOLE TOWN A FACADE????

****We ate way too much at the main meal but all still ordered dessert and ate all that too. We complained about how full we were the whole way home but also talked about the things we would eat again. America. 

*****Looking dapper in blue and balloons!

******I broke one of my strongest beliefs today and took a picture of fireworks. That's right, I think firework photos look stupid and I judge you pretty harshly when you post them on NYE or July 4th. I think, "Put the camera down. Watch the fireworks. Your pictures look lame and don't do it justice." And you know what? This picture looks lame and it doesn't do it justice but I took a picture to show that they existed. And with Scarlett O'Hara as my witness, I will never take a picture of a firework again. 

No Turkeys Here!

Okay, we look photoshopped into this photo. I promise you, we were in Anguilla. And yes, that's Anguilla courtesy of St. Maarten via Curaçao where we daytripped to Bonaire after arriving from Miami. The things this family does for points are ridiculous and we all openly admit it. 

We arrived in Curaçao in time for dinner and scenic street views. The island was settled by the Dutch and has the feel of the Caribbean with the brightly colored houses of the Netherlands. 

They, like us, have bypassed Thanksgiving entirely and are ready for Christmas. Dad is pumped!

The next day we went to Bonaire and had a tour of the island. Bonaire is much smaller than Curaçao and is known for its snorkeling and diving. The entire island is surrounded by a coral reef accessible straight from the shore. We toured the southern half of the island where we saw the salt ponds that harvest sea salt. It's not snow that you're seeing, but mountains of salt waiting for transport. 

The ponds surrounding the salt flats are ideal for flamingos. The flamingos feast on shrimp in the briny waters and that's what turns their feathers pink. They're shy birds so we couldn't get too close!

   

We also saw the huts where slaves lived when they were brought to the island in the 1800's. The houses are maintained today as a memorial to the slaves that built the island. 

We ended our tour of the island with some beach time before flying back to Curaçao!

The next day we headed to Sint Maarten, the Dutch, which shares land with Saint Martin, the French. The island is divided in half and has two of everything. If you mail a letter to the US from the Dutch side, it goes direct. If you mail from the French side, it detours to Europe before hitting America. We ate dinner on the French side and it went straight to our mouths with no international detours. 

 

Today we took a ferry to Anguilla, owned by the British. The ferry was a tad rocky and gives you this fantastic shot:

Upon arrival we had beach time and lunch time (our two favorite times) before returning to St. Maarten. For thanksgiving proper we will be back in Curaçao with no turkey or traditional trimmings. We wish you the best with your family and are thankful to be traveling together (minus UK who is prepping a turkey for AT's return!).

Enjoy your turkey, all!

-KT

Bermuda

I like to travel to new places for country points.* This is my third trip to Bermuda. That's how much I like Bermuda. I half-jokingly talk about buying a summer home here.**

The reasons why Bermuda is one of the world's finest islands include:

• The entire island is surrounded by coral reefs making the water more shallow, calm, and turquoise than the rest of the Atlantic Ocean surrounding it. You can dive, snorkel, or simply look at it. 

• Currency? US dollars. Language? English. Friendly people in Bermuda shorts? Everywhere. What's not to heart?

• The island itself is basically one large botanical garden. 

• The beaches have pink sand that is both impossibly soft on your feet and never gets hot.***

• The Bermuda Triangle you've heard about is possibly giant craters in the sea***** causing explosions and is definitely not going to abduct you and cause you to miss your return flight. 

• Speaking of the return flight, it's only two and a half hours from Atlanta. I dare you to get anywhere better in that time. (If you do, let me know ASAP.)

• No iguanas.******

• You clear US customs in the Bermuda airport so when you fly home you walk straight out of the airport like it's a domestic flight.*******

If you, like I, are constantly searching for the perfect island, come to Bermuda and try it out. Even if it's not your dream island, you will have a Bermudaful time. 

-KT

*And to explore the world, obvs. 

**This is the alternate lifestyle fantasy where I pull a mid-life crisis à la Diane Lane in "Under the Tuscan Sun" but move to Bermuda with no language barrier and spend virtually no time or effort on house renovation. There are several friends/readers out there that I would accept as my Sandra Oh. Feel free to submit applications for this sure-to-be-coveted position. 

***I have not found any research**** to support my claim that pink sand doesn't absorb heat and scald your feet like white sand, but you can read this thing about why the sand is pink. My explanation is simply: science. http://mobile.royalgazette.com/article/20120301/FEATURES02/703019903

****Er, Google searches

*****Again, science. http://interestingengineering.com/mystery-of-the-bermuda-triangle-has-finally-been-solved/

******This is a special contribution from Mom. She hates iguanas, y'all. They essentially ruin the entire Caribbean for her. 

*******If this doesn't sound like a big deal to you, YOU DON'T KNOW MY LIFE. 

Bonus photo for those that read foot notes to the end. I took a picture for a family and they also took mine...and coached me through a variety of poses. 

One Day in Paris

Teacher Summer has been over for a few weeks now--the children returned to school August 1st.* Fortunately, that didn't stop me from jetting to France for the weekend to celebrate a friend's wedding! The wedding is in the Loire Valley and I'm in the train station as I type. Yesterday was my one day in Paris and I squeezed in all the old friends that I could!

First stop: The Museé D'Orsay

Few buildings make me want to cry with joy simply by being in them, but this is one. The building is beautiful and the art is essentially Impressionism+. My best friends, the Renoirs, were on a vacay to a show in Tokyo but I managed to make do with those that stayed local. 

From there I crossed the Seine and wandered through the Louvre without actually entering the galleries. Mona, you're lovely, but there just wasn't time. Keep on smiling, girl. 

The final stop was through Les Halles to the modern art museum located at Centre Pompidou. En route was the classiest street band ever.**

The Centre Pompidou is a modern building to match its art. The exterior shows the glassed-in escalators that you use to access the different galleries. 

Favorites included:

And since I can't get enough of Kandinsky OR polka dots:

It was a fast but great day. Until next time, Paris!***

*#georgia

**Get ready, school children, for the video you'll be forced to watch in which all their bows were perfectly aligned all the time. 

***Not pictured: croissants and quiche

Fernando de Noronha

Or, The Trip Where I Decided a Family in Bathing Suits Wouldn't Brutally Murder Me

The end of Teacher Summer 2016 was with a trip to Fernando de Noronha, an island off the northeastern coast of Brazil. It was an additional country point that definitely earned its status as a separate point!

Fernando de Noronha is an island chain protected by UNESCO for its ecosystems. Only one of the islands is populated and the entire area is a national park. Upon landing you go through a version of customs to pay a park fee to help preserve the island. It is an especially popular location for divers and snorkelers. 

I knew the island was fairly primitive from the hotel search. All of the hotels are guest houses (pousadas) with no more than 8 or 10 rooms. I don't think there were any buildings on the island over two stories and many roads were not paved. 

Besides being a country point, I was excited to go for the beaches. I arrived in the late afternoon and made it to a nearby beach for sunset. 

In hindsight, I didn't take any pictures of actual buildings on the entire island, so please don't think this was the quality of living. Instead it was just a pretty thing in the forest en route to the beach!

I promise my pousada was nicer!!

I spent the first day enjoying the sunset at the local beach and planning a trip to another beach. With the advice of possibly the only English speaker on the island, I worked out a trip to one of the more exotic beaches the next day- Praia do Sancho. 

I learned that since the roads aren't paved, taxis can't take you everywhere. Instead it would be a bus ride to a walk to the beach. It sounded slightly complicated, but worth it.*

The beach excursion started off well, the bus wasn't hard- there is only one road and so only one bus route. I told the bus driver when I boarded where I was going and he gave me a thumbs up. When we got to the unlabeled beginning of a dirt road stop, the driver announced it by another name. The whole bus waited for a few minutes while I did the classic "look around, wonder who he is talking to, wait are people looking at me? ask is this my stop" routine.**

Once that was sorted, I got off the bus and started walking down the only dirt road while the bus made a u-turn and went on its merry way. The walk began as:

A few minutes, no signs, and a road turned to mud later, there was a slight wavering. 

My decision to keep walking was based on the following conclusions: 

1. I didn't go the wrong way because there was no other way. 

2. The island isn't that big so eventually I will hit ocean and, presumably, some kind of beach.

3. I came all this way.***

After a little mud-slipping and about 30 minutes, there was a beach! And not just any beach, the one I was actually trying to find!

I sat on that beach for a while before heading to the national park portion.

Uphill was fine and on the descent back down there was this lovely warning:

Personally, I think "evaluating your personal limitations in order not to surpass them" is always a smart move. What they meant to say was, "from here on out you will be picking your way over rocks. Look at your life. Look at your choices." I interpreted this as, "I came all this way."

It was worth it.****

There was oohing and ahhing and then there was more walking over rocks. At some point, there were many crabs. I talked openly with the crabs about various topics, including, how much I enjoyed their work in "The Little Mermaid" and how if they let me pass I would never eat one of their kind again.*****

At some point I made it to the end of the line. 

But, really. It was so beautiful. 

After some more beach time, I began the return trek. Fortunately, the roads had dried out for the walk back. Unfortunately, it was now uphill. 

I was all of four minutes into the trek when a family in a buggy, similar to this one, drove by. 

The buggies are popular all over the island because they can handle the roads where cars can't. 

The family (consisting of a man and two women- one of whom was holding a toddler in her lap- all in swimsuits leaving the same beach) slowed down and asked if I needed a ride.****** Ignoring everything I have ever learned about hitchhiking and stranger danger,******* I hopped in and they drove me to the bus stop. This will be something I look back on from my death bed as one of the greatest decisions of my life. Fortunately, one of the few things I can say in Portuguese is "thank you." 

The remainder of the day was chillaxing, loving buggies, and another sunset. 

On the last day I stuck to the walkable beach before returning to Rio for a last day on the Copacabana beach. 

Teacher Summer 2016, you have been wonderful and I can't wait to see what 2017 holds!

-KT

*Incidentally, this is the byline I would like to flash on the screen should I ever appear on a reality TV dating show. 

**Classic. 

***My motto for most travel adventures that has led to mostly excellent choices. 

****All these beach photos are #nofilter, btdubs. 

*****I, of course, did not anticipate that later that same day I would order a mango and tomato salad that was actually a mango, crab leg, and tomato salad. The lesson here, crab friends, is to never trust a giant lady who thinks she can read Portuguese. 

******I assume. We all took a gamble with my interpretation of Portuguese.

*******Sorry, mom and dad!! And double sorry you're learning about it through the blog. I was tired yesterday.