The Kindness of Strangers

Hey friends and fam! Just dropping a little blog post to say ‘hi’ from Curaçao!

We’ve had so many positive interactions with not only the cruising community

here, but also the locals as well. The kindness of strangers never ceases to surprise me; everyone seems to be very friendly here (maybe not quite as friendly as “The Friendly Island St. Maarten!”), but friendly and welcoming nonetheless!

There have been many examples of kindness and generosity that we’ve seen from others in our short time here. One day, Paul and I were speeding along in our dinghy going to dock, and then walk to one of the beaches nearest us. We were chatting and suddenly I just had the feeling and said out loud that something bad was about to happen… and trust me, I’m not one to go on about premonitions or anything… but about 20 seconds later I was stung by a wasp right on the sole of my foot. (Yes, I realize the ‘something bad about to happen’ could’ve been MUCH worse – but still, ow!).

Anyways, we get out of the dinghy and I’m hobbling along the road towards our destination in hopes of maybe acquiring a bit of ice at the local restaurant (Pop’s). We’re walking less than a minute when “The Scuba Bus” (a huge school bus that’s been painted dive flag style – completely red with a white diagonal stripe) pulls over and offers us a ride. It may have been the hobbling, or it may have been the giant freediving fins we carried – but, hooray! A reprieve! We hopped on and gratefully thanked the driver for picking us up. On board were about two-dozen fresh-faced divers who were eager to learn more about our time in Curaçao.

We arrived to our destination, Pop’s, much faster than anticipated with the help of some wheels. Once there, Paul and I asked the hostess if she could spare a bit of ice so that I could apply it to the wasp bite. I felt a bit bad about bothering her, because the restaurant was definitely in lunch rush hour. About 2 minutes went by… then 3… then 5… we were just about to head out when the hostess came back; not only with ice, but also with a little concoction in a condiment plastic cup. She

gave it to me saying it was a local medicine that her doctor had taught her about to apply to wasp and bee stings, and that it would soothe the pain. The fact that she went through that trouble to make it for me was, I thought, really kind! It seemed like a watered down mustard/thyme mixture. While part of me thought she may be giggling about how she got a tourist to apply mustard to her foot, another part of me disagreed and thought that she really did it out of the kindness of her own heart.

I’m not sure if these circumstances and events deserved a whole blog post, but it really felt like, you know, there is a community here, and the people in this community have got our back! It was also our 12-year anniversary, and we were able to enjoy snorkeling, freediving, and “Drunken Fish Tacos” at Pop’s with a celebratory strawberry cheesecake for dessert. We are treasuring each day here, even if that includes wasp stings!

Bye for now!

Toni