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STORY: Tiny, secluded, serene and beautiful; Curaçao is an island just off the coast of Venezuela and near Aruba. It is part of the Netherlands Antilles, specifically the small group of islands in the South Caribbean known as the ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. The port city and capital Willemstad hosts beautifully painted façades, floating markets, cruise liners, refineries and this motorized floating pontoon bridge. The downtown area also happens to be a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Queen Emma Bridge swings open, for big and small ships alike, hinged on the far end, the Punda, or point (East), est. 1634. On the near end, the Otrabanda, or other side (West), est. 1707, the bridge detaches behind the small shelter and is propelled across the bay by two diesel engines and propellers mounted perpindicular to the length of the bridge. The Queen Emma Bridge spans the St. Anna Bay, and swings practically parallel to the Punda if necessary. The bridge is solely purposed for foot traffic and if you really need to get accross during the few to several minutes it's away, there is a ferry standing by. Down past the cruise ships one can see the highest bridge in the carribean and one of the highest bridges in the world, the Queen Juliana Bridge. It was completed in 1974 and soars 185 ft above the bay to accomodate large oil tankers and cruise ships. Unfortunately one can no longer access its view points, else I would have had a pano from up there as well. If you want to talk to the locals, you only need to speak English or learn their creole mix of Arawak, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and English vocabulary called Papiamentu. Listening to the Dutch and local people I worked with here was just insane! I could pick out so many words and phrases but had no idea what they were saying or speaking. Many of the locals will be tri- or quad-lingual, and it speaks to how culturally weak education in America is today. |
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