Great success. Story of my life.: A night in paradise.

Swimming with my cousins and her kids and then dinner with my family, that was the plan. When I returned from the beach, my mom told me she had something to ask me. 'I have something to ask you', was what she literally said. She corrected herself by saying 'No, I have an announcement to make. '
I could have guessed. ' Your sister is going out. Your brother has to perform and your father wants to go fishing', is what she said. 'It's just us. What do you want to do?' We were planning on going to eat fish at 'Seaside terrace', a place next to the sea at Curacao where they sell local food, for example fresh fish and lobster. I'd never eaten there, but I wanted to because I had heard good stories about the food there.

Marie Pompoen, Dr Martin Luther King BlvD, next to Breezes.

Red snapper at Seaside Terrace, the food I did not get to eat.

My mom suggested to drop my brother off and eat somewhere in that neighborhood instead. I didn't really mind where we would eat, but I was fixated on the idea to eat fish and preferably somewhere next to the sea. I've been here for almost 3 weeks now, and the only fish I ate was the fish on my fish sub in the subway, which wasn't fresh so, to me, it doesn't really count as local fish.

We dropped my brother off in Pietermaai small, a very authentic neighborhood in Curacao full of restaurants, bars and cafes.

A little bit of ' Pietermaai smal'.

We walked to a place called 'Kome'. 'Kome' means 'eating/ eat ' in Papiamentu, the native language on the island. It was crowded at 'Kome' and there was air-conditioning inside. That means it was cold, some might love this but I did not come to Curacao to feel cold. It was also an option to sit outside but this meant sitting in this garden with a few lights, surrounded by a wall. There was no one outside so it was almost as if you would sit in your own living room. If I had to feel as if I was sitting in my own living room, I'd prefer sitting in my living room, and this way I did not get to enjoy the sea. Plus the guard was swaying a zapper around. My mom and I acted as if we were afraid he would zap us. 'No, no , it's for the mosquitoes, he said. We laughed. Mosquitoes? I was planning to eat, not to become a meal. No way.

Kome (at day)
6 Johan van Walbeeckplein, Willemstad, Curaçao

We crossed the street where there was this other restaurant called 'Bijblauw', which is Dutch for 'With blue/next to blue'. A hostess greeted us and accompanied us to the restaurant. My mother says the name 'Bijblauw' doesn't make sense because both buildings of the restaurant/ hotel are green and yellow. We thought about it and no, green and yellow does not make blue. Blue and yellow makes green. But now that I thought about it some more, it's obviously called 'Bijblauw', because it's situated right next to the sea. I know, we're so smart sometimes.

Bijblauw hotel/ restaurant. Pietermaai 82-84, Willemstad

A cool sea breeze blew over us while we sat down to eat. The waiters were friendly. They constantly checked if we were happy about everything and smiled. They got a well-deserved tip . We didn't have to wait long for our food and the food was really good. I definitely recommend the place.
As an appetizer I enjoyed a carpaccio of duck-breast. Raw duck? It sounded really nasty, because raw duck sounds like raw chicken, but duck. I gave it a try anyway and it was really tasty. It was a three course meal. The head course was mahi mahi with paksoi, pumpkin sauce and baked potatoes and the dessert consisted of a 'chocolade taartje', which means chocolat pie, but it was more like a really pure chocolate mousse, covered by a layer of passion fruit and accompanied by a mango mousse.

It was an open, and clean, kitchen. I took a look and saw a guy struggling to cut a really big fish and I was allowed to make a picture.

Fresh fish.

When we had finished eating and were waiting to pay the bill an old guy walked up to us. We had a little talk. He told us about where he comes from Nashville, Tennessee, where there seems to be a lot of people playing really good country music. He asked me what I was studying and asked what my mom does for a living. He told us how he's has a scuba diving business and a skiing business and that he also helps organizing the special Olympic in his county. I looked passed him and saw a woman who was obviously his wife standing at a different table, talking to different strangers.

We never asked his name. He had enjoyed Curacao and is heading back to Nashville on Sunday. I had heard of Nashville before, from a serie I used to watch, called Smallville. He said Curacao isn't really good for his skiing business though. It was an old man with a sense of humor. It was another random talk with a friendly stranger.

Miles Jazz Cafe. 42 Nieuwestraat, Willemstad, Curaçao

Afterwards we walked to a cafe called Miles and enjoyed life Jazz and reggae music by our own Levi Silvanie, Junior Tecla and other talented people and youngsters, some of them got on stage for the very first time, most were from Curacao and some from other islands in the Caribbean. So many talented people gathered in harmony to enjoy music. It was wonderful.