Tuesday, August 15, 1995 - Curaco

Woke up to a beautiful world. Now that we're out of that ughy Willemstad, we can enjoy Cura‡ao. We set the date for the annual stockholders' meeting of Jofian, Inc., for September 8. We have to give ten days' notice, and it takes a couple of weeks for mail to reach the U.S., so that was about the earliest we could schedule it. It was supposed to be held June 1st, so we're very late. I spent most of the morning printing the notices and getting them ready to mail. We paddled to the isthmus just in time to catch a bus to town. It was one of those fancy trolley buses that are used in resort areas to take tourists sightseeing, but it was being used as a regular bus. Went to the post office and mailed the notices. Then we ate lunch at McDonald's. Stopped at the Tourist Information Office to get a copy of Cura‡ao Today, but they only had old ones. Got a bunch of brochures. Walked two or three miles to the Pita Supermarket that had been recommended. Passed a lot of old, abandoned, tumble-down houses, even though this was right on the waterfront and should have been prime property. It's a shame. The supermarket wasn't much, but it was better than the one downtown. When we came out, we didn't see a bus stop ("bushalte"), but there were a couple of women standing on a corner, so I asked them in Papiamento if that was a bus stop and they said, "Si," but apparently they meant an autobus stop. Several autobuses stopped there and the women left in one, but the autobuses don't go to Caracas Bay, where we need to go. When a big bus came along, we waved frantically, but it didn't stop, so we walked a couple of blocks until we saw a yellow bushalte sign. We had to wait nearly an hour for the next bus, so it was pretty late when we got back to the boat.