Curacao: One Week at the Santa Barbara Beach and Golf Resort

Curacao: One Week at the Santa Barbara Beach and Golf Resort

Curacao: A blue liqueur that makes tropical drinks taste delicious. Right?

Until about two months before booking, I’d never heard of a Curacao beyond the cocktail list. When family suggested making Curacao our Christmas getaway, we immediately took to researching the island and Google sent turquoise waters crawling across my screen. We were sold. To escape what turned out to be a remarkably warm winter in the end, we decided to make haste to the beautiful beaches of Curacao.

Curacao: About the Island

Wat bedoel ik ? Curacao is a Dutch Carribean island which, today, speaks the language of  Papiamentu (very confusing when you show up expecting Dutch, and listening for Spanish… it took us a few days to figure things out). At first glance (and even at close up), the colourful houses lining the water in Williemsted are entirely reminiscent of Amsterdam, with decorative facades squished together near the edge of the water. We had a passing glance of Williamsted en route to our hotel from the airport… it was solid timing considering we had just caught glance of the monster of an oil refinery riggght across the highway. Eek! That being said, Curacao ranks 46th in the world in terms of GDP per capita for a reason and part of that reason is that it hosts the Isla Refinery, operated by Venezuela’s state oil company. Cha-ching!
Continue reading “Curacao: One Week at the Santa Barbara Beach and Golf Resort”

Living the Pura Vida! 7 days all-inclusive at the Hotel Riu Palace Costa Rica (Guanacaste)

Living the Pura Vida! 7 days all-inclusive at the Hotel Riu Palace Costa Rica (Guanacaste)

Have you ever seen the movie Six Days Seven Nights, starring Anne Heche and Harrison Ford? If you haven’t, where have you been? Seriously! The movie is a fabulous depiction of a pilot and his passenger who get stranded together en route from one island to the next and will have you rolling over in laughter. My point? Well, the movie might have been filmed in Hawaii but when it comes to getting stuck on an island – or in this case a mainland – my vote goes to Costa Rica.

We flew in on boxing day after the Christmas rush, a first for my family but the beginning of what will surely become an annual tradition. Out of Pearson International, we arrived, about six hours later in Liberia, Costa Rica. We flew with Sunwing Vacations – affordable with obvious downfalls like no personal entertainment system and a rather limited selection of food and drink, but hey, the price was right and we got a glass of champagne soon after take-off. Sold! After we pulled in to what was a surprisingly large airport, we made headway to the bus that would drive us the additional 30 minutes to Guanacaste and the Hotel Riu Palace Costa Rica. We arrived at sunset to this view of the resort… need I say more?

DSC_0977

Continue reading “Living the Pura Vida! 7 days all-inclusive at the Hotel Riu Palace Costa Rica (Guanacaste)”