@Sea Feature Article--Curaçao

Curaçao: In Search of Balance

Mark Carroll

Curaçao is an arid island with no freshwater rivers or lakes and very little rainfall. Water for the island's population of 150,000 is pumped from the sea by a massive desalinization plant.

Curaçao's colorful, sometimes dirty capital city of Willemstad is home to an ethnically diverse population--predominantly people of African, European, or Hispanic decent, although there are also sizable number of Chinese and Jewish residents. The fluid sound of Papiamentu -- the unofficially 'official' language of the Netherlands Antilles -- flows everywhere from shop fronts and impromptu street gatherings.

A moveable pontoon bridge stretches across Willemstad's harbor with the colorful buildings of the "Punda" side visible beyond.

Everyone here seems to have a friend on the street who is the friend of another passing friend. Groups of five or ten people materialize and dissolve, sometimes clogging the sidewalks, filling the air with animated discussions.

Papiamentu has its roots in a Portuguese-based Creole that has been traced to the first contact between Portuguese and Africans in the mid-1400s. The region's slave trade forced together many different groups of Africans who had no common language for communicating between each other or with their Portuguese captors. Papiamentu evolved of necessity out of these dire circumstances, spreading from the coastal ports to other parts of the islands.

During the lively celebration of Queen Beatrix's birthday, a small band fills the streets with music as a cruise-ship tourist passes by.

Curaçao's architecture is characrterized primarily by its Dutch influences. In the 1600s, The Dutch arrived with their own ideas of how the islands should be. Willemstad still reflects this vision with its 300-year old, pastel-colored colonial buildings that line the harbor.

A large petroleum facility can be seen from an overlook near Willemstad.

The streets of Willemstad's Otrabanda district.

Across the harbor on the "Otrabanda", literally the "other side" of the city, lies a lively, yet less dense urban landscape. A few casinos, hotels, and some humble monuments dot its narrow streets. In commemoration of the Dutch Queen's birthday (at the end of April) both sides of the city merge in a raucous celebration. Craft merchants and food stands compete for attention with bands on the congested sidewalks and streets. Spontaneous songs break out in the festive atmosphere, and the party lasts late into the evening hours.

The outer fringes of Curaçao beg to be explored -- from the hilly expanses of Christoffel Park with its diverse plant and animal life to the varied beaches that line the coast. There seems to be no prevailing type of beach here, but rather an unpredictable mix of windy-and-rocky or sheltered-and-sandy or heavily-developed or isolated stretches of shoreline. Unfortunately, the one attribute that they all seem to share is a nasty accumulation of trash.

A young green iguana scurries for shelter across a patch of pure white sand.

There is an ongoing effort to protect the island's wild spaces. The CARMABI Foundation (a small marine and terrestrial biological laboratory on Curaçao) has played a key role in establishing and maintaining nine parks on Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. One of these, Curaçao's underwater park, protects the entire southeast coast of the island and promotes the sustainable use of its waters. CARMABI, in addition to natural resource management, research, and an aggressive educational program, provides Curaçao's government with advice for creating sustainable development.

Curaçao's natural beauty is certainly worth preserving. Polluted portions of the island are painful to witness, but many areas of the island remain relatively pristine. Curaçao seems to be searching for a balance between the promise of development and the innate value of its natural wonders. Hopefully, Curaçao's ecology will long remain as robust, rich, and diverse as the island's culture.