I think she really gets me.

This is really an amazing museum we went to today.  It documents the beginning of mankind, from its start in Africa to the slave trade.  That’s pretty ambitious for a museum but it does it very well.  The museum is divided up into 9 separate, and here’s the important part, AIR CONDITIONED, rooms, each documenting different time periods.  The Beginning is evolution, focusing on the much debated (according to them not me) start of all human civilization in Africa.  Next is the Lands of Abraham, an incredible display of clay tablets, pottery, bronze artifacts and artwork dating 2500 years BC.  Then it’s on to the slave trade, including the partial replication of the holding area on a slave ship.  Curacao played a major role in the slave trade, being a facility for the Dutch West Indies company, where young children were shipped in to become “trained and broken” before being sold off , mainly in the Americas.  The last rooms deal with emancipation and civil rights. 

We learned so much.  The artwork and artifacts were overwhelming.  You could easily spend hours there and not take it all in.  The major theme I think the museum tried to convey was that all these rich, advanced civilizations, such as Egypt, and these major figures in religion, such as Abraham, all came from the cradle of civilization in Africa, as we all did.  Yet somewhere down the line, the people of Africa became expendable.  In fact, according to the Dred Scott case of 1857 the Supreme Court ruled the Africans were

Very eye opening.  There may be museums like this in the United States but I’ve never seen them, and I’m glad Tristan and Tessa had the opportunity to see it.  If you are ever in Curacao it’s a must see.

We are still here in the VERY windy boatyard working on a few projects.  Things got a bit ugly the other day regarding the bathrooms.  The bathroom has 3 fairly nice/clean showers and 3 fairly nice bathrooms.  When we first got back here from our trip to the States, one of the toilets was not working, leaving only two.  Not quite enough for everyone, but doable.  A few days after our return, only one was working.  What had happened to the other two was the flushing part was broken.  Ok.  We are down to one.  Not so good.  This goes on for a week at least.  Now you know what happens.  Tristan goes to use the toilet and it doesn’t flush.  He said it didn’t work when he got in there.  Now there’s no bathroom, and of course I need to use it.  The shuttle bus is about to come to take us to the supermarket and the grocery store doesn’t have a bathroom and I’m fed up.  I head into the office and in less than polite terms tell them the last remaining toilet does not work and they need to do something. Though I am speaking (rather firmly) to the women at the front desk, I know Geis the manager is listening.   The ladies converse among themselves (in the local dialect which I can’t for the life of me understand) then tell me that one is still working of which I again inform them that, no, it’s not, and now we have no toilets and they have had plenty of time to fix them and they need to call a plumber NOW!  (Phew!)

About an hour later we return from the supermarket.  I send the kids to check on the situation and guess what?  Two toilets are fixed.  Amazing! Later there is a knock on our boat and it’s Geis, the boatyard manager.  He tells Dan the toilet is fixed, but basically it’s Tristan’s fault because he uses too much toilet paper.          OK          Now.     My dear son, as many of our friends will attest to, does seem to have a knack of  occasionally clogging up a toilet.   But how would Geis know this?  Well.  According to Geis, in his own words, “Your son uses a lot of toilet paper.  I know. I was in the stall next to him.” 

Ok.  Despite the fact that something about this seems morally wrong and really creepy (possibly even illegal)the other two stalls have been broke for over a week.  When was he spying on my son in the bathroom?  And Tristan certainly didn’t have anything to do with the other two being broke so why weren’t they fixed?  Anyway, by this time, all three bathrooms were magically fixed and we decided to let it go.

Remember we said we had an issue with Sea Hawk paints about the paint coming off our bottom shortly after it was painted?  We had been after them ever since Grenada (August) to do something about it.  Emails had gone back and forth and nothing was getting done.  Finally,  Dan talked to the CEO of Sea Hawk paints and he agreed to pay for the paint and primer to get it fixed.  Way to go Sea Hawk  paints!  Thanks for stepping up to the plate and honoring your product!  So the next few days, we will be painting the boat.

The week started out rough, but ended on a good note.  Between Dan and I, we can be sure that when it comes to our boat and crew, we have our bottoms covered!!!

  Parked a little too close to shore

  Yes. Yes they were.

  “And Jesus so loved the world he began an anti-litter campaign”

  I think we finally have everything stowed and the freezer is now working, though the verdict is still out on the refrigerator.  Dan has been polishing the sides of the boat and it looks great.  We are still waiting to hear from Sea Hawk paints as to what they are going to do about the bottom paint peeling off.  The bottom was done in Nanny Cay BVI in May and by July we had noticed some blistering.  We contacted them and they were supposed to take a look at it in Grenada and never did.  Then we had to leave for Venezuela and they promised us an answer here and we are still waiting.  Life on the hard isn’t too bad though.  Four days a week a free shuttle will take you to a grocery store.  The grocery stores are nice, with a good prices and a good selection of fruits and vegetables and a big selection of fresh herbs.  The yard is clean and fortunately the facilities are good.  We lucked out being right outside the office.  If we were any closer to the restrooms we would be inside them!!!  That helps on those late night bathroom runs with the kids!!

In the meantime, we are getting reacquainted with living on the boat again.  It was funny, the first time I walked back into the boat it felt small.   Well, not really small.  The word that really comes to mind is miniaturized.  It was weird!  But the feeling soon passed, and we are back to normal. 

We don’t miss the cold, but for those of you feeling hot, I included some pictures from Chicago.  It will cool you off!

      Adler Planetarium in Chicago

     Ice storm right after we arrived!!!

           FRIENDS

  Tessa got the courage to pierce her ears!