this is me now

7.20.2010

ostrich farms in curacao

this is our cruise ship as seen from a bridge looking over the island---check out the colors of the buildings! i love this! This is the capital city, Willemstad.
isnt this lovely?! i loved the colorful buildings--very typical in each of the islands we visited.

amazing trees and rain forest----see the background water and rollings hills---you saw that everywhere---really really pretty.
curacao was settled by the Dutch---who knew how active the dutch were---they were ALL OVER the Caribbean---who knew!?!
this is dave feeding an ostrich---not the most attractive bird God created.
this is an ostrich---not as hairy as an emu---you can see the pens that are set-up to separate the males from each other.
this is me standing on an ostrich egg---trying to balance....this egg had been laid THAT MORNING. ...do i look more like a peacock, a stork or a flamingo---all prettier than ostriches!
there are HUGE lizards all over the island----at outdoor restaurants they come up to you like birds or squirrels that are used to being fed by tourists...i liked the coloring on this guy

We rode on an open truck (with benches in it) around this ostrich farm....THEY ARE HUGE...
HUGE birds.

here is the difference between an Australian Ostrich (emu) and an Ostrich...neither of which are native to Curacao...some guy brought them to the island to raise.an Emu is hairier...and bigger...but not taller...of the two cousins.
The farm has a diner where they serve...guess what.....yep----OSTRICH!...they use every part of the bird...even have 2 alligators on the farm that eat the parts that arent edible (skulls, beak and feet)
we learned more than we wanted about the mating habits of ostriches...why they can only have one adult male in each pen with a couple of lady friends.... and that they leave a fake egg in each pen area to 'inspire' the females to lay eggs!

after the farm, we went to the beach....lovely lovely lovely.
and then around the beautiful town square for a bit of shopping----meh---typical tourist fare.

curacao gets an A---loved the color, the history, the beaches...the crazy roads (which i found to be typical of every island)

oh...btw....kerr--uh--sow (like the pig).