Culture
Curaçao is a melting pot with more than 50 nationalities. Afro-Caribbean’s make up most of the population of 150.000 inhabitants. One result of the historic slave trade is a rich cultural heritage, embraced today by islanders and visitors alike. To the present day, Afro-Caribbean traditions continue to shape Curaçao. These Afro-Caribbean influences can, for example, be found in the Papiamentu-language, Tambu (curacao blues), the food, religion and spirituality.

Location
Curaçao is in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about 65 km north of the Venezuelan coast. It is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Some Local foods
Local food is called Krioyo (pronounced the same as criollo, the Spanish word for "Creole") and boasts a blend of flavors and techniques best compared to Caribbean cuisine and Latin American cuisine. Popular dishes include: stobá (a stew made with various ingredients such as papaya, beef or goat), Guiambo (soup made from okra and seafood), kadushi (cactus soup), sopi mondongo (intestine soup), funchi (cornmeal paste similar to fufu, ugali and polenta) and a lot more.

The most popular side dish is fried plantain. The best known breakfast dish is pastechi (fried pastry with fillings of cheese, tuna, ham or ground meat). Around the holiday season special dishes are consumed, such as the hallaca and pekelé, made out of salt cod. At weddings and other special occasions, a variety of kos dushi (sweets) are served: kokada (coconut sweets), ko'i lechi (condensed milk and sugar sweet) and tentalaria (peanut sweets).

The Curaçao liqueur was developed here, when a local experimented with the rinds of the local citrus fruit known as laraha. Surinamese, Chinese, Indonesian, Indian and Dutch culinary influences also abound.

Discovering Curaçao
Curaçao's warm waters are ideal for scuba diving, snorkeling and other water sports. Knip Beach is one of the most popular beaches on the island. If reclining in a beach chair and sipping a daiquiri is more your speed, head to the oceanfront cafes of Cas Abao Beach or Playa Porto Marie. Tired of sand and sun? Escape to Willemstad, a metropolitan city in the middle of paradise. It is one of the Caribbean’s few UNESCO World Heritage cities. Vivid, sherbet-colored buildings showcase Dutch colonial architecture not to be found anywhere else outside of the Netherlands. There, you can visit the swinging Queen Emma Bridge and the fascinating Kurá Hulanda Museum, as well as plenty of rocking' beachfront nightclubs.

Explore the Hato Caves, an elaborate network of stalactites and stalagmites with drawings at least 1,500 years old. Hike the trails of the 4,446-acre Christoffel National Park, teeming with exotic wildlife and gardens. Diving enthusiasts will love the Mushroom Forest, an underwater jungle of 10-foot, mushroom-shaped star coral.