My Dirt Cheap Tour of the Island of Curacao

My brother warned us about cheap tours in the Caribbean. "Some of those bootleg guys might take your money, drive you to the middle of nowhere and leave you there," he said. "Pay the money for a real tour!" That was sound advice. Unfortunately Willemstad, Curacao was our last port of call, and my sisters and I were low on cash. We still wanted a tour, so we relied on our brother's second level warning, "Take a man with you."

The tours we should have taken

Cruise ship staff offered safe, organized tours at each port. Their island packages included activities like para-sailing and snorkeling; but they were well beyond our price range. Tour guides stationed inside port gates were considered safe as well. Those guys drove late model vehicles and displayed maps with full itineraries. Their prices weren't bad either, but we wanted a deal.

Getting the deal

Many of the bootleg tour guides were simply low budget operations or Curacao taxi drivers trying to make an extra buck. They waited outside the port gates in slightly shabby vans. They didn't offer frills like schedules or written itineraries. Some didn't have air conditioning; but it was nearly 90 degrees, so that's where we drew the line. They were all smiling and pleasant, not at all the shady characters we expected to see; so we made a judgment call based on gut-reactions, AC and a price we could haggle.

That strategy worked in Aruba where a nice lady named Maryam gave us a grand island tour, recited cultural and historic facts and took us to the same touristy spots as the expensive guys. That's not the kind of tour guide we got in Curacao. I can't remember his name, so I'll just call him Bootleg Bob the taxi driver.

A one hour tour deal

A married couple came along with us, so we had the "man" my brother suggested. Bob's price was 15 American dollars each for two hours. My sister talked him down to one hour for 7 dollars, so we had our price. We hopped into his shabby air conditioned van and Bob promised us what we asked for. He'd take us to see dolphins, the swinging bridge and the floating market. And yes, we'd get to wade in the Caribbean Ocean somewhere along the way.

So, tell us about Curacao, Bob.

While traveling the sleek Queen Liliana Bridge high above the city, someone asked Bob to stop so we could take photos. He sighed like a teenager with an attitude, then pulled into a lane of stopped cars. We got a fabulous view of Willemstad harbor and the Punda and Otrabando districts below. (I looked these facts up later myself.)

Bob offered little voluntary information about Curacao's cultural landmarks and colorful Dutch inspired architecture. He didn't say much at all, so we asked questions. Unfortunately some of his answers didn't sound all that believable, like "it takes 6 hours to drive from one end of Curacao to the other." (The Island is only 38 miles long.)

We got what we paid for

Bob drove us through the seedier parts of Willemstad, where buildings were in varying states of disrepair. He traveled too fast for us to take many pictures, and we didn't get to see any dolphins; but he made good on his other tour promises. We saw the swinging bridge, and the floating market. We even stopped at a rocky stretch of beach where Bob frowned and sighed a lot while we waded in the Caribbean.

He dropped us off in the Punda shopping district and we walked across the Queen Emma Swinging Bridge to the Otrabando side. We visited the 19th century Rif Fort, Renaissance Mall and a local artist and vendor market. We actually saw more sites walking the streets of Curacao than on our dirt cheap tour, but that was okay. Every minute on the island was beautiful and memorable; and at least our guide didn't take us to the middle of nowhere and leave us there.

Source:

My bootleg tour of Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles