Bati Bleki, February 17th, 2015

BLUE VILLAGE, NO LONGER BLUE. It retained its name, but it’s no longer sad, on the contrary, the place is looking much better under new ownership. In October, the unremarkable and rundown property adjacent to legendary Madame Janette restaurant at Cunucu Abao started a renovation process, destined to receive contemporary furniture and fixtures, offering one and two-bedroom units in a completely updated, European style. The renovations, under the direction of Melinda and Theo van der Sanden are going well, and Melinda is totally enthusiastic about the project. While Theo oversees the engineering and architecture, she likes interior design. I bet she also gave up cooking while working around MJ. Why bother, leave it to the experts.
COMPLIMENTS TO HARD-WORKING PRIVATE OWNERS. What do the following have in common?? The Boardwalk Small Hotel, Paradera Park Apartments and Bucuti Beach Resort & Tara Suites?? I will tell you. They’re privately owned businesses. In the case of the Boardwalk Small Hotel, the colorful property is owned and managed by a cute pair of twins, from Belgium, with Kimberly Rooijakkers in charge of hotel operations and her sister Stephanie directing reservations and guests relations. They are both excellent at what they do, guests love them, and awarded them a TripAdvisor Traveler’s Choice Award for BEST service in 2015, an achievement which is as easy as eating soup with a fork. Stephanie just recently became a mom, and Kimberly will be turning that corner shortly. They are thinking of expanding their resort as soon as their babies learn to answer the phone, while mom is busy on the construction site. Then there is Paradera Park managed by a husband and wife team, Henk Steenbergen and Deborah De Weer. He does the heavy lifting, the maintenance and gardening, it all looks gorgeous and impeccable, and she coordinates the rest of the kit and caboodle. Their 2015 award pronounces Paradera Park, among Best Bargain Hotels in the Caribbean. Deborah also makes Loretti design jewelry, Queen Maxima is the proud owner of a piece from the Royal Collection. Trip Advisor names Bucuti & Tara Beach Resorts #1 hotel in the Caribbean, in not just one but four categories, including romance! The resort, owned by legendary hotelier and environmental guru Ewald Biemans and managed by a team of unstoppable women – methodical Deborah Dintelman and feisty Tisa LaSorte. They resort sits as you know on a most gorgeous beach, and takes care of business. How do they do it, I don’t know, Ewald says it’s easy, just like fitting an eel with a snorkeling mask. Bottom line, they are one of the most successful resort properties on the island. My conclusion, if you own your business you can go far if you work it.
ICONIC MOUNTAIN PASSAGE. After drinking all the Trapiche wines in Argentina we took a bus trip, crossing the Andes between Mendoza, Argentina and Santiago, Chile, on Valentine’s Day, 2015, a truly unique experience of magnificent mountain scenery and stark natural beauty. We stopped to take a picture of Mount Aconcagua – it towered over us with an impressive snow cap from 7,000m above sea level. It is the highest mountain in both North and South America. There were about 5,000 cars, trucks and buses in line on this holiday weekend and our private charter bus driver said it was worth a least a 10-hour wait, but his friends on the Argentinean side helped us out. It seems to me that the Argentinean border police manages the crossing most inefficiently, maybe they too drink too much Malbec for lunch, but we were lucky, we spent just two hours of crawling up the mountains to the Los Libertadores customs facility, passing the incredible 3,000m tunnel on the way. Then bags and passports were inspected and we piled back into the bus. We also used the rest-rooms at the army barrack-styled pass, at 3,900m, it felt liberating! As expected, it all went downhill after that with 19 spectacularly engineered curves in the road which took us down the Andes on the Chilean side. A total of 10 hours, 364km flew by thanks to the phenomenal DJ who proved to us we could be perfectly happy on just bread and wine! In order to not to make enemies I have to add that the border between the two nations can be found somewhere in the middle of the tunnel, and that the name of the place is different, the Uspallata Pass in Argentina and Lost Liberadores in Chile, or maybe it’s vice versa.
CURACAO SUMMER CONCERTS. Curacao recently announced it will be orchestrating Curaçao International BlueSeas Festival, in Willemstad, which according to Marketing Manager Janine Neef de Windt, will unfold on Thursday May 7th and Friday, May 8th. Nine artists will perform free on charge in Punda on Saturday, May 9th. The festival will close with two concerts on the Kleine Werf, in the port of the St Anna Bay. Blues lovers rejoice, the lineup is stellar. And if you are going for the weekend in Curacao, here’s a suggestion: ACOYA, just recently opened there, owned by the parents of Reena Chugani, check it out at www.acoyacuracao.com. The property is gorgeous with large villas, and the popular restaurant Seasons which moved from its old location to the new resort. The spa is preparing to open this month! So next time you are in Curacao try something different Blues combined with an upscale vacation home rental in a nice resort with hotel services, adjacent to a most beautiful beach. Reena went to Wharton Business School and started her career with her family’s real estate business in Curacao. She moved to Aruba three and a half years ago after marrying her husband Tesh Chugani.
WELCOME BACK MYRIAM ROOS. If the name sounds familiar, it is. Rebecca Roos has a sister who recently moved back from Sint Maarten to live here and be closer to family members. Besides, she says, I needed a change of pace, trading Simpson Bay for Casibari. As an experienced writer and graphic designer Myriam worked for the Daily Herald in Sint Maarten, from the time is was a weekly, printed in Curaçao. Admittedly, she has a versatile resume also in other fields because her never-ending curiosity, gets her doing different jobs, including the management of a sailing marina, bartending, administration and watersport, with hobbies including competitive swimming having been a Barracuda syncro princess back in the days. [email protected]

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February 16, 2015
Rona Coster