After days of progressing boat jobs, we decided it was time for a day off and we headed in to Willemstad. 

We were keen to visit the Kura Hulanda Museum, the highlight of which is an excellent and very moving exhibition of the horrors of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Curaçao became the Caribbean’s busiest slave depot during the 17^th century and the Dutch and the Portuguese  shipped tens of thousands of Africans to the island to work the salt fields and the so-called ‘plantations’ - holding houses where slaves were broken in to their new roles before being sold on to plantation owners across the Caribbean and Brazil.  Slavery was finally abolished in the ABCs (Islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire) in 1863.

The Kura Hulanda Museum Slavery Exhibition:

Slave Pillars, with night bell also used for whipping slaves:

More sights around Willemstad, including the beautiful stained glass window in the central post-office…

Dushi means ‘sweet’ or ‘sweetheart’ in Papiamento, the local language in the ABCs.  Mi dushi, My sweetheart, Macushla…