Why Curacao? (Part 2)

I had a fabulous time in Curacao, got my Advanced Open Water diver certification, and made some great friends in Mark, Suzy, Jesper, and Frank at the Dive Bus. My last day of diving I spent the evening down at the dive shop drinking WAY too many Polar beers (the local beer imported from Venezuela - very cheap!!) and spent the next day flying home with a severe hangover. Many would think that experience would be a negative...but believe it or not it just reinforced that this is the place for me!!

As soon as I got home, I immediately started talking about moving to Curacao. I talked to my boss and asked him if I could move my job, talked to my parents and asked for their thoughts, mentioned it to a few (dozen) friends, and started researching the possibility of moving here. Also, I started researching my next trip down here - scheduled it for September - and brought my mom with me.

While here in September 2006, I did my Emergency First Response and Rescue Diver course. Actually, mom also got her Emergency First Response certification while here - we learned emergency first and second aid, CPR, and "Hello, my name is your name. I'm an emergency first responder. May I help you?" Here's Bob, our CPR dummy who so graciously helped us out....but as you can see, he had a rough day of it....needed a beer and a smoke afterwards....

I made up my mind during this trip that I was going to make my move to Curacao happen. I put together a 1 year plan - which included a way for me to not be dependent on my Aon job for income. I moved back in with mom & dad starting in January 2007, signed up for a 9 month long massage therapy course, and started socking away $ into savings. Needless to say, it was a busy 9 months - working full-time, attending massage therapy classes at nights and on weekends, still traveling for my job, AND living with my parents again!!! :)

I made the move on October 3, 2007. I moved into a vacation apartment for the first month while I was looking for something more permanent, and bought a car within the first week. Below is a picture of my lovely 2003 Nissan Platina - made in Mexico - took me HOURS to find the oil dipstick!!!!

So to the question, 'Why Curacao?', my only answer is "Because I felt this is what I needed to do." And here I am....