than he. On the way to the cleaning shed, he ran into a second fisherman who had a stringer with a dozen baby minnows. The second fisherman looked at the marlin, turned to the first fisherman and said, " Only caught one, eh?"
Well, I was told that we have a chance to catch blue marlin and all the fishes with names from the title... I did not catch them... Not even a single one like in a joke. I tried, and it felt that it was close, but no, I did not even see them... Deep water fishing on the last day of our trip to one of the Caribbean jewels - Curacao, was still the jewel on the crown. Probably it was the effect of fishing deep for a first time, but it was great, almost matching the feeling on top of dune in Namibian desert (and that is hell of a feeling :)).
Sea was refreshing us with occasional splash of waves amidst 35 degrees (Celsius) delivered by always welcoming Caribbean sun. Our fisherman team was excellent, bites were great, just that fish did not co-operate. They said they catch something in 80% of the trips, so we were the minority :) Still, fishing was the highlight of the trip as this was so much Carribean to me. We met there Carlos - mexican, who was studying in USA, before he came to Curacao 16 years ago.. And once he came to Curacao, he never left, as he saw here the perfect place to realize his dream - be a fisherman. He said he is in the sea for 300 days a year, all for fishing trip, while fish itself is not the main objective, but the process is (and of course tips are welcome..).
"Place to live your dream", that could be the slogan of Curacao, really small country in Caribean sea, just 150 km away from Venezuela coast and only 150 thousand locals living there. Netherlands Antilles were dissolved into small "countries" only in 2010, so presence of Dutch is overhelming, starting from beer choice in bars to language spoken... Local people here have come here to realize their smallest or grandest dreams and to live their lives in peace and harmony... The climate, proximity to equator, water that does not bite you with cold teeth once you get in, cheep rum, salaries that are somewhat above Latvian average, no heating bills (but bills for AC are considerable), beautiful people (no worries, Latvian ladies still are still above the crowd :)) - all makes life here a matter of living, not surviving. Again, as Latvian, I might be worn out at some point of time from the heat (where 35 degrees is not close to the top..), but overall, place was just screaming: "Relax, take it easy, take your time!". Well, I am overstating a bit, but Curacao had that "manjana" (tomorrow) attitude even more than Spanish folks have. People always smiling and being happy. They say that index of happiness is highest in Bhutan, but probably only because they do not measure it in Curacao... I envy americans a bit, as they are only 3 hours flight away from small piece of Carribean paradise. I am hoping to come back to Carribean one day, they say Aruba is marvellous too.