Curacao ║ The New York City of the Caribbean: Pietermaai is the Lower East Side
Every traveler has a tale to tell and mine takes place in Curacao — the biggest of six islands in the Caribbean that are still part of the Dutch Kingdom.
For New Yorkers looking for the ideal Caribbean experience, you should look no further than Curacao. One of the things that New Yorkers love is authenticity and that’s exactly what you’ll find with the Caribbean island of Curacao. There are many parallels between the island of Manhattan and the island of Curacao and there is a very good reason for this. They share a similar history.
In the early 1600s, both were inhabited by natives until Dutch settlers staked their claim by the Dutch West India Company. Manhattan was dubbed “New Amsterdam” in 1624 and downtown Curacao was fortified as “Fort Amsterdam” in 1635.
Both areas were protected by walls that served to protect their citizens. The protected wall in Manhattan was located at modern day Wall Street.
The Dutch settlement in both locations was followed by the English, the French, the Portuguese, and Spanish forces.
In both locations, the fortified areas became too crowded to sustain their growing populations and wealthy individuals sought to move beyond the walls to escape. On Curacao, the wealthy who consisted of government officials and ship captains decided to build large houses starting around 1830. The area was named after the famous captain Pieter De Maij where the district of Pietermaai got its name. Some of the houses that were built there nearly 300 years ago still stand.
Pietermaai is like the Lower East Side of Curacao — in that it’s rising again after years of dangerous drug gang filled years. Similar resurgence. You can see some of the ancient structures below.
Now look at the beauty that the hard work of Wilfred and his crew has created. These modern, colorful creations have reinvigorated the area to make it the best nightlife district on the island.
It was my first night in Curacao and with some jitters and excitement Jeff and I got into the car and attempted to find Pietermaai — no Google map — no wifi — just the old-school way of looking at a map and figuring the rest out as we go.
➀ What was your vision before you embarked on your journey to helping revive Pietermaai? By coincidence, we bought the first building in Pietermaai. Turning this old house with 15 rooms into a student house, we felt the vibe of this forgotten neighborhood.
Nobody else seemed to be interested, so after the first one, we bought the second, third, fourth and so on. In the meanwhile, forming a vision in our minds of bringing back the entire neighborhood to life again. No business plan or whatever, we just started, in silence, buying the old impoverished houses and started transforming them slowly into restaurants and bars and apartments for residents, students, tourists and businesspeople.
It started in 2000.
➁ What were some of the most challenging experiences through your journey?
The neighborhood was taken over by drug dealers and addicts. When we were finished with the first apartments for students and tourists, these groups lived together in this neighborhood. You can imagine that it was not always a success.
We were also bringing new daylight into this neighborhood, which the criminals didn’t like at all, so threats were normal (burn down your properties, do something to you family, etc.). At that time there was no support from the government at all. We had a 5 person security team walking around during the dark hours. That was the beginning.
Now, this is all over, but now we have to deal with jealous neighbors, they are seeing that we transformed the neighborhood successfully, trying to make our life miserable with cheap lawyers etc. Never a dull moment, but we will continue.
➂ What do you enjoy most in Pietermaai now?
Before we did not have an area on the island, like in European inner cities, where you can go out, walking from bar to bar or restaurant. Pietermaai is such a place now. We even host an international blues festival >>>www.curacaoblueseasfestival.com
Besides that, is the most enjoyable that the houses and buildings are safe for the next 100 years, kept for the next generation. People living and working here in good harmony together. A good place in Curacao to go to, (in Dutch we call it a good ‘business card’ for Curacao)
If you would like to be a part of a neighborhood instead of a guest in a hotel, book a hotel room or apartment in one of the Boutique Hotels in Pietermaai, prices are general lower than in the big hotels.
- Stroll around on evenings, start with happy hour at 5:30 pm and have a drink here and a bite there, meet locals.
- From Pietermaai you can walk easily to the shopping center, Handelskade, and museums. Beaches are just a short distance away.
- If you like photographing, this is a Walhalla (hall of fame) for you.
➄ What future vision do you have for Pietermaai?
That Pietermaai will become even more popular, and like Old San Juan in Puerto Rico, the must see while on Curacao. Well maintained monuments, people walking on cobble stone streets, residents and tourists, more little boutiques and even more new modern apartments or hotels, to get a good balance between old and new. The place to be on Curacao.
On April 23rd, Pietermaai celebrated their King’s Day in orange style:
I can imagine if you’re here as a tourist, you wouldn’t believe your eyes, everything is orange! >>> https://www.facebook.com/PietermaaiDistrict
