Curacao—Field Studies Blog
Ostriches, mountains and aloe, oh my! In a pastel colored port that at first glance offers European designer shops and western luxuries, Sørlandet's students found genuine learning opportunities and Caribbean adventure.
The study of agricultural practices and sustainability are of prime interest to any global citizen. They’re important to Sørlandet. At an ostrich farm and aloe plantation, students learned how islanders are making use of both native and nonnative plants and animals in arid environments. Students actually got to tour the grounds of an ostrich farm, to study its ostrich breeding program, to hold an ostrich egg and to taste ostrich meat. Later at an aloe plantation, they learned of the plant’s medicinal properties and tasted raw aloe, too.
Most exciting in Curacao were the outdoors. Faculty and students enjoyed an overnight stay in Christoffel National Park. There they barbequed and made a basecamp from which they trucked along brambly roads to the coastline, to caves home to bats and indigenous art, and to Mount Christoffelberg itself, the highest point of Curacao. The hike was not easy. It was rewarding. At the top of the mountain, after a trying morning climb, students and faculty enjoyed a panoramic view of the island and Caribbean.
But Sørlandet's Field Studies were not all cheerful. Field Studies aboard focused on the Atlantic slave trade and Field Studies ashore continued the theme. At the Kura Hulanda Slave Museum, students saw firsthand horrific remnants of slave trade in the Caribbean and Americas. Perhaps most chilling was a replicated hold of a slave ship. In its darkness, a Hulanda guide described the deplorable living conditions slaves would have known, being ripped from Africa and ferried across the Atlantic, a suffering for which students—having crossed the Atlantic themselves in comfort, though with inevitable challenge—had a newfound and sincere appreciation.
