Floating Market - Willemstad, Curacao
Posted by: 
Raven
N 12° 06.365 W 068° 55.947
19P E 507350 N 1338285
Curacao’s Floating Market is a lively place where Venezuelan and local farmers sail into to the city's harbor to sell their fruits and vegetables (as well as fish and handicrafts).
Waymark Code: WM102J2
Location: Curaçao
Date Posted: 02/12/2019
Views: 8
Along the Waaigat Harbor in Willemstad, Curacao, boats coming in from Venezuela moor alongside each other at the Floating Market, where the captains sell everything from typical Caribbean fruits and vegetables to fish and handicrafts. At the end of the day, their wares are packed back onto their wooden boats and the vendors sleep on board.
The market is usually open from around 6am until around 2pm. It is closed on Sundays and most public holidays.
Although the actual market stalls are located on land right at the harbor, the misnomer name comes from the boats of the merchants used to transport the goods. Venezuelans sail in from 40 miles South of here to sell their wares; these boats then serve as their living quarters along with their transport back to their villages. The vendors tend to stay for a long time, often two months at a time; their merchandise is replenished every day with fresh goods from the Venezuelan mainland.
The Floating Market is lively place: people sometimes buy products without leaving their car, so traffic is anything but smooth. The market is also known for the many different language that are spoken here: people communicate in English, Papiamento, Dutch and Spanish – and often it’s a mixture of all these languages.
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This stamp was issued by the Netherlands Antilles on January 19, 1995 as part of a set of 3 in the "Curacao Carnivals" series. The Netherlands Antilles dissolved in 2010, so Curacao is now its own country.
More information about this particular stamp can be found on the following Collectors Portal
webpage.