Batidos en Curaçao – a complete guide

Here and there in Willemstad- you’re going to find these little vans from which they make delicious fruitshakes called batidos : an antillian name for a fresh smoothie. A mix of the fruit of your choice, condensed milk and sugar makes these shakes the best thing drinkwise in all of Curaçao. The healthier option is to skip the condensed milk and sugar, which is almost as good. The best batido place is Anders Shakes in Otrabanda where they make it fast and are also generous with the quantity of each ingredient.. After trying your first you’ll always be craving more, but if you want to spice things up they also make some delicious local food like pastechi and a wonderfully large fresh fruit salad mix. The best fruit you can pick for your shake is hands down Soursop: a fruit that tastes so miraculously good that people keep eating it even though they know it causes brain damage. An excerpt from wikipedia:

The compound annonacin contained in the seeds of soursop is a neurotoxin and it seems to be the cause of a neurodegenerative disease. The only group of people known to be affected live on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe and the problem presumably occurs with the excessive consumption of plants containing annonacin.

 Un batido grandi di Zuursak ku lechi i suku pa 5 NAF.

Facts

• Payment: Cash, in gulden or dollars.
• Prices: small size batido costs ~3.00 Naf, and Naf ~5.00 for the large size.
• The majority of the staff in the stalls speak survival English but are fluent in Spanish and Papiamentu.
• Your trip to Curaçao will not be complete without the Zuursak/Soursop grandi with milk and sugar.

Lingo

• Bon dia / halo = hello
• Chikitu = small Grandi = big
• Lechi = milk Suku = sugar
• Ku = with Sin = without
• Porfabor = please
• Danki! = Thanks!

You’re always this happy when buying a batido.