by Alicia Roache, Entertainment Coordinator

The Rising Stars beauties: From top: Francine Misir, chaperone and 'mother hen' to the young stars; Paula Pinnock-MacLeod, executive producer and the driving force behind the scenes of the competition and producer and publicist Sharon Shroeter make a pretty picture after a delicious dinner of fish fillet and chicken at the Grill King, Curacao. The ladies took the Rising Stars finalists on a hectic tour of the colourful island last week Tuesday to Thursday. - Alicia Roache photos

When The Rising Stars and crew arrived in Curacao, they were greeted by Chernov Rozier, a rotund, sunny man in his middle age. He is the visitor information officer for the Curacao Tourist Board. Chernov ensured a smooth passage through customs and shortly thereafter we were on our way to Curacao's capital Willemstad.

The Rising Stars, none of whom had visited the country before, stopped on the Queen Giuliana Bridge, which overlooks the landmark swinging Queen Emma bridge, accessible only to pedestrian traffic.

There they saw Curacao, the city the rainbow threw up on, for the first time.

It was a spectacular sight for Jamaicans not familiar with such unbridled colour on its buildings and such uniform architecture.

Inga was the first to offer an opinion on the city. "I like the colour," she said. "It really brightens up the place."

Chernov, who has been working with the tourist board for over 30 years, was a veritable encyclopedia on the small island of just over 140,000 people. He said in his heavy Dutch accent that The Rising Stars is the first group of Jamaicans he has worked with since the start of the year.

Culture check

Rising Stars from left: Inga Stewart, Lenya Wilks, Jodiann Pantry and Romain Virgo chant a traditional Jamaican song at the conclusion of their tour of the Kura Hulanda Museum in downtown Curacao.

On the way to the Plaza Hotel in downtown Curacao, he tried to update us on the various aspects of his culture. 'Bon Bini' is Dutch for 'welcome'. The colour is a part of the culture, influenced by the slaves who were brought to the island during the slave trade. Later, we would visit the Kura Hulanda Museum which houses items from the slave trade.

"Anyone want iguana soup?" Chernov asked, referring to the large reptiles that were once common to Jamaica. "Is very delicious," he said.

The Rising Stars, and everyone else on the bus, gave a concerted 'No!' However, some would warm to the idea later.

Chernov explained that the iguana is a delicacy in Curacao, a fact confirmed in part by the large portion of the restaurant district downtown called Iguana Café.

Chernov told us, over a meal of fish filet and stuffed cheese with rice and fries, that almost every part of the iguana is used in some way. Besides the soup, there is stew, and fried "You can eat it like chicken," he said; even the unhatched eggs are removed from the dead iguana and are boiled and eaten.

The Grill King

Yflen, the tour guide explains how the 'Tramp Cage', a thick metal cage, was used to punish and sometimes kill slaves.

The Rising Stars stopped by The Grill King, downtown Curacao on Tuesday night after a hectic first day touring the city. After the iguana experience many stuck to fish. Besides the delectable food, The Grill King, which rests at the edge of the ocean, also features live music. The native music of Curacao is the 'Tumba', outside of which the sounds are predominantly R&B, merenque and salsa. A mix of those sounds was what was played for most of the night.

Reggae is not a big feature of the music scene here. Its younger cousin, dancehall, is even less known. Of course, anywhere there is music in the world there is Bob Marley so the Rising Stars requested the musician play Marley.

Inga was the first at the table to begin singing. As she belted out the lyrics to 'Could You Be Love, Jodi Ann and Lenya joined in and soon they were the main attraction of the restaurant. It would get more entertaining when the four 'Stars' joined the musician on the floor and started skanking and singing to Marley's No Woman No Cry. At some point Romain managed to get in the Room Ram dance.

Inga would call him 'Room Ram' for most of the trip.

The Rising Stars, from left: Lenya, Inga, Romain, and Jodi, skank to the sounds of Bob Marley while at the Grill King, where they enjoyed delicious food and a Reggae jam session with the house DJ.