Holidays

As many of you know December is full of events for us.  Christmas is just one of the events we celebrated.  So here is a run down of the activities.

I turned 70 in December and Rick turned 72.  This was the first year that I felt the aging process. I am not as sharp as I used to be.  I am slower and not as strong as I used to be.  However, I was reminded by my many friends ( throughout the week of birthday celebrations) that is a privilege to be this old.  So I am learning to embrace my age and be thankful for every day that I am above ground.

Our Christmas morning tradition is going to the beach with orange rolls and Mimosa's in hand.  It is a delight to us to be able to enjoy the white sand beach and turquoise water. Once again, we are thankful to live our dream on this beautiful island.

We were able to wish friends a family a Merry Christmas through phone calls, texting and emails. Our friends hosted a Christmas pool party and dinner followed by games and singing Christmas carols (aided with the words printed out).  We had the best day.

Bonaire lights up for New Years.  From about 8 pm to 1pm everyone lights fireworks.  Not those little sparkler type things but real big, booming, and colorful fireworks.  Kralendijk is ablaze with fireworks.  The harbor fills with boats watching the show.  Our neighborhood  fireworks displays were especially big.

 

New Years Day feast was hosted by our friends around their pool.  Tamales were imported and all the sides were provided by the attendees.  It was a Mexican finale to a great holiday season.

This is island life in December. We hop from party to party, gatherings with friends and eating good food. Plus there are a lot of adult beverages involved. Most people will choose to have a dry January.  Rick and I will continue to party until we can't.  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Bonaire.  

Solar Part 3

Our Chinese solar equipment got delivered 6 months after ordering.  We stored the equipment in the bunker and outside as installation started a week after deliver.  

 



Our solar guys moved the 14 collection panels to the roof.  They attached them using the screws already on the roof so no new wholes were made (which was a requirement from me) to eliminate any roof leaks. The panels are on the east, south and west sides of the roof for maximum collection from the sun.

The bunker (which was built under the Mango tree months ago) is now home to two batteries and a solar inverter.  This set up should supply us power throughout the night without having to use power from WEB, our utility company 

On the first night of solar, our batteries were charged but they were not releasing power into the house. Our solar guys monitored the system as did Rick on his phone app. They both noticed the issue.  Since China is 10 hours time different than Bonaire, our solar guys had to wait  to talk with the Chinese engineers to solve the issue.  24-hours later we were up and running with power generation and usage.

This concludes (I hope) the solar saga series.

Washing Machine

You remember how much trouble I had with the little Dutch washing machine that came with the house? I never could figure out how to work it and it never worked very good.  I had been washing towels at the laundromat because the little Dutch machine just couldn't handle towels.  I also sent my sheets out to a professional laundry (I will keep doing that because it is so nice to have washed and pressed sheets). It also took hours to wash and was starting to shake violently when on spin cycle. 

Nothing is easy.  I got a top load washer.  Most of the European washers are front load. The change required that we retrofit the laundry closet.  Rick had to take out the butcher block shelf and all the associated screws and boards.  The new machine also required new plumbing configuration and a transformer to keep it from frying when there are power surges. The delivery guys took away the old washer, put in the new washer and connected all the water and wastewater pipes.  The delivery and set was only $35.

My new LG washer is in English. Its a top load and can wash 13 kg which is double the capacity of the old washer.

We had a lizard die on our outside cabana bed under the pillows. I know, it was a real icky thing.  I had to wash all the pillows and sheets and bed covering because everything smelled like....like dead lizard.

Anyway, the washer worked and we are now back to having a modern washing machine.

 

 

'tis the season

Christmas markets are popping up all over the island.  Happens every year.  The markets are done in various neighborhoods.  They feature booths with handmade things, food and clothing. They are very charming. 
 

Rick found a mermaid and struck up a conversation.  It was short  discussion because she said she could only be out of the water for 1 hour 😂.

The whole gang (those of us that don't leave for the winter) met up for dinner at a local "snacky" after attending the market.

The holiday events are stacking up...Christmas Concerts, Markets, December Birthdays and of course, Christmas.  It's our favorite time of  year.

Lac Cai

 

We took a Sunday drive to Lac Cai which is on the east side of the island.  We were specifically looking for a hidden beach but found lots of other great spots.  On our way we saw a flock of flamingos and they were close enough to get photos.   

We always see donkeys on the roads and streets but seldom horses.  I think there is a horse riding stable somewhere on the island and this guy was probably out for a walk.  I took his photo
as he stood in the middle of road.

The road was a mess. Bumps, ruts, and puddles which required careful driving at 20 kmh.  It took us 30 minutes to get there which is a lot of time for this island.

We were rewarded with a beautiful, calm bay of crystal clear water.  We walked through low brush and trees to a clearing featuring a white sand beach.

There are mounds of conch shells in this small fishing area. Long ago they managed to over harvest conch and they are now protected.  However, there are very few left in the Bonaire waters.  Only the shells remain of their past indiscretions.

There is a weekend bar at Lac Cai serving food and drinks. They even had a band and Christmas decorations. But views were spectacular and stole the show.

On the way home we stopped at one our favorite "snacks" called Happy's.  Its the same place where we play bocce. They always remember us and greeted us with warm regards and rum punch.

It took us several shots to get a selfie that we liked.  This was the best of the bunch.  The dead tree is a bonus photo.

Thanksgiving

🦃Preparing a Thanksgiving meal on an island that doesn't recognize the holiday is like a treasure hunt. Your have to go to store after store to see what they have.  The American expats share their finds and ideas for locating needed supplies to make a Thanksgiving dinner.  This was the first year Rick and I were cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. Here is how it went...

A friend gave me a can of pumpkin that has been in her panty for a year. I found the Cool Whip at a Chinese market in Hato (a community in the north part of the island). Pie crusts were located at an old grocery store in town.  The evaporated milk was found at our regular grocery store.

Pumpkin Pie ✔

There is one store that carried turkey's. It caters to the restaurants on the island.  A scout had told us that the store was going the stock them on the Monday before Thanksgiving.  I showed up Monday afternoon and got the last turkey breast on the shelf.

Turkey ✔

I looked at 10 stores for cranberries.  There were no fresh cranberries on the island.  I ran into the Editor of the newspaper, who was also looking for supplies, and she told me that the expensive speciality store had a big bag of cranberries. 

Our grocery store had cranberries in a jar that looked cooked and mashed. I found dried cranberries everywhere.  I was still looking for fresh. The Editor and I met up at three subsequent stores look for our supplies.

I located a can of cranberry jelly (which is Rick"s favorite) at the oldest store on the island in downtown Kralendijk. It cost $1.00. What a deal! I snatched it up and hurried home.  This was the last specialty item I needed to make the dinner complete. 

Cranberries ✔

I had to go to two stores to get potatoes.  I had to grind my own cloves because they they didn't have clove powder, and I actually found french cut green beans at our grocery. 

This was one of the best Thanksgiving dinners we have had in a long time. It took weeks to gather the supplies, 2 hours to cook it and 10 minutes to eat.  

Thanksgiving Dinner ✔

"Snow" in Bonaire

I was driving home from Bon Tera ( a local vegetable farm) and in front of the airport this foam stuff was floating all over. It looked like snow...in Bonaire!

 

The foam floated out to sea. It covered the surface and floated out to open water. The National Park Service, STINAPA, was taking photos and didn't seem very happy about the event.

Apparently, the fire department and the airport were testing their fire depression system.  The wind picked up the foam from the test and spread it all over the beach and into the water.  Cars were stopping; we were taking pictures, and a traffic jam formed.

It's a white Christmas in October on Bonaire 😎.

Back on Bonaire

We spent our first week back on Bonaire doing house repairs, laundry and getting things back in order to make our house ours again. 

At the end of the week, we treated ourselves to lunch at one of our favorite Italian (pizza) restaurants.  When we returned to our car we had a flat tire.  Rick dragged out all the equipment to change the tire.  We (I mean Rick) got to the lug nuts and couldn't turn them, much to his dismay. I don't think the Hulk could have turned them. 

 

Bonaire has a 24/7 mobile car service...so I called them.  It took 10 minutes for them to come to our rescue.  I immediately put their number in my phone for future use.

They had everything they needed in the van to service your car.  The repairman used an air jack to lift the car and his air wrench to take the lug nuts off.  He repaired the tire.  It was a hole in the sidewall, which he says is very common on the island. It took him no more than 10 minutes to do the repair and put the tire back on the car. It cost $37 which we thought was a bargain.

It was a hard week for us.  We had major jet lag and had to get the house back in order.  We made lots of stops at the appliance/electronics store, hardware store,  grocery store and car mechanic

(for our beach car)  Rick has been busy with one project after another. So, it was really great to have a repairman show up so quick, do a fast job, and charge a reasonable fee. 

Gotta love Bonaire and the mobile car repair service💓

Naples, Italy

We walked Naples seeing the city's sites.  There was graffiti on all the walls and trash everywhere we went.  It needs a power wash from top to bottom. It was packed with tourists and two cruise ships were in port when we were there. 

There is a castle and also many grand buildings in the city.  Lots of picturesque statues and fountains that Italy is famous for.  There is also this galleria with covered glass dome that was pretty cool.

The pizza...oh the pizza! It is soooo good in Naples. We ate it everywhere we went. Most of the pizza is only 6-9 Euros each.  Every restaurant serves them and they are delish!!! Did I say the pizza was good?  It was great.

Outside our hotel room ( which is really a B&B in an alley) is this cute vegetable store that sells baskets. This is the cutest thing in the city.  Rick helps me as the editor of Bonaire Bobs.  Here he is hard at work in our B&B editing the blog.

 

The main reason we came to Naples was to see the artifacts from Pompeii in the National Archeological Museum. It was fascinating to see the mosaics, statues, brass utensils, silver kitchen ware, glass, jewelry and frescos recovered from the excavations of Pompeii. Some of the mosaics are done with pieces so tiny that they provide amazing details into life in Pompeii.

The running boys and Hercules were our favorite statues. One is made of brass and the other is marble.

Two statues photo-bombed our selfie.