Mayonnaise

The Dutch have a thing for mayonnaise.  It is served with everything...fries, sandwiches, burgers, steaks, seafood, and snacks.  It is not enough to serve plain mayo.  Sometimes they mix in ketchup, curry, dill, or onions.

Bread is not served with butter but with mayo.

 

Fries are the preferred side to everything. they are served at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Never served with ketchup, always with mayo or fries sauce call "fritssaus". Fritssaus is similar to mayonnaise, but is leaner and usually sweeter than mayo.

You can order fries without sauce by saying "patat zonder" (patat is another word for fries). "patat met" translates to: fries with (no need to add mayo). And one more: "patat pinda" is fries with peanut sauce.

Our neighbors who returned from visiting family in Holland explained one other way to eat fries.  "Patat oorlog" translates to: war fries.  They are topped with mayo, peanut sauce and chopped white onions.

The Dutch treat fries like Americans treat hot dogs.  You can put anything on them.

Zen

A friend of mine talks about getting her Zen. I realized that the last six months for me has been all about winding down, relaxing and trying to be calm. 

We were crazy stressed during the last year.  Moving was hard.  Getting settled in a new country and learning the culture, although interesting, was also stressful.

We are just now finding our Zen. The warm weather and easy lifestyle has made us slow down. We no longer scream or honk at slow and stupid drivers.  We just follow behind them patiently. We no longer have expectations from government entities.  We have accepted Island time.

We leisurely go about our lives.  We have no expectations for each day except to enjoy each other and our life together.

I know I am closer to reaching my Zen.  My blood pressure has dropped by 30 points.  My anxiety has gone away. I don't snore anymore.

I am still practicing. Hopefully, I will find my Zen.

  

Pomegranate

I have never seen a pomegranate on a bush.  Here is one that grows in front of a restaurant. It hasn't turned red yet and it's smaller than the ones in the grocery store.  I wanted to pick it and take it home....I think I will wait until it turns red.

We are always amazed by this island.  We discover all sorts of stuff.

This is a pomegranate bush/tree. I don't think anyone trims or waters it as it survives on what rain falls. It's a shabby tree with fruit.
 

Cruise Ship

A behemoth cruise ship docked in Bonaire today.  It has been 18 months since the last cruise ship. 

It's a mixed bag of emotions.  The island needs the income from the cruise boats.  Restaurants, gift shops, tour operations are glad to have the business.  Those of us that have gotten used to the sleepy, quiet island are feeling invaded.

They have closed the road along the shore near the dock.  They have set up a check point for Covid.  The cruisers have to show proof of vaccination and/or test negative for Covid.  Lots of people are wearing masks again indoors and out. The ship is about 40% of capacity which means about 2,000 people. This is a lot of people on an island with only 21,000 residents.

The roads, which are notoriously bad and crowded, are even worse.  Now there are golf carts, scooters, bikes, busses and taxis. All the roads are just two lanes so passing slow moving vehicles is not easy. Traffic can back up by 50 cars going one way.

The ship docks at 4:00 am and is usually gone by 6:00 pm.  We can return to town in the evening without sharing it with the cruisers. 

 

It's a Miracle

We went, once again, to the license bureau office for the island of Bonaire.  We had a 8:00 am appointment, apparently with 20 other people.  We sat in the waiting room. The receptionist finally showed up and gave us a number for our appointment.  It was 203 and they started at number 103. In truth, we were the third ones called to the counter.

We wore long pants, closed toed shoes and shirts with sleeves. This is a requirement when meeting with the government. Rick commented: "this is unnatural". We have spent six months in swim suites, shorts and tank tops.  It certainly felt unnatural to have all these clothes on. Putting shoes on was also a rude awakening for our feet that have only felt the freedom of flip flops.

We also carted all of our paperwork with us because they usually ask to see it, one more time.  This time they didn't ask for any documents.

After six months and two days, we received our resident ID cards. They took our photos, looked at our passports and created the cards. It took about 45 minutes. It is anti-climatic after waiting all this time. 

It's a miracle!