Water Polo

Who knew that water polo was a thing in Bonaire?  Well it is. We attended an international water polo tournament. It included teams from Bonaire, Aruba, Curacao and the Netherlands (I think the Netherlands made it international).

The polo fields were set up downtown in Kralendijk in the sea. Water polo is usually played in an indoor pool.  It's unusually to play the game in the sea.  

We thought it was funny that they had their names on the butt of their swim suits. Like you could see their names while they were in the water...HA!  The Bonaire team had the flag on their suits.  Equally funny to us.

An Olympic water polo star from the Netherlands started the water polo club/teams in Bonaire 17 years ago. She is the coach for the youth team. The Netherlands National Coach was also at the tournament providing training through workshops in the water. 

Our neighbor, Erik, is a water polo player as is his12 year old daughter.  We were at the tournament to cheer for them. This is Erik's boat that typically lives in his yard.  We always called it the "SS Minnow" because we didn't think it would float.  It is the water polo team boat.  It sports a Bonaire flag and the ball retrievers use it as a base platform. 

 

Amazon Order

The strap on my swim goggles broke.  There is not a replacement on the island. So I ordered one through Amazon. But how do I get it delivered to Bonaire?

Well, there is a shipping service called eZone on Bonaire. When you sign up you receive international addresses in the UK, USA and Canada.  This means you can shop online from virtually anywhere and eZone will ship to you. I got a shipping address in Miami.  Amazon confirmed delivery to the Miami address under my name.  eZone notified me that my order was in Miami and ready to ship to Bonaire.

To get the shipment through customs you must supply a litany of information including invoices, crib number (tax ID), photo ID and detailed description of the item.  I get to pay duty on the item in addition to a per weight charge.  You really just want to use this service for light and small items because it's pricey.

When your order has gotten through customs, eZone notifies you via their app that you can schedule a time to pick it up. You cruise down to their office, give them your order number and they give you your Amazon package.

 Worked like a charm.

 

Recyling

We had a massive amount of cardboard, Styrofoam, paper and strapping from our recent purchase of TV's.  Along with our cans, pizza boxes, pickle jars and wine bottles, we headed to the recycle center.  We arrived to a closed gate.  Drove home and unloaded. Only to reload and travel the following day to the recycling center.

Two years ago, Bonaire implemented a recycling program on the island.  The island is a victim of unauthorized dumping.  The recycling program is intended to curb this bad habit and make the island as green as possible.

The center is very organized and easy to use.  We showed up on a Sunday morning and no one was there.  We have been there when they had traffic jams getting trucks and cars in and out of the lot.

There is a big container with tiny holes for recyclables. The labels are in Dutch. This is never helpful for us.  Thank goodness they have pictures.  We often have to peek inside to see what is there so we get stuff in the right place.  Otherwise, the attendant comes out and instructs you in Dutch on where to place your items. Again, not helpful.

It's much easier when you can see all the stuff to be recycled.  The center  accepts appliances, TV's, metal, and textiles.

The island is struggling with plastic.  You have to use your own grocery shopping bags.  However, they still provide plastic bags for produce.  The restaurants all use plastic straws. They sell plastic storage bags at all the stores.  Carry-out is always in Styrafoam placed in a plastic bag.  We all use trash bags. Recycling is a first step before they outlaw single use plastic bags. the island has a ways to go but they are making progress.  

Delivery

While we were in the US our credit card was compromised.  I noticed a few Uber Eats charges that were not ours.  We called the credit card company.  Our card was cancelled and a new one issued.  

We had no idea how they would get a card to us in Bonaire. I spent hours on the phone trying to explain how to get the cards to us.  In a round-about way, they were shipped by UPS to the Dutch Caribbean. 

We checked the mail daily, knowing full well that there is no mail delivery on the island.  I waited two weeks to check on our cards. The credit card company said mail is slow be patient.  I was given a UPS tracking number. We tracked the UPS number that never said it was delivered.

Rick got the grand idea to call the UPS local office.  Believe it or not, they had our envelope. We raced to the UPS office which is at the airport to get our new credit cards. UPS got the package here in two weeks from the time I called for new cards. 

We have now successfully sent and received documents with both DHL and UPS. 

 

Music

With the insistence of the youngest child, we have found our music groove.

We had looked for radio stations, tried playing our iPod on a small speaker and even played iTunes off our computers.  None seemed to fit our needs...until we found Spotify.  Actually, Steph found Spotify for us and insisted we get it and use it.

We purchased a Bluetooth speaker, downloaded the App and have been enjoying all sorts of music on our new sound system.

Our friend Dave, turned us onto Latin guitar music.  We found play lists for rock and roll (70's, 80's, 90's), country western both old and new, Caribbean steel bands, movie scores, and oldies. We have even listened to Lady GaGa, Adelle, and Madonna. We love it all!

Thanks Steph💕

 

Fertilizer

We live on a coral island.  We, along with everyone else, try to conduct our lives in a way that does not negatively impact the sea and its animals.

Our drinking water is very pure.  It has nothing in it...no minerals, no solids, nothing.  It is great tasting but has no nutritional value for plants.  Particularly plants in pots.

When it comes to fertilizing plants, you have to be creative. Most manufactured fertilizers contain too much nitrogen and phosphorus which is not good for the sea.

Our gardener suggested we use donkey manure.  It's free and natural and is already present on the island. It is good to use on plants throughout our garden and yard.  Particularly, since it will remain in pots and not get into the groundwater, which is really sea water.

I have collected the raw material for my "fertilizer production operation". Not any manure will do for this operation.  It must be properly dried on the road and not fresh.

The dry manure is collected in a bucket.  Add water and stir.  Periodically stir the mixture for 3-4 weeks until the manure has broken down.

Bucket one is used for the preliminary processing.  A portion of the liquid is transferred to a second bucket to be further diluted. I have been told that a 1/2 gallon of the donkey fertilizer can be used on each plant.

This is my fertilizer processing plant.  It consists of two buckets with lids, two stir sticks and a water supply.

This is my first attempt at making liquid fertilizer from natural materials. I feel like such an earth muffin.

 

Mango Bonanza

The Mango War rages on...we humans won this round.  The wind blew down a bonanza of mango from our tree. More mangos than we could possibly carry in one trip with arms full of the luscious fruit.

Before you get concerned about the parrots' part in all this...just know that they get their share daily.  Yes, they still take one bit out of the mango just to spoil it for us. They visit all day long.  We continue to haze them to no avail.  They continue their feasts.

We have been making smoothies: mangos, Greek yogurt and ice. Once the mangos are cut, which is no easy task, by Rick the master mango cutter, we throw everything in the blender.

We talked about making mango frozen yogurt.  We have so many mangos that we can't eat them all.  Apparently, the fall is when the mangos ripen and are the best.  We are learning the growing cycles as we go.

Great way to start our mornings. These are super tasty!

Mango War:  Humans 1 vs Parrots 10

 

Key West

When we were in Miami, we rented a car and drove to Key West.  It had been on our list to drive the over-water highway.  It was really interesting.  The engineering of the road or rather long bridge was a real feat. Just when you got tired of looking at the ocean, another island showed up.  We enjoyed exploring most of them on our way to Key West.
 

Key West does not have great beaches.  This one in the state park was a nice white sand beach with pine trees. 

We visited all the tourist spots, Durant Street, Hemmingway's House, forts, restaurants,  and shopping.  It's a fun place for a day and that is all we spent there.

They put my name on a sign so I had to take a picture.  Rick couldn't get over the cannon balls so I had to take picture of those big balls.

Movies

Bonaire has a movie theater! Last night we  saw the new James Bond movie, " No Time to Die".  It was a first run movie in a real theater.  The movie had sub titles in Dutch and French.

They show first-run movies both inside and outside. The inside theater hold about 80 people, has a big screen and good sound system. They serve popcorn, candy, and drinks.  Plus it's air conditioned!

The outdoor screen is like drive-in size. We think you can bring your own chairs or sit at table and chair sets.

We had such a good evening.  Seeing a new movie at a theater is something we haven't done in 2 years.

Seasons

We are getting a double whammy on the island.  We have Sahara dust and ash from the exploding volcano on the Canary Islands.  Makes for great sunset photos.

The wind has picked up on the island.  Which makes the skies hazy and lays a layer of dust and ash over everything.

And to top it off, we are in the hottest part of the year with temperatures in the 90's that feels like 104. Rainy season started October 1.  No rain yet.

High season starts in November.  The good weather returns as do more tourists.

The wind has affected our wine drinking.  The stemmed glasses teeter in the wind and threatened to topple our wine.  We finally changed to stemless glasses.  We also started uses thermal cups.  They don't sweat and they keep things cold. Win-Win for us.

There is also a growing season in Bonaire.  It starts in November when the cooler temperatures return.  We planted our tomatoes in August....bad timing.  We do have tomatoes growing but the plants looked stressed no matter how much we water.  We have erected a sun shade over our plants to keep them out of the sun while the shade/screen/green house gets built.

Rick bought live Mexican Oregano plants (six of them) while we were in the States.  We carried them through Georgia and Florida without TSA saying a word.  Looked like a pot plant so we carried a receipt identifying them as oregano. In college we called pot oregano....apparently that is no longer a thing.

 

Homecoming

We arrived home to a jimmied lock and a missing safe. We think it happened the first few days we were gone. Our first night home we spent with the police filing a burglary report. The investigators came and took photos and finger prints. 

It seems there has been a rash of burglaries on the island. The robbers watch houses and  know when you are not home.  They came over the wall from the rental house next to ours.

Disturbing. We feel vulnerable. Not safe. Angry.

So we took action.  We had all the locks on the house replaced and re-keyed.  The safe had all of our house keys with labels.  We put door stoppers in all the door tracks.  We ordered a security system with cameras, alarms, and surveillance.  The windows are a weak link with missing handles and closures.  We ordered new windows.  We changed the auto lights to turn on earlier. We increased our insurance.

Interesting tidbits: there is no locksmith on Bonaire.  Handymen replace doors and locks.  There are no pawn shops on the island.  We thought we could monitor those for our goods.  The police have no idea where stolen stuff is fenced.

Paradise lost.

  

Trip to the States

We made a trip back to the States to surprise my grandson for his 12th Birthday.  We visited friends and family. We shopped, ate at our favorite restaurants, and enjoyed the great outdoors.

Colorado seemed very familiar.  We certainly loved the the weather and green surroundings.  We visited six cities in three weeks. It was great to see everyone but also exhausting. 

The "Grands" have grown!

 

Loved the rocking chairs in the Miami Airport. We took Covid tests to get into the US and on our return to Bonaire; and another test five days after arrival in Bonaire. Glad to report we are Covid free after being in multiple airports, airplanes, shopping centers, restaurants, with friends and family.

We saw this sign in Key West: In life, its not where you go it's who you travel with.