Thankful

We celebrated the American holiday of Thanksgiving in a non-traditional way. Thursday was like any other day on Bonaire.  Sunny, warm and laid back.  We reciprocated with a walk on the beach and a beautiful sunset.

We texted/called family and friends to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. We certainly missed being with everyone.

We (meaning Rick) made a nice dinner of  lamb chops, roasted potatoes and fresh green beans. I helped by pouring the wine. We really had a wonderful day and counted our blessings...which are many.

We are so thankful that family and friends have made special efforts to stay in touch with us and following along with our adventure.

We are happy, healthy and living our dream in Bonaire.

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Wall Art

We moved into a furnished and decorated house.  However, some of the  items are just not us.  One wall in our great room featured two, huge black and white photographs of African women. They had to go!

We located a local photographer and purchased two landscape photographs of the island for replacements.  She ordered the large size prints in Holland and arranged for them to get back to Bonaire.  That process took about two months.

Rick figured out how to get this glass frame off the wall without it breaking.  The photo had adhered to the glass.  We peeled and scraped the photo off the glass.  It took us two days to clean the glue off the glass frames. 

The prints came in a roll. Our home made press system of clips, bowls, boxes and blood pressure machine worked to flatten the the new photos after several days. The prints finally laid flat so they could be mounted behind the glass.  There is no frame just a 800mm x1200 mm glass and four clips that keep it attached to the wall.

Success! We love the scenery photos of the island. The colors are fabulous and fit our island home way better than black and white portrait photos of people we don't know.

 

Twizy Tour

We took the Twizy tour today and it was a blast!

These are electric cars.  They are used in Europe to make it easy to drive narrow streets and fit in parking places.  They go fast and are quiet.  Made for a great tour of the island.  

Five of us took the tour.  We each had our own Twizy because there is no way two people can fit in this car.  I tried. You have to be very limber and thin.

We drove to the top of a scenic hill. Spectacular view of the sea.  This is the area, called Sabadeco, where all the million dollar plus homes are located on the island. 

We went on to Rincon, a historical town that housed the slaves in the 1600's.  The slaves would walk to Rincon on Fridays and return to the salt pans on Monday.  This is a 15 mile walk.  Rincon is also home to the Cadushy Distillery that makes liqueurs and rum from cactus on the island. 

We stopped for drinks at a local spot called Posada Para Mira. They had Iguana stew.  Our tour guide gave of a vivid description of the stew that made us all queasy just hearing about the contents (something about chewy skin).  Needless to say, we did not partake in the local cuisine.

Christmas Lights

My Dad always took us for a drive to see the Christmas lights. The only difference today, is I make Rick drive me around to look at the lights. Of course the other difference is that I am in Bonaire.

This is one of the government buildings that is dripping in gold lights.  The government shuts down from mid-December to Mid-January  which is convenient for no one except the government workers.
 

The Flamingo Airport is decked out in pink and white lights.  The airport only has two night flights.  Most visitors don't get to see the lights as they come and go in the daylight hours.

Each street light in downtown Kralendijk is adorned with Christmas lights. The store windows are decorated with Christmas scenes of snow, American Santa's and evergreen Christmas trees. Since there is no Thanksgiving celebration to usher in the holiday season, the decorations start going up in mid-November.

Sinter Klaus's arrival by sea, has been cancelled due to high Covid numbers. No one is allowed to gather in groups of more than 50 without a permit to do so.

Every traffic circle, park structure and sail boat in the harbor has lights.  We thought we would join the celebration.  We purchased LED Christmas lights with 110 plugs, but 110 in Bonaire is not the same as 110 in the US. Plugged in the lights with a converter and half the light strands blinked and then stopped working.  Why do they sell American type lights that don't work on the electrical system on the island?  Geeesh!

Even the palm trees get decorated. This is another government building that faces the sea.  The lights  reflect onto the water.

Christmas on the island is not a commercial endeavor.  The Dutch don't exchange thousands of gifts. It is still a celebration of the birth of Jesus.  

Donkey Sancuary

We went to the Donkey Sanctuary that is 5 minutes from our house.  They house 700 donkeys on 160 acres. They take care of old donkeys (they live until they are 50 when in captivity), pregnant and orphaned donkeys (many donkeys get killed on the roads of Bonaire), and special need donkeys (in bred, birth defects and injured). There are also the donkeys that have no problems and are kept safe at the sanctuary.

This little guy is an orphan.  They feed him by bottle every three hours.  When he is weened they will introduce him to the greater population.

I cut up a bucket full of carrots and apples to feed the donkeys.  When I was buying the carrots, the store clerk asked if I was going to feed the donkeys.  It's a regular thing people do that live on and visit the island.  No one else needs 5 pounds or carrots at one time. 

We were not prepared for the frenzy of donkeys looking for treats.

They saw us coming.  We rolled our windows down and in came the donkey noses.  The donkeys get treats from hundreds of visitors and they are not shy about putting their heads right in the window.

There were so many surrounding the car that we couldn't open the doors to get out.

We tried to drive to the observation tower to see the view of the Mundi (wild country side).  We were surrounded on all sides of the car with hundreds of donkeys. 

The treats ran out in minutes.  The donkeys kept putting their noses in the car.  The windows, and outside of the car are smeared with donkey slobber.

Someone raised baby flamingos...which is illegal. The babies didn't have parents to teach them the ways of the world or to fly so they are grounded.  The sanctuary took them in because there was no where else for them to go.  As you can see, even when the flamingos are close and not in the wild, I still can't get a decent picture.

Snack Tour

The snack van tour was a hoot.  It was nothing like we expected.  We traveled in a small van with expats from the US and Canada. Our van driver and tour guide lives on Bonaire and knows all the local spots.

The snack places were all in local neighborhoods that we could never find on our own.  Drove around dirt roads and hidden snack bars.  We drank beers at each one and tasted the local food.

These hidden snack shacks cook up a variety of fish dishes, goat stew (also iguana stew) and sandwiches. Locals eat at these places.

This was the largest snack place we saw. Most of the places were small with an order window and two tables outside. Several have karaoke and dancing on the weekends.  They speak Spanish or Papiamentu...not English or Dutch. Our tour guide, Brenda, translated and ordered for us.

These are not tourist places.  They are local restaurants in neighborhoods.  Drinks and food are cheaper at these spots....if you can find them.  We have a whole new group of places to experience that are part of the local culture and serve local food.

We also met some really nice people that we will be hanging out with in the future.

 

Photos

I thought it was time for some pretty pictures of the island.  

This one was taken by F. Vogle.  I love the clouds over the island.  It perfectly captures the blue water surrounding us and the fluffy clouds that dominate our skies.

After one of our evening walks on the beach, we sat on a drift wood bench and watched the sunset.  We were the only ones on the beach...exactly how we like it.

I think the captains of the sailboats time their sunset pass exactly right.  Every time we have taken a sunset photo, there is a sailboat that comes through.  Amazing.  

Our sunsets have been cloudy lately.  So the pre-burn (colors of the clouds before sunset) and the after-burn (colors of the clouds after sunset) are sometimes the best parts of the sunset.

The windward side of the island (east coast) is typically windy and the water is really rough.  Makes for dramatic wave action on the shoreline.  Some people even dive on this side of the island in rough sea.  Brave!

Best photo of a flamingo yet!

Cheers! 

In Dutch: Proost!

Drivers License

We are once again beginning the process to get a government issued document.  This time it's a drivers license.  We are prepared for waiting in lines. We expect to have to show all our documents again. And getting appointments will take months of patience.  So here we go....

The web site tells us to make an appointment.  It's an appointment to make an appointment to take the drivers class.  We must show our Sedula and a health certification that you get from your doctor for $15.  It took 30 days to get the first appointment.

Secondly, we are scheduled to take a drivers class.  This means that we get in a car of the driving official and drive around the island until he/she is satisfied that we can drive.  We are required to wear long pants, closed toe shoes, and sleeved tops for this driving class.

Once we pass the driving test, which costs $50, we return to the government office with all of our documents and request that a drivers license be issued.  At which time, they will schedule a time for us to return to get our photo completed.  Cost of the drivers license is $16.40.

We have been told, that many times the Dutch teens come to Bonaire to get their first drivers license because its easier to drive on the island than in the Netherlands.  You have to be 18 years of age to get a drivers license on Bonaire and the Netherlands. 

Wish us luck!

 

Palms Down

The gardener took down three palm trees today.  It was interesting how they navigated the almost 7 foot wall around the house. 

A man lift had to be placed outside the wall.  There is no opening for large equipment to get into our garden space.  They trim off all the fronds, put a belt around the trunk attached to the lift, use a chain saw to cut off the trunk and lift it out of the garden.
 

The man lift had to negotiate around and under the power lines along the wall.  It took some maneuvering but they successfully got the tree out without getting electrocuted or tangled in the low hanging internet line. 

Three trees came out in about 4 hours. Three workers did the work like a finely tuned machine.  Nothing was broken or damaged. This was not their first rodeo.

Don Jose, aka "Grande", stands about 4 feet tall.  The motto on his truck says: "Don't let the size fool you". On the front of the truck it says: " King of the Mountain". He is the only  little person on the island, and he uses it to his advantage.

Grande speaks very little English and we speak only vacation Spanish.  We waved our arms and pointed a lot and used Google translator to  communicate.  

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Bookings

Rick and I have always celebrated our December birthdays in the snow, cold, ice and gray skies of the Northern Hemisphere.  We were both born in Michigan (two years apart and consecutive days).  I am sure the days we were born were cold and snowy as they fall one week before Christmas. This year we will celebrate in the sun and ocean.

We booked a private day sail on a catamaran to celebrate our birthdays. We will snorkel, visit Klein Bonaire (a small island off the coast), walk on the beach and have a sunset cruise with dinner and drinks for two.

We also booked a tour of the snack bars on the island.  Snack bars on Bonaire are like fast food stops.  They have an array of fried foods.  Fries, burgers, fried cheese and something called "bitterballen" plus other things we don't understand.....and they put mayonnaise on all of the snacks.  Eight of us will pile in a van and go to the snack bars for beers and snacks.

Bonaire has electric ATV's that they call Twizeys.  We booked a tour to see the island in places we can't drive.  It should be fun to cruise around.  We will go to 

the state park which has notoriously bad roads.  The ATV should be perfect for an off-road experience. 




 

House Updates

My sister recently summed up our house in Bonaire.  She said: "All new places seem to take a bunch of work, even if they look really good when you buy them!"

We have repaired the electrical system.  We have added lights in the house.  We have added to the irrigation system to make the plant more care-free (carefree for us not the plants).

Now it's time to replace windows for both comfort and safety.  We really didn't look very hard at the windows when we purchased the house. Most of them do not have screens or cranks to open and close. I think they have been cannibalized for other windows.  

Alubon (Papiamentu for good aluminum) is the window manufacturer on the island. Fritz, the owner, has been doing these windows for 30 years.  He ships in all the raw materials and makes custom windows with tints and safety features. So those are on order for delivery and installation in January.  We hope!

The palm trees are so tall that the gardeners do not want to trim them. These trees bloom constantly and drop stuff all the time.  It's time for them to come down.  We are taking three palms down and replacing with Manila palms (that came with the house in pots) that grow slower and shorter.

We also discovered that the cook top in the apartment doesn't work.  Our electrician, with his connections in the Netherlands, has ordered a new one for us.  He is also having it transported to Bonaire. It's good to have connections to get things done!

Harvest

We hung a sun shade above our pot garden (not marijuana!) during the heat of the summer.  It seemed to help the distressed plants. We have learned that the planting season starts in November and harvest is August and September.  Starting plants in the heat of the summer was a rookie mistake. 

We have drawn-up plans for a screened in growing hut.  It's been put on hold as we have other projects that have taken priority. It is interesting that we have not had critters partake of the fruits of our labor. Maybe we don't need the screen hut?

We do have about a handful of grape tomatoes that have turned red. Our large tomato plant did not produce much except for some tiny green tomatoes.  The plants are spindly and look weak.  We think it's the heat. 

I purchased seeds while I was in the States. I will use them to start new plants.  Seeds are also available on the island now that it's growing season.

We also harvested some of the Mexican oregano. We carried live plants from the States and planted them.  They were doing so well that we trimmed them to encourage more growth.  We have been drying the leaves for two weeks now.  With humidity of 60 percent, it's hard to get things to dry.  Because the wind blows, the leaves have to be covered when drying outside.

Our basil plant got "barky" so we replaced it with another plant.  It seems they have a life span no matter how much you trim and encourage new growth.

 

Parrots After Mangos

After the Mango Wars, the parrots have turned their attention to eating the pea pods that drop from this bush in our yard.

I have tried many times to get photos of these guys.  However, they are really shy.  Like fish, they don't pose for photos. If you get too close they fly away.

They also comes in two's.  You hear them coming as they have a loud screech. They check out the mango tree first and then search for other edibles.

This picture has the two parrots that we have been watching.  Not the best picture but for me it's as good as it gets.

The red flowers on this bush also attract hummingbirds.  Hummingbirds are even harder to photograph as they are quick little guys and usually gone by the time I get my camera.

Now that we are not fighting over mangos, these parrots are very interesting to us.  They are endangered....probably because locals stone them for eating mango off their trees.