Easter

Easter weekend on Bonaire.  Two cruise ships (one left before I got a photo). The locals camp on the beaches for the long weekend.  There are tents, canopies, pallet huts, music, lights and crowds. It's an old tradition. They get permits and have to have everything cleared by the end of Easter Monday (the holiday following Easter Sunday). 

Bonaire is predominately Catholic. This is Holy Week. Everything is closed on Good Friday except a few restaurants. The Grocery stores are closed on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and maybe Easter Monday.  Which means that we had to stock up for a five day period. The grocery store parking lot was so full on Thursday that you could not find a spot. The government is closed, service providers are closed, even my cleaning crew changed a regularly scheduled date because of the holiday. 

We are staying home and enjoying our Easter in our own "boutique hotel".  Our fridge is stocked, we have wine, beer and rum, and a pool with no one in it but us. The breeze has picked up and we have no obligations until Sunday Brunch at the beach with friends. 

Ahhh, paradise has not been lost.  We found it in our own back yard.

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Painting Chairs

I bought these chairs made from pallet wood. Many locals make furniture from used wood.  It's a cheap way to build furniture.  Since plastic, metal, fabric, and untreated wood disintegrates in the weather on Bonaire, I thought I would  paint these chairs and they would be a good addition to our apartment patio area. It seemed like a simple project to replace wicker furniture that was falling apart.

Paint supplies are different in Bonaire and Europe.  First of all, the rollers are smaller. I purchased an American roller handle and was unable to find rollers that fit. So I purchased a European style with small rollers.

Paint is different.  Sizes are in liters.  So 2.5 liters is sort-of a gallon (not!) and 1 liter is sort-of a quart. That's my way to understand the sizes of paint cans since I still don't understand the metric system nor the conversion process.

Our friendly paint store is actually a small storefront by some friends' house.  They carry all the things needed for the paint job and also provide advice on how to do it. No water base for me because that paint can't hold up.  It's outside enamel which is a painful clean up.

The paint store recommended sanding the chairs before painting but I opted for the rustic look.  No filling holes, no sanding, just slap the paint on it.

First coat was a white base coat.  I wanted to do the distressed look but my paint guru said that would expose the wood to the weather and negate my plan to coat the wood to make it impervious to moisture. Oh well.

I am the sloppiest painter EVER.  Paint was everywhere on me, on the tarp, in my hair, on my face, splattered everywhere.  I managed to get some paint on the chairs.  Here are the chairs that took three months to paint, multiple trips to the paint store and hours of cleaning up with mineral spirits.

Bee Sting

I was minding my own business while lounging in the pool when a Honey Bee stung me for no apparent reason.  I immediately brushed the bee off and removed the stinger that was sticking straight out of my arm.  Wow, it hurt.

Bonaire typically doesn't have anything in the bug category (other than mosquitos) that bite and cause pain and irritation.  We spray bug spray on ourselves daily to keep the mosquitos away and that usually takes care of things. 

The Bee sting just won't go away. It itches, has a hard bump the size of a silver dollar and is red and painful.  I tried Benadryl after a Google search for treatment. Then I tried multiple Baking Soda paste treatments. I even pulled out heavy duty anti-itch cream. A friend gave me "after-bug-bite" liquid and that didn't seem to calm it down one bit.

It's been 4 days since the attack.  I still have a 3 inch diameter, angry red spot on my arm that won't go away. Maybe I am old and it takes longer to heal? Maybe this was one super-African-killer-Bee? Maybe I am infected with alien venom?  I will let you know if I turn into a superhero-monster-killer-bug.