Amazon UK

 

We made our first purchase through Amazon in the UK. Here is how it worked:

We ordered smart plugs to manage our outside lights with our phone. We made the purchase through an Amazon supplier of European electronics.  They (Amazon) honored my Prime membership and shipped for free within the EU. FedEx delivered the smart plugs to our shipping address in the UK.  EZone, our shipping company, got it from London to Bonaire. It took over a month to get to Bonaire and cost $56 in customs and shipping.

These are the smart plugs.  As you will note, they plug into European plugs. They are wireless and programmed through our phone.  They are designed for outside use and are basically a timer for lights to come on and off.

The instructions for set-up and use are in 27 different languages.  Thank goodness one of the 27  was English.

"Why do we need these?", you may ask.  Well....

The timers on the house are placed near the top of the wall beneath the roof. The placement makes it impossible to change the timing without a ladder. Plus the electrical outlets are European.  We needed wireless so we could easily change the time for lights to come on and off.

We are now fully skilled at ordering things from Europe through Amazon. This little island is certainly global when it comes to getting goods and services.
 

Windows

This is what happens when you don't wash your windows in Bonaire.  The frogs drag their feet through the dirt and make you look like a lousy house keeper.

In my defense, I was waiting for our new windows to be installed.  I didn't want to spend anymore effort than I had to on the old window.

We ordered new windows October of last year. The supply chain has slowed raw material delivery to the island.  It now takes 3-4 months.  Our custom window manufacturer orders parts from around the world including: China, Italy, France, Holland and surely other parts of the industrial world. The French trucker demonstration was the latest event that slowed delivery of window handles to the island. We were told there is also a shortage of shipping containers as they are sitting on ships, ports, and storage yards around the world and not being unloaded and reloaded.

With all of that going on, I believe our new windows will be installed in March. When the installation is complete we will have to re-plaster the window sills and repaint. We will also have to replace all the blinds because they will no longer fit with the new window.

One thing always leads to another when doing house renovations.
 

Lots of Pickles

I know everyone is wondering if we ever solved our pickle problem. The answer is: well sort of.

We went to the "Costco" of Bonaire, Pieters, where everything is sold in large quantities. This store supplies the restaurants.

We found a gallon of dill pickle slices. We will probably die before we eat all these pickles.  We were desperate.  So now I have enough pickles to last our lifetime.

I know this puts everyone's mind at ease.
 

Pickles and Jalapenos

Shopping on the island is like a scavenger hunt. We scour all the stores on a regular basis mentally logging what they have and don't have in stock. Each of the grocery stores and Chinese markets carry different band items.  What they have one week does not equal what they have the following week.  It depends on what comes on the boat.

The latest was a search for dill pickles.  Part of the problem is the packaging is all in Dutch.  When I use the translator it doesn't tell me if its dill, sweet, sour, or sweet and sour.  I have asked other shoppers (the Dutch speaking kind) to tell me which ones are dill and they have been unable to locate them.  We have found American brand dill pickles in the past. It has been a month of searching and waiting for deliveries and restocking.

When one store is out of a fresh item they all are out.  I was hunting for Jalapenos.  Searched store after store to no avail. We also employ the use of other expats intel to find item.  It is a regular conversation among expats and is like playing "Go Fish".

This supply system creates hoarders.  Once you find something on the shelf you buy as many as you can because you never know when you will see it again.

I am off in hunt of pickles and jalapenos....

 

Entertainment

We have been out and about experiencing the entertainment on the island.  Now that the "no singing and no dancing" rules have been lifted, the music and bar scenes are staring to recover.  The rules for bars required everyone to be seated at tables with no more than 4 people. The tables had to be 5 feet apart. The rules put a real damper on people having a good time at bars.

We recently went to a pool side bar that had a band.  It was pretty interesting hearing Dutch speakers singing Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Rolling Stones songs accompanied by an accordion. There was even an Elvis looking guy that sang Elvis songs with a Dutch accent.  What a hoot!

We toured the local snacky bars...again.  These are really just huts/shacks or peoples' homes that serve beer and homemade food. Each has unique servings like "funchi" which is fried polenta dipped in a spicy sauce. Goes great with beer! Others serve ribs, goat stew, meat sandwiches, and fish dinners. These are located in local neighborhoods.  It is difficult to find them without a guide which is why we take tours.

We toured with a retired orthopedic surgeon that looks like a beach bum, a retired California social worker, a professor from Anchorage, a retired oil and gas landman who is really a land woman, and a retired equine dental veterinarian.  They all live on the island and are becoming our circle of friends. 

 

Valentines Day

Valentines Day has special meaning to us.  It's the day we arrived on the island 2021 to start our new life in Bonaire.

This is a professional photo of love birds (Loras) published for Valentines Day on the island. The right is a picture I took of two Loras in our back yard. Notice that I am a terrible wildlife photographer.

We celebrated our milestone at our favorite place "Grandi" on Grandi Avenue in downtown Kralendijk. They serve small plates of interesting food...seafood, veal, chicken, beef, vegetables, pasta and desserts.

We love to linger in this restaurant.  We watch the people, drink wine, and have a cappuccino. The owner is Italian and Dutch.  She is a fabulous sommelier. The chef always has something new and interesting to offer.

We toured the wine room.  The wines are from Italy that the owner imports specifically for the restaurant. She always has the best suggestions for wine pairings with food.

She also gave us the name of the guy that provides knife sharpening to the island chefs.  We have been here a year and its time to get our chef knife sharpened.

The bill comes in a love book.  This was so appropriate for Valentines Day and our one year "on the island" celebration. (Rick is not pointing, just holding the pages for the picture).

Happy Valentines Day.  Happy one year anniversary of living on Bonaire.

 

One Year

We arrived on Bonaire February 14, 2021. Oh what a year it has been! 

We have successfully navigated the Bonaire government bureaucracy to obtain residency, drivers licenses, car license, and health care. We know where every government office is located (and there are a lot of them).

We bought a house, a car, insurance, furniture, appliances and wine...lots of wine. We really love our new home in Bonaire....maybe it's all the wine.

We love, love, love the weather.  It is perfectly warm and breezy...except for September and October when it is crazy hot, dry and miserable.

We know that Fall is the time to travel to escape the heat.

We have experienced Bonaire, Dutch and American holidays. We have celebrated birthdays and our wedding anniversary on the island. We have missed Carnival due to cancellation because of Covid. 

We are still trying to get to all the restaurants. We have our favorites and some places even know us by name.

We have explored the island, seen the sights and experienced the adventure. Sailing, snorkeling, touring the parks, walks in the Mundi and meeting the locals and other expats. We have seen ONE sunrise and a bunch of sunsets. 

Oh what fun it has been!

 

 

Mexican Food

It's hard to find Mexican food on the island. There is Columbian, Suriname, Dutch, Indian. Venezuelan, American, Japanese, Chinese, German, and French.  We have not located Tex-Mex tacos, burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, chips and salsa. 

We found something close when we dined at El Bigote. 

It's an open air bar and restaurant in a residential area with a small bed and breakfast hotel for divers.

They have all of our favorites and serve them with a plate full of sauces: sour cream, guacamole, salsa, hot sauce, and chimichurri.

They also served a mean Margarita with fresh lime.  Rick swore off Tequila years ago (after spending a night in the bathroom getting acquainted with the toilet) and opted for beer.

Although the fare is sort-of Mexican, their spicy ribs were voted "Best on Island". We will try those next time.

 

House Sitter

We needed a house sitter.  

We talked to our neighbor who gave us a reference.  She works part time with Asko at King Kong burger food truck.  She was already booked for July. We asked our Canadian tour guide and she was booked but had another referral.  That fell through too. 

So, I posted on "Bonaire House Sitters"  Facebook group (yes, there is such a site). Within minutes I had replies: a teacher from the UK that spends summers on Bonaire; a local Dutch woman who has children; a US school teacher with a dog; and a couple in the US that were planning a vacation. One stood out as the perfect candidate.

M.De (name is not used to protect privacy), lives half time on Bonaire and half time in Holland, apparently is wealthy, in her 60's and has two sons that live on the island.  She owns a condo(s) on the island but they are rented and she needed a place to stay.  She and her husband own businesses on the island. She has outstayed her visa on Bonaire and must return to Holland (where she owns a 5000 sq. meter lot with a house) for a few months before she returns. She came to our house for a meeting.

House sitting in Bonaire is not a paid service. They live in your house and sometimes pay utilities while they watch your house.  The house sitter stays in your house while you are gone, cleans when they are done and no money changes hands! There are many people on the island that do not have a place of their own. They simply go from one house to another as professional house sitters.  Who knew that you could do that?

M.De thought our house looked like a resort and was very excited to house sit. This is the first time she has ever done house sitting. She and her husband will watch our house while we are in the US.  

 

 

Insurance

 

Insurance is an interesting industry in Bonaire.  Mostly, it's unusual to us because it is different than insurance in the US.  We have a broker (not unusual) : Crooij & Flipse. This company of 2 individual brokers has our home and car insurance. Our insurance is through two different companies Guardian for the house and Ennia for the car. 

  Each year you have ask to renew your insurance with Ennia through our broker.  They send us a letter in Dutch (which we can not read or understand) explaining the coverage and fees.  Our car is so old that we only insure it for liability. The first time we got insurance from them we had to pay cash at the Banc de Carib (not the Ennia office as they don't accept cash or credit cards). This time we have no idea how to pay.  Since we have a bank account on the island we could probably do a transfer.

We upped our home insurance due to the break-in. We are now insured for replacement value.  Insured for fire, hurricanes and the other stuff that can go wrong with a house. Our broker said that at the time we make a claim, the insurance company will make a determination of the value of our house and its contents.  If they think we are over or under insured, they will pay us what they determine as the replacement value. The insurance only covers what is inside the house and the structure.  Our broker told us to move everything inside the house if we think a storm is going to hit.  That way everything is insured.  

Whatever. Insurance is a racket no matter where you buy it.

Appliances

We brought some appliances with us to Bonaire.  Many of the small appliances came with the house.  There were a few items, however, that we decided after a year that we could not live without.

The salad spinner is  equipment that we did not ship.  We have spent a year trying to rinse and dry basil, lettuce and vegetables but it hasn't been very successful. 

We use a coffee grinder for grinding spices.  We found this little grinder at City Shops which is the Best Buy/Costco (minus groceries) of Bonaire. It's interesting that the grinder is 220v. When we got our microwave it was 110v.  You have to confirm the voltage on appliances because they offer both in the stores.

Several months ago we invested in two coffee makers.  These are not cheap. About $45 each and they are all plastic! 

The cooktop in the apartment has never worked.  We called the seller and he said he never used it and didn't know it didn't work.  So we ordered a new one.  We ordered it through our electrician who deals with Holland on appliances.  We ordered it in October of last year and it still hasn't arrived.

Note to file:  When you move to a different country bring small appliances with you.  They are cheaper in the US than Bonaire.

 

National Park

The north end of the island has been designated as a National Park.  Washington Slagbaai National Park is made from two large plantations that covered the north end of the island.

This is the most famous and picturesque spot.  Looks like a grand Dutch house on a spectacular beach.  It was, in fact, a slaughter house operation (Slagbaai in Dutch translates to slaughter bay) and a main port center in the 1700's. Wealthy plantation families lived on Curacao and had operations on Bonaire. The roof in the picture was the customs house.  Now it rents out as a hotel.

Lighthouses on the north end of the island have spectacular views of the sea and the surrounding land.  This one still operates although it is automated and unmanned. 

The east side of the park looks like moon scape. Tsunami rocks (rocks that were carried inland from an ancient tsunami) litter the beach. Some of the rocks are bigger than a large truck. 

The highest point on Bonaire is Mt. Brandaris at 784 feet.  It is a 3-4 hour climb because of the volcanic rock and rock climbing is required to each the summit. We opted out of the hike and settled for a photo.

The dirt road through the park is full of ruts, rocks, steep inclines, hills and bumpy passages.  It is a one way road.  Once you start on the journey there is no turning back. We entered the park at 8:00 am and left about 4:00 pm. 

Bonaire has two springs where freshwater can be found year round. The birds are usually at the springs in the early morning.  You can see flamingos, parrots, and birds of prey. The park has one of the fresh water springs.  We saw this Caracara on top of a cactus looking for food. It is one of the native birds of prey on the island.

Flamingos were everywhere.  As usual I couldn't get a good photo.

We snorkeled at several spots.  The water was crystal clear, Caribbean blue and comfortably cool. For those of you that dive or snorkel, we saw an Ocean Trigger which is very unusual.  Also our guide found octopus for us.  We could never have found it on our own because they are hiding

experts.

 

The entrance of the Park features the skeleton of a baby Baleen whale. The whale was impaled on a cruise boat and removed when the boat docked on Bonaire. Gory story but interesting exhibit.

Bonaire was divided into six large plantations. Each area was named after a foreign country. The park entrance is located in the America area.  The slaves called the center of the plantation where they went for pay and supplies, Washington, because its the capital of America. 

 

Drivers License Saga #3

We passed our drivers licenses test. 

It was a long journey that we started in September 2021. Since the government closes down from mid-December to mid-January our first appointment was scheduled for January 20 , 2022.  That date was canceled due to Covid concerns and rescheduled for January 24.

Bonaire has some odd rules for this process.  If you have a valid US drivers license, only the practical driving test is required.  If not, you have to take a written test. Thank God I didn't have to do that!

Before you take the test, you have to take lessons because of their different driving methods.  We learned three-point turns, backing around corners, backing into parking places, starting (up and down hill) on hills using a 4- step process using a parking brake so you don't roll backwards, and turning from a one way street. The road signs are different here and they expect you to know what they mean as well. You also have to declare if you want a license for an automatic or a standard transmission. You are not allowed to drive a standard shift with out a special license. For the test, the requirement is to wear long paints, long sleeves, close toed shoes. This is why I am covered from head to toe with clothes in the picture outside the testing office. 

I spent two weeks practicing, two weeks worrying about the test and two weeks of sleepless nights wondering if I could pass the test.

This was an expensive process:  

The pleasure of testing                                          $55 

Classes                                                                  $35 

Doctor health form                                                  $15 

Car rental for testing                                               $65  

Actual license card                                                 $16.76   

Total                                                                      $172.76 (x2)

The test took 15 minutes. I am now back to driving like a crazy woman...no turn signals, go fast, pass all golf carts and bicycles, yield to no one. Actually, Rick usually drives.

 

Pot of Gold

The police called to inform us that we could pick up the recovered items from the robbery that occurred in September.

The police (Politie in Dutch) apprehended a group of local (Antillean) young men in their twenties and thirties. They had been robbing residences and businesses all over the island.  Apparently, they did not surveil any of the locations or target any place in particular.  It was all random acts.  

The police caught them by listening to a cell phone conversation between the get away driver and the thieves trying to find each other in the night. The police said the robbers were not very smart....which we think is usually the case with criminals. 

The thieves dumped some stuff in the sea, sold things and kept other items.  The police apprehended them with the goods they kept.  Some of our items were recovered. Some were not. 

The police said that they used our statement and identification of stolen items to convict the group.  The robbers will spend 6 to 7 years in jail.

There was a rainbow that came out after the storm the day our items were returned.  I guess there really was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Sunrise

This is a once in a lifetime event.  We got up at 6:30 am drove to the east side of the island to see the sun rise at 7:00 am.

We don't ever get up that early.  But we wanted to see what all the fuss was about when it comes to sunrise.  We set our alarm and bounced out of bed and headed out.  It was cloudy this morning which made for a beautiful colors but no bright sun. 

Seeing the light behind the clouds and over the ocean was really spectacular.

  

We were surprised to find others awake at this un-Godly hour.  We saw walkers, runners, bicyclists, donkeys and goats.  There were also lots of people driving to work. We thought we would be the only ones up that early.

It occurred to us that sunrise is not much different than sunset in terms of color and lighting. However, it is much calmer on the west side of the island.  This is a picture of a kit boarder at sunset.  There are no waves to contend with on the west side of the island and it is much more serene. There are also lots more people on the beach at sunset watching the event.

No more sunrises for us. We will continue to show you sunsets....because they look alike.  Just pretend its a sunrise. I am going back to bed.

Sightseeing

We went sightseeing and look what we found.  This is the closest I have been to flamingos in the wild.  I walked into an inlet from the sea and found these two beauties hanging out.  It was an unprotected area so I could walk very close to them.

At Lac Bay there is a bench overlooking the bay and across from the Antilleans park and harbor.  The local fisherman keep their boats here.  Beautiful spot. We stopped to have a cocktail at a local place and they gave us a a plastic flamingo with our drink...which was appropriate.

One of the five wind turbines on the island sits on the bay facing the east and the on coming direction of the wind. Since the wind blows non stop on Bonaire, there should  be turbines everywhere. The government is financing a study of installation of wind and solar energy since the oil prices have spiked.  The local utility is not keen on the idea of renewable energy.

Our electrician has solar and runs his entire house with air conditioning and does not pay utilities.  He ordered his batteries and panels from China.  He installs them all over the island.  If utility costs keep going up as they have, we may have to check into this system.

Another selfie that looks like all the rest of our selfies. We have a million of these standing by oceans and beaches all over the Caribbean and North America.  Nothing changes except we look older but still happy to be living on an island.

Mosquito Tennis

Mosquitos are a real problem on Bonaire.  During rainy season they are really prolific. We make sure that we don't have sitting water in our plant pots or another item that catches rain.  These are the breeding grounds for mosquitos.

We were told about bug zappers sold at the Chinese markets.  We got two.  They look like tennis rackets with rechargeable batteries. 

It takes 10 hours to charge the swatter. It can be used for 10 days before needing recharging. The swatter is a three-layer mesh structure.  Mosquitos fly into the net and get zapped by a high voltage sent through the net.

We were skeptical of it working.  We usually spray ourselves with bug repellent on a regular basis.  The early morning and evenings are the worst. The mosquitos are small and it's hard to see them.  They munch you before you have a chance to swat them.

We are believers now. It makes an electric  zap noise each time it catches and fries the mosquito. "Mosquito Tennis" is a very satisfying activity.

 

Self Quarantine

We are in self quarantine at our house.  The driving instructor, whom we spent two hours with in a car, tested positive for Covid.  Our friends, whom we had dinner with the evening of the driving test, are also in self quarantine because of our close contact. 

We are in day six of our ten-day quarantine.  We have no symptoms, other than boredom. Our neighbors have brought supplies to us and leave them at our door step.  We are doing fine and are not sick.  Just sick or being home 24/7.

The island Covid count is up to 850.  Higher than when the pandemic closed the island.  About a quarter of the cases are tourists.  I find that interesting since a negative test is required for entry as well as a test after five days on the island. Cruise ships have been turned away because of positive Covid tests on board.  Restrictions on the number of people in stores, restaurants and sporting events are in full swing.

We tried home delivery for pizza.  It's called Dinner in a Box. It took two and a half hours for the delivery to make it to us after we placed our order. The delivery person told us that they are short staffed due to Covid illnesses, that the island is very busy, and everything take longer now because they have more tourists on the island and less people to serve them.  It's not like they were speedy before this spike in Covid cases.

We still hope to take our driving test later this month.  We hope that the government does not shut down like it did when we first got on the island.

At least, we are quarantined on an island paradise.

 

Drivers License Saga

In September 2021 we went to the government office to pay a $50 fee to take the drivers license test on Bonaire. We took our receipt of payment to yet another government office to schedule the driving test.  We were given a date of January 17, 2022.

Our Expat group told us that we needed to take driver's training class or we would never pass the test. We were referred to Andrew the English speaking driving instructor.

After contacting Andrew and providing him with all the government paper we had secured for the drivers license, he informed us that we were scheduled to take the written exam, not the practical driving exam.  He sent us back to government office to schedule a driving test.  Apparently, if you have a valid US drivers license you skip the written test. Andrew said to be "kindly firm" and explain that the government scheduled the wrong test and should therefore reschedule us for driving test immediately.  Otherwise, they would set a date for March.

Back to the government drivers license test office. We explained our situation to the supervisor and he was kind enough to schedule our test in January.

Yesterday, we took a two hour driving class from Andrew. We learned how to drive and turn on one way streets, how to turn left and right, how to back up into parking spaces, how to parallel park, and how to drive up and down hills. You would think that we had all these skills after driving for 40 + years. But alas, the Dutch have a different way of driving.  No one actually drives the way they teach you in class.  You only need it for the test and then you drive any way you want.

Andrew texted us to say that he had flu like symptoms and was getting tested for Covid.  He wanted us to know since we spent the entire morning with him in the car.

We still have no drivers license. We may have been exposed to Covid. Our test may be cancelled since Covid infections are nearing 500.

Geesh!