Christmas Time

Sinterklaas and his merry Black Petes are gone from the island.  Santa Claus has arrived. Santa (the oldest man I have ever seen dress like Santa) entered the main square in Kralendijk assisted by two people on either side guiding him to his chair.  The kids flocked to him. It was a heart warming event and part of the week's activities leading up to Christmas.

The island is fully decorated with Christmas lights.  Every round-about, every government building, houses, street lights and restaurants are all decorated with Christmas trees and lights.

There have been Christmas markets each night in various barrios around the island.  The stores in downtown Kralendijk stayed open until 9:00 pm which is only done at Christmas time.  They usually close at 5:00 pm. The festivities included kiosks with handmade gifts for sale, food booths and music. We saw our friends strolling the boulevard.  

 

The resorts also hold Christmas markets and decorate with lights and trees.  Its a full week with an event happening every evening. The island really knows how to celebrate. Last Christmas we were sick and not able to partake in the festivities.  It was a real treat to do Christmas in a small community.

Boats

I have been taking pictures of boats that come to Bonaire and I thought I would share them with you.

The best cruise ship is one that is heading out to sea.
 

The large sail boats that bring a small number of tourist to the island are more welcomed than the 10 story cruise ships carrying 5 thousand people.

Cargo ships are our favorite.  They bring in all our food, construction materials (wood, sand, gravel, steel, asphalt, pavers) cars, and household shipments. They also bring in gas, oil, jet fuel and propane. They carry Bonaire salt away to markets around the world.

Dutch military ships, including the Coast Guard, dock at Bonaire. They are here for military exercises, catching drug runners, picking up illegals, and saving fisherman who are stranded.

My personal favorites are the pleasure crafts that sail at sunset. These boats are the stars of sunset pictures from the shore. 

Concert

The Classical Music Board of Bonaire put on a wonderful Christmas concert. Choirs sang Christmas songs in four languages and tunes that we knew and could sing along. The Bonaire Kuarta Ensemble played beautiful music and sang in Papiamentu and Spanish. Our favorite tenor performed a fabulous "Ave Maria".  The evening ended with and audience sing-a-long to "Angels We Have Heard On High". 

The concert was held in the biggest Catholic church on the island called San Bernardo. It a beautiful, austere church with wood kneelers, hard wood benches and no air conditioning.  We sat for two and half hours with the other 300 attendees.  It was a miracle that we could still walk when it was over.  It brought back memories of going to church and suffering through kneeling, sitting and long sermons. Lightning didn't strike me down so I feel lucky about that.  After spending that long in church we certainly needed an adult beverage. So we ended the evening with beers at Little Havana bar.

All the round-abouts (all four of them)  have lighted decorations.  This roundabout is in front of the church where the concert was held. You know us, we can't pass up an opportunity to take a selfie.

 

Happy Birthday

We treated ourselves to a private birthday dinner at the house with a personal chef. It was so perfect to celebrate our birthdays with "At Home" ( name of the private chef company).

The chef brings in table settings, food, wine, pots and pans and cooks everything on site. Then cleans up everything and leaves. Manouk is the owner of At Home and she made a 6 course dinner, served us and selected wine pairings to go with each dish.
 

We ate tuna tartar, shrimp and clam soup, Wahoo (fish), steak, and creamy cheesecake with blueberries for dessert.  The dishes were super interesting and very tasty. We ate, we drank, we looked at the stars.  We thoroughly enjoyed having a meal prepared just for us.  Great way to celebrate our December birthdays in style.

This is our birthday picture. I am 69 and Rick is 71.

Inside/Outside

Indoor/Outdoor living is our style.  We love having the doors open and the breeze blowing through our house. We seamlessly move throughout the house and outdoor space.  The weather in Bonaire is perfect for our life style.

However there are a few draw backs.  The precious trade winds that keep us cool, also blows leaves and dirt into the house. This requires continuous cleaning. There is also a continuous flow of insects and critters in the house.

We recently had a huge (eight inch span) crab come into the house. We have an 8 foot wall around the house so we are wondering from where did this crab come?  Surely if he was living inside the compound we would have noticed him before now.  He/She was big enough to eat! Now I worry what else is out there that may enter the house.

Rick, the crab wrangler, easily moved the crab to outside the compound.

There has been a recent bloom of frogs at the house. We have found the smallest of baby frogs all over...inside and outside the house. This one is less than an eighth of an inch...tiny!

We also had a recent influx of geckos. Tiny tiny baby geckos that run on the walls and hide as soon as you see them (that's why I have no picture of them). 

It sounds like the house is full of unwanted creatures.  Yes, that is true, but they only stay a short while and then they leave to live their life on the outside. Inside/outside living means you share it with everything.

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Christmas Market

We visited the Tera Cora Christmas Market.  It's open only two evenings.  It was full of booths selling handmade Christmas ornaments, decorations, lotions and potions, food and drink. There were stage acts, singers, dancing and musical groups that entertained the crowd.

Oliebollen, a Dutch doughnut, were begin sold and so we had to have a few of them.  They went great with the beers we purchased at the bar.

Since I had recently downsized my Christmas collection, I was in no hurry to build it up again.  However, I did buy a plastic star for our tree. I thought it would work but it was too heavy. 

Sinterklaas arrived by boat and came on the island a few weeks ago.  He and his Petes attended the market and, as always, were a delight to the children and me as well. Although he looks like a Catholic Bishop he is the equivalent to the American Santa Claus.  He brings with him, his Black Petes.  

The Petes dance and sing and throw candy to the crowds gathered to see them. The traditional story about the Black Petes is that they take the bad children away to Spain at Christmas time.  I imagine that's enough to scare any Dutch child into obedience.  I, on the other hand, would love to be taken to Spain at Christmas time.

The Petes are covered from head to toe with pitch black makeup and wear brightly colored costumes and wigs. They are a very lively and happy group.

The selfie today is me and a Pete.  Yes I look dumbfounded but it was only me trying to figure out the phone camera.  I was just so excited to get a close up with a Pete!

Rum

Rum is the Caribbean's drink of choice.  Rick and I have been tasting rums for years.  Since we moved to Bonaire our tasting has become epic in our search for our favorite Rum.

Rum Week has allowed us to sample Rums from all over the world. However, Rum originated in the West Indies and is first mentioned in records from Barbados in about 1650.

"Big Black Dick" Rum is featured  at the Foxy Flamingo Bar and Restaurant in downtown Kralendijk. Great name but not our favorite. 

Generally, we drink our rum as a mixed drink, so we try not to spend an arm and a leg.  We have decided that we prefer spiced Rums.  Not the vanilla flavored caramel colored sweet spiced Rums (like Captain Morgan's and Sailor Jerry's) but the dark and golden Rums with flavors of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, aniseed, nutmeg or pepper. 

Cubaney was one of the first spiced Rums that we really liked. Distilled in the Dominican Republic. A golden spiced Rum that is about 68 proof.

Then we found Barcelo Imperial Onyx dark Rum from the Dominican Republic. This Rum is 76 proof and is made with cane sugar.  This has become our Rum of choice.  

Every Friday night we mix Rum and Cokes (we use Pepsi Max) for cocktail time.  We limit ourselves to only two drinks... otherwise we would turn into Captain Jack Sparrow and start swigging it directly out of the bottle.

 

Beach Cleanup

Bonaire has a trash problem.  The beaches, the Mundi (open space that is undeveloped)  and road sides are littered with plastic, paper, styrofoam, bottles, rope, fishing line and trash. 

Rick and I decided it was time to volunteer and do some clean-up.  Actually, I decided and made Rick go with me. Every Saturday morning from 9:00-10:00 a.m., volunteers gather to pick-up trash on the island. So we put on our sneakers, hats and sunglasses and headed out.

A different location is selected each Saturday.  This Saturday we were on the East shore.  We dove to the designated spot and were surprised at the number of cars and people (dozens) that were there for the cleanup. We were handed a trash bag and off we went to pick up trash on the beach.

We picked up bottlecaps, rope, wrappers, trash bags, plastic spoons, pieces of tires, and the usual trash. No matter how much we picked up, there was more to be done. We were sad that there is so much trash on our beaches.  

Our backs hurt after one hour but it was worth it.  We will continue to show up Saturday mornings for cleanup.
 
 

New Tree

When we were downsizing our things in Colorado, we culled the Christmas decorations down to one box and brought our "beachy" ornaments to Bonaire.  We already had a good collection of Christmas decorations but we now have more....which meant we had to get a Christmas tree.

We purchased a 4 foot tree which is a big downsize from our 6 foot and 12 foot trees we had in Colorado.  The Bonaire tree is perfect. We found a perfect place for it and the 50 feet of lights we strung.  Yes, that is not an exaggeration...50 feet of LED lights on a 4 foot tree. It's brilliant.

Storage is a much sought after commodity at our house and in most houses on Bonaire.  Our new tree came in a small box which will fit nicely in our storage hall.

The tree goes up in minutes and it only take 15 minutes of fluffing...compared to a full week of erecting the trees, fluffing and decorating that we did in Colorado.  Life is simpler now which is a good thing.

 

Home

We closed on our house in Colorado this week.  It took only took two months from the time we listed to the time we closed. Looking back it seemed like a short time.  Our anxiety level was high because the real estate market was unstable.  

It was a bitter-sweet experience.  We had lived in that house for 24 years and made many wonderful memories with family and friends.  However, the house became just an asset after three years away. The Colorado mountains and our family will be missed but the snow will not. 

Our home in Bonaire has become our sanctuary.  We have made many great friends and live an active lifestyle in a house that has indoor- outdoor living. The weather is great.  Island life is great.

We are home...again.

 

Workmen

One of the local cable companies was stringing cable on the power lines this last week.  Notice three guys on ladders at each pole stringing the cable.  This would never happen in the US for safety reasons.  However, on Bonaire its a regular occurrence. 

They yelled at each other to give instructions on stretching the cable between the poles.  They moved their ladders from pole to pole all the way down the street. They did have hard hats. 

Servicing air conditioners is an interesting process.  The workman "bags" the interior unit.  The "bag" has a gravity driven drain pipe.  The bag keeps the walls clean and the liquid contained.

They spray disinfectant, mold killing liquid into the unit and scrub and brush the interior.  Ours was full of mold and (Sahara) dust.

The construction labors often are covered from head to toe when working.  They wear black masks that cover their head and face like a ski mask, long- sleeved shirts and pants, usually with work boots. It is hot to be doing construction and I just can't get over how much they wear to protect them from the sun and heat.

This guy was waiting for lumber to be passed up to him.

Most work trucks on the island have short beds so lumber is packed on top of the trucks.  This guy is wearing a hoodie sweat shirt. It was 89 degrees and it felt like 101 degrees...and he is wearing a sweatshirt. He is passing lumber to they workman on the balcony. 

Building is a very slow business on Bonaire.  I think every paycheck they buy a few cinder blocks that they can afford which lengthens the construction period by months and years. 

 

Snorkeling

Snorkeling in Bonaire this season has been full of surprises. The water has been super warm.  So warm that it's uncomfortable at times.  Even the fish think its too hot as we have seen very few in the shallows.

 

Everyone that visits, we take snorkeling or diving depending on their skill level.  Our 6-year old grandson was super excited to see turtles up close.  Once he got the hang of snorkeling, we couldn't get him out of the water.  We have had friends in their late 70's snorkel with us. They were excited to see squid, coral farms, and flounder fish.  Our regular snorkel companions spotted an eagle ray the other day.  I never did see it although they tell me it crossed right in front of me.

We used to scuba dive.  We dove throughout the Caribbean.  Now it is so much easier to grab our snorkel and mask and just go to the ocean. We can just enter from shore which is what makes Bonaire the shore dive capital.  No need for boats as the snorkeling is usually pretty good from shore.

We thought our grandson would get a charge out of seeing us in snorkels on his birthday face-time call. He was not impressed or interested to say the least.  I will share our selfie with you even though it's taken for a 6-year-old.