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.
   

Lights Out

 

The lights went out last night....actually there was a blackout throughout the island.  It's been so hot that  everyone was running air conditioners and it must have overloaded the system. We ended up without power for about three hours.

With each power outage we get better prepared.  This time we had a battery operated fan, oil lamps, and charged battery backup. We already had flashlights, head lamps, and candles.

It was so still and hot during the blackout.  There was no breeze and what little breeze we had was not coming through the patio.  We moved operations out to the pool area.  We needed to get our minds off of being hot and having no power.  I was dreading sleeping if we didn't have air conditioning.

You have to make your own good times when you are faced with a dark, hot night.  We played several hands of Gin by the light of Rick's head lamp and background light from the oil lamps. I stripped down to my underwear (I sparred you from a photo of that!) and we covered ourselves with bug spray to keep the mosquitos away.

I had won several hands by the time the lights came back on and Rick was relieved that he didn't have to play another hand.

Culture

Bonaire has built a cultural and art center.  It is a beautiful structure with an open courtyard, gallery rooms, and a roof top restaurant. We attended a Music at Sunset event  at the center put on by the Classical Music Board.

Two of our friends have brought the cultural center alive with events featuring musicians with extradentary talents.  

Brad, the opera singer, recently retired as a music professor at Emory University in Atlanta. His career included solo recitals in opera.  He now teaches piano and voice on the island. And, by the way, he is our opera star. 

Alan is a saxophonist, registered nurse, health information technology executive, seamstress, dive master and all around great guy.

Together with the pianist, they put on a spectacular show.

It's not just sun, sand and surf on Bonaire. We now have culture. 

Sunset/Moonrise

Sunset /Moonrise happens about once a month.  Since Bonaire is so flat and small it is easy to catch both events.  These particular events happened at 6:07 pm and 6:08 pm this week. Several of us gathered on the beach. It was the usual party...everyone brought their own chairs, drinks and a snack to share.   

We certainly pay more attention to the weather and the celestial skies than we did in the US. Don't know if that is because we have more time or because of the geography.  Either way we are constantly reminded of how lucky we are to live on this island.

It took a while for the moon to pop out from the clouds. When it did, it lit up the whole beach. 

 

Shippment

We went through our belongings and sold most of them at the estate sale.  However, there were a few items we thought we would ship to Bonaire. It cost us more to ship the items than they were worth.  We sent four boxes by UPS to Miami for the boat to Bonaire.  As you can see they had a rough trip. Thankfully everything got here in one piece. 

I paired down my US Christmas decorations collection...which was sizable and extensive. These two stocking holders made the cut along with "beachy" type ornaments. These will now be part of the Bonaire Christmas collection. 

 

I also shipped a box of Hatch's green chiles from Costco. Now I will have a supply to try and make some dishes that are Mexican inspired.

I had never thought of shipping food to Bonaire.  We try and live with what is on the island. This is a specialty item that just doesn't exist on Bonaire.

We shipped a metal art piece.  This piece, which was not worth the shipping and import tax, is now hanging up.  It literally cost us ten times what we paid for it to get it from Denver to Bonaire. Sometimes you just do stuff that only makes sense after a month of craziness caused by getting the house ready for sale. It made sense when we were packaging it up for shipping.  Oh well, it filled an empty space.

Seasons

We have four season on Bonaire. but they don't match North American seasons.  Our Hot Season is August, September and October.  Rainy Season starts October 1 (whether it rains or not). Hurricane Season is June through November.  December to July is our Perfect Season. 

This is "Fall" or hot season on Bonaire . Our mango tree drops leaves and grows new ones. After three months of blasting heat the tree begins to bloom.  This time of year we spend most of our time in the air-co while not raking leaves.

After hurricane season, the cruise ships come back to the island.  We are only supposed to have one ship a day, but today we saw two in port. This signals the time where we avoid going into town during the day until the ships leave. 

On cruise ship days the island is littered with slow moving golf carts, throngs of people on the sidewalks and roads and lots of sunburned people on the beaches.

The best season on Bonaire is November through July.  The weather is perfect. Trees and flowers are blooming. We can enjoy being outside all the time.  Its paradise.

It's a great time to visit. Come see us in paradise.

 

Sushi

We and several our friends attended a sushi making class.  The chef of the best sushi restaurant in town hosted the class on his day off.  We got to learn from the best in making sushi ( Tuna and Salmon) and sushi rolls.

Miguel gave us his secrets to creating sticky rice (it has to do with sugar and vinegar). His instructions on layering the rice on the nigiri and rolling the roll was perfect. We each watched his demonstration and then we completed our sushi rolls. 
 

I would have taken more photos but the drinks were plentiful and even included Saki....so, well, you know....

I did manage to get a clear photo of Rick and his masterpiece.

Regatta

Every October Bonaire holds a Regatta (except of course, for COVID). People and boats come from Curaçao and participate with Bonaire sailors in races. It a two week event that has parades, music, parties in the streets and of course boat and water craft races. The banks close early and restaurants have special regatta menus.  The street along the waterfront closes for spectators and bleachers and sunshades are erected. It's a big deal on the island.

Boats of all sizes participate from radio controlled boats, to mini bathtub-size boats, to Sunfish, to 35-50 foot sail boats. We packed up our chairs and cooler and headed out the watch the races.  We realized that we know nothing about Regattas.  Boats are going every direction, horns a blowing at irregular intervals, green flags go up and down, there are buoys placed around the harbor and we can see no rhyme or reason to it. We enjoyed it anyway.  Any time we get a chance to sit by the sea its a good day.

This is a photo from the local newspaper. All the Sunfish boats have sails with the Bonairian flag. How they got all lined up is a mystery.

Candy

I have discovered Dutch candy that is similar to candy I liked in the States. I know, I know I shouldn't eat candy but I do.

I really love peach rings that I got in the States.  I haven't found them on the island but I recently discovered cherry flavored jelly candy at the grocery store.  They are made in cute cherry doubles with stems. The flavor is great...very tart cherry dusted in sugar. 

I always loved heart shaped candy that was sold on Valentines Day.  You know, the chalky hearts that say silly things on them.  I found a replacement in October on Bonaire.  Vruchen Hartjes is translated to: fruit (flavored) hearts.  I am always amazed when I can find similar products of the things I like on the island.

 

However, the sweet words on the hearts are in Dutch...I had to translate them:

Prima: fine, magnificent

Zoen : kiss

Ooeo: OOOOO

Fijn: fine, nice, beautiful

Engel: angel

NEE:  no

Leuk: nice, jolly

Snoes: sweetie

Pret: fun

Our favorite sushi place gives out Colombian caramel candy when you pay the bill.  I always liked this gesture because it wasn't peppermint (which is not my favorite) that all the other restaurants give away.  One of my friends found the very same candy at a Chinese market called Tong Fong.  

Just to summarize...a Japanese sushi place gives away Colombian candy sold at a Chinese market on a Dutch island.

Returning to Bonaire

It is always exciting for us to return to Bonaire.  After a month away from the island everything seems new to us.  We flew into Bonaire from Miami and our view of the island from the plane was spectacular.

After a month away we got reacquainted with our some of our friends at a wine tasting event.  It featured a sunset. 

A new store opened while we were gone. It's called Building Depot.  They carry home goods and decorating items, painting supplies, tools, furniture, and hardware. Their competition, Kooyman, was there checking them out too!

Rainy Season started October 1. The island has no drainage and after a day's rain, the streets are flooded and some of the sidewalks are impassable. Someone placed a brink in the middle of a large puddle that enabled us to step off the sidewalk, onto the brick and then on to a dry spot. Very inventive move and we appreciate whomever did this easy fix to make the sidewalk useable.

Cruise ships have been absent due to hurricane season.  They start coming again in November.  In the mean time, we have had the Dutch Coast Guard patrolling the seas.  They are very effective at catching drug shipments on fast boats from Venezuela heading to North America. They also intercept illegals coming to the island by boat.

It was so nice to get back to the beach, sunsets, snorkeling and warm weather.  Happy in Paradise!