I woke up fairly early and wrote and uploaded yesterday's blog entry from a chair out on one of the many decks here at Bed & Breakfast Blenchi.. The view of the ocean was now uncloaked and a completely new set of birds was happily distracting my process. From Bright orange birds similar to an Oriole to little yellow birds, doves, green parrots, pelicans and others; mornings are quite lovely here.
I finally woke up Mary about quarter to nine because the smell of breakfast was driving me crazy in a good way. We strolled over to the thatched outdoor dining area and grabbed an already set table. Marit, the innkeeper was busily running back and forth from the kitchen, stocking the buffet with breads, fruits, hot dishes and fresh coffee.
The foods had little standard American fare. It was mostly European and primarily Dutch, I suppose. The only fruits I recognized were pineapple and papaya. There were about 4 others that I had never seen before. The Dutch must have a thing about sugar sprinkles on bread because there were about 6 boxes of different kinds. The main hot dishes consisted of some tuna melt wedges, raisin pancakes and some tiny omelets.
Little birds were flitting around, perching on the backs of on occupied chairs and singing unfamiliar songs. A couple of B&B cats were lounging around, not begging but making sure that the action was all in view. One of the cats hate a strikingly ugly yet adorable face. The sugar cubes in a jar on the table were swarming with ting insects. I was amused by that fact and thought about how unacceptable that would be in the States but I decided it was part of the funky charm and considered adding a cube to my coffee despite the fact that I don't usually take sugar. Maybe tomorrow.
After breakfast we went back to our room and began preparations for our day of exploring. We tossed the snorkeling gear in the back of the car but the plan was to drive around get familiarized with the island and culture. Marit had shopped for a small bag of groceries for us so we had fruit, cheese, tortilla chips and juice to take along. We flushed the screaming toilet in our room and we were off.
Mary had expressed hoping to see lizards and we were not disappointed. Almost immediately a huge iguana crossed the road in front of us. We stopped to take a picture but he was too fast and disappeared into the brush as soon as Mary stepped out of the car. But lizards of all stripes were plentiful, usually seen dashing across the road, much like the squirrels in Grand Rapids.
We headed towards the western rural tip of the island first. The big city, Willemstad, is toward the eastern end and we knew we wanted to end up there. The roads were narrow, unmarked and of poor quality and this made navigation somewhat difficult for Mary, who is a bit directionally-challenged anyway. Fortunately, the main roads are few and when on occasion we took a wrong turn, we usually knew within a kilometer or two.
Mary spotted a little cultural museum about an hour into our route and we decided to stop. Much of the content centered on slavery. Curacao was a slavery trade center for America back when... you know. It was an unusual museum experience with very little clear organization; new items mixed with old relics and very little of it explained in English. Most island residents can get by in all four languages spoken here: Dutch, Spanish, English, and the local main dialect, Papiamentu.
We encountered very few white people on this leg of the journey and I wondered about the slavery politics and attitudes that may still exist. The Dutch pensioners seem to keep to themselves and mostly out of sight.
After the museum we decided to turn around and check out the urban scene since we only really have one full day hear and Bonaire is mostly rural and without a big city. We backtracked past the B&B, past the airport, past a big stinky refinery and into Willemstad. Strangely, there are very few signs that say "Willemstad" on them but we could tell from the pictures of the colorful, colonial buildings from websites that we were in the right place. We drove around a bit to try and establish some sense of the layout and eventually parked in an area that Marit had recommended where there was free parking and an easy walk across the floating bridge to a market district.
After passing through an extremely high end (and mostly unpopulated) shopping district (Tiffany, Guicci, etc.), and a fort converted to an upscale food court, we began crossing the floating bridge which spanned the channel to the harbor. Half way across, we heard a load horn sound and many people began running. What the hell was gong on? Air raid? Soon most everyone was running so we started running too. When we neared the other side, we could see what was happening. The "floating bridge" was disconnecting from one side of the channel, propelled by a Diesel engine. It was a drawbridge of sorts and a ship was shortly to be coming through. Whoever was driving the bridge impatiently waited to gun the engine until we jumped over a six-inch gap at the break. We were now on the market side and it was lunch time.
There was an appealing channel-side outdoor cafe/bar/restaurant with shade umbrellas and cooling mist and we sat down to try the "special". We split the meal (pork chop, salad and French fries) and Mary had a tropical drink. It was quite lovely. It did take forever for them to give us the check but we did not mind. Lots of Dutch tourists here to observe.
Afterward, we strolled along a long line of produce sellers to a round, covered building that was filled with booths of people selling their wares. I think we were the only white people in there. Mary picked up her souvenir gifts. We exited and walked through a few of the row upon row of narrow streets filled with shops of all kinds. Less upscale but a whole range from cheap to branded.
We stopped at a tourist kiosk filled with brochures and asked the woman who was sitting there (beading jewelry) if she had a good map. "No", she said. "If you want a GOOD map, you'll have to buy one" and she pointed us to an electronics store. We picked up a good map there for nine US dollars.
The floating bridge was back in place and we crossed back to the fort and I ordered a frozen coffee drink at a shady table while Mary explored an arty shop with a large, colorful, papier mâché womanly figure posted outside.
Back in our car, we headed straight back to the B&B. When re rolled in, we decided to check out the "abandoned" resort at the end of the road. After a beautiful flower lined entrance drive we were shocked to find only shells of buildings, tennis courts and restaurants; row after row. Marit later explained that an American owner got shafted by a changing local government who saddled him with a huge debt from a previous owner and within a weekend, the whole complex was stripped down to the skeleton. Sitting right on a beautiful beach with an incredible view, we were stunned to think such a valuable property could lie vacant. We walked the beach a bit only imagining that it was once swarming with tourists. This was not the only such property. We saw several hotels and properties on Curacao that had the stripped down to the shell appearance.
Feeling pretty heat oppressed, we returned to our room and decided to try out our snorkeling gear in the pool. I was anxious to see how my adaption of an old pair of glasses into Mary's swim mask would work in underwater conditions. I was also curious how modern snorkels worked with the diving valve that prevents water from seeping in . Both worked flawlessly.
We cleaned up and prepared for dinner. We had prearranged "Dinner with Dudley", a meal prepared on site by a local chef. He grilled fresh tuna steaks with salad and rice with fried plantain and ice creams for dessert. All great and served to us alone in that delightful setting.
Afterwards, we retired to lounge chairs by the pool and watched bats swooping in to catch the little flying bugs. We also browsed social media on our iPads; kind of a setting disconnect there.
We met a couple from the Czech Republic who were grilling their own dinner on the gas grill. It smelled wonderful. I hard boiled some eggs for tomorrow in the kitchen and noticed a white board for the upcoming month of guests. Not an American-seeming name in the bunch.
Tomorrow we leave for Bonaire.
(Hmmm...photos seem to be in reverse order)
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