Today we got our first look at the rest of the island, what the Spanish called the “worthless island.” Bonaire is made of fossilized coral, so crops couldn’t really be grown here, and there isn’t much for natural resources, hence the “worthless” reputation, but from what I saw and did today, this place has a lot going for it. The Dutch took over the island in the 1600s for its natural salt mines, all of which was harvested by slave labor of course. There are 6 major villages on the island, and we drove through most of them today, stopping in Rincon for a Bonairean lunch of fresh fish and goat stew (I have extended my vegetarian policy to include fish for this trip, as it is all done on a pretty small, sustainable scale- I don't think I'll be extending it to include goat or iguana though). This island is just teeming with life; today alone we saw wild donkeys, wild goats, flamingoes, blue whiptailed lizards, iguanas, and many birds that I will have to learn the names for.
A few photos of our venture:
This first picture is of the blue whiptailed lizard, which are really pretty. In the 5 minutes we were standing there though, there must have been at least 15 of them crawling around.
The third picture is of the view from the peak, you can see that while it's not very lush, it is very green, and the water is bright blue.
This statue of Mary is the highest point on Bonaire, on top of the mountain. Kralendijk is about 1 meter above sea level, and the peak of this mountain is at about 750.
A few photos of our venture:
This first picture is of the blue whiptailed lizard, which are really pretty. In the 5 minutes we were standing there though, there must have been at least 15 of them crawling around.
The third picture is of the view from the peak, you can see that while it's not very lush, it is very green, and the water is bright blue.
This statue of Mary is the highest point on Bonaire, on top of the mountain. Kralendijk is about 1 meter above sea level, and the peak of this mountain is at about 750.
Next is the picture of a giant agave plant and some cacti, both of which we saw over and over around the island.
The last picture is of the slave huts where the slaves from Rincon would stay while they worked the salt flats in Kralendijk.
See the rest of the tour here
2 comments:
dude you are so living it up down there...meals delivered by way of chef?! i miss yooooouuuu!
love, your minnesota roomie.
Katie, I heard about the chef. Life must be so terrible! I really hope you're having a blast out there. You are most missed.
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