It’s 3 o clock in the afternoon and I’m lying under the shade of a thatched pavilion trying to squeeze in a midday power nap. We’re in the city of Rincon for their children’s Karnaval parade, and have been waiting on the sidewalk for an hour for it to start, they are on Bonaire time; the street food has been a welcome distraction though, pumpkin pancakes and meat pies. Karnaval is a 2 week festival here in Bonaire, comparable to Carneval, Carnivale, Fasching, Mardi Gras, etc. People are lined up on the streets waiting for the parade to start, and the students of CIEE are trying to be patient, but we’re running on very little sleep.
We woke up at 5 this morning so that we could travel to the north end of the island for a nature hike at sunrise. After a late night, 5 o’clock came much too soon for us and the drive up is silent as we all doze off in the van. We get to Rincon at the foot of the mountain, they call it a mountain anyway, and we begin our hike still under the cover of dark and quietly we trudge. Our trail leads us up the side of the mountain where we can look out across the valley and see the scattered kunukus (family farms) and past the valley, the ocean. As we continue we come to a road that leads into a village that established themselves at the top of this mountain hundreds of years ago, the road is lined with the all too familiar cacti of Bonaire, but as the sun is rising the tropical birds are starting to stir and fly off; a flock of parakeets flies out of the brush right in front of us. We hear more about the vegetation and geology of the island and we continue walking towards the ocean until we reach Karpata, one of our favorite sites on the cliffs on that side of the island. We stop here for breakfast, baracoba (bananas), watermelon and bran muffins. Sitting on the cliffs, banana in hand it was a very good morning. We finished up and drove back into Rincon to tour a cultural museum, a typical Bonairean house from the 1950s that had been preserved as it was – the cistern for well water in the kitchen, the handmade furniture. Then we headed back to the van to drive back to Kralendijk to crash.
With a solid 2 hour nap and a quick lunch, we drove back up to Rincon for the parade. We stake out our section on the sidewalk under the pavilion across the street from a little bar where Caribbean music plays while we wait and some people dance on the sidewalk. We cam prepared with little bottles of bubbles, which are honestly one of the cheapest forms of entertainment out there, I just don’t think people get too old for bubbles. But our patience wanes and our attention spans drift in and out, when we run ionto some of our friends from Kralendijk who tell us that the parade doesn’t actually pass in front of this pavilion, and we run down the street to where the parade will go through, beginning to hear the loud music and sounds of the parade starting. The kids in the parade are adorable and have pretty nice costumes for a local parade, dancing and singing their way through the streets of Rincon.
We finish the day where all good days should end, a swim in the sea. Some of our friends from the dive shop had invited us to a barbecue after the parade, so we leave Rincon and (unknowingly) head down a one way road past Karpata to another site on the cliffs. We make it there fine, running on a fear/adrenaline high from driving the twisting road in the wrong direction. As soon as we’re out of the car we jump into the ocean, with only a brief hello to our friends, soon joined by their dogs. Sometimes it’s nice to go for a swim just for fun, not to collect water samples or take underwater video transects, just go out and swim. We catch the sunset as we get out of the water and head for the van once again. We don’t stay long, but it’s the best possible ending to such a long day. That, and I had a fish taco waiting for me at home, and I do so love fish tacos.
We woke up at 5 this morning so that we could travel to the north end of the island for a nature hike at sunrise. After a late night, 5 o’clock came much too soon for us and the drive up is silent as we all doze off in the van. We get to Rincon at the foot of the mountain, they call it a mountain anyway, and we begin our hike still under the cover of dark and quietly we trudge. Our trail leads us up the side of the mountain where we can look out across the valley and see the scattered kunukus (family farms) and past the valley, the ocean. As we continue we come to a road that leads into a village that established themselves at the top of this mountain hundreds of years ago, the road is lined with the all too familiar cacti of Bonaire, but as the sun is rising the tropical birds are starting to stir and fly off; a flock of parakeets flies out of the brush right in front of us. We hear more about the vegetation and geology of the island and we continue walking towards the ocean until we reach Karpata, one of our favorite sites on the cliffs on that side of the island. We stop here for breakfast, baracoba (bananas), watermelon and bran muffins. Sitting on the cliffs, banana in hand it was a very good morning. We finished up and drove back into Rincon to tour a cultural museum, a typical Bonairean house from the 1950s that had been preserved as it was – the cistern for well water in the kitchen, the handmade furniture. Then we headed back to the van to drive back to Kralendijk to crash.
With a solid 2 hour nap and a quick lunch, we drove back up to Rincon for the parade. We stake out our section on the sidewalk under the pavilion across the street from a little bar where Caribbean music plays while we wait and some people dance on the sidewalk. We cam prepared with little bottles of bubbles, which are honestly one of the cheapest forms of entertainment out there, I just don’t think people get too old for bubbles. But our patience wanes and our attention spans drift in and out, when we run ionto some of our friends from Kralendijk who tell us that the parade doesn’t actually pass in front of this pavilion, and we run down the street to where the parade will go through, beginning to hear the loud music and sounds of the parade starting. The kids in the parade are adorable and have pretty nice costumes for a local parade, dancing and singing their way through the streets of Rincon.
We finish the day where all good days should end, a swim in the sea. Some of our friends from the dive shop had invited us to a barbecue after the parade, so we leave Rincon and (unknowingly) head down a one way road past Karpata to another site on the cliffs. We make it there fine, running on a fear/adrenaline high from driving the twisting road in the wrong direction. As soon as we’re out of the car we jump into the ocean, with only a brief hello to our friends, soon joined by their dogs. Sometimes it’s nice to go for a swim just for fun, not to collect water samples or take underwater video transects, just go out and swim. We catch the sunset as we get out of the water and head for the van once again. We don’t stay long, but it’s the best possible ending to such a long day. That, and I had a fish taco waiting for me at home, and I do so love fish tacos.
p.s. As it was 5 o'clock in the morning my brain wasn't in order, so I forgot my camera during the hike, but click here to see more pictures.
1 comment:
Katie,
What a great place! I'm definitely thinking retirement. Very adorable little kids and iguanas.
Absolutely gorgeous pics. You should get a job w/ National Geographic.
Love,
Aunt Becky
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