Bon Bini Na Bonaire Barry and Emily!
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| Yea! They are here! |
We had such a wonderful visit from Barry and Emily last week! It was interesting how the two visits from the children were quite different! We did a few of the same things, but we had a bunch of firsts too.
One of our friends arranged for us to visit the Cargill Salt Company operation. We learned the processes involved in getting the salt from the pink salt pans to our dinner table. Very interesting. We all got a souvenir chunk of salt!
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| Susan - on the right - arranged for the visit to the Salt Company. Poppy- on the left - was our instructor |
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| Mountains of salt |
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| From the sea, to the salt pans, to the table |
Emily and Elder VV went snorkeling, we walked along the beach and found some really unique coral formations and a mountain of conch shells.
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| By the sea |
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| Conch shells galore. We have been encouraged to not to eat the conch as they are protected on Bonaire |
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| South shore by Lac Bay |
We explored the Mangroves rowing in a kayak
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| Lookin' good in the mangroves! |
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| Mangroves are shrubs or small trees that grow in costal saline or brakish waters. The mangrove forest on Bonaire acts as a huge nursery for Bonaire's coral reefs. Managing a kayak is a bit harder then it looks...it was fun to paddle around and see some of the sea life, even though we got stuck in some sea grass! |
We dined on a "family favorite" -. kapsalon. A dish of french fries, topped with shawarma meat,chopped up cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, onion, and some yummy sauce.
Then for a little more gourmet evening we tried a lovely restaurant - "Ingrid"ients that had a view of the sea at sunset.
We also enjoyed our morning walks along the sea.
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| Dinner at "Ingrid"ients Restaurant |
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| Spelunking |
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| Stone bench on the overlook to Rincon |
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| Rincon is the small village north of Kralendijk. It was the first settlement on Bonaire. Tucked away in a little valley it was naturally protected from pirates and raids. |
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| Gotomeer is an inland salt water lake on the way to Rincon. It is a good spot to catch a glimpse of the flamingos |
We went to discover the donkey sanctuary where we were surrounded and then chased by them. Emily and Barry brought some carrots for the donkeys. When the carrots were gone, one tried to take a bite out of the side view mirror on our car! there really is a spot where he scraped off the paint!
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| The donkeys were introduced to the island by the Spanish in 1526. Donkeys and goats are free to walk around the island, but recently some have been captured and taken to be cared for in the donkey sanctuary . They captured the interest of Emily. It must have been mutual because they kept following her around! |
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| Where are my carrots! |
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| Seru Largu is the 2nd highest elevation on the island. The monument is of religious nature. It provides a great view of the island. |
We finished off the week at the outdoor movie.
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| At Empire Cinema waiting for "The Jungle Book" to begin and for our Thai dinner to be served |
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| Bye for now! we had a great time! |
What a week! Just one mad round of pleasure.
We really enjoyed our time with the Vander Veur's.
Thanks for coming!
