Travel Tuesday - Bonaire - by Lady

Our third port was Bonaire, the B in the ABC islands. Like the others, tourism is essential for the economy and it is one of the most popular diving spots in the Caribbean. All around the island are yellow stones, marking diving spots. I was sure we had a picture of one, but I can't find it. Bonaire is special municipality of the Netherlands, and it uses the US dollar as currency. About 20 000 people live on the island.  It is famous for it's flamingos and while we saw a lot, we didn't get a good picture. 

Our tour, driven by a local guide, started on the north of the island where the first European settlers arrived.  For the first few years, slaves were required to walk the 3 hours one way daily, to the salt fields. 

Our first stop was a church that slaves had carved out of a cave.  After nearly 100 years, it is still in use. 

The church

As there is no spot of stained glass, stories from the Bible are presented around the church like this.

View from the top of the church

Our next stop was a museum.

This traditional house, showed off how the wealthier people lived on the island over the past 130 years. It is also where we tried a cactus alcohol. 

It had very low doors.

Around the museum, as in many parts of the island we saw cactus fences. 

I wish I remembered the name of this plant

On the drive we say many donkeys

We also passed a place where they were land sailing. 

Our last stop was the salt fields. Fun fact, they are currently owned by a Canadian company and all the salt is sent to Canada for further processing.

The ponds are pink because of a microorganism that makes them that colour

As mentioned earlier, when they first arrived, the slaves were required to walk 6 hours per day to and from work. After a few years, slave houses were built across from the salt fields. 

I didn't like posing by them, as I felt it made it an 'attraction' and I wanted to capture how small the house was, so I used me as a marker. 

inside

I took some time standing in a stunningly beautiful spot on the planet to sit with slavery and all of the misuse of humans, historical and present. I didn't want to get lost in the misery that can come from such thoughts. I held it, and resolved to remember and do what I can to make the world a better place. 

The horror and the beauty.
Accepting two things can be true at the same time.

This felt like a heavy post, and as a historian at heart, I think it is important for us to all acknowledge our shared histories - the good, the bad and the ugly. Next week's post, a visit to St. Lucia, will be back to looking at nature. 

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Reminder to click HERE to join our when will the snow be gone contest!

Happy Spring - When Will The Snow Be Gone Contest!

 

It is that time of year again, time to play  "when will the snow be gone? "

Incase you have forgotten, here are the rules:

-Post your guess, in the comments on this post,  on which day the snow will be gone in our yard (any area covered by grass, not including the bush), before Saturday March 25, at 11:59pm ET

- The first person by time to pick a date, gets that date, so read the others comments.

-The person who comes closest without going past the date, wins.

-Prize to be determined. For those who may want to play but don't want a prize, a donation can be made to charity in your honour instead.

-Updates will be provided at least weekly during the contest. 

To help you pick your date, here are some pictures from the front yard yesterday:

I will miss making snow angles when the snow is gone.

Wishing everyone luck, but we know we will be the biggest winners because the snow will be gone and spring will finally be here!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

 

Here is our attempt at some imperfect limericks:

There once was a dog from the States,

Who was black and hated to wait,

She was pretty and fun,

Always on the run,

She really was very great!

There was a pup who loved the snow,

He liked to be buried in it,  head to toe,

He would roll all day,

Just wanting to play,

Inside he never wanted to go. 

Almost Time . . . .

Dear pals,

Mark it on your calendars that Monday, the first day of spring, is when we will be opening up our when will the snow be gone contest! Next week, you will be able to leave a comment on Monday's post guessing when we will be done with the white stuff.

To help you start planning your start to prepare your guess, here is a picture from the weekend of our front yard.

Hope you stop by Monday and join the fun as we count down to the true end of winter here!

Wordless Wednesday - Playing with Callie

 

Travel Tuesday - Curacao - by the Lady

 Our second port was Curasao, which I admit, I had no idea how to say (cure-a-soh) before going. The C in the ABC islands is a constituent country of the Netherlands. It is the largest of the ABC islands in both area and population (about 155 000 people). Tourism is the one of the most important parts of the economy, and on our tour, we saw the effects of not having tourists during the pandemic. 

The Man picked the excursion for this island and picked one that took us to an Ostrich Farm.  Created as a draw for tourists, during the shut down of the pandemic they were unable to pay for the electricity to run the incubators for the eggs. Further, they had to sell some of the ostriches for meat.  In spite of these challenges, they really hope to recover. 

They had other animals too! 

An emu

An emu

A female with her egg

I admit - I don't love ostriches and emus - they kind of creep me out with their dinosaur bird type movements, but I did enjoy spending some time with them. This is a young male. 

They had a problem with the organs they couldn't sell. The stray dogs were getting into them. So they brought in crocodiles to eat the left over parts. However, the diet left the crocs with no teeth!

After visiting the farm, we had a quick stop at Hato Caves, where we watched bats (also not a favourite) fluttering around. The caves were very humid and people were dripping in sweat in them. 

Thanks for joining us on the Curacao adventure. Next week we visit beautiful Bonaire and learn a lot about slavery. 

Mischief Monday - The Lady Again - by Phod

 Dear pals,

Again, we are awarding the weekly mischief award to Lady. Yes, she did visit everyone last week one, and yes she worked from home 3 days, and yes she gave us lots of love, however, she has engaged in some less than perfect behaviour.

My disgruntled face

First, when she was working at home, she had to close the door and try as I may, I could not fit under the door to get into the office with her.

Design flaw - Phod can't fit under the door

Second, she forgot to do a Nature Friday post last week.

Third, while I am ok with her being out for part of the day on Saturday to pickleball and get groceries (sometimes she comes home with dog treats), I was not ok with her and Man going out in the evening for 87 million hours and leaving us home alone. While they were gone some squirrel, broke into the house and peed on one of the dog beds. I tried to stop it, but what can I do? I want to be everyone's friend. I don't want to make a squirrel mad.

At any rate, I hope this week she does better. 

A disgruntled Phod who doesn't like when Lady laughs at him and says he is super cute when he is angry.