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Chalecco111
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Posted: Sun Oct 29th, 2006 03:36 pm |
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I normally post on the Aruba related sites however - often the question pops up as to what do I do when I want to get away. Thjis question comes at least once a week if not more. Therefore, I made the decision to ost a short trip that I had.
The funny thing is that after having posted it, there has been quite some comments asking me more about Bonaire. My response is to steer them to this site. In any event, I thought I would share this with you since it is about your island.
“So – What do you do when you just need to get away for a day or two?”
This is a valid question and tricky to answer. The answer could be misinterpreted as “one island” being better than the other for relaxation. That – of course is not the truth. In my mind at least, I look at the islands like rooms in a house. One is great for sleeping in and another is the best for cooking while still others are unbeatable for sitting and doing absolutely nothing. Yet – all the rooms are under the same roof, and we all have a favorite room of the house.
About two weeks ago, I became totally stuffed with (what else) “stuff”. Decisions pending, quotations that had not been answered, bills that would have to wait an extra week and invoices that were being sent out into a black hole, since response was not forthcoming. Add to that the expansion of the business that was set for October and now delayed until February (maybe) and a tremendous new product we are going to launch in January. Take all of this and you have quite a monstrous amount of information to keep you thinking into the wee hours of the night.
So, what did I do? I got up in the morning and explained I needed two days to sort things out (relief for my better half). Went into the bathroom and DID NOT SHAVE. Brushed my teeth got dressed in the oldest jeans I could find (that still fit), somehow a pair of flip flop sandals found my feet and an old BALASHI t-shirt felt just perfect. Grabbed a small bag into which went whatever medications still keep me alive, a comb, toothbrush and tooth paste, deodorant a note pad with pencil and tossed it in. Grabbed a few bucks, asked if the credit card was OK. Got a nod on the credit card and went to the car. Did the final check in my mind.
- Tooth brush and paste.
- Underarm stuff
- Extra underwear
- Specticles and testicles
- Chewing gum for the plane ride
- Passport and instructions on where to send my remains (one never knows)
With all OK for the trip I headed for the airport, I remembered that I had forgotten my computer and went to our office and got another extra one. They wont’ miss it and if they do – well I am the boss.
A short stop in Curacao where I ate a fabulous and most deliciously greasy croquette washed by an ice cold beer, after all it was after 8AM. Soon we were in Bonaire where my robot factor kicks in.
- Out the door first
- Get the small bag first
- Get to the customs line first
- Go to luggage check first
- Before they ask, say I HAVE NOTHIN first
- Go outside first
- Grab the first taxi
And
- Go to a resort. In this case it was a DIVI resort (Flamingo to be exact)
- Check into the smallest room available
- Rent the cheapest car available
- Throw all the stuff in the room
- Credit card, passport and some money goes in pocket and …. By noon that same day
I went for a ride in the country side of Bonaire ---
Alone – all alone – so blissfully and wondrously alone.
I took the road that goes around the back of the airport and heads into BELEM (Someday I will tell you about the origin of that name) and just kept driving. Stopped and got some water and kept on driving by a pink beach. Got out and swam in that spot and looked around. ALONE. All alone in a small pink beach. YEAHH
Changed back into the jeans and back in the car so I could keep driving. Found a donkey that was alone – stopped and took some pictures with my cell phone – the pictures still reside there. The donkey looked at me and I at him and we agreed that he was a donkey and I was not. Mates we were not yet it was not out of the question to appreciate his adaptation to the harshness of this island. I am sure he appreciated absolutely nothing about me.
I kept driving to a place called LAC bay. It is a small inlet where mostly families hung out cooking stuff and laughing at life in general. I parked and did not get even one glance. I did not matter. BLISSSSSSSS. Sat in the sand for a while and listened to people laughing. Nice sound actually. I developed a thirst and got a red colored soda pop at a nearby stand. Unless you are an avid and optimal fan of liquid sugar, I do not recommend it, yet everyone drank it and looked pretty damned healthy to me. I overheard one of the guys there say that they caught tons of fish today and would have them at the down town pier. He would get some tonight. I placed that in my very empty agenda and then promptly forgot it.
After a while I decided to keep on driving and finally ended up in the middle of the island – somewhere- at a place that looked a lot like a large back yard with a roof made of the leaves and branches of DIVI trees with large tin plates interwoven here and there. Drove in and found a smiling face standing behind a Heinekens sign. Not sure if I noticed him or the sign first. Anyway, about two beers later, I hear the sound of a dominoes game starting up. Ivory pieces hitting a well worn Formica table will get your attention every time. I grabbed my chair and moved it to sit off to the side of the game and watched. I looked at all of it and the scene in front and around me penetrated me.
There it was - the game of dominoes –the cover of trees with the soft creaking of branches working against each other, me -sitting on a chair that is at least as old as I am and watching four men play a game as intently as if the fate of the world depended on it, all of it. And off to the side – in the back – was a small kid sitting on a bench making car sounds – (The kind that kids make when they have toy cars) and in back of him was a baby donkey and in back of that donkey was a cactus fence (which in my minds eye) – held all of this together. I got up and went to the kid and saw that he was playing with a small block of wood and that some caring person had drawn tires and a windshield and front lights on this block of wood. They had used a blue inked ball point pen to do it. He continued with his car sounds and I looked.
After a while I found myself driving back to the hotel and knowing that hunger was about to set in. Just in case it would be interesting, I went to the docks where they sell fish and found the remains of the fish sale, which were fish scales and a few pieces of fish being nibbled at in the water by the trillions of miniature fish that hang out around the docks.
After a short walk, I went to the hotel and had a nice meal and – of course another beer.
In my room, I wrote and realized that my thoughts kept going back to the essence of Bonaire. Not the donkey or the waters. Not the salt piles or cute structures here and there. It wasn’t the hotel or the down town area. No, none of that. It is much more pure. My mind kept going back to a small boy and a block of wood.
In that child and his block of wood lies the simplicity of this island. There lies the truth of what it is all about. I recall a block of wood in my youth as well. And – it was time to go and get it back.
Check out the next morning was as painless as the ride to the airport. Check in at the airport was great and gave me time for another beer (it was after 8AM) and the croquette was deliciously greasy. Two beers later I was back on Aruba
Bag on my back and not a trace of sun or anything from Bonaire, I drove to the office and left my computer and then went to the house and looked at Juniors (my sons') toys. It so happens that there was a piece of broomstick handle in the back yard and I grabbed it and cleaned it off. Cut it into a piece about 5 inches long and presented Junior with his Bonaire Boat. He asked me if all boats there are the same and I told him that simple things work best. He did not understand. I have earmarked that comment as one to repeat at a much latter date.
The problems I left behind? They are still there. The only difference being that before dealing with them, I go for a sail on a piece of broom handle and then drive to work in a wooden car.
be well
charles
October 06
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