Slave huts of old.
We decided to do the self driving tour of Bonaire and rented a car for 2 days. Our first stop was Washington Slagbaai National Park at the north of the island. We had to rent a pick up if we wanted to see the park. Many of the rental car companies did not allow their cars into the national park. After a few hundred yards, it was easy to see why. It had to have been one of the worst roads we have been on, ever. It was definitely worse that some of the old ski roads we used travel on in years gone past. When it rains here, they close the park and now we know why. It would become impassable except for a tank. But well worth the bone shaking drive that we endured for several hours. The landscape was surprisingly arid with varieties of cactus and an almost lunar appearance to the rock formations. We watched large blowholes along the coast; derelict lighthouses and got to admire the tallest point on Bonaire – Subi Brandaris at a stunning 242m. We didn’t climb it, as apparently we were too late to start for it, even though it is only a 1-2 hour turn around walk. Our biggest thrill came with spotting the local iguanas, before they became soup and the pink flamingoes. These are abundant on this island so we tried to hit all the viewing spots. We did see some up reasonable close but the masses were always in the distance. Apparently they come close when there is a hurricane approaching. Who needs a weatherman when these graceful birds will get it right all the time? Still being in the Caribbean, we had to stop at the one and only distillery where they make a local liqueur from the most abundant plant on the island – cactus. It tasted okay but not nice enough to part with the lot of money they were asking to fill the wine cabinet. A pleasant stop at the donkey sanctuary gave us a laugh as we were hounded by hundreds of malnourished donkeys to relief us of our bagful of carrots. We tended to think that the wild donkeys looked better feed than the donkeys at the sanctuary but at least they were not at risk of road kill. A few did have a little run in with the wing mirrors as we drove around at a snails pace. Day 2 took us out west after a morning of torrential rain. We got so far and realized that the tank would have been handy today so we turned around and did some shopping instead. It was definitely fun driving around a small island with a poor quality map, little to no street signs and roads that may have been roads or just tracks somewhere and we didn’t know to where they led. We did get the pleasure of seeing the local “Christmas Parade” where Sintaklass along with his trusty helpers Zwarte Piets (black faced people dressed in the colorful garb of 16th century nobles) arrive via the 2 local tug boats. They then parade through eh town with the Zwarte Piets throwing candies to the children. Half the island appeared to turn out for the annual event. It was certainly very different to see how the Dutch in the Antilles welcome Saint Nicholas and the Christmas season. After a last dinner on chore, it was time to move on to Curacao. As it was only about 40 miles away, we managed to arrive in daylight.