Bonaire : Pink Flamingos

The Caribbean Flamingo inhabits the Caribbean Islands and the north coast of South America, but is extremely picky about breeding sites. The ground needs to have the right consistence to make that volcano shaped nest, so a thick layer of firm mud is preferred. They also crave enough food (with high salt content) and fresh water. And silence please. If a predator or human noise reaches the flamingoes, the breeding will stop. Bonaire is therefore a sweet spot for them to breed.

Flamingoes are the only filter feeders among birds. They are able to eat by holding their heads down and into the water. With those long legs, they shake the salinas and use the tongue as fast plunger to drive water and mud along the bill, which is equipped with filters that are able to separate food from mud. Young flamingoes have smaller holes in those filters, so they only eat algae but as they grow up, the holes grow too, letting through tiny mollusks, shrimp and larvae - no longer vegetarian.

Their height is usually between 115-170 cm, wingspan is around 2.5m and their weight remains below 4kg. They only lay one egg, that takes 28 days to incubate. They may live up to 50 years (even if 25 is average). Bonaire is key for flamingoes, out of the 50K that inhabit the Caribbean, 8K are in Bonaire.

Their color comes from the betacarotene content on the animals they feed upon and since their feathers fade in the sunlight, they escaped the plumage trade. Flamingoes are monogamous and cute as hell. I like them so much that I got Kudasai home a long time ago, getting him to travel the world with us.

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Bonaire : Summer Nights

While in Tokyo, I visited my old neighbors who had just become parents. When I check your blog, it looks as if you were always on vacation. Indeed, I might have been traveling a bit, but it was mostly for work. Of course, given I am away from home, trust me I'll do as much as possible to make the most out of it. Simply because life is too short to waste time, we never know when the dream could end. I learnt this lesson when the situation forced us outside Japan and trust me, I won't fall into the same mistake again.

Enrique spent the entire summer home, working remotely on a project. While he couldn't take any days off, at least, we have been able to enjoy these months in Spain. I took one week off in Tokyo during my June trip and that was all for summer vacay this year for me. 

The office is empty these days - probably like yours - and colleagues from here as well as overseas started teasing me about "being the girl without holidays". Well, I was waiting for September, hoping for a more flexible schedule on his side to be able to plan for a getaway around my birthday. But maybe this will have to wait as well, as he might get sent to another project starting asap, until Christmas. BUMMER. 

This is a major throwback to Bonaire, during January 2015, to one of those many sexy summer nights we enjoyed during that magic holiday in the Netherlands Antilles, and a reminder to you, to make the most out of the days you are probably enjoying with friends and lovers by the seaside. Squeeze them to the max, you never know when would be the next chance.

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Bonaire : Washington Slagbaai National Park

Bonaire es paraíso sin explotar. La isla está rodeada de dive sites - literalmente una tras otra. El interior es una sucesión de desierto con lagunas salinas, en las que viven los pink flamingoes más cool de todo el Caribe, burros que están protegidos y cuidados en el Bonaire Donkey Sanctuary, mientras que el norte (aproximadamente el 20% de la isla) está ocupado por una reserva natural de casi 6000 hectáreas, que visitamos hoy.

Para hacer cualquier cosa en Bonaire, tienes que pagar una especie de impuesto ecológico (llamado nature fee). Lo primero que hacer al llegar a la isla es comprar esas etiquetas y colgártelas de las gafas de bucear porque te vas a pasar la estancia enseñándolas. No son demasiado caras (unos 25$ por persona, si buceas), así que mejor comprarlas y ahorrarte el mal trago con el ranger de turno.

El Washington Slagbaai National Park aloja a las especies nativas y endémicas de Bonaire. Loros, flamingos, iguanas y muchos otros pájaros y reptiles viven en la reserva. Las playas dentro del parque sirven de nido para las 4 especies de tortugas marinas que hay en el Caribe. Antiguamente, esta zona fértil fue explotada como plantación durante el período colonial, hasta que en 1969 se convirtió en la reserva que podemos visitar hoy.

El parque es enorme, así que tienes que explorarlo en coche. Abren a las 8AM y la conducción es lenta, así que si te decides a hacer la ruta larga, mejor madrugar para completarla antes de que cierren a las 17. Nosotros dimos la vuelta corta y aún así, nos dio tiempo de sobra a contemplar los contrastes entre la escarpada costa, los caminos secos y la parte con más jungla, donde los reptiles viven entre las sombras. Bonaire es una isla grande, así que para explorarla lo mejor es alquilar un 4x4 en el que puedas dejar las botellas de bucear, el kite (o windsurf) sin problemas. No es una buena idea (y no creo ni que esté permitido) entrar con un coche normal en esta reserva natural, porque las lluvias repentinas pueden convertir el camino en un barrizal y dejarte clavado en el medio de la nada.

El camino termina con las ruinas de los edificios del período colonial, que ponen un toque cultural a tanta naturaleza. Muy recomendable si vienes con algo más de tiempo, es parar a hacer algo de snorkel en Boca Slagbaai o Wayaka. Wayaka en particular es una playa muy bonita en la zona del noroeste, donde no hay corales, lo cual es mejor a la hora de nadar porque se reduce el riesgo de cortes con el fondo y a la hora de tomar el sol, siempre es más cómodo tumbarte sobre la arena que sobre las rocas.

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Bonaire : Salines

There is something mesmerizing about the saline mine landscape in Bonaire. It feels like being somewhere else, belonging to outer space, where huge conveyor belts are everyday business, pink comes across as the normal shade of water and white flakes gravitate around you as some kind of abstract butterflies. Ironically, Bonaire's history around salt flats is a bit more about pain than it is about dreams. When the Dutch arrived to the island, it was obvious that it didn't have much to offer in terms of crop but man, those flat lands on the south... They could do as perfect salt mines, when mixed up with a sufficient amount of skilled slaves.

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Bonaire : SPICE Restaurant

SPICE is the restaurant within Eden Beach Resort. Trying to not be biased by the fact of having such a cool lounge for al fresco dining by the seaside is not simple task, but the changing menu, party atmosphere (only on Friday and only until 23 or so) it's unbeatable. As you can see, they got everything from sushi through salad to steak and fries, nice service and romantic views of the sea with a few torches lined up along the beach. Wish there was a button to teleport us back but hey, in the meanwhile, maybe you are the lucky one to drop by in the near future. Meanwhile I leave you with some yummy shots of our dinner - salad, tacos, sushi & some Caribbean-style fish, all at once.

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Bonaire : Après Diving Sunset

Hay días que te parten el corazón, esos en los que te llevas un desengaño de los grandes. Terminan por romper en pedazos todas tus esperanzas, dejándote con una sensación de desasosiego, consecuencia de la impotencia que se siente al saber que una gran injusticia se está cometiendo y que, independientemente de lo que hagas, no hay mucho margen de reacción para cambiarlo. Sólo queda tener paciencia, esperar que cambie la marea y vengan oportunidades mejores. Estos días se pasan mejor con una copa de vino y una porción de chocolate de más. Una lagrimica en la intimidad del coche, de vuelta para casa. Un poco de magreo gatuno antes de dormir - pobre Byakko - y una vista atrás, a aquellos tiempos pasados que fueron definitivamente mejores.

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Bonaire : Kitesurfing

Bonaire is famous for its steady trade winds, turquoise waters, healthy fringe coral reef inhabited by rainbow tropical fish banks and pink flamingos. Blend this amazing nature together with an average air and water temperature of 27C (80F) year round and bang, there it comes the ultimate Caribbean Paradise with the secret plus of laying outside the hurricane belt.

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Bonaire : Between 2 Buns

Bonaire's perfect brunch is served at between 2 buns. The whole place feels like one of those roadside diners where a girl called Peggy Sue wearing cateye lenses serves watered coffee out of a jar. At Between 2 Buns, is just the retro feel what you get to, as the quality of the freshly brewed espresso, served along the perfect egg scramble, bowl of fruit or earthy piece of chocolate cake is much better than you would have ever expected, the first time you sat down there. 

While on vacation, we usually don't eat lunch - just get by some water and a quest bar - but we do enjoy long breakfasts, planning for the day ahead and commenting on the highlights of yesterday. Make sure you try once, I am certain you will be coming back.

Between 2 Buns es un café de Bonaire que queda muy cerca de Eden Beach Resort, donde sirven los mejores huevos revueltos de todo el Caribe.  Tiene un rollo años 50, pero sólo en el aspecto, ya que el espresso que sirven nada tiene que ver con el café aguachinado de una Peggy Sue cualquiera. El caso es que terminamos desayunando allí casi todos los días. Por el mismo precio que en el hotel, tienes mucha variedad entre la que elegir, además de unas tartas mucho más cebadas para el goloso de Enrique. 

A juzgar por la cantidad de gente que acudía allí cada mañana, supongo que se trata de una de las mejores cafeterías de la isla. Al menos a mí, me queda un recuerdo genial de sus huevos revueltos, los sandwiches, boles de fruta con yogur y tartas que nos dio tiempo a probar durante nuestra estancia. No os lo perdáis!

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Bonaire : Kralendijk

Kralendijk as main town of Bonaire, is the perfect little town in the perfect paradise island. Think about colorful houses, flamingo souvenirs all over the place, cute little restaurants and a ferry terminal where cruise ships stop every once in a while, filling up the place with more people it was ever designed for. Still, when the night comes, bells bring them back to the big boat so the harbour area is ours... To enjoy.

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Bonaire : Eden Beach Resort

Bonaire is by far, our favourite among the three islands in the Netherlands Antilles. It is less exploited and the nature is much more amazing, with 100 offshore dive sites, perfect bays for kite and windsurfing, a Natural Reserve and a donkey sanctuary, it's really the gem of the ABC. We wished we would have spent 10 days there (instead of just 5) but we did enjoy our stay, also thanks to the lovely hotel where we were, Eden Beach Resort.

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Bonbini 2015!

Feliz Año Nuevo!!

Recién aterrizados, tratando de poner la vida en orden porque en menos de 8 horas estaremos trabajando y quizás, en menos de una semana, estemos (de nuevo) en otra zona horaria. Espero que vuestras vacaciones fueran maravillosas y que tengáis ganas de más historias viajeras, recomendaciones y rutas, en el año que acaba de empezar ^_^ como siempre, gracias por seguir con nosotros!!

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