Happy to be in Bonaire

Well, I’m in Bonaire. I’m so happy to be here. I’m ready for these surveys to slow down a little, they have been killer. My trip from the airport to the hotel was so much easier than it was in St. Lucia. 5 minutes as opposed to 2 hours? I almost hit an iguana that was crossing the road on my way to the hotel. Yep, you know you’re in the Caribbean when….. :)

The hotel is kinda cute, and kinda dingy looking at the same time. I’m not sure how to explain it. The room areas look like a creepy motel but the inside of the room is actually pretty nice. Getting here was not fun. I had to leave the hotel at 3:45 am and I was exhausted. I got quite a laugh out of the check-in gate though, after going through immigration I got patted down by a security lady. She had just started and her phone rang. I looked at it as she said “sorry about that” and there was a huge pot leaf on the front! Oh is that how they do it in Suriname?? Feeling completely safe about now! The first flight made a quick stop in Trinidad and then continued to Curacao, but trying to sleep didn’t work out very well. I kept getting woken up with food, drinks, and people bumping into me. When we were stopped in Trinidad, I asked the guy next to me if he was getting off. He said, no I can wait. I didn’t know what that meant, so I fell back to sleep, I was so out of it. Then, people started getting on the plane. Eventually he turned to me and said, “are you getting off?” And I said no. Then he quickly ran out and pretty much jumped over me. This guy was waiting like 20 minutes for me to get off the plane? Really? Oh well, I kinda felt bad for him! Then I had a 4 hour layover, in which I slept at least 3.5 hours. Man I really needed it.

I enjoyed Bonaire, for the most part. Everything was closed by 7 so I had no choice but to work only until 7 pm. I made a point to swim in the evenings, and went out to a nice dinner at night while I finished doing my funcoding. There were so many great restaurants here. I think I may have eaten the best steak I have ever tried… Also, at the end of my survey, I sat out on a pier surrounded by the ocean and had a lovely drink and a nice late lunch. Ahhh relaxation, I get so little of you. It was nice to have a taste, I haven’t had that in a few weeks.

I had a client meeting with a Dutch Captain from the Dutch Defense Ministry. He was tall, lanky and awkward. His first reaction to me is “you’re not Dutch”. Nope, I’m American! “Well why are they sending an American to do the survey for the Dutch government?” I think I answered this question at least 50 times during my stay between Statia, Saba and Bonaire. Apparently the Dutch aren’t very versatile people, thinking an American can’t do the job as well, haha. Kidding, kidding. He was a bit rigid in the beginning of our meeting but he relaxed quite a bit over time.