Heart Warming Weather

We've been receiving some snowy weather pictures from friends on the East Coast of the USA. So I thought I'd pass along some pix of the current weather here on Bonaire Sandra and I joined the Barker clan late Sunday afternoon for a hike on a new trail along the base of Seru Largu.

The breezes were balmy, the sky was clear, and the scenic views were worth the climb.

Popcorn Prep

What is Brad doing with his popcorn in that colander? Longtime Bonaire residents will no doubt quickly arrive at the correct answer.

"He's sifting out the bugs," of course.

First one freezes the bag of popcorn overnight to kill all the little nasties, and then one sifts them out before popping the popcorn. QED.

Mysterious Sightings

England may have crop circles, but Bonaire has Mysterious Disappearing Houses. Almost overnight, waterfront dwellings that have stood for a generation or two vanish into thin air.

Some say it must be the work of the "Wrecking Crane" continuing its bid to supplant the good old Flamingo as the national bird of Bonaire.

Especially ominous is when two adjacent houses disappear, leaving a space that just might be filled by one of those new-fangled multi story dwellings. Yikes.

The space pictured here is the site of the vacation home of the late Metropolitan Opera Singer, Jerome Hines, and his family. I'm sure that more than a few people have fond memories of vacationing at this very spot over the years.

electric powered dog mobile

Well, it looks like someone else has beaten us to the electric powered dogmobile idea.
See the post below for more info.

Solar Electric Cars on Bonaire

ABCarrental has a solar powered car that they are encouraging their customers to try out. The Bonaire Insider reported on it recently and you can read it here. AB Carrental is set up to be the Caribbean distributor for a number of Solar Car models.

I think they are on to something, especially considering Bonaire's recent emphasis on green power technology.

But the Solar Car is a little too much like a golf cart for my tastes. If it just was a little faster than 35 - 40 kph, I'd be more interested.

I did some searching online and found another option. The vehicle pictured above is a solar powered electric vehicle that I would be happy to drive here on Bonaire. It looks like it would cost $14,000 for the solar version, plus shipping and duty. It could hold plenty of dogs, bikes or scuba gear, goes up to 65 kph and has a range of 40 - 65 km. That sounds just right for Bonaire. They have been in production since 2006 and there is a cute sedan version too. Of course, I've always been a sucker for off beat vehicles.

I wonder if we could talk someone into becoming a dealer for these aptly named "Zap" vehicles here on Bonaire? I suspect that they would sell ok, because they could be promoted as being "green" and politically correct, in addition to being economical to operate. If the govt. were to provide some sort of tax incentives like some places do, it would be almost irresistible.

Marc Heath visits Bonaire

Marc, who grew up here on Bonaire back in the day, came back for a visit with his wife Sara in time for the New Year's Eve fireworks. Marc also was just in time to join in a celebration of Benny's birthday at the TWR office. That's Benny at the top left above, Marc in the middle, and Ivan in the lower right.

Sara really appreciated the chance to see and experience for herself, the island that has played such a large part in her husband's live.

Dutch Christmas Cookies II

For those of you in North America, who might be craving those yummy Dutch Christmas treats, here are a couple links to online stores that import and sell them.

This store has my favorite brand of Kruidnoten, or tiny crunchy gingery spice cookies. They do seem to be reduced in price now that Christmas is past.

I'm not quite as addicted to Taai Taai cookies, but when I eat them, this place has the ones I look for. They are the forth ones down on the list on this page.

There are all sorts of other yummy Dutch treats, like Hagelslag, Chocolate Letters, Speculass and Stroopwafels, available from these stores too.

And of course the hazardous to your health unless you've grown up on it, and are therefore immune, stuff like Dubble Zoute Licorice is available online too. Yikes.

TWR - Cuba Program on the Air

This past Monday evening, we here at TWR - Bonaire transmitted the first episode of a new program titled, "Messages of Faith and Hope." Well, that is what an English translation of the title would be.

This five minute long program is being produced in Cuba at our TWR office and studio there, and is the first program to be produced in Cuba and broadcast back to Cuba from Bonaire. These programs are designed to lay the foundation for faith in God and are on the air five nights a week between the programs "Thru The Bible" and "Luis Palau."

Here is what our TWR partner, Alberto, had to say after hearing the first program Monday night. Tonight we had a special gift. We listened to "Messages of Faith and Hope" in our own house in City of Havana and with an incredibly strong signal! It was very touching for us and there are already people calling. Here it is listened at 8:30 PM. Thank you, brother, for your dream that begins to be completed. We are beginning, yes?

The video clip below is actually just the audio track of this first Messages of Faith and Hope program. Blogger makes it much easier to include video in the blog than audio, and a blank video clip with audio track seems to work ok.

Vocal Flamingos

We always visit the zoo when we go to Curacao to consult with Sandra's doctor there. The zoo is humble, but very well maintained, and it's a peaceful oasis on a otherwise busy island.

I shot a little video of some flamingos at the zoo. The thing I like is that they were making lots of noise, which we don't usually hear the Bonaire flamingos do. I think they are too busy eating!