BonaireMapDecember 10, 2013 Somewhere in the ocean lies yet another exotic island.  Let’s not get distracted by the beautiful sights on the seashore and get straight to the important stuff. License plates.  Left turn only.  No stopping.  No stopping on the right side.  An archaic stop sign.  Beware of donkeys.  Divers love Bonaire. That’s why all of Bonaire’s pedestrian crossing signs near the water have been touched up with markers.  There are fairly strange elongated striped pyramids at road intersections.  But the most interesting thing here is the number and size of the cactuses. They take up the entire island.  Occasionally people will clear a space for something, but it’s still surrounded by endless cactuses.  The island could easily be renamed Cactus Island, and the number of tourists would increase a hundredfold, because there really are a lot of cactuses here. And tourists always feel fully satisfied when they get exactly what they were promised.  A cute rural post box.  KralendijkMapA small town with a few shops and a port where cruise ships dock.  Oddly enough, the streetlights have a pineapple motif.  And the sidewalks are decorated with a flamingo motif.  A city trash can.  Payphones.  A post office.  * * * You can study the entire perimeter of the island in a couple of hours. There’s a salt factory on one end. You can’t drive in here, but this is the most interesting part.  The salt is made by evaporating seawater, then loaded onto barges on a conveyor belt.  I’ve seen various salt production facilities (see Soledar, Panama or Benin), but the one here is the most beautiful.  Mountains of beauty.  Many white mountains of beauty.  Now this is something worth getting off the ship for. |
