We then went to a museum in the town of Rincon. It is called Magazina Di Rei. It is just a couple years old, but it is in one of the oldest buildings on the island. There is an indoor section, in the building that was once a supply house for the slaves, and an outdoor section with plants and some example buildings. While still a bit sketchy, it is actually very nicely done, particularly with the outdoor addition. This 1st picture is taken inside the building. The costumes are used at the New Years holiday (I think). I like the one on the left, which is an aloe plant.
In the outdoor section was an example house. It was used for only sleeping; all cooking and even socializing was done outside in a 3-sided airy shelter. The house was substantially cooler inside than outside, despite the glaring sun. We are next to one of the two tour guides that we had for our hour tour.
She gave us some 'Bonaire Cherries' from this bush. And this other plant shows some gourds that are made into serving utensils and bowls (examples of which were in the inside portion). I'm including the 3rd picture for comparison to their website (linked above), where they have an earlier picture of this same limestone furnace (in the virtual tour section of their site).
The next picture us on the hill where Paul proposed marriage to me.
Back to Carib Inn, I'd like to share some other comparison pictures. The 1st picture is from last year looking off of our deck at the pier. The 2nd picture is from this year looking off of our deck at the, um, pier. Except of course the pier is no longer there.
However, plants are resilient. This 1st picture is from Saturday. The 2nd picture is from Thursday. Notice the flowering tree, with more flowers and leaves in the week span.
Speaking of views from the deck, in the morning we saw flamingoes flying from Venezuela to Gotomeer (the sanctuary in the northern part of the island). And the little Chibi Chibi bird often visited the tree near us.
This picture is from the inland side of our room, by the swimming pool (which we have actually never bothered to use).
This is an interesting picture. The shore at Carib Inn has a small ledge; you can see the little wall and steps down in the pictures above. Well, in front of the building next to Carib Inn there is no wall, and the storm took off the front layer. What was exposed is the subsurface, which is: coral rubble. We saw the same thing in the downtown, although there is was mixed with a little more dirt than in this picture.
You might perhaps be familiar with the elusive Green Flash. I'd only seen it once, despite all the sunsets we have seen in Bonaire. Well, this week we had a number of them! It is difficult to get the timing of a picture just right, but Paul did manage to get this one showing the start of the flash. You can see the green at the edges. I'll throw in a couple other sunset pictures as a bonus.
One more set of comparison pictures, but this time of cruise ship vs no cruise ship. The picture covers the same span of shoreline. We are NOT fans of the cruise ship descending on little Bonaire. Bonaire residents seem to have mixed opinions on it, from what we can gather.
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Updated July 2020