HOLY MOLY! – where to start! Miami/Caribbean cruise/Miami was a fun-filled awesome adventure at a hurricanes speed from the landing at Miami international airport Friday January 24th!

Eriks brother Inigo came to pick us up, and took us back to his and Marians house in Ft.Lauderdale where we stayed . (It probably felt like a storm hit them head on when the 4 of us with all our luggage arrived, but they took it like champions!). “Home is where the heart is” definitely applies to these two – Auntie Marian and uncle Inigo made our (first 2) days in Ft. Lauderdale perfect. We needed to get some shopping done, so Saturday morning these 2 came with us and we literally shopped till we dropped. When we were just about done late in the afternoon, and heading back to the car, Erik mentioned donuts….. And Milles ear caught this… And Marian knew the perfect donut-store, which was at the opposite end of the mall…. so of course we went all the way back there and got donuts with fillings: Yuu-Myyy!!! (Needless to say Erik hasn’t mentioned getting donuts again..).

Inigo invited Noah to go play soccer with the college guys, and he was of course not difficult to ask. The two of them scooted off (both of them more than happy to be able to play soccer instead of even more shopping, Erik on the other hand not so amused, but I guess he found it safest to hang around there so that his wifey wouldn’t go completely overboard with shopping for the remainder of the day…). Waiting for the two “boys” (Noah and Inigo) back home really dragged out and by 11pm they finally came home, exhausted (although not too exhausted to play alittle FIFA of course..). Noah got nicknamed “Norway” and proved himself to be quite the soccer player, he and uncle Inigo were quite the team and Noah got to join in several games with the college-guys, and was even asked to try out for the team by the manager! What can come closer to a little blond haired, blue-eyed boys dreams than that! He was invited back to play the following week:)

Sunday breakfast followed by Royal Caribbean cruise: January 25th we got up and packed (almost) all our stuff and headed out for our first cruise ever.. But on the way there we stopped by IHOP for a real American breakfast. Because it was Sunday and after church time, the place was packed and there was a 20 minute wait. Everyone who has kids know that a 20 min wait usually is hell: “Mum, Im dying of thirst/hunger” on repeatrepeatrepeat… Uncle Inigo knew how to easily get around that problem though, cause right next to IHOP he knew of the best vegan muffin shop! So, Inigo went and got us all a “breakfast-before-breakfast” – and they were the best muffins ever! And by now in this story, all of you have probably sussed out that the ONLY thing Noah and Mille wanted to, hands down, was exchange Mum and Dad for Marian and Nick… I guess I don’t blame them…

After the double breakfast, Inigo got us safely down to the cruiseship terminal, and OMG – what we were about to board was the size of a small Norwegian town with more than 6000 passengers! To put it this way; Erik and I were not at all aware of the experience awaiting us the next 8 days!….

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To be continued…

Thank you so much for your hospitality, uncle Inigo and auntie Marian, we loved our stay with you – and to quote Mr. Schwarzenegger: well be back!

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Coming to an end… Our stay in Bonaire is drawing to an end, and today (Friday) we head out to Miami to meet up and stay with Eriks brother Inigo and his wife Marian, we are really looking forward to see them. (Lucky for Mille and me, Marian enjoys shopping like we do and has set up Saturday like a real shopping spree!)

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This 3rd and last week has, like the previous 2, flown by so fast. Mille and I had surf lessons with surfpro Danielle and its really given results. Jibing, tacking, harness, planing, smaller board, larger sail – its such an amazing experience, this is going to be really expensive for Erik when we get home! Not only will he have to share his equipment, we ned 2-3 new harnesses, several sails and maybe 1 or 2 boards, hehe! And since we’ve all been practicing on carbon equipment here, well you do the math! But surfing does come at a bodily price – I ve looked like I’ve been beaten ands slashed up for 3 weeks.. You know, the fin is really sharp, so its a really bad idea to get p….. off and then shove hard at the board while you bend your knee up towards it… Just saying… But now wounds and bruises are starting to heal, and Jibe City is in the far distance – we will definitely return to the place! Tom, Patrick and all the other surfer guys help you with all the equipment and advise and the sweetest ladies in the reception are one of a kind! If you have the opportunity to go to Bonaire, and you like surfing; go to Jibe City, I promise you will have the ride of a lifetime!

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Lek lek kitchen was a really nice experience. A Dutch couple (a friend of the family we met and said goodbye to last week) are running a really nice thai style restaurant that is only open on Mondays, you need a reservation and you will get to know it only by hearsay! They make vegan, vegetarian or with meat to your liking, and I must say it was one of the most delicious Thai-meals I’ve ever had, does really get up there with thaifood we’ve had in Thailand! They actually had a real tiny baby Hummingbird living on the branches of a small tree in the restaurant (the eating area was outside). It sat so still that we could hardly believe it was real. We are all trying out vegetarian food and even Erik has tested out (and quite liked) yoga! So before you know it, this all-over-the-place-family will become the zen-family of Lyckligagatan! Who would have thought??? Joking aside, this is really good for us!

“På gjensyn” – Strangely enough there is no good English word for “see you again”, therefore the Norwegian expression will have to do! We will miss surfing, all the sweet people at Oasis guest house, Jibe and so on. The last week has been filled with different delicious home-made barbecues by Kim and Dithlef (Kim and Johns friend that is visiting) and meals out with Kim, John, the other guests living here; Andrej, Shana, Dithlef (all from Holland) and a few others that we did not quite have time to befriend because they just arrived. Yesterday we hung out with and said our goodbyes to our surf instructors D&P and had a nice time with them at Ocean oasis (a beach resort near the Guest house where you can rent sunbeds for the day and swim and snorkle in the sea). Mille and Noah played in the sea with their sweet little girl, who’s become Milles mini friend here in Bonaire, making Milles stay on the surf beach bearable, because she could play with her and have fun even as the rest of the family was surfing.

Ocean Oasis is a beautiful hip beach club/restaurant/hotel located right on the seafront. However, what is most intriguing is that right next to the fashionable beach club is a ghostlike unfinished huge residens with lots of (quite beautiful) graffiti. It now belongs to Ocean Oasis and word has it that they are going to build a hotel there, but years ago this residens was being built for Pablo Escobar! When you visit the beach club you can wander over there and into the residence. Mille, Noah and I found it extremely fascinating, and we walked through the whole place, dark corners and all. We found rooms with an irongate (could it have been Pablos private dungeon for imprisoning his enemies?), bathrooms that had been dismantled missing the sinks, bathtubs and mirrors, beautiful ceramic mosaic patterns of white, blue and red in the entrances and stairways – our imagination ran quite wild! Erik left after a short while but the other three of us could barely pull ourselves out of there…

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Thinking outside the box – during our stay here we’ve gotten around with a Toyota Hilux. It has made quite a lot of noise, but as I picked up Erik from his solo surfing one afternoon the sound rised to a roar and then there was a “clang”…. I stopped the car to find the muffler hanging down underneath it. Luckily the back hatch of the Hilux is defect so it was held together by a long belt. We crawled under the car and fastened the belt around the muffler and two the one side of the car, Erik got into the back and held on to the other belt end and we got the car and the muffler home. As we are on an island, getting new parts for a car isn’t the same as back home, but a Coca Cola can with top and bottom removed works perfectly, and now the car runs smoothly, just making a little sound when changing between 1st and 2nd gear! The Hilux is therefore now renamed “the Coca Cola car”!

“Bon bini na Bonaire” – means welcome to Bonaire in Papiamentu. This is an Aruban language spoken on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao and St.Eustatius. It contains elements of 5 languages; Spanish, English, French, Portuguese and Dutch. It was also influenced by Arawak Indian and African languages. (Papiamento in Aruba, Papiamentu in Bonaire and Curacao).

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Ayo, Bonaire, te aworo! – Goodbye Bonaire, see you later!

And of course special thanks to Kim, John, Kenzo(our running buddy beautiful dog) and Dushi (the sweetest sweetie dog, just as the name implies – Dushi=sweetie).

We are definitely returning…

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Meeting new friends and having to say goodbye: As I’m in bed with my delivered morning coffee (which has now become a delightful habit thanks to Erik), I’m contemplating what to update you on next. Even though our pace has slowed down considerably, the days are somehow filled up with new and exciting experiences. Since we are living at a guest house, we are constantly getting to know new people. Some of them we get to know really well, and its sad to say our goodbyes, like we had to this past Friday with Roland from Germany. He was with Erik on the surf clinic, and we had daily delicious guesthouse breakfasts together and he even came with us to the Donkey sanctuary. The same day we also said farewell to a family from Holland that we got to know through Noah playing with their youngest son. We were invited to their farewell gathering on Te Amo beach with all their Dutch friends living on the island, and the children enjoyed swimming in the waves and playing with all the other kids until sunset. But even though we have to say goodbyes, new friends and contacts around the world are made for life.

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Tuesday night barbecue at the guest house:

Depending a little on the guests that are at the guesthouse, John and Kim host a Tuesday night barbecue every week with fish, meat and salads/dips/bread etc. Everyone joins in in the preparations, and last Tuesday we ate tuna and lion fish (apparently this fish needs to be hunted because it has no own predators due to its poisonous fin), tenderloin and of course they prepared spareribs and chicken for Noah and Mille. John and Kim are truly the best guesthouse hosts that you could want, they really do anything they can to make us feel at home, and they are especially good to Mille and Noah. I would recommend anyone to stay here in a heartbeat! We are definitely returning!

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Too much of something isn’t always good… Mille has been very patient with the rest of the windsurf-crazy family. She’s been reading (all the) books she brought from home (thanks to Farmor we have a kindle and are able to download several books there) whilst waiting for us being thrown around by the wind in the lagoon. (Well, in all honesty it is me who has been thrown round by the wind, Erik and Noah have really gotten the hang of surfing – they look like real surfdudes out there). Noah and Mille got a hoodie each from the surf city boss lady as a holidaypresent, because she loved the way they looked in the jackets . Anyway, after having lunch at the well renown “kite city food truck” (you can find it in the Trip advisor too!) on Te Amo beach (yes, right next to the cool, but unhandy foodpoisonbus!), we took Erik back to the surf place and then the three of us went back to the guesthouse to chill by the pool. We met Kim, who was folding the bedding for changing in our room, and Mille had a long conversation with her, where she explained how fed up she was of the surf beach(quite understandable). Some of the other guests staying here went by and told us they were going diving. Mille had a million questions about this, being our HMS-boss (can the tank explode? is it dangerous? are there whales here?How about sharks?). As it turns out, Kim is a diving instructor, both for children and adults, so she came out to the pool in her swimwear with an oxygen tank with 2 nozzles and a mask, and she took the children through the breathing routine and went in the water with them for an hour where they played around in their masks with the O2 nozzles. Needless to say, she’s by far the childrens star of the stay! They loved it!

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Swimming with big sea turtles at the Salt Pier:

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There are several enormous shallow salt pens on the opposite side of the road to the salt pier. The water evaporates and the resulting salt is piled up in huge salt mountains. Theres a small “railroad” from these to the end of the salt pier where salt is loaded up to large cargo ships to be exported. The water in some of these shallow pens is purplish pink and the flamingos eat the shellfish living there. Our running route comes past these, and when its windy (as it usually is here) salt foam fills the air and blows over the road from the salt pens.

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In the sea beside the Salt Pier, one can oftentimes see sea turtles of different sizes. The day we went there, we saw at least 10-15, and Mille and Noah swam with them and could even “pet” them. They are beautiful animals, so graceful swimming about.

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School Monday through Friday: Well, we’re more than 2/3 into our Bonaire stay, and it is slowly coming to an end. We love it here, slow pace, school and homework in the mornings Monday – Friday and no school on the weekends, surfing and snorkeling by noon and in the afternoon. The school-thing challenging – mostly in a good way both – for us grown-ups and the children, and as the weeks have gone by, all 4 of us are really getting the hang of things. M&N each make a newsletter every week that they send to their teachers, with both English and Norwegian paragraphs, writing about nature around and things they experience and places we go, which seems to be very good for them, as they do actually observe and absorb more and get more aware of their surroundings. I plan the schoolwork a week ahead, and then we work through day by day. On Friday they have a end of week test just as they do at school. Week-ends, school holidays and red-days are of course off, just as for the rest of the students back home!

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After really good and effective sessions, its nice to be able to sometimes reward their hard work with delicious Italian ice cream downtown Kralendjik!

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The Donkey sanctuary, Bonaire.

Donkeys have been living on Bonaire for hundreds of years, originally having been brought over by the Spaniards in the 17th century. They used to perform hard labour, but then modern transport made these animals superfluous, and they were left to themselves, and this “unwanted” freedom has been difficult for the donkeys. Bonaire is a dry and barren island, therefore many donkeys die of hunger or from dehydration although traffic presents the greatest danger, where the donkeys are either killed or left badly wounded and dying along the roadside. Foals that lose their mothers are left helpless, vulnerable and as good as dead. For a long time no organised help was available to these poor animals. The primary objective of Donkey Sanctuary Bonaire is to offer a sheltered, protected life to all the donkeys of Bonaire that need it. When a report arrives about a live wild donkey in distress, volunteers are sent to the rescue. Sick and wounded animals are nursed and, where necessary, a vet is called upon to give medical attention. Orphaned foals are raised with a baby bottle. All stallions that arrive at the sanctuary are castrated to avoid expansion of the numbers of donkeys in care. Once the animals are recovered, they are lucky enough to spend the rest of their lives lovingly cared for at Donkey Sanctuary Bonaire. The number now apparently approximately 700!

Our visit preparations startet together with Kim here at Oasis guesthouse with getting fresh palm leaves to feed the donkeys. We were expecting a couple of handful of leaves, so when Kim brought out 2 saws, we were quite puzzled:

The sanctuary is just on the way to the surf spot, and M&N have been dying to sit in the back of the Hilux, so this time their wish was granted, both on the way there(with me having panic attack, seeing all sorts of accidents happening along the way with all the maniacs on the roads here), and then through the whole sanctuary! The donkeys came running after us in flocks and we had to throw out the palm branches along the way – they only eat fresh branches and they eat every bit of it till its gone. I don’t particularly like horses, donkeys on the other hand are sizewise perfect and really gentle, soft and friendly – just to my (and the rest of the crews) liking.

In addition to the donkeys, they had taken in 4 flamingoes from captivity, to enjoy their retirement here, together with an iguana and several tortoises.

It was a lovely visit, the sanctuary is enormous, and the donkeys are well looked after. It is possible to adopt a donkey, an of course there were tears when Mille wasn’t allowed this. However, I don’t think we’re done with that argument yet, knowing Mille…

Vært litt stille her nå siste dager, av flere grunner. Det har blåst hatter og høy(30-35knop), Erik har vært på surfekurs og fått testet både mentale og fysiske grenser til det ytterste(surf), mens jeg har fått en skikkelig forkjølelse med bihulebetennelse etterfulgt av litt deilig matforgiftning(turf)… Men nå er alle oppe og går igjen. Denne posten er spesielt til Bfar -alder er ingen hindring når det gjelder å lære seg nye ting: Svigerbestefar er altså 96 år, men utstyrt med IPAD og litt opplæring fra barnebarna sine, så er han online og følger bloggen! Du er rå, Bestefar, så denne oppdateringen er spesielt til deg. Det har ikke vært så mye action siden sist, men vi har tatt masse bilder, derfor blir det rett og slett en bildesekvens her idag;

Douchie og Kenzo

Hundene til de som eier B&B der vi bor. Mille og Noah har adoptert disse to og er borte og koser med de, passer på de og Kenzo er med Erik og meg på løpetur. Veldig fine hunder, needless to say savner vi Sandie veldig, og da er det godt å få litt kos av disse to søtingene… Det er utrolig mange aggressive hunder her, så jeg løper ikke uten Erik, min bodyguard – hundene er nemlig ikke bak lås og slå i hagene sine, men kommer stormende ut og vil spise litt norsk vikingmat, grøssss…Det er særlig leggene som synes å være en delikatesse her for dem…

Kult konsept: En fyr fikk en ide om å hente en dobbeltdekker over fra Storbrittania til Nederland, og så videre til Bonaire med skip. Han ville kjøre denne bussen rundt på vestsiden av øya, hvor man satt på èn runde mens man spiste og så gikk av. Det fikk han ikke løyve til, derfor parkerte han den oppe på en klippe på kitestranden, hvor den nå fungerer som foodtruck! ca 20 meter unna står en kjøleboks med øl, for han har ikke skjenkebevilling – de fleste lover kan tøyes bare man vet hvordan… Vinduene er fjernet (ellers ville nok bussen blåst på havet), så middagen ble deilig og luftig. Men dagene etterpå ble litt kjipe, ettersom iallfall jeg fikk i meg noe kroppen syns var dritt… Uansett veldig kul opplevelse – men lite sannsynlig med retur for å smake maten iallfall 🙂

Vi savner deg Bestefar! Snart kommer en eseloppdatering:)

8 th of January 2020: The first week has been all about surfing at Bonaires perfect surf spot at Lac Bay. The place is a lagoon with shallow water that at maximum comes up to our waist and is sheltered from the waves by a reef and has quite steady winds. Perfect to learn surfing without getting completely exhausted from deep and rough seas like at home. The first few days the wind was quite low, perfect to play around with tacking and jibes and learning how to use a harness etc for Noah Mille and myself. Erik is currently attending a more advances surfclinic with one of the pro`s, Phil (“Get windsurfing”), and is challenged and learning lots daily this whole week. Noah and Mille have had great progression in their surfing, Mille pulling up her sail and tacking in 10-12m/s winds today, and Noah is now already in a harness, has managed beach start, and been in footstraps planing – quite a rapid progression! I haven’t yet experienced planing but have also finally mastered beach start (after quite a lot of swearing and frustration) and harness, so needless to say for the next 2 weeks its all about workworkwork on the surfsurfsurf 🙂

Oasis guest house has turned out to be the perfect place for our family to stay- I would really recommend it to anyone coming to Bonaire. John and Kim are very serviceminded and eager to make our stay the way we want it to be. Their house is right across the street from the guesthouse, and they have 2 cute dogs – Douchie and Kenzo – needless to say Noah and Mille are over there all the time playing and cuddling with the 2 dogs, missing Sandie(who is in safe and loving care at the Eriksen family, we couldn’t be more lucky. Cornelias frequent photos and written updates helps ease the longing for her, for we do all miss her much). Also living here is an American couple from Maine, and a German pilot who’s also here for surfing. So we enjoy joint breakfasts and hang out in the evening, even I like it, despite my slight “social anxiety” 🙂 Tonight Erik Mille and Noah are out to “Foodies”, a restaurant, together with the rest of the surfers in Eriks surf clinic. I decided to make a simple meal and hang out in our room after a long day of surfing with bruises, saltwater thighburns, scratches and handblisters. Just a little peace and quiet after sun sand and surf.

Kralendjik: We’ve been downtown Kralendjik a couple of times in the evenings to eat dinner. The choice of restaurants here is quite diverse, especially for being this small an island. So far we’ve had middle eastern food at Mezze, and Italian food at Capriccios. The tempo here is not what we are used to, and everything takes time – a looong time. So Erik and I get to practice being patient ALL the time EVERY day! Probably good for us, even my walking pace has already changed (for those of you who work with me, you know I have one pace in the hospital hallways with my wooden clogs: full speed clic clack – but not any more!). We now have the island slow swaying pace all of us – probably really good for the heart, body and mind..

After play comes work… But between all the exciting new experiences, homework has to be done, for big and small! Norwegian book reading is done at the beach between surf sessions, maths is done at the guesthouse in regular schoolfashion, English is the language the 4 of us speak all the time now (also amongst the 4 of us, so M&N are starting to get quite fluent!) so that covers a lot of the English and both Mille and Noah are writing their own 2 weekly newsletter in English/Norwegian, which will cover several subjects (geography, languages, biology, and so on). Gymnastics are done in the pool and in the ocean-snorkelling, surfing and swimming. We improvise arts and crafts, yesterday that consisted of making ocean sand art 🙂 Erik and I are tested way beyond our limits in both patience and being inventive and creative in this new homeschooling situation, needless to say our respect for our school teachers is – if possible – even greater now!

To be continued….

Arriving in Bonaire, Oasis guest house, Jibe City, wild flamingos and donkeys in the street!

Half and half: Since more or less half the family is international, and the rest of the family is fluent in English, the blog will be more or less half and half English/Norwegian.

Thursday 2nd of January 2020: We arrived early evening at Bonaire airport, a miniature airport, resembling the one in Koh Samui a lot. Flamingosigns everywhere and several of the signposts on surfboards. Getting off the plane the humidity hit us, the most wonderful feeling in the world – it can not get too hot! We were picked up by John, one of the 2 people that run Oasis Guest house. The guest house is a sort of bed and breakfast, a lovely little place with its own pool, located in a calm area outside of Kralendjiik, the capital of Bonaire. John is a volunteer in rescuing Flamingos that blow away from the place they nest and eat before they learn to fly (they can’t fly before their wings cross in the back). He rescued 400 last year, and not surprisingly we are now on “fallen/blown away flamingo outlook” at all times when traveling by car(with Mille-saving the world supergirl orchestrating it), wondering if Mille may just stay on here for the rest of her life rescuing flamingos! Will keep you posted on this!

Friday 2nd of January 2020: Waking up to 30 degrees humid heat is the best after 3 months of darkness and cold back home. After a nice breakfast by the pool, we got into our Hilux, threw our beach, snorkel and surfstuff in the back of the truck and left for jibe city! Love the roadsigns(the one for Jibe City, the surf spot is the middle, handwritten one)

Saturday 3rd of January 2020: Day 2 was due for kids clinic of surf for Noah and Mille, and in the afternoon beginner 2 course for mama. All of us loved it, the children really got the hang of it. Noah advanced to a bigger sail within the first lesson and Mille understood the steering and turning upwinds! And mama learned how to jibe – before Erik! Lucky for me it wasn’t too windy, meaning there was time to understand what I did without being thrown out to sea 😉 We all loved it – this will be costly for Erik! Erik still hasn’t been out on the water, just making sure the rest of us are comfortable first. The real wind is said to be coming on Tuesday when the clouds go away!

Sunday 5th of January 2020: today is a rainy / cloudy day, good for our white/red sunburned selves to relax and catch up with alovera, homework and article studies.

Dagen og turen vi har ventet på nærmer seg med stormskritt, og det er under ett døgn igjen til vi vender nesen mot de Nederlandske Antiller, Bonaire. Soon gone surfin´

chrisbex

Som ekstremt fersk “blogger” får dere bære over med meg nå I begynnelsen. Dette er vanskelig for en som har problemer med å få en IPAD til å fungere og alltid får beskjed av han på IT support at problemet skyldes “brukerfeil”….

REISEPLAN KOMMENDE 6 MND

02JAN20- Oslo – Amsterdam

02JAN20- Amsterdam – (Aruba) – Bonaire

24JAN20- Bonaire – Miami (FL)

07FEB20- Miami (FL) – San Jose

08APR20- San Jose – Panama City

08APR20- Panama City – Santo Domingo

17APR20- Santo Domingo – St Maarten

17APR20- St Maarten – Tortola

17JUN20- Tortola – St Maarten

17JUN20- St Maarten – (Curacao) – Amsterdam

19JUN20- Amsterdam – Oslo