The Treesure of Seru Largu

One of the official "sights" of Bonaire is Seru Largu, which is a fancy native way of saying "big hill." It is the largest hill on the island and offers stunning views of the island from east to west all the way to the surrounding sea. 

But this is Bonaire, and the roads are barely worthy of the name, so it isn't always easy to achieve the elevation. If you decide to get there, take a left here, at the field which is home to the top of the old air traffic control tower for unknown reasons. 

The local goats which had been guarding it were heading across the street for their lunch break, but don't worry, we'll see them again on the way out. 

After the control power, you'll pass the Gate to Heaven on the left, but they're barred to both you and the goats and contain some feisty pitbulls. 

The path to the top of Seru Largu (and the reason I wanted to visit it this trip) is bordered by creepy trees which I always think look like tortured torsos. The trees are Brazilwood, which is the wood that gave the country Brazil its name.  

Brazilwood was highly prized by Europeans for pigment (it makes a nice orangey red) and is the entire reason that Bonaire ever saw people. When the Dutch realised the island was a hotbed of Brazilwood activity, they brought a bunch of slaves and commenced harvesting so that Dutch Fasionistas could enjoy red-orange fabrics and paint made with the pigments. 

A number of the trees along the path have turned ropy and grey. I'm not sure if this is part of the natural life cycle of the tree, or some sort of tree murder caused by parasites/illness/Lorax. My father dubbed this variant "zombie trees."

If you're following along on the map, you'll know at some point the road takes a left. If you're driving, you'll know the left comes at the Lion Gate, which clearly guards a Rich People house, as lions are wont to do. 

The lions have their eye on this place, to which they are at a right angle. 

This is definitely a native house. Cactuseses are often used for fencing (and liquor) here, and these are extra festive because it is Karnaval week. 

 

Behind the behatted cactii, you can see the second half of the hill we are slowly climbing.

The trees continue to point the way to the top; the higher we get, the more malformed they are. Trees on the sides of the road occasionally grow horizontally thanks to the constant wind. They still look like they used to be people to me. Brazilwood is the best argument I can think of for the existence of Dryads. 

Nearing the top, we found an Iguana directing traffic. This is not an uncommon thing here. The weird thing is that two cars were stopped for it, instead of running it over. Iguanas are an invasive species here, and no one tosses them in sanctuaries like the donkeys. 

We went around the Iguana (instead of over it) and as my mother yelled "HI IGGY!!" out the window to it, I'm pretty sure the wind brought a lizardy whisper of "you shall not pass" to my ear. 

The right turn after the Iguana took us to the monument at the top of Seru Largu. (It is a pokestop, if such things interest you.)

Since the day was relatively clear at this point so we had amazing views out to the sea. For reference, we were on the red pins on this map. 

This is the view straight west, you can see the small island of Klein Bonaire out in the water, being islandy and little. 

This is the view looking slightly more south. I am pretty sure you can see my parent's house from here.

I took a closeup of the ground up here. This is what the island is made of, mostly fossilised coral and limestone. It isn't fun to walk on barefoot, and digging in it is insane. 

The Eastern side of the island is known as the "wild side" because it gets the brunt of the winds and the water is much rougher. It is significantly less populated than the west side, as you can see. 

Once I had my fill of pictures and pokemon, we headed back down the hill. This is a view of more island and windy trees facing east for my friends who like rocks. 

The way back down was covered with more trees and zombie trees, which kindly posed for my pictures. 

There is also a grove of agave getting ready to bloom. If you ever wondered what dies so that you can have a good tequila, its these strange beasties. Agave are unassuming low bushes similar to Aloe... until they get frisky and send out these giant Freudian stalks to bloom with. The stalks fall and die after a while.

Here are some more shots of the native house the Lions are guarding against. As popular as Lions are on rich houses, goat skulls seem to serve the same function on native houses. I saw several of them hanging on or near gates. I took all three of these photos standing in the same place, because I feel like it tells the tale of the island's class divides pretty well. 

The sun was behind the trees as we headed out, so please excuse the backlighting, but I love the sinuous shadow shapes the trees twist themselves into. 

Here's a closeup of another zombie tree. They're at least as spooky as those ones that threw apples at Dorothy. 

As we re-approached civilisation (and passed again the locked Gates of Heaven), we met a mother and her kids. Most of the goats here are free roaming, but they are also property of people. Generally their owners will use a whistle or bell to call them home for the evening. 

This is a pretty typical native house/goatfarm. They just sort of wander around the island (the goats, not the farm) because their only natural predator is the native restauranteur. 

Take a right at the incongruous phone booth, and you'll be back on the main road. Yes, it is just sitting out there with cactii. No, I don't know if it works, but it has a phone line, so I suppose it might. Also may be a cover for an underground spy facility and/or the local version of Superman. 

Head past a donkey or two and a couple of graven images and you'll be back in town in no time!