Buh-bye Bonaire, Hello Houston!

The Bonaire airport was dressed in its xmas best when we arrived at 6:30AM.

We even took a selfie. It takes a while to get through the boarding pass line here, and they dont allow phone boarding passes, so i was bored. (My mother just saw this as i was posting and said "that looks like your dad!" I guess he is famous on the internets now.)

My dad was singled out for a search of his carry-on as we left, and we both had to go into the special line at immigration, but we made it out just in time for our 12 hour layover, hooray!! 

We have been camped out in the first class lounge for about 8 hours now, and have a few more to go. Then we fly into Portland at 2:41AM, then a three hour drive, then another hour for me. Miles to go before i sleep. We have taken ruthless advantage of the amenities in the first class lounge. I think we are up to about 2 bottles of free wine between the three of us, and my mother discovered bacon bits meant for salad with the food. She has been mixing them with blue cheese dressing at about a 1:1 ratio and eating it with pita chips. (I am not yet ready to eat blue cheese after smelling it for five hours).

We were able to take showers, which is the first hot water we have had since leaving the states. In bonaire the tap water is naturally sort of lukewarm/pool temperature, and we pool more than showering, so a hot shower was a good treat to erase the first flight.

My mother and i were treated to an hours-long spat between a couple sitting behind us. She tried to sleep through most of it, but im sure it felt like being back at work.

I have upped my caffeine consumption. So far 2 diet cokes, some black tea, and a cappucino. I should be awake for daaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyssssssss!

So we went to board, and there was a flight to Lagos, Nigeria at the gate. Turns out our flight was delayed first an hour, now two. We are currently optimistically waiting at the gate. The earlier flight to portland was cancelled, along with a bunch of other flights, so if this one makes it, it will be packed. We are at hour 14 in the Houston airport and counting.

Update: we just had a gate change, and saw the line for customer service which seems endless. Easily 1000 people deep and i couldnt see near the end. People are saying all flights are full for the next 3 days, and hotels are full. If this flight doesnt go, we may be stuck in Houston for days.... Wish for us. 

Update2: well we are sitting on a plane, but a bunch of people on standby are making problems and causing more delays, so we are still not certain of departure.

Weather or Not.

Our last few days on the island were pretty rainy, and Daktaris clutch didnt really allow for any excursions. We mostly just sat around the house playing Ipad games against each other and teasing the iguanas. i have a few last minute pics i will post when i get home, as theyre still in my camera and we are currently travelling home.

Here are some pretty pictures i got around the house of rainbows, clouds, and sunsets. Its like a unicorn puked all over us. 

My mother likes to say that "rainbows mean god is having gay sex". If so, he had a good couple of days, because we got a bunch of rainbows. Or maybe my mother just figured out how to nailpolish the sky.

The sky here can do some strange things that make it look more like a painting than clouds. 

Frequently the sky looks both sunny and stormy. The rainstorms here are highly localised. 

Lac Bay (all bird edition)

We saw a bunch of birds at Lac Bay. These Sandpippery birds were on the deserted side.

These tonsure-sporting gullesque birds were all over. They may be the monks responsible for the virgin.

We also had visits from a Chibi and a Sparrow while we ate. Outdoor dining means they get delicious crumbs.

Mockingbirds just like watching the ladies.

Lac Bai

Ok this is my second attempt writing this post, as blogger ate the first one after i was done with it.

For Christmas Eve Day we went to Lac Bai (Lake Bay for the anglushers.) This is a sheltered bay on the east side of the island. It is the light blue area across the island from the blue dot marking parents house. It is surrounded by the green of mangrove forests, where a lot of the island fish breed.

Because the entirety of Lac Bai is only waist deep, it is useless to the island's divers, so it is used primarily to contain the windsurfers. It is a good place for windsurfing, steady wind and shallowish water.

There are a number of beach bars/windsurf schools/resorts here, with lounge chairs and drinks at the ready. This was my plan for the morning.

Normally there is a strip of beach between the areas, but the moon has made the tide as high as it gets here, and most of the beach (and some of the lounge chair legs) are currently submerged.

The lack of beach to walk on did nothing to deter my mother, who immediately set off to the less inhabited side of the beach like something was chasing her. It might have been the alien girlfriend my dad pointed out. Island bitches be skinny.

The beach was basically an obstacle course of sand bags, children, and tourists. This is not hyperbole, there was one little guy who had built himself an impressive moat in which to catch people. It half filled with water every wave.

We had to slog through thigh-deep water half the time. I am happy to have not dropped my camera. The other end of the beach lacks resorts and shade, and is mostly used by natives. I posted a bunch of pictures of it last time, so i am skipping most of it here. There are a few interesting things on this end. If you feel the need to place a fake flower before the Virgin of the Valley, you can come here. Im not sure what the valley is. I was mostly disappointed that she doesnt dispense fortunes for a quarter. 

The other exciting thing over here was a one armed sandman. He is probably a veteran of the snowman wars of '06. Or maybe he donated his arm to the virgin.

He stared longingly out to sea, but no one wants to help a handicapped sandman to windsurf.

My parents watched fish from the docks. I headed back towards civilisation and alcohol.

We wound up getting a table at the Hang Out Beach Bar at Jibe City. The table was just over the shoreline on a dock, and shady enough for me to survive a few hours of watching windsurfers.

The bay filled up while we were there. Most of the people out seemed to be from the cruise ships and were novice sailboarders. Even the best we saw were unable to manage a turn at the ends of the bay. This is sad because it meant we couldn't watch the pros do tricks. We did see one guy dancing with his sail, but mostly it was downed sails and low speed crashes.

Both Santa and Mrs Claus made appearances, probably getting ready for their big night.

Jibe City's halls were also decked.

The beach was full of kids too young for lessons. A whole barge of them hung out right under our table.

The weather started getting rough. These waves are behind the breakwater, so only a fraction of their force gets into the bay itself, but rainclouds were looming.

We ate lunch then got out of dodge before the rain really hit. Santa was arriving just as we left.