Nearing the end....

It’s been a while since I’ve updated, but a lot seems to have been going on. I am going to update in two parts—the first tonight, and the second tomorrow. There are a lot of pictures to post!

It’s the end of the program—people are leaving in a few days, and I myself am leaving on Sunday. It’s crazy to think that I have been abroad for two months at this point—I have been away from the US with only a vague idea of what has been going on for two whole months. That’s a pretty long time. And these past two months, I have been experiencing and learning things that I would have never thought possible had I not been studying abroad. It’s been a month since I have been in Palma, and it feels like a dream, almost as if I was never there. Soon, my experiences in Bonaire will be a faded memory as well. Do I have any regrets? Probably, but I am not thinking about them right now. These next few days are dedicated to getting done everything on Bonaire that I have wanted to do, but not had a chance. It’s an opportunity for me to leave the island saying I got the complete Bonairean experience. I don’t think I am ready to end my time abroad quite yet if I am going to be completely honest. A part of me doesn’t want to go back to the mundane life that is regular school, regular cycles. It’s difficult to conceive after two months of complete freedom to explore vast landscapes of beauty. Especially going back to a city like Pittsburgh, where the beauty is encompassed in the city, not in nature itself. I guess that is an adjustment that I will have to eventually make. But let’s not think about that too much right now, and savor the few short days I have left.

On Monday, we woke up at pretty early to get to breakfast at 7:30, and then to an orientation for a submarine trip at 8:30 at the Substation Curacao. As part of our trip, we got to go into a submarine with a few other people, snap some pictures, and observe deep marine flora and fauna in the comfort of a pressurized cabin. The submarine trip was amazing—we dove down to 510 ft below the surface, and we had the opportunity to see corals and fish down there that I would have never been able to see myself just snorkeling. The trip overall took 2 hours, and it consisted of us simply following the reef down and exploring, poking around to see whether we could see anything cool. We definitely saw quite a few lionfish, an invasive species, and many sea fans and sea whips along the way down. Probably one of the highlights of this trip. After the sub trip we went across the street to the aquarium for a quick tour from one of the workers. He led us around the building, explaining to us the science behind the happenings at the aquarium and showing us the labs and behind the scenes work for the maintenance of the aquarium species. Although definitely not as spectacular as the Palma aquarium, this one had quite a few benthic species that were captured locally that I have not seen anywhere else. The tour ended around 1:00, and I sat down to have a quick lunch before lounging out on one of the beach chairs and taking a two hour nap—one of the best naps I have ever taken, soaking up the warmth of the sun underneath a tent. When I woke up, we went to a sea lion show before finishing the tour. I went for a quick snorkel after the tour was finished—down to some pretty high-current areas (I was being tossed around pretty badly…), but very, very rewarding because I got to see a coral reef restoration project and tons of new and established corals in shallow areas. After snorkeling we headed to dinner as a group at one of the resort restaurants, before going back to the apartment to relax.

 (The submarine company)

(The docked submarine)

(Moving the sub outside--if it looks small, it is...it's not that big at all)

(A bulldozer is used to lift the sub into the water)

(Randi sitting in the back of the sub)

(Sub selfie)

(Diver taking our pictures from the outside)

(Pretty great view of the reef)

(More reef!)

(An old anchor from a ship)

(Lionfish sighting)

(Got down to 500 feet!)

(Things down deep look different)

(Another lionfish sighting!)

(A beautiful coral)

(View of a shipwreck)

(A nurse shark at the aquarium)

(A diver cleaning the glass)

(Sea turtle!!!)

(Sea lion demonstrating its tricks up close and personal)

(The sea lion show)

(The sea lion is actually pretty tall...)

(Flamingos in the aquarium)

(The dolphin show)

On Tuesday, we woke up early once again to pack and get ready to leave the hotel. Breakfast was at 8, and the bus left at 9 to get to downtown Willemstad. We had a couple hours to explore, so a small group of us just walked up and down a couple random streets which is what I enjoy doing best. I have always found that I find the most interesting things when I wander around and get lost. It’s probably dangerous to do by myself, but it’s also the most fun. We eventually crossed a bridge to get over a canal; as soon as we got across, the bridge rotated to let some boats cross through to the canal. I guess that was their solution for boats instead of building a typical drawbridge (see picture below). We continued walking around, looking at stores and getting souvenirs before heading to a small café to order lunch. We then met up as a larger group, snapped a couple pictures in front of “Dushi” and “Curacao”, before heading back to Hamlet to collect our stuff and go to the airport. Everything at the airport was pretty smooth, except for the fact that they got us to the wrong plane at first. The bus driver taking us from the terminal to the plane mistakenly drove us to the one that was going to Aruba (which was fine by me!), and we were a quarter boarded before people realized their mistake…so we had to deboard and get back on the bus, and find our already delayed flight. The flight was smooth though, and we got back to Hamlet without any problems. I ended up doing homework for the rest of that night, because of a few deadlines for things the next morning.

(The beginning of our shopping adventure)

(They used an old fort to build up a shopping center)

(View of a hotel)

(The two bridges)

(Caribbean buildings are so multi-colored)

(Down downtown)

(Donkey street art)

(More street art)

(Brilliant colors on the buildings)

(Bridge swiveling outward to let the boats through)

(Another street for shopping!)

(Street art; Curacao is definitely not as big as Cuba though...)

(Dushi in Papiamentu means "sweet")

(Giant Curacao)

(A lemon smoothie--perfect for a hot day)

(Spicy chicken sandwich--not terribly spicy, which was really nice)

(Cookies and caramel ice cream to top it all off)

(Taxi selfie)

(Gateway to the world)

(We started boarding the wrong plane.....)

(A daily sight of mine--the road right outside Hamlet)

Wednesday was a work day--the whole day was dedicated to studying, since our class final was Thursday. Besides homework and snorkeling, there really isn't anything to report from Wednesday...

I will update with Thursday and Friday tomorrow!

A new adventure awaits.