27 September 2013

Bonaire

We're in Bonaire now and I'm so glad to see my friends, I haven't seen them in 6 years and now i'm seeing them everyday!


After Trinidad Bonaire is a welcome change.  The water in Trinidad was grossly poluted while in contrast Bonaires water is a brilliant blue.  Our friends here are involved in about a million different activities and we're getting pulled in also.


A few days ago we went to a horse-back-riding lesson.  Jades horse was the slowest and the instructor kept having to walk along side her horse and lead it.


The Second Waterfalls

Sometime after my friends left, my grandparents came to visit.  A few days into their trip we went to new waterfalls, a natural water-park.  



We hiked into the woods and came upon a large pool.  Leading into that pool was an amazing water slide!  My dad, my sisters and I couldn't wait to slide down it but at first my mom didn't let us.  We hiked a little bit farther up the hill and found a smaller water slide with a less exciting drop, my mom said we could practice on this waterside before actually going on the big one.  



The small water slide was fun but it could've been more fun.  After a few minutes of sweet-water swimming, we walked along, following the stream to a tremendous, thundering waterfall!  My dad, my sisters and I climbed up the slippery black rocks and stood, letting the water pound on our heads.



After a while we made our way back to the big water-slide, my dad, Cleo and I slid down, time after time after time after time, we slid down and climbed back up.  My dad was the only grown-up to try it and he had a butt-bruise for ages!



Riding a Rip-Stick

                         This is what a rip-stick looks like.





                             This is me riding it, in order to ride it you have to balance in order to balance you have to go fast in order to go fast you have to wiggle your legs and that's how you rip-stick.



                                      This is how you learn to rip-stick: You start out by holding someones hands for balance, then once you feel like you can balance by your self you just push of and sort of wiggle your legs. Mostly use the speed of pushing off you rip-stick for a brief amount of time. 
Then stop because your slowing down finally you start getting the hang of wiggling your legs and that's how you rip-stick.

         


         Its best to rip-stick on flat ground because if you bump something you loose your balance I don't like to bump and fall it hurts, but I still love rip-sticking.

18 September 2013

The Chocolate In Chocolate




My grandmother came to visit us for Jade's and her birthday. We went to the chocolate factory for my grandmother's birthday, and it was really fun.

 When we went into the building we saw a table that was full of fruits that we had never seen and some spices and the guy there that was going to give us a tour just after my grand father came back from the chocolate store any ways the tour guide told us about the fruits and the spices.

 After my grandfather came back from the store the tour  guide took us out in the woods and showed us how to get the pods off the trees.


It was really fun  Stella was the first to actually nock one down I tried but it was way harder than it looked. The first one went bad, so we got a second one down from the trees and we cracked it open on a rock  we ate the inside, and it was very good.

mean wile my mom was looking around on the ground for avocados.

The tour guide saw my mom picking up a avocado that was on the ground and he walked over and said I'm pretty sure that you don't want to eat that of the ground my mom said it looks pretty good. all get you one from the tree he picked a high one and said all get you this one.

 My dad offered to catch  it when it fell down so with the tour guides long stick that had a knife at the end of it he cut it of it came hurtling down to my dads open hands and missed by an inch and crashed to the ground.

 My mom walked over and said it looks fine she picked it up the tour guide said if you say so and got her two more low ones from the trees and caught them him self.





Then we walked up the path to the building and saw these big strips of pavement. The tour guide walked over to them and pulled out a big drawer it was full of dried cocoa beans.

 he let us walk in them he said that that was what they did every half an hour because they wanted them to dry out so you have to turn them over like your baking them well you sort of are baking them, after we walked in them we got to taste one it was very bitter but good.



 Then I had to go to the bathroom so I went up to the restaurant, and when I came back I saw my sister and my other sister sitting in a little trolley type thing.

 I squeezed in with them and he took us for a ride after we came back to were are parents were standing the tour guide walked us up to  were I saw the oldest tree I  think that had ever lived it was split in half at the bottom and came back together in the middle were I also saw a bell that if you were really short you had to clime the tree so me and jade and Stella had to clime the tree the tour guide let us ring the bell a couple, times it was fun after that he led us in to the big building and sat us down in front of a TV  he said now I'm going to show you a video of long ago in the chocolate factory I'll be right back with some test tasters for you and some cocoa tea. When he came back with the cocoa tea it was delicious then he brought us a sixty percent chocolate and a seventy percent, they were awesome.

 We ate all of the little pieces in the cup evan though I don't think we weren't supposed to .
The tour was over then me and Stella dragged are grandmother out of the building and over to the talking parrot that's name is rainbow we spent a few minutes with the parrot then rushed over to the tortoises!!! they were sort of cool we got to hold the babies it was fun evan though for a week afterward I had these mysterious red bumps on my legs but I was okay.


                                                    Man was the chocolate factory fun.
The knife that they use for
 getting the pods down(or avocados)




Me and jade looking at the seeds




Middle of cocoa pod


Jade's Picture Post

Chacachacare is an island.  It used to be a leper colony.  We did a hike.


 At chacachacare there are old houses.



In trinidad we got a watermaker installed.


Caminante


Caminante are some Swedish friends. Let me introduce you. The mom is Tina the dad is Gustave the girls are Lovisa and Karin. They love to play with lego so when they had us over for swedish pancakes we played lego.



 The swedish pancakes were delicious. Lego was also fun and now I'm going to go again and play lego with them, but first I want to tell you what their boat looks like. I really  only saw it in the dark so maybe I can give you a better up date on it when I get back.



 It's a big steel boat, it's 60 feet long and its name is Caminante. They're leaving know so I better hurry.

 Oh darn they left whith out me. Well I need to finish
this so I might as well do it know.



 I do know one spot on the boat that I remember. It was inside and the lights were on so I could see it but I didn't take a picture of it so I drew one.


saloon table in caminante























13 September 2013

Trinidad

Three days ago we sailed an overnight from Hog Island, Grenada to Chaguramas, Trinidad.  We're at a dock because we're getting a watermaker installed, I don't like marinas in general, but this one was just disgusting!

STOP THE POLUTION!

One morning we woke up and a huge dead catfish was floating, belly up, next to our boat!  Later we saw it lying on the beach, there were no marks on it, so it was probably killed by polution.  Another day we walked down the dock and noticed that the whole harbour's water was coated in oil!  As far as I could see the water was shining with rainbow!

05 September 2013

The Falls

Taken by Victoria Bastian

The Falls

For a week we had friends over.  Two different families came to spend four days each with us, and on the third day of the first family we went to the falls.

The falls are a good hours worth of hiking off of the road.  The day we went it had just rained so the trail was like a mudslide.  



When we got a bout halfway it started raining.  At first it was just a slight drizzle but, of course, we were in a rainforest so, as its name predicted, the slight drizzle turned into a full on rainstorm.  

To get to the falls you have to cross over two small creeks and one large stream.  About halfway across the stream, Jade fell hard on her bottom, her third fall of the day.  Once we reached the falls we realized that all the bumps and bruises we had endured on the hard journey over, was all worth it.

Taken by Victoria Bastian

In front of us were two falls with a pool apiece, ranging format least 20ft to over 50.  Each pool was refreshingly cool and felt amazing after 2 months of salt water.