Day 51

Today was exciting!  This weekend is Carnival, which is basically a big party on Bonaire!  On Friday, the first day of Carnival, all the schoolchildren on the island dress up in elaborate costumes and have a parade around Kralendijk.  Each class has their own theme.  Lori and I woke up at 7am to go to the children's parade, which we thought started at 7:30.  Turns out that was the time the children were supposed to meet, so we sat around in Kralendijk until 9:30.  We watched a cruise ship dock and got some baked goods, so it wasn't boring, and the parade was totally worth getting up early for.  The kids were so cute!!!  (Get ready for a lot of pictures!)

Is that eggplant costume cute or what?

This little girl is the Carnival Queen.  (I don't know why.)

I don't know who this kid was...

...but he was a ham.

These kids had a coordinated dance!

I think this class had the best time.

In the afternoon we got to go to a cave!  Our guide, Hans, taught us the basics about caves in a short classroom session.  We learned that there are several ways to make a cave, like when acid rain dissolves limestone, and when lava tunnels harden on the outside.  Lots of things live in caves, like bats, scorpions, and cockroaches.  Hans also taught us how to tell the difference between stalagmites and stalactites with a trick to remember: stalactites hang on TIGHT to the ceiling, while stalagmites MIGHT one day reach the top.  Now you'll never forget!

I've been to a cave in Virginia but this was something totally different.  We climbed down a rickety ladder to get in, and the place was slippery and wet, and extremely hot and humid.  (We came out very sweaty.)  There were big cockroaches all over, and Hans found a 'gigantic' scorpion but it slipped into a hole before the rest of us could see it.  (Thank goodness!)  We saw bats hanging from the stalactites, but they flew away as soon as our lights hit them.  On the ceiling of the cave we could see coral imprints; apparently the limestone had formed over a coral reef skeleton, but the skeletons had already eroded away and so the imprints were all that was left.

Going in...

Coral imprints in the ceiling!

Exploring the caves of Bonaire!

Once we were fairly deep inside the cave, Hans had us sit down and turn off our headlamps, telling us, "Now we will let the bats check us out.  If you hear the clicking, it means they are just a few inches away from your head."  It was pitch black in the cave--there was no difference between eyes open and closed.  I heard a lot of the clicks (their echolocation), and the bats got so close to us that I could feel the air from their wings!  It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced, and I would definitely do it again.  So cool!

That's a pretty deep hole, eh?

Out of the cave and into fresh air.

Our group with Hans, our guide.  Look how sweaty we are!