A fun sandwich, with the bun made of hellos and goodbyes.
Above we have Kai with three of his buddies, one afternoon at the pier. These boys are all from the Dominican Republic. For some reason they have decided to watch Kai's back at school. Although they don't spend time with him at school, they call him "Primo" (cousin). We think it is because although he is not one of them, he is a cousin to them. The resemblance is striking.
But wait, back up the bus...I am getting ahead of myself.
Hello #1 :
Ok, here is a photo of a group of our visitors. We are posing with a display of what 20 guilders can buy at the local bakery (sodium free)**Front: Emily, scratching her chin before the feast, Moi, Henry, my nephew
Back row: model Connely Packard, the everlovely Frances, and Allison with baby Isabelle (Allison is Frances' sister in law).
**dutch law requires all island bakeries to bake salt -free. This is due to high numbers of hypertension and diabetes and the cost involved in treating the people. Hmm.
Hello #2:
No party is complete without Kathy. Arriving from New York, Kathy joined us for a few days. On top is the adorable Poeske, begging for a ride on the dune buggy
St. Kitts in the background at botanical gardens.
Q. How many people can fit into this 5 person Jeep Cherokee?
- A. 10 persons, 2 boogie boards, 1 surfboard and a turtle floaty
- Fact: no seatbelts required on Statia
Introducing Allison to Zeelandia
With Frances about to go back to the states after 6 months with us, Henry will take her place for a couple of months. Charles now has 3 teenagers to torture him and drive him to behave like a wild, trapped animal daily. Commence the daily prisoner beatings.
Sophia gets practice babysitting little Isabelle, who as a matter of fact, hardly cried or fussed the whole trip. She was a great baby.
Boys looking for the white whale.
Zsa Zsa and stylist
***Now for the sandwich middle***
No blog would be complete without the fine dining of Smoke Alley and a party
While we are all sitting down getting ready to order drinks...
A certain 5 year old takes matters into his own hands and is caught at the bar ordering his own drink and a straw from the bartender. We were relieved that he ordered something non-achoholic. Did these people sitting next to him not find this an odd situation?
Philippe giving Charles instructions on how to get more Sprite without getting caught twice. The key, Charles, is to do it in French.
Side note: Philipe is French, his fiance Soledad, is Argentine. They lived upstairs from us and we have been friends with them for our entire stay here. We have really really enjoyed their company.
This time it is Ethan's party...FIFTEEN. Good grief, what happened to the time? If you don't believe me, count the candles.
Kai, Charles, and los Primos
This is the man who caught the fish. He is Naldo.
These are the people who ate the fish...Matt the trusty scuba instructor, Jamaican bodybuilder and pastry chef, Vinnete, 14 year old Julicia, her daughter, and the best mezzo soprano gospel singer I've ever heard, and Sole. In back: Ed playing peek-a boo.
Also caught for the fine dining: King crab. Julicia enjoying it whole-heartedly
Fact: Pineapples produce exactly ONE fruit before they die.
Goodbye, Philipe and Sole. Off you go to Argentina, then to Brazil to start your own scuba business. We are going to miss you. Charles especially. Both boys may look jovial here, but it was actually a miserable moment when they realized they were losing their buddy.
Goodbye, dear Frances. We will miss you. Back to Provo, real school, schedules, seatbelts, closed-toe shoes, curfews, chores, and responsibilites. You are going to miss us.
No ending is complete without the sunset.
PS Thanks for the gift you left the boys upstairs when you moved away, Philipe. And Ethan, the answer is no. You can't go down to Happy City and sell it.
This is the start of a fabulous tour Ethan, Frances and I got to go on with the kids at the terminal school. No, not for the terminally ill children. For the children of the oil terminal employees. Since Jan we are attending the school full time, although the kids take most of their courses online and I am their spanish teacher. The guide is Gaye. She is reportedly Al Gore's cousin. She's got a photographic memory and I say, she knows something about everything!
We are looking different kinds of bricks. You can see that some buildings have been rebuilt because they were destroyed by hurricanes. So, the buildings have different kinds of brick. 
It's really me.
A view of the main drag on the strip of businesses along the shore
Sorry about the morning shade
The Old Gin House. This is a great hotel, probably the nicest on the island. They used to have Wednesday night BBQ night and lots of people would come out to the outdoor dining and bar and eat and drink and there was a live band. Mr. Dennis Amajan, the wonderfully gifted leader of the culture (music) department has invited myself to play with him and his band a few times and Connely and Ethan have played with the band as well. It was a great experience. Now they have quit having BBQ night and locals are not happy.....Wed nights will never be the same.
OK, here is my least favorite part of the tour. This is in the dirt parking lot across the street from Dive Statia. This hand belongs to Sammy, 13 year from Texas. It is supposed to be a picture with MY hand in it. Because this is the blue bead in Sammy's hand that he picked up on the ground, sitting right there on top of the dirt, between Sammy's left foot and my right foot. And because I was paying attention to the tour guide, Sammy bent over and got that blue bead first. Oh sure, I am happy for Sammy. Since he is leaving the island soon I guess I can be happy that he found it first, But
This is the plaque I would like to take home and nail to the dining room area where one enters my kitchen. 
This is a cool achiterctual structure build to take the water to the cistern. It reminds us of an Aztec temple.
This is at the top of the fort. There are several cannons there. During the latter part of the 18th century, St. Eustatius was the major supplier of arms and ammunition to the rebellious British Colonies in North America and the subject of conflict among the most powerful seafaring nations of the time.
This is part of the remains of the Jewish synagogue. There were so many on the island at one time that they have their own graveyard. In 1718 someone burnt the whole building down. There were two Jewish groups, the Sephardic and Ashkenazic, were very different in religious beliefs and life style. They continually squabbled and fought among themselves. Frequently the militia had to be called to settle disputes. There were around 350 Jews at one point in the 1700's. Here is a link for more info: 
I love this photo. It looks like there is something holy about to happen. Wait, could it be student loans finally came through???Ahhhhh, (angelic music in the background)
We got lucky at the end of the tour because Grant, the island archeologist, was there doing an excavation of a micvah. A micvah is a Jewish bath or baptisimal font. The women would bathe in it to "cleanse "themselves once a month.
We have many choices...all lead to water.....
The start of the hike to Venus Bay
Charles wants us to follow him to see his new treasure
Arrival at Venus Bay. There is nothing there except the bay itself. Ed and the boys strung up some fisherman's nets that washed ashore the last time they were there and made hammocks out of them. Otherwise sleeping on those rocks is pretty brutal. I don't sleep there....I hike back home, have a hot shower, curl up with a good book, and sleep in my own bed.
