Lake Archives - In Search Of Umami

12 spots you don’t want to miss on Bonaire

Bonaire is an unusual, tropical part of the Netherlands it's famous for its superb diving, wind sports and breathtaking views. There is so much to see and explore and yet the island is small enough to see the highlights in just a few days. The best way to do so is by car since public transport is practically non-existent. For more adventurous people there is also a possibility of renting a scooter and for pure masochists– bikes. Choose wisely, Bonaire is one of those places where it’s always hot and sunny…

And off we go 🙂

The heart of the island- Kralendijk

A place where everyone’s journey starts. It’s where so many of the restaurants, cafes and night life is located. The city center is very small and concentrated around the waterfront. It’s worth looking at the local, colorful architecture and stop by for an ice-cream at Luciano (truly divine). Except for that I wouldn’t recommend spending too much time there, why let the nature wait, right?

Salt Pans

The most (in) famous sight of the island. Driving by, it’s impossible to miss the pink basins or the white mountains of salt. Don’t forget to look around, you might spot flamingos!

Looking at this beauty makes it easy to forget that it used to be a place where the slaves used to work. Back in the day, it was a very labor intense job done in a scorching heat….

Slave’s huts

Driving further south, you will come across white and then orange huts. They seem like the most charming, tiny houses with the best view on the sea…. In reality those were built for the slaves, so that they could rest after many hours of hard work. Incredibly those were constructed almost at the end of the slavery period around 1850. I don’t even dare to think in what conditions the workers slept before those appeared on the horizon.

The wild southern end

I always enjoy looking at the roughness of the sea, splashing waves and the power of nature. Here is one of the best spots to just do that. Such a short drive from Kralendijk one might feel like the southern end couldn’t be further from the inhabited world. There are many bizarre-looking sculptures at the shore made from whatever the locals could find here. And you can find quite some treasures in here, drift wood beautifully shaped by the sea, shells, stones… We felt a bit sad we couldn’t take anything with us. Bonaire is a protected area so all of its natural bits and pieces have to stay on the island. Gossip has it, that they just finished building a local prison so we definitely didn’t want to risk exploring it.

Lac Cai

This magical bay is a paradise with something for everyone. Those who love wind-sports will find perfect conditions to practice next to Sorobon resort. Those who travel with kids will enjoy shallow waters without waves perfect for swimming even for little ones on the other side of the bay. Those are surrounded by stunning mangrove trees and one of few sandy beaches on the island. On Sundays around noon this place comes to life with live music, fresh caught fish and a bit of beer 🙂

Mangrove center

Mangroves are extremely important for the island’s ecosystem and most of the area is off limit. The small part open for tourists can only be visited with a certified guide. Thankfully mangrove center has quite a few of those and they have plenty of interesting stories about animals and plants living in this environment. They organize nice tours with quite small groups. We would especially recommend the 2-hour kayaking tour which not only takes you through spooky natural mangrove tunnels but also allows you to admire the underwater world in the snorkeling part. Have you ever seen an upside down jelly fish or colorful sponges and coral on the roots of mangrove trees? Those views are worth absolutely every dollar of the 46 we paid for the excursion (per person).

The soul of the island- Rincon

Rincon has a local vibe, it’s where the Antillean part of the population lives. Part of it looks very run down and poor. Lately the worst looking houses got a bit of a make-over with lovely floral paintings. For those only it’s worth a drive (really!) and there is still a distillery to explore too. They are famous for their local cadushy liquor made from cacti. After driving for a while on the island you will realize, they will never run out of resources to make it…

They also had a brilliant idea of creating flavored liquors representing traditions of other Dutch islands. So there are plenty of interesting flavors to choose from.

If you’re more into heavier spirits they also produce delicious rum and not so delicious whisky, tequila and vodka i.m.o 🙂

TIP! Check the opening times before heading to the distillery. It only opens on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Posada para Mira

Just like the name states it’s an oasis to watch the local landscape. Located on a mountain it offers a splendid 360 degree view. It’s also the best spot to try some of the local specialties like iguana or goat stew. It closes at 6pm so it’s not really a dinner type of place. Such a shame, sunset here would be truly magical.

Goto Lake view point

We would highly recommend visiting it at sunrise to experience the beauty of this place in all its glory. You will see mountains coming to life, hear all the birds and see more and more pink dots emerging on the lake. Those are the little symbols of the island, flamingos. Being there at sunrise gives you a greater chance of spotting “pinkies” from close while driving down from the view point. The busier it gets the further on the lake they go.

Washington Slagbaai National Park

This place is worth a day trip on its own. It has two car routes to choose from. Short one takes an estimated 1.5 hour and the longer one 2.5 hour. But if you want to snorkel, dive, enjoy the beaches or simply really spend time exploring, it easily becomes a day trip. The park offers the most beautiful beaches, view points of the ocean and a chance to spot a fair amount of iguanas, lizards, crabs, fish and obviously flamingos. The population of the last one is especially dense around the pond near the old port building (indicated on the map below). We were very happy to see that recently they also built open huts in some of the most spectacular spots. Those are idyllic and perfect for a picnic.

Washington Slagbaai National Park, Bonaire

Little Bonaire

No journey to Bonaire would be complete without visiting Little Bonaire. It’s a tiny, uninhibited island just off the coast facing Kralendijk. There are two water taxis which go there a few times a day. One leaves from a little port just downtown and the other one from nearby Eden resort.

The first thing we saw when reaching the island is a long, idyllic, sandy beach. It’s very peaceful and perfect to just relax and read a book. It’s a great place for snorkeling, diving and spotting turtles…. And that’s it… There is not really anything to see or do on the island. So if you don’t like the beach or underwater exploration, scrap it off your list 🙂 Remember to take all the food and necessities with you. There is literally no bar or toilet there.

1000 steps

Somehow this diving spot became very famous and started attracting tourists…. Maybe everyone wants to see those 1000 steps? I hate disappointing but I have to honestly say that the number refers more to a certain feeling than the exact number. If you are a diver and you get out of the water with your gear looking up to see the stairs (that you have to climb), they will seem endless…. As a tourist you will realize they are not nearly as many. Sorry I forgot to count them. Anyway it’s still a lovely spot to see:)

The colors of Shiraz

Shiraz ended up being our favorite city in Iran and definitely a city we would recommend for anyone. Even if it was the only city to visit in Iran. Shiraz has it all.

Accommodation

Bargaining skills and patience is the limit :). There are many charming, traditional houses around the city center and some of them are open for bargaining. We came to Shiraz in the evening, tired and dirty so our patience was a bit low. We visited 3 places and after in the last the staff asked “if the price was really that important”, we thought that the next place just had to be a score. Thankfully it was. Golshan Traditional hostel was all we were looking for. Beautiful courtyard, neat room, friendly staff and an owner who knows how to bargain. From there our journey in and out of Shiraz started.

The Pink Mosque

It’s the mosque we saw in every guide book, on every web page and every list. We knew skipping it would be not seeing the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The color patterns created on the floor by rays of sun creeping through stained glass windows made it the number one attraction in Iran.

Before our staff even woke up, before most tourist would even think to wake up, we were already there. To our surprise we were not the only ones and the hall was actually much smaller than we thought. I guess wide angle lenses did a good job on all these pictures we have seen. For Iran it was really rather crowded in there. All the people were posing to replicate all the shots they have already seen so many times. Selfie sticks were flying everywhere and tripods were just on every corner. Disappointed we went outside and discovered that the courtyard was actually way nicer. Empty, underappreciated, it was all for us. In the pond the reflection of the whole facade was just stunning, not to mention the play of colors. Pink, purple and a bit of blue, the colors we have seen so much all over the place. But only inside… The country of boring outsides and mosaic, playful insides.

The Vakil Mosque

The most “different” of them all, Vakil mosque except for the traditional courtyard and facades has a massive hall with 48 pillars. Although build in 18^th century, it was given the finesse of floral tiles by Qajar dynasty in the 19^th century. Actually the most spectacular sites we saw were either built or given this extra touch in the same period.

The Persian Empire

Iranians don’t speak Arabic and they definitely don’t identify themselves as Arabs. If mistaken they are probably as offended as a Dutch taken for a German. To see the magnitude and the power of the Empire we went to Persepolis and Necropolis. It was probably the only sight that we knew about when we previously thought about Iran and we were rather surprised that it didn’t attract the crowds that much. We could wonder around for hours to discover every corner of what once used to be a ceremonial capital without big groups unloaded from buses.

Even today the preservation of columns, stone work and massive tombs is just breathtaking. No wonder Iranians are very proud of that period. They had the power, they actually proudly paid to all of their workers and they included all of the conquered nations in sculptures and in the Gate of All Nations. Very smart idea to keep all the people happy and in peace.

The best about this trip was that we met the coolest people that started as our guides and ended up as friends. Ramin and Sadegh were just the friendliest people we met in the whole country and we were actually disappointed and skeptical about Iranians when we met them… Which I didn’t really hold back from them when they asked how we liked their country. We had so much fun that it wasn’t the only time we saw them…

The pink … Maharloo Lake

When I saw that lake during my research about Iran I immediately knew we would have to see it. It was deeply pink because of algae so it was supposed to be seasonal. Ramin and Sadegh didn’t think it was anything spectacular but they were open to do something and I can be very persistent. And so on the next day we planned a picnic. Ramin took the whole house with him… literally, plates, gas pit, a saucepan, bread, eggs. Like if we were going camping for multiple days. We arrived at the lake… and wait, there was no lake. Drought took all the water away and it turned into a salt flat. “Look here it’s pinkish, the lake would have been pink, if there was water…” explained Ramin. Walking further we discovered that there was a thin layer of water creating unbelievable reflections. Just like we saw on pictures of the salt flats in Bolivia, during rainy season. We missed it there and got it by a surprise here. It was our best day in Iran. The posing, the playing with the reflection, the colors of the sun going down. And Ramin trying to always stand a bit different than JD and Sadegh.

In the evening the place turned into a bit of a party spot, where all the locals came from Shiraz to play music, smoke shisha and do all the things they couldn’t do back in the city. Where there is no police, a new side of the country shows up. And boy it’s loud 🙂

Mosaic tombs of the poets…

When Ramin and Sadegh took us to see our first tomb (Saddi’s tomb) we were just too polite to convince them that it just can’t be special. It would only be a grave …right? Well not here. I don’t know any country where poetry would be as alive as here. There were people reading poems out loud, singing (possibly poems:D) and the atmosphere and crowds were unbelievable. The grave itself reminded me more of Napoleon’s tomb in Paris then just a grave of someone famous at the cemetery. It was a whole complex of rooms surrounded by gardens and fountains. And so was Hafez’s tomb as well. Who would have thought that a place of resting for someone can be a place of joy for someone else?

And the food…

We ate so well in Shiraz that I actually get hungry even thinking about it. Quite far from our hostel we discovered a very chic neighborhood packed with good restaurants and hip cafes. Our top choice was Qavam Café and restaurant that served delicious traditional food. Especially their dizi has stolen our hearts and stomachs. Dizi is a stew that after a long period of cooking in the oven gets separated creating a tomato soup and solids that are later smashed to create kind of a dip. The whole process was a pleasure to watch and eating it was just a whole lot better. To think that we only ended up eating there after we got denied a table at another restaurant that was only accepting locals…

You would think that because of the “café” part Qavam would be good in desserts but that’s not the case. They have a very, very sweet date option but we just didn’t want any more dates at some point. Walking around, craving for something different we came across Café Ferdowsi where we went back to Europe for a bit. The design itself with a bohemian, recycled theme was one thing but the selection of cakes and coffee was just to die for. Literally since getting a portion of caffeine that tastes good is an achievement on its own in the country of absolute tea.

Touristic circus on the Peruvian side of Titicaca lake

"Marta, Marta comprame" (Marta, Marta buy)-a woman on a reet island tried to sell me all of her handmade treasures. Now I knew why she wanted to know my name when I entered the island....
Uros islands are floating reet islands with a very long tradition dating back to the Inca times (so they say). Nowadays there are few thousand people living on the tiny islands. Incredible construction and persistence to sell. The woman was running after me to try to make me buy her stuff thinking that I had one empty backpack for it and JD had a backpack full of money. To complete the circus to go to another island we needed to get on a cheesy reet boat "Made in China". At least there were actually people rowing it (I saw another one which was just pushed by a motor boat). And all of it tax free, Uros people don't have to pay taxes or have to buy a piece of the Lake that they use....
From Uros we went to see a traditional island called Amantani. Which had nothing special to offer but people for whom responding to "hola" was too difficult. We stayed there with a family who was pretending to speak Spanish responding every question I asked with an answer which was not even related. Obviously they tried to sell us their handmade hats and other shit right after dinner. In the evening they squeezed us into their traditional clothing (yep squeezed as I could barely breath) and took us for a party. It was so ridiculous that it ended up being fun.
On the next day the circus continued on the Taquile island which we saw in a documentary by the BBC. The chief of the village was saying that they work just like in Inca time, no money just community work and help for each other. Probably true because they have enough money from all the tourists that come to see this circus.
I wish I could say that Puno city was nice but it was quite ugly and definately without a soul.
At least we were not sad leaving it behind us to go to Cusco in hope the Inca capital would be a different world.

Mysterious Lake Titicaca

Going to Copacabana on the coast of Lake Titicaca we were expecting extraordinary ruins, ancient civilizations and beautiful views. What we got were tons of restaurants, propers, ugly buildings and ruins that were far from impressive. But at least climbing on the surrounding mountain provided us with a decent exercise and quite good views of the city.
But no-one goes to Copacabana for the city itself and neither did we. And so we took a boat to Isla de la Luna. On our way we were very focused to keep our heads out of the windows as the whole boat was filled with fumes from the motor of the boat. Possibly the sailor wanted to poison us. Anyway he didn't manage and we reached the island just fine (not counting our stops in order to try to sell more tickets). Time in Bolivia is very relative and so when we reached the island our captain didn't feel like waiting for 2 hours before going to the next one anymore. Kindly he gave us 45 minutes. Running through the tiny island we managed to see it's only monument Temple of the Virgins of the Sun. Magnificent ruins where years ago little girls of around 8 years old were brought to learn weaving, cooking and everything that would be necessary to became a concubine, wife or a sacrifice.

From over there we went to Isla del Sol without buying anything from local ladies which they were not so happy about. As soon as we entered Isla del Sol we had to pay an admission to be allowed to walk on that sacred ground (just like on Isla de la Luna and everywhere else where the Bolivians think they could possible charge for walking). On Isla del Sol we started our 16 km by climbing probably a million stairs, or at least that's how it felt. Escalinatas de Yumani which led us to Inca gardens was probably secretly built to slow all the armed Spaniards down...
The rest of our walk seemed rather easy even though we had to go through people's gardens in between their lamas and donkeys as we lost our way. Going to the north we passed a small village called Challa which by Lonely Planet is compared to Greece because of it's "white beaches". Now we know for sure that the person that wrote it was either never in Greece or never in Challa. But after 14 km we were very rewarded with a charming, small village of Challapampa in the North. Pretty little beaches seemed not to be ment for people as there were mainly pigs and sheep enoying their time. After leaving our sleeping bags and other unnecessary things we went a bit further to see where the sun was born according to the Incas. And we were stunned.... Chincana turned out to be one of the most impressive ruins we have seen so far. Huge with many rooms it showed us that the Incas really knew what's best... Fancy room with a view of course. View on the lake. Spectacular.... Now we are looking forward to what Peru has to show us:)