It has been a while! But I am back writing, and trying to pick up where we left the 1st of October. First, happy new year! Although March is already up ahead, I wish for 2024 that all the governments lead with righteousness, and all beings on earth may live in peace and be happy.




Last month, I finally went back to LIV again! Peter was already there a couple of times earlier, but for me, it was the first time in 4 months. Yes, you read that right: 4 MONTHS. Crazy. I think it feels the same way when I haven’t practiced yoga in a while. Sometimes when I start again after a couple of days, all what has been gained seems lost. I have to accept the confrontation with reality and pick it up again and go from there. So that is what we do! Luckily for us, LIV was doing fine, and it was not such a disaster as after our last break.
Distraction
But to give a bit of background on our break, we got distracted.
On the 10th of October we moved into a very pretty house with an acquaintance of ours. We had known this person for quite some years, and it seemed a good idea. At walking distance from the container, the yoga studio, and the beach! A couple houses down the street where I lived when I arrived on Bonaire for the first time. The beach is small and it can be a bit busy. But, it still gives me the best relaxed moment of the day. Just walking up there, read a book, and enjoy the sound and view of the ocean.



Unexpected move
Back to the distraction. I thought, by helping our acquaintance while moving in, we could have a place to stay for the next year and have some stability from where we could work on LIV. I would run his company for six weeks (he went to Europe), and afterwards work for him in the administration to pay the rent.
We helped him with his project, and we could rent a room in the house with a bathroom and separate closet. Peter fixed a lot of things in the house. He also helped him many times when things broke down in ‘the hardware’ of his company. But we experienced living there was the opposite of stability, and everything fell apart. We got a message out of the blue that we had a month to leave the house. It was a clear sign for me (and for Peter) to cut ties and move on.
With a little help from our friends
So, to conclude, I put almost all my time into everything but LIV. I realized I (we) got distracted from our goal, to get LIV back in the water. We were back in the terrible position of searching for a new home on Bonaire in high season. If it wasn’t for Peters friends, we would be in that position for a long time. But, luckily, we could move into a friend’s house until the first of March. And this was not the only amazing development, because in March we can move in to a container-home (also from this friend) next to our container! With a low rent and being nearby all our stuff to sort out, while being still within walking distance from the yoga studio and the beach, seems like the perfect place to be.
Perks of a choatic lifestyle
I feel very grateful for having generous people around us that are able and willing to help. It motivates me greatly to make the best out of any situation and in the hope that I can one day give as generously back to someone who needs it. I have learned so much in the past months. Not only about situations that may seem disastrous but act out positive at the end and the unexpected generosity of people. But, also the completely unpredictable behavior of others. Making wrong positive prejudices, and what signs should be a bit more alarming. The experience in running a company, administration, communication with staff and many more other things, that I wouldn’t have learned if it wasn’t for this situation.
Making a sign
During this time, I also made a big sign for the yoga studio (with help from Peter). Hopefully, it will help to create more awareness among the (potential) yoga practitioners on Bonaire of the existence of this very cozy studio.




Making the sign took a long time… but again, I learned a lot. While making this, I also practiced painting on smaller panels. I only had blue paint (the rest was in the container because of the move), but I think it turned out pretty good! I thought it would be nice if it was a ready painting instead of an aquarelle where you have to get a frame and a passe partout. So, on the back I made a nick for the future screw in the wall to hang it on. I finished it with poly-urethane (like the sign) to create an indestructible (probably not completely indestructible, but better than epoxy) protection layer.





Looking back on 2023
These past few months were also very helpful for getting our goals straight. It has been more than a year since we started working on LIV, and the times we had to adjust our ‘plan’. It was at the end of October in 2022 that I quit my job as a pharmacist in the hospital and that we lived at Sugarthief for three weeks. At the end of November, we were finally completely free and got to work full time on LIV.
We removed almost every single part and sorted it out, made new ceiling panels, sanded a lot of wooden parts of the interior and treated it with epoxy, repaired the cockpit (still a lot of work to do), installed the electric motor, batteries, and the bottom is almost completely rust-free (apart from the kitchen and portside salon), a lot of holes and weak parts welded (still 75% to go), and treated with anti-rust paint.
And moving around… a hotel room at Tropical Divers, a motorboat, housesitting in a very big house of a friend, followed by living on a sailing boat, moving in with a friend for a long time, sleeping over at a friend, couple of nights in a hotel, three months in an unfinished studio, holiday feeling at Tala Lodge for a couple of weeks, housesitting with a beautiful garden, 3,5 months crazy living and now we live in a very nice house surrounded by green bushes and across the street from the Real Dutch Bakery. Very nice for fresh bread and pastries breakfast.
Result of chaos
If I look back, it was a very chaotic year, but I learned a lot. Although life was very tough at some points, there were (and are) many people who helped us out and we found a way to work around the obstacles. For myself, the learning progress is ongoing.
It was a challenging year, and I am still very much in the process of dealing with times when life isn’t the way I would like it to be. When I have a difficult day, I start analyzing and I tend to focus on the things I don’t have (yet). Especially when I am tired or overwhelmed. I feel bad for not being productive enough. That I don’t have my stuff because it is in the container (or in some box somewhere due to moving), that I don’t have many students in my classes, that I don’t know how to sell my art, that I didn’t write a blog for a long time, that I didn’t work on LIV as much as I would like, that the progress goes too slow, etcetera.
Pitfall reflection
My natural reaction is to work harder, but I have noticed this isn’t productive work. I would like things to be immediately effective and to see immediate results. But it is natural for things to develop over time. What I already knew, but tend to forget over and over again, is that I have to keep the end goal in sight. Visualize living on a beautiful completely functioning LIV and being successful in other aspects of my life and enjoy the process as it goes.
Because another pitfall that I unconsciously revisit like it has its own gravity pull, is that with working harder to fix the things I want. I feel like I don’t have the time to have a break or to do fun stuff, which ultimately makes me more tired. But every time I revisit this pitfall, I tend to go in less deep and go out quicker. Partly because of yoga and meditation. Big-partly because of the friendly reminders of Peter to take breaks, go out and relax.
Recent adventures
The BBQ-Beach-Games
One other thing that gets me out of an ineffective being over productive streak, is the monthly beach BBQ where we meet up with a group of friends that collectively emit a tranquil vibe that works for me as an anti-pitfall-gravity-force. The last one was especially fun.
We were a bit late for the sandcastle building competition, but we immediately got into the sort of Olympic-beach-games with enthusiasm and were dedicated to winning many points (I was in team GREEN!) in very creative ways. The jury distributed the points professionally and announced the winner after the wild endgame of egg-catching, but we couldn’t beat team Highlight, so my team ended somewhere behind the first place.






That wasn’t the end of it though. Because when we got ready to drive home, we drove our car into coral stones, and it was completely stuck. The stones were acting like quicksand and with every turn of the wheels, we got deeper into it. We weren’t completely lost, only because of Adrien and Niels! They had a jack to get the car up! This made it possible to remove some of the coral stones and placing bigger ones under the tires. After an hour of digging, pulling, and pushing, we finally got out!
Seru Largu
So far, living here is great with loads of perks. It is busy with birds that fly and run around in the spacious garden, the green around our house and the view of Seru Largu from the bathroom (I think they made a window there on purpose) and when you walk outside in the back, it’s very nearby!
Seru Largu is a beautiful place to get a view of Bonaire, including Kralendijk, a small part from the east coast and Klein Bonaire. I was very enthusiastic when I spontaneously walked up (it’s 30 minutes up hill) one beautiful evening. It was a very relaxed walk. The view is great, but also the way up is very green and quiet, I encountered only a few other people and even fewer cars. I enjoyed it, and I even gave my water (I was very optimistic) to the cats and goats living on top of the hill.



Muscle Pain
But reality hit, and I felt the blisters on my heels and still had to go down. Yep, big blister time! The days after, my yoga practice was extremely rickety because of the muscle pain in my calves that was so bad, it reminded me of the muscle pain I had when I once climbed Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka. There I experienced one of the most beautiful sunrises I ever saw, but it came with a week recovery time. Compared to that, this was just an easy walk, but I didn’t expect the aftereffects.


I wasn’t the only one with muscle pain in the calves, because a week later Peter picked up bicycling again and experienced the same immobilizing muscle pain. For him, it got even worse, because he got the flu after that and had to spend some days in bed. He is all better now! Working vigorously on a 3-day project to get the gearbox out of the Stoked double decker bus.
If you got until here, thank you for your time! I hope you enjoyed it. Next videos are in the making, so keep track of our progress on Instagram or YouTube!