Got up at 6:15. Lovely and fresh. No sun. I’m not going swimming (for once) and will do some paperwork.
A lovely quiet breakfast at home: fresh pineapple, fresh mango (from Nilda) and some yoghurt (from Bauer in Germany)
At 8 a.m., I go to Janus, who is always hospitable. Yesterday, Mem and I bought a carburettor repair kit because Mem thinks the float is sticking occasionally. XCG 75. Janus is sitting at the table with two phones. He is on one and watching Facebook videos on the other. On the table in front of him is a Bible and a highlighter, Solomon chapters 10 and 11. Some sentences are highlighted in bright green in chapter 11. Janus offers me coffee and brings a hard-boiled egg with it. ‘You can return that repair kit to Montana Autoparts,’ says Janus, “your carburettor is completely old. You need a new one. Or go and check out the Wabi Club Curaçao, your car is from 1993, so it’s old enough for that, see if they have a carburettor for your car.‘ He calls someone and I hear him say: ’……tin un bon preis pa carburator?”
We chat some more about Nilda, whom I visited yesterday, and I tell Janus about the butterfly, the black barboletta that Nilda mentioned yesterday. A black and grey butterfly flew into the house and settled on the wall, a sign that Edgar had died. Janus agrees with the story and also says that it is possible for black spots to appear on your arm when someone in your vicinity dies. Later, I hear from Jordan that it is also possible for a ‘chuchubi’ to keep tapping against the window as an announcement that someone is going to die. Beautiful old stories.
After half an hour, I drive to Montana Autoparts and return the repair kit.
Then I head to Annet, with whom I have arranged to meet at 9:30 a.m. at Piscadera Bay Resort. It is fortunate that she included her number, #54. They have purchased a new bungalow, slightly larger, with two bathrooms and three bedrooms. I am given a tour. Beautiful rooms.
They are busy getting everything in order, painting, electrical work, flooring. The floor is Italian marble, which is used throughout the house. Because it is quite striking, Annet wants to have everything painted in a calm white. Good idea, Annet!
We drink coffee at Hook’s Hut. When we park there, we immediately get the car washer on our roof. My excuse is that the Samurai is too old to wash, Annet says, ‘next time’. We catch up, agree to meet on Friday and give the car washer some money as we drive away.
I do some shopping at Centrum Supermarket and drive home.
Lunch: a cup of soup.
At 4 p.m. I head to Habitat, where it always gets a bit quieter by then.
But first, I stop by Carmen’s house to take a few photos for her in the garden. Tomorrow, I’ll trim a few branches that are blocking the beautiful view she has from her four-poster bed in the garden. After all, I still have the pruning shears in my car that I always took with me to Quinten’s garden on Saturday mornings. I’ll call Quinten tomorrow; I’m curious to hear how he’s doing.
I’m going to lie down on the four-poster bed and read for a while – with Carmen’s permission, of course – and send her a message with some photos. What a place, what a view!
On my sun lounger at Karakter, after an hour on the canopy bed, I wanted to go for a swim, and Jordan surprised me with a “gift from me”, he said – a cappuccino, my regular drink at 5 p.m. How nice of him. We still laugh about the American from last week who asked him for the address of “some a girl’ who could give him and his friends a ‘foot massage’ (yes, really). ‘Give me a name and a phone number, and I’ll pay you well,’ he said. Jordan ended up giving him a phone number and also his own bank account number for the service, and sure enough, later that evening, $60 was credited to his account for ‘foot massage.’ Jordan could still laugh heartily about it.
Home at 6:30 p.m.
Chatted with Mem for a while, again about the customs and habits of ‘old people,’ about the ‘barboletta,’ the chuchubi, the spots on your arm. Mem always talks about ‘the old days’ and ‘old people.’ I’m going to talk to Mum Irma about it later.
It was also striking that when Edgar Supriano was found dead by Nilda, his bandmates came by a few hours later. ‘How did they know?’ Nilda wonders. Mem talks about ‘un boka bisa otro’, word of mouth.
Had a bite to eat.
Jeanette stops by (8:10 p.m., after her work at Hato) to change Mama Irma’s nappy. Just like the nurse this afternoon, this nurse hasn’t seen Mama Irma for two weeks and also finds her very weak, frail, with a ‘big belly full of gas’.
Early night, no siesta.