At 7 a.m., swimming at Daaibooi, beautiful morning, beautiful bay, probably my last swim here for now.
The phone rings at home: Magalie. Can I help at 9 a.m.? Sure… I had offered. We head to Napa, Magalie, her grandson in the back, and me. Practising Papiamento, because Magalie wants me to speak Papiamento all the time. It’s not as bad as I thought, her Dutch is good. So I can throw in a Dutch word now and then.
I ask Magalie if she knows which battery. She doesn’t know exactly. So… on the way there, we stop by Janus, who knows exactly which battery we need. We chat for a while and then head to Napa. The battery is already there, at the leftmost counter, with Carlito, as Janus had told us.
It’s done in no time. I buy another litre of oil.
On the way back, we stop at Esperamos for a bag of siboyo.
Then we go to Tera Cora, the panaderia. I buy some pan dushi for Mama Irma and for Mem, for Magalie and her grandchildren, and for Norma and Stella.
We have a cup of coffee there.
Then we go home.
Tidying up and… at 2.30 p.m. to Hato. Thelma drives past her house to show it to us. It’s an apartment in Sun Valley.
At 3.30 p.m. we arrive at Hato and check in very quickly, with electronic passport control.
We go to the lounge and leave for Amsterdam earlier than expected.
Ayo Curaçao, te awero!

Swimming!
Daaibooi!
Morning at home.
Papaya plants bought at Piscadera, next to Quinten’s garden.
Magaly is sitting at the bus stop with her two grandchildren. They are staying with Wela (Grandma). I ask where they are going. ‘We are resting, I still have to walk all the way home with my brittle bones.’ I say, ‘I’ll take you, get in.’ Magalie lives opposite Boy Casablanca, on the road to Porto Marie Bay, a very bad road, quite a long walk for them. There is a car in her yard. Broken down? I ask her. ‘No, the battery is bad. I have to buy a new one.’ I offer to help her with that. ‘I can drive to Napa for you tomorrow.’

Then to Carmen’s garden. Planting a papaya plant. I put the plant on the right side of her garden, as she indicates on a photo; I plant it the Quinten way, with lots of dead material around it to prevent the little rainwater from evaporating too much.

Then we go swimming at Karakter and I send a photo of the papaya tree. ‘But how does it get water?’ Carmen asks. I write about Ernst Götsch, the Swiss man who promotes the method of ‘syntropic farming’. ‘But how does it get water?’ I write that I thought the drip system in her garden was broken and that’s why I covered it with dead material. No, the drip system is still working, at least on one side.
On my way home, I stop by again and, miraculously, the drip system starts working. I see that I can give the papaya plant a better spot, right next to the palm tree.
In the evening, I chat with Mum and go to bed on time.

p at 5 a.m. Marie Louise picks me up at 6 a.m. We drive along 13 bays to check whether any turtles have come to lay their eggs.
In order: Playa Kalki, Playa Piskado, Playa Forti, Playa Abou (Grote Knip), Kleine Knip, Playa Jeremí, Playa Lagun, Santa Cruz, (coffee at Landhuis Klein Santa Martha) Cas Abou, Porto Marie, Playa Hulu, Playa Daaibooi….
Here are a few photos:

Here are some pictures:

At 6 p.m., I had a bite to eat with Edgar de Palm. Farewell gift because of his new job. At Bali restaurant on Grote Berg.
Interesting conversation with Edgar about his reasons for taking this step.
Had Nasi Bali.
Went to bed at 9 p.m.

At 7:30 a.m., we head to church.
At 7:15 a.m., the phone rings and Thelma asks if I would mind waiting to go to church until she arrives with Ruthmila, who has come from Aruba for her grandma’s funeral yesterday. She is staying with Thelma. Of course.
After Mass, Annet arrives, who would like to visit Stella to see her plants.
The garden continues to amaze me, with beautiful flowers under a canopy of shade from the trees, the ducks in the cage, the chickens, the peacock. The old furniture. I think Stella is better suited to this place, perhaps because she has family from the Netherlands staying with her and has more company.
Back home.
Huh? Mama Irma isn’t there. Mem tells us that they’re in the car on their way to the marshe di Barber.
A miracle! Mama has – with help, of course – got into the car and is going to the market in Barber.
Then Mem and I go for a drive around Banda Abou, including to the Kitten Rescue in Soto, where Connie does volunteer work. There must be a hundred cats there! Connie shows us the different rooms, including the operating theatre where the cats are neutered.
Then we drive to Coral Cliff, Santa Martha, where Corendon is building a couple of huge hotels. It’s terrible to see how nature is being disrupted there. Tourism is growing and growing.
Then we go to Landhuis Klein Santa Martha. Coffee, awa lamoenchi and a beautiful view. We talk to a lady there who is also very concerned about the developments surrounding tourism; there is no nature left.
Then back home, but first a quick stop at the changing room at the football field. Hey… there’s Norma. We have a beer, chat with Norma and then go home.
Mama Irma has visitors: Stella and her sister Frida. Ruthmila and Thelma tell us that Mama Irma ate sopi mondongo at the Marshe di Barber and then jambo again when she got home… A miracle…
Zaire calls and asks if she can come swimming.
Sure!
Half past four!
Then Erna and Magalie come to visit. I know Magalie from church. A beautiful, tall woman who used to walk with a crutch, new hip, and later with her arm in a sling, torn tendon in her shoulder after a fall at Porto Marie. Both lovely people. Erna repairs Mama Irma’s curtains with needle and thread and later, when Zaire and I return from swimming, with her own Singer sewing machine she brought with her. How people help each other here. Erna tells me that she spent six weeks in Amsterdam to help a friend whose child had cancer and died at the age of twelve. The child was in such a bad way that they decided to end her life. She was also in Rotterdam, not much better then. Her child lives in The Hague, where at least it’s clean. Magalie was in the Netherlands a long time ago, but she doesn’t like it there. I tell them that I came here for Mama Irma because Thelma wrote, ‘If anything happens, can Guus come?’ Both Erna and Magalie think it’s a good idea that I came, ‘better than looking at someone in a coffin’….. Magalie thinks I should practise Papiamentu more, then I’ll learn it better. I tell her that Mama Irma was my professoressa di Papiamentu, but she’s too weak now. Mi ta busca un nobo professoressa! Maybe I can ask Erna or Magalie to teach me in October.

At 5 p.m., I go to Habitat with Zaire. We have a nice swim and a drink, I have a cappuccino and she has a piña colada. I think we’re getting better at talking, but when I ask her what her youngest child is called, she can’t remember the name. How awful.
Early to bed, because tomorrow we have to get up at 5 a.m. MarieLouise is picking me up at 6 a.m. to walk the (thirteen) bays and see if the turtles have laid any eggs. That would be something if we saw that…

Up at 6 a.m.
Cup of tea, mango, juice… Mmm…
I’m not going swimming today, because at Daaibooi there are lots of families with tents and barbecues very early in the morning at the weekend. There’s no sun at Karakter so early in the morning. At 7:30 a.m., I go to Norma’s, but she’s just woken up. She was out until three in the morning at the ‘snekkie’ on the corner. She drank too much and has a slight headache, so she needs some rest. She asks me if I can bring her a bottle of salt water from Daaibooi on Monday.
Then I go to Stella. She is already busy in the garden with her plants. There is a dog in the garden that does not belong to her, and it has to be removed! It got in through a gate that no longer closes properly. It is a bit stuck in the sand. I ask Stella if she has a shovel. Yes, she does, so I dig the gate out of the sand so it can close again. Stella says, ‘An angel came down from heaven for me this morning, an angel who came to help me’… I have to laugh. Stella offers me a cup of coffee, but I say that I want to go to Tera Cora first, to the bakery, and that I’ll bring some ‘pan dushi’ for her. No sooner said than done. First, I fill up at the petrol station in Tera Cora. You can even pay with an MCB credit card there! Long live progress!
Then on to the panaderia. I buy eight pan dushi and have to pay six guilders. Two for Mem and Thelma, two for Stella, two for Janus and two for myself. Norma doesn’t want any. Headache!

Then we sit with Mama Irma and chat, well, chat, she’s tired, but Thelma wants her to sit in the chair. I help. Once she’s in the chair, she cheers up a bit and feels a little better. She eats and drinks something, but not much. Annet calls to ask if I can come and look at the house at Piscadera Bay Resort on Sunday, because it’s due to be handed over on Monday and she wants me to check for any irregularities or things that haven’t been done properly. Sunday isn’t a good day for me, as I’m going out with Mem. ‘I’d rather go there now,’ I say. At 11:30 a.m., I arrive at PBResort. We still see many things that could have been done better, especially the paintwork is sloppy in places.
I drive to Mambo Beach to buy new flip-flops, Havaianas, in the flip-flop shop. I’ve been thinking about doing this for a few days.
Success.
Then back home, a half-hour drive from Mambo Beach.
When I get home, a lady from the Archaeological Archive is there to talk to Mama Irma. At Landhuis Rif, the annual archaeological excavation has taken place, with experts from Canada, the Netherlands and Curaçao.
Among other things, they had excavated an old Model T Ford. The lady wanted to know as much as possible from Mama Irma about Landhuis Rif Saint Marie. She also showed her the maps of Johannes Werbata, born in Padang in the Dutch East Indies. Between 1906 and 1909, he mapped the entire island at the request of the Curaçao government, which needed maps to develop a system of dams to collect rainwater for agriculture. He was selected for this task on the basis of his knowledge of the tropics and his work experience. Using topographical surveys (on a donkey) and the system of triangulation, he mapped roads, clearings, wells, plantations and country houses. His maps are among the most detailed ever made of Curaçao.
At 4.30 p.m., the lady leaves and I go for a swim.
At 7 p.m., I thought I would see a beautiful sunset, but in the end it is cloudy. I talk to Angelina, who is working her penultimate day. Tomorrow, her last day, she will be thrown into the water, a farewell ritual. I am curious to see it.
At 10 p.m., I go to bed.

Up at 6:00 a.m. Straight back to Mama Irma. She always says she slept well. ‘Drumi dushi?’
‘Si m’a drumi bon.’
‘Hopi bon?’
‘No, basta bon!’
‘Dushi sonya?’
‘No, mi no recórda nada sonya’

I go to Daaibooi for a nice swim. They are repairing the huts. New palm leaves are being put on them.
After swimming, I want to go to Pelele and Cher, but Mem feels unwell. He wants to sit by the church for a while, where it is cooler. I stay with Mama Irma.
I have arranged to meet Annet. We have lunch at Landhuis Rooi Catootje, next to the museum. Delicious fish salad and a very pleasant chat.
I do some shopping at Centrum Supermarkt. I buy three cans of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup for Mama Irma, who likes them. For Mem, I buy a bolo di wortel.
At 4.30 p.m., I go back to Villa Kadushi to help saw under the door so that it opens a little easier.
Then it’s time for a nice swim.
On the beach, I help Jordan clean the sunbeds that are not in use, as he wants to go home early….
I also meet a lady who is studying Ayurvedic astrology there. We chat for a while, she immediately asks for my date of birth, I say ‘Virgo’, but no, she says I am a Leo, a leader. In Europe, the zodiac signs are linked to different dates. She says it has to do with the moon and can’t just be 21 August or something like that. Me, a Leo?
I tell her about Mama Irma and we talk about dying. She recommends a book to me: Journey of Souls. It’s about leaving the earth and our souls going somewhere else. I once read that someone who was dying was weighed and that the body was weighed again after death. The soul had left and the body weighed slightly less…
We chat for a while longer. She lives at Landhuis Pannekoek. Funny, I used to go there on camp with our Radulphus first-year students. She also tells me that the energy in Willibrordus is very good. I feel it every day. also when at Williwood….
I tell her that I know Donald Olbino in Pannekoek and that I often go for walks with him. She knows his wife, Dulce. Funny, everyone knows everyone…
At 8:30 p.m., Mem arrives and we have a nice chat. We drink a Coke and I also have a few pika balls. He loves them. Mem is still feeling a bit short of breath and his knees are bothering him.
At 9:30 p.m., we go to bed.

Up early, 6 a.m., and off to Habitat to swim, which is a different place in the morning.
After swimming, a delicious cappuccino at the bakery. Croissant with some chocolate. Mmmm.
I receive a message that Marco has left the key to the private room where the saw is. So off to Villa Kadushi to get sawing. It’s quite a job, cutting through the thorny bushes and the hard wood. But after an hour, it’s done and tidied up.
At home, I receive a message from Dorette saying she can’t go for a walk this afternoon because the electrician is there all day and that takes priority; her house needs to be renovated. Marie Louise lets us know she’s coming and that we’ll have a bite to eat at Marfa’s after the walk.
After our walk, we go for a bite to eat at Marfa’s.
Just as we are about to go for a walk, Larissa drops by. She has just spent four hours snorkelling from Santa Martha to the Blue Room and back. A long trip, but beautiful. Mem joins us. We talk about Sea Turtle Conservation, the Plastic Clean Up, and before we know it, it’s too late to go for a walk. Marie Louise and I go for a bite to eat at Marfa’s, who tells me that we were on the same plane here. She was in the Netherlands for her ‘burger kabritu’; she wants to introduce it in the Netherlands too.
We had a nice chat and a delicious meal and went to bed at 9:30 p.m.

Flight 735 to Hato, Curaçao.
On Monday, 30 June, I call Mem. He tells me that Mama Irma is not doing well. She has lost her appetite, sleeps a lot, and doesn’t feel like drinking water or anything else.
I decide to buy a ticket and go there, especially after Thelma wrote: ‘If anything happens, can Guus come?’
There are still a few tickets available for Friday 4 July. And they’re not too expensive yet. On Saturday, the holidays start in the southern Netherlands and then the tickets with KLM (the crooks) will be €250 more expensive per flight.
I book.
The flight goes smoothly. I am sitting in front of a lady with a small dog. The animal barks a lot at first, but less later on. When I ask the stewardess about transporting dogs, she says that dogs weighing up to 10 kg are allowed in the cabin. ‘They usually sleep quietly,’ she says. ‘Is it bothering you? If the dog barks too much, just let me know, there’s another seat available in front of you.. You can move there.’ The dog must have heard her too, because it doesn’t want to cause any trouble and is quiet from that moment on.
At 4 p.m., we land at Hato. The familiar warm blanket envelops me as I stand outside waiting for Thelma to pick me up. It is thirty degrees, no sun, cloudy.
I’m waiting and suddenly I hear my name. It’s Jeanette, who works at Hato and has come to tell me that Thelma is on her way. Jeanette is a lovely and caring woman, and I’ll be seeing her a lot over the next few days when she visits Mama Irma.
Thelma arrives and we drive to Sint Willibrordus, the same familiar road I have driven a hundred times, past Souax, past the landfill, past Bali, past Daniel Soda Fountain, past Grote Berg Patat, past the truki pan (what is it called again, ah VIP grill) ), then left onto the newly paved road to Willibrordus. The road has been newly paved because Premier Pisas (the crook) lives on Coral Estate and has to go to his office in the city every day. The old road was not good enough for him.
Mama Irma is lying in bed. I greet her, give Mem a hug, and sit down next to Mama Irma. She has to vomit, the ‘sopi’ from this morning and the ‘awa di koko’.
I help Mem clean up a bit. And stay with Mama Irma. Jeanette arrives, after finishing work. She talks about Mama Irma as ‘mi baby’. Talks loudly to her. Sings a song with her. I don’t know the song.
I tidy up my things in my own ‘flat’.
Once I’m done, I sit down with Mama Irma, hold her hand and stroke her arms and legs. Moniek gave me some massage oil from Rituals and I use it liberally. I had to search for it at Schiphol, but there was a separate Rituals shop, where I was directed by a nice lady at the perfumery.
At 8:30 p.m., Mem wants to close the door. Over and out. Mum goes to bed. There is a flute on her bed. Mem put it there because he couldn’t hear her weak voice when she called him at night. Now she whistles when something is wrong. Mem can hear that sharp sound.

Mem arrives early to chat, at 6:15 a.m. We had agreed to go out together on Saturday, to Banda Abou, Westpunt, Santa Martha, Lagun, etc. However, on Saturday, a lady is coming to talk to Mama Irma to hear old stories from her past. Mem wants to be there to share her stories, too and maybe add information. Last time I was here, I went to a storytelling morning in Otrobanda, organised by Wintertuin. There were very old people there telling stories, and all those stories have been published in a collection called Otrobanda, kurá di kuenta. Wonderful stories about the old days. Mem is also interested in history. ‘Look,’ says Mem, ‘there’s a “sloké” walking by.’ I look up the name of the bird in Michelle Pors-da Costa Gomez’s book. I bought it once when I was here and when Jan and I went on a birdwatching trip with her. She promised us at the meeting point at Centrum Supermakrt Piscadera that we would see at least 30 different species of birds that Saturday. I couldn’t believe it, but… we even saw more…. she knew all the best spots for birdwatching. I didn’t see the sloké then, but here it is, walking across the porch. We call it a crested quail. It’s a female, with brown cheeks and a smaller crest (than the male). She walks perkily across the porch. Can they fly?
I go for a swim at Daaibooi and there is also a beautiful bird, the garsa blou chikí, the little blue heron, picking crabs out of the sand.
Back home, Zaire drops by. We agree to go swimming again on Saturday.
At 1 p.m., Thelma brings me some green beans. Mmmmm.
Swimming, but first I remove a few branches from Carmen’s garden that are blocking the view of the ocean from the heavenly bed. Will come back tomorrow and saw away a bigger branch
A barking neighbour’s dog lets its owners know that I’m in the garden.
Nice swim. Afterwards, I try a cocktail at Koraal: mangotini, delicious drink.
Home at 7 p.m., tidy up my blog. Bram has installed a plug-in so I can write the website in another language. Papiamento? I’ll start with English.
Bed at 9.30 p.m.

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.