Along the entire northern coast of our island, in the saliñas and along inlets and inner bays, grows a small plant that we all walk over carelessly and hardly look at.
This beautiful and delicate creature is a relatively abundant inhabitant of the Caribbean coastal waters. It belongs to the order of Decapoda which is Latin for ten (deca) legged (poda), but most non-scientists will just refer to the name crabs while talking about these creatures.
When it rains the mondi is full with these cream coloured flowers, growing in dense clusters on shrubs or small trees that have dark green leaves that feel rough to the touch.
The Varronia curassavica is called Basora preto on Aruba, Karishuri on Bonaire and Basora pretu on Curaçao. It is a plant that can easily be overlooked and often considered to be a weed…
The avifauna of the Leeward islands, the diversity of bird species on the islands, consists of several seed eaters, and the most inconspicuous and often overlooked species is the Black Faced grassquit or Mòfi (Tiaris bicolor)
This snail and shell species has quite a name in English: the Bleeding Tooth Nerite. It is kind of logical though if you take a good look at the shell this snail species builds for itself.
Mushrooms, the reproductive organs of fungi, are everywhere during the rainy season of the islands and in different colors and sizes. Some appear in plant pots and disappear as quickly…
At Christmas the inner rosette of one of the Teku di mondi plants (Bromelia humilis) was bright red with a characteristic white cotton-like ball in the middle. Our teku would…