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1993…. "Years ago I went on a tour of duty to Aruba and arrived in the middle of the night. The moment I left the plane I felt this overwhelming sensation of coming home. Unexplainable, unforgettable - the tropics. That's how it started. I went back to Holland, but at the back of my mind, the feeling stayed. Some time later I met Simone. She is from Curaçao. I was working for KLM as head of the cabin staff training department and because of that we had the opportunity to fly to Curaçao, cheaply and frequently. I fell in love with the old colonial houses on the island and restoring an old ruin became a dream to me.
With every trip, the desire to make a living in this part of the world grew stronger. But I never really made my mind up until I set foot ashore on Bonaire. It was love at first sight.
The night we arrived we were talking to the lady who was renting us the apartment, and when Simone mentioned that she was a physiotherapist the lady said, "That's just what we need here. At the moment there is only one physiotherapist on the island." The lady made an appointment for us with someone from the government. Eight weeks later we were back on Bonaire. Simone started her own business in one of the rooms of a gym in Nikiboko North. I fixed up the place, installed the equipment and then I flew back to Holland because I had to work three more months.
Well, in 1993, the situation was a bit different from nowadays. There were hardly any houses for sale or for rent. And I was still looking for my dream - an old Antillean house that had not been 'modernized' in the wrong way. I didn't have money to spend, but I found what I was looking for, and it came about the 'Bonairean way.' I met Carlos, a young Bonairean who was working at Karel's as a bartender. He told me, 'I know this house in Antriol. It belongs to a sister of an aunt,' etc. So, the three of us went on our bicycles to Antriol Pariba where we found this very old house in a terrible state - no electricity, no water - but telephone, yes!
It seemed that the house had such immense rainwater tanks that up until the end of 1970 the man had been selling water from the house. 'A ruin in a yard,' that's how it was sold to us.
I started replacing the roof, piece by piece, while we were living underneath it. All the things from the container were stuffed in the outbuildings. We were living in constant chaos with only the most necessary items like a bed and some forks. Rebuilding the house was my job. I, myself, did all the electricity. No one was willing to put 110 and 220 volts next to each other the way we wanted it. Too much work; too expensive. So I bought a book and taught myself how to do it."
Amazing woman, I think, looking at her. She is behind her desk, completely at ease, curly hair, big brown eyes, a vivid, curious, smart person. The first question she asked me when I sat down was, 'So what brought you to Bonaire?'
Margon Müller, 42 years old, the owner of Harbourtown Real Estate.
"All in all, I learned a whole lot about construction from Carlos who had L.T.S. (Lower Technical School) training. We worked together for one and a half years on the house. As much as he taught me I taught him on a different level - all-round education. He started taking courses and became a dive instructor. He got a girlfriend, and before he left for Holland he told us, 'My one and only family on Bonaire - that's you.' Nowadays he is working as a bus driver at Schiphol. We keep in touch by E-mail. The whole thing with the house got completely out of control. I thought I would be busy for a year, but it became three years.
In the meantime Simone was doing very well. She had to enlarge the business with staff and space. Every time she rented another location I rebuilt the place until she found her present place on Kaya Grandi.
Then I started to do the management of Bon Fysio, and by the time everything was running smoothly over there I sort of ended up in real estate.
No, I don't think it's a bad time to start. Houses are always being sold. I don't mind stemming the tide for awhile. I am not worried about Bonaire. It has all the opportunities. Suppose you have a cool idea to put up a project, you might think, Bonaire is so small; it has such a scanty population, so the project won't have viability. On the contrary! You can do it here! In Holland the laws are so tight you need at least six certificates, four permits and 300.000 Euros, and by the time you can start, somebody else has done it before you!
We are selling houses to people who are afraid to make the move. 'You think I can do it? Do you think it would be sensible?' they ask me. Those are the people who are still working, age 40 plus, fed up with the rat race in Europe. All the people who dared to make the change don't know what happened to them. They are up to their ears in work. And so we get active, creative, cool people on the island, and to me it's great fun that I was able to help them to make the decision. It's a great pleasure to me.
It's good for the island to have a large working population. Work creates work. Socially and economically it's good when people are working. I think positive about the island because I'm working. If I weren't I would be hovering over the island. I have my plans for the next 80 years. The day I'm not making plans anymore they can arrange my funeral." The brown eyes twinkle.
"I'm working a lot lately. One difficult thing about real estate is how to make it clear to my sellers what it is I am doing for them. A great deal of the job nowadays is done by E-mail. We keep in touch with potential buyers in Europe and the States. I keep my contacts warm. It's difficult to explain. The easy side of the job is to convince people to buy; I have no problems with that. I listen to people's dreams and try to make them come true by giving them support and confidence in their abilities.
I am into my work with heart and soul, and that's the way I live my life. I am closed for lunch for two hours every day and Saturdays and Sundays, I don't work. 'Ridiculous,' according to many people, but when they get to know me better they learn it's not the quantity, but the quality of how we spend the time that counts!"
She gets up and comes back with a picture of a darling blond baby.
"This is our daughter, Chaz, one and a half years old. I like to spend as much time as possible with her. I love simple things - to be with my family, to go for happy hour on Friday when the week is done. I enjoy sailing, diving and swimming, to eat in the open air, this lovely climate that makes it so that you can live outside. Really, there is nothing to write about me. I only love the simple things." Greta Kooistra
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