pagara explained:

from what i gather on the last working of the year local businesses on bonaire do a little celebrating. businesses smoke their places out with some kind of charcoal and lock the doors. apparently it's bad luck to re-enter before the new year.

unloading / layout

they also buy huge strands of firecrackers (not the little black cat ones, but the big red loud ones) and line them up in the street out front. crowds gather round waiting to be deafened.

one million chinese fireworks...in a box

with a fire and garbage trucks staged nearby someone lights the wick and over the next 10 to 20 minutes anywhere from 75,000 to 1 million rounds explode.

lot of smoke and noise. be prepared to get pelted by shrapnel. the young seem impervious to the noise, and the old like to try talking over it.

at the end the street is littered with red confetti. kids sift through the carnage in search of unspent firecrackers. and the cleanup crew swoops in (note: on a different street the sweepers got after it a little too quick, sweeping smoldering remains into the garbage truck. the truck caught fire. photos not available)

can you spot the dutch guy?

post pagara

operation clean sweep

i thought after i'd seen my first pagara, i'd had enough. ended up seeing two more before i finally called it quits.

might as well sign me up for next year.

dominic