Sometimes our virtual travels turn into happy realities. Such is the case with our trip to Aruba!! It's thanks to my wonderful husband, Dave, and Weber State that we got to go. Dave had a proposal accepted to a conference in Aruba he pointed out that me and Catherine could also write proposals to go to the same conference through the department of undergraduate research. We did (Catherine with much help from Dave), and we all were accepted, and then miraculously we were all funded as well! It didn't cover all the expenses of such a trip, but it made a HUGE difference--enough that we all could go. I kept a diary of the trip. So this will be a mammoth posting---a transcript of the diary plus loads of pictures. Here we go!
June 22, 2011
On June 20th the house was a complete wreck. I was worried all day that we wouldn't be able to get a hold of the Earls who were taking care of the cats, and weren't answering their phone. But by June 21st all was miraculously in order--the house was clean, the garden watered, all of us packed, the Earls contacted, the paper-girl sub fixed up. The 21st is Dave's birthday and although he was still short one present, the Miss Zukas books he wanted for the trip had come in. A friend was set to take us to the train station at 2:45 (thus avoiding airport long term parking fees). So at 2:00 we were sitting around the table in a surprisingly relaxed state eating Dave's ice-cream cupcakes. With only a few minor glitches we got to the airport and through security with an hour to spare before having to be at our gate, we ate at Dick Clark's American Diner--solidly mediocre and overpriced--which made me excited because it meant we were really on our way. The first stop was Phoenix where Catherine amused herself by counting the number of baseball diamonds as we flew in. The next leg of the trip wasn't until 11:30 p.m. so we had plenty of time to explore gift shops and for the first time in my life I bought an article of clothing at an airport--really nice t-shirts actually on sale 2 for 20. We had our first real glitch while boarding for North Carolina; the plane was packed and they ran out of room in the overhead and made us check in our carry ons. This made us unhappy because the reason stuff WAS in the carry on in the first place was because it was important. Nothing to be done about it though. We got off in Charlotte, NC at 4:00 a.m. our time. We camped out with our remaining bags on the floor and slept as best we could--concrete can be amazingly comfortable when one is tired enough. There was a nice bagel place right there so we dozed and browsed and ate bagels thoughout the morning. From Charlotte we flew to Aruba at last. We bought lunch to eat on the plane--I can't image many better feelings than I felt on that airplane--napping, eating lunch, and reading a new book by one of my favorite authors while flying somewhere exotic. Our seats were over the wing, but even so, out of the window behind me I could see the ocean turn into a clear turquoise. At first I thought I was seeing hundreds of little islands but then I realized that the "islands" were all exactly the same shape as the clouds. The water was so clear I could see the shadows of the clouds on the ocean floor. All the baggage DID make it with us--which was a big relief. We took a taxi to the Marriott Renaissance Marina hotel and found out that the Marina is only for adults (we knew this and Catherine qualifies) and only sleeps two people to a room. Ooops. Their error--after a little fussing we got them to switch us to the Marriott Renaissance Oceanside suite for the same price. So---we went back to the van with all our luggage and took a winding journey across the street. The hotel was big luxurious and festooned with palm trees.
In the back there were two beautifully landscaped pools, and behind the pools the ocean!
That first night we walked to the ocean and I was delighted to see tropical fish, right there by the built up ocean section. The hotel blocked off a sort of shallow pool of ocean complete with white sandy beach--we saw pelicans
and I caught sight of a small sand crab and lots of other holes were more were probably hiding.
Our first real order of business was to locate the conference center where Dave and Catherine would be presenting the next day, and the second was to find dinner. The center was easy, just down the sidewalk from the hotel. Also immediatley by the hotel were souvenir stands and restaurants both fast food and expensive--all "real" restaraunts are very expensive, $22 a plate is about the norm and it's easy to go much higher. We took a left onto the main street and began to stroll hunting for dinner by way of the shops and souvenir stands. Catherine found Del Sol on the way and fell in love with a ring. Eventually, we wound up at Iguana Joes--great food, so-so prices ($13-$18 a plate), and one of the islands most popular spots.
Dave had "The best burger in paradise" and it really was--topped with gouda cheese, I had nachos and Catherine had the most gigantic burrito I've ever seen. We meandered back to the hotel looking in on the jewlery shows on the way. Back "home we jumped into the beautifully landscaped warm swimming pools. It felt heavenly after a night in a cramped airplane and a nap on a concrete floor. Dave and I had a magnificent king-sized bed with a thick comforter.
Catherine had a disappointing pull out couch bed.
We did a little unpacking and fell into bed.
June 23, 2011 Thursday
Conference day--the reason we're all here. Dave and Catherine were presenting right off the bat. We got there at 7:00 a.m. so they could set up. As you can see below the ceilings and rooms were beautiful (not to mention freezing cold) with intimidatingly big podiums, which didn't help poor Catherine's nerves at all. But she and Dave had time to rehearse and when the time came there were only two other people besides me who came to the session.
She did great and even fielded some of the questions in a very professional and articulate way. Dave was to do his presentation immediately afterward, but there was a long gap between the sessions. The ocean was visible just down the sidewalk. My idea was to see if there was a bench where I could sit and catch up on this journal. The bench was there all right, but I didn't get anything written. we spotted 3 fat iguanas, and then four, and then a crab and then a whole lot more.
We walked down the peer watching crabs and iguanas, then at the end of the peer we could look in the water and see the fish. Dave felt that he needed to get back to the conference, but Catherine and I didn't need to right away. The two of us went back to our hotel beach and found padded deck chairs. Catherine wanted to sleep and I wanted to write, so I said I'd wake her up, but I soon wished I hadn't made that promise. Between the sun and the breeze and our early awakening I kept dozing off too. I did manage to get us both up in time to get to Dave's session. He had about 20 people and did a great job too. Soon it was lunchtime--the only meal that the conference included and WOW what a buffet!!! I didn't get a picture of the spread, but here's a list:
Pan Fried Mahi Mahi, Mango Salsa, Grilled Jerk Steak, Chicken Keshi Yena (a delicious traditional dish topped with a thick layer of gouda cheese), Caribbean Ratatouille, Coconut Rice, Curry Chicken Salad, Seafood Ceviche, Marinated mushroom salad, Fruit salad, Ceasar Salad with gingerbread croutons, rolls, Chocolate Cake, Pineapple Cake, Pistachio Walnut Cake and Tarts.
I'm sure there was plenty leftover and I wish we could have saved some. Dave felt that the two of us didn't need to stay for the afternoon sessions--we pounced on that! We went to our rooms to change and then hit the souvenir shops.
Most of it is either junk or way out of our price range, but we found some fun things. I picked up some chess sets, Catherine got her ring from Del Sol and we discovered Lecka-Lecka--the Dutch gelato shop. Besides being incredibly displayed behind the glass, even just a single scoop came with whipped cream and a cherry.
A return trip to Lecka lecka
By this time we were both hot and tired so we went back to the hotel to take a nap. When we got there we met Dave, who couldn't stay awake any longer either. We all crashed, but I was up before 5 because I wanted to try out our private island which closes at 7:00. The ferry was fun--a zippy little boat. We got to the island and followed a sign pointing us toward "flamingo beach adults only" Oh my gosh! It's called Flamingo Beach because there were REAL FLAMINGOS!
They were obviously used to tourists and we could get right next to them, though they (the birds) didn't allow us to actually pet them. Like the hotel, there was a sheltered section of ocean. We tried out some snorkeling, but didn't see much.
Sunset is early around 7:30, so it was dusk when we got back. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on dinner after such an elaborate lunch, and we had seen a restaurant with a big cow and velociraptor and car on the roof called The Paddock.
The Paddock also had these nifty cutouts. I think Dave looks especially well.
Of course we took our bear, Todd
They were advertising a $9 Dutch dinner. We found seats right at the water side but were told that they weren't doing the Dutch dinner after all-the special was grouper for $15. That was too much, instead we picked up sandwiches at Subways and took them up to our room--stopping by the vending machine to get a can of coconut soda.
We played a good game of Oh Hell (our favorite card game), looked at the next days conference schedule and some of the sights to see if we can figure out how to get there. I took a long bath with a Miss Zukas book and went to bed.
July 24, 2011 Friday
None of us were slated to present to we "slept in" till 7:00 and went to a few sessions. I was the only one in one of the sessions, but it was very interesting about students in inner-city DC who grew up bi-lingually, but in fact, have such a small vocabulary in either language that they can hardly read or write or even listen at all. I caught this journal up in a boring second session and we all went to Iguana Joe's for lunch.
Catherine bought a pair of sandals on the way back and went back to the hotel for a nap while Dave and I went back to the conference--he for the full afternoon, me for just the next session because I felt guilty. My session was short. Guilt assuaged, I also went back to the hotel to make sure our snorkeling and horseback riding sessions were both confirmed. Catherine was already asleep and I took a brief nap too. When we woke up Dave was still at the conference. I didn't want to make two many new discoveries without him, so we stayed in the hotel area. It was simply great. First we walked along the rocks to say hi to the iguanas and crabs. Then we put on our snorkels and went into the sheltered ocean area behind the hotel. I felt a little foolish--for all I knew the whole area was only 6 inches deep--but there was a bridge and on the other side of the bridge was the real ocean and I had seen some fish in that area--I was hoping a few would explore the hotel side of the bridge. They sure did! Before we even got into the water we could see a school of clear fish and as we began to snorkel (the water did have deep points) we saw more and more and more--near the bridge there were angel fish, striped fish, little bright blue fish and even some brain coral. We explored and explored the little area. Catherine found a sea centipede. I got out at one point to watch the pelicans--it was dinner time and they were diving like daggers into the sea. Catherine began looking for shells and I went to help her--in typical style, she not only found shells but an I-pod. No telling if the I-pod can be saved, but the case is nice. It felt incredible to have no time constraints. We snorkeled for as long as we felt like it--well over an hour. Then we rinsed off our feet and exchanged sea water for chlorinated water which felt warm and clean.
After that we went to our beach chairs to laze while we read and dried. There is a constant wind, so drying doesn't take long. Dave finally came in--he had been at the conference happy hour with crackers and cheese and coconut shrimp!! I might have known there would be food and should have gone. We were hungry though and so changed and went in search of dinner. For being such a touristy place, Aruba closes early. Shops are pretty much shut by 6:00 including the glamourous Renaisannce Mall--which has a Belgium chocolate store which was going out of business! Ack! I bought one of the few remaining truffles and mourned. Eventually we would up back at Iguana Joes so we could eat for under $25 a plate. On the was back to the hotel we stopped at the Crystal Casino.
The main street
Catherine can gamble here at age 18. She tried the penny slots and lost three dollars right away. She recouped some losses though by going around and pushing any lit up cash out buttons. One lady got mad at her, but that lady was nowhere near the machine she claimed was hers. Whatever. Dave was the big winner playing 1 dollar and walking away with 3. We went back to the hotel by way of the ocean. We also ordered a rollaway bed for Catherine which was a great improvement over the couch bed. It was brought by a man who sounded EXACTLY like Jeeves when he said, "Good Evening Sir." I looked over my presentation, finished a Sudoku game on my nook and called it a night.
June 25, 2011 Saturday
The last day of the conference. I was slated to speak in the afternoon. We ate breakfast in our room as usual (we brought lots of oatmeal packs and bars and hot-chocolate). We had also planned to buy and eat lots of fruit. No way. Fruit--if we could find it at all was very very expensive. The conference did provide juice though. The first presentation I heard was ok, but the other two were deadly boring. Catherine left after the first group; I stayed for one more which let out early so I came back to the hotel to take a quick nap before my presentation. We ate at Subways again and Dave and Catherine set up the laptop for me. A Gregory Richardson gave the first presentation and he was a fun speaker. He had also chosen the same background for his power point as I did for mine. I didn't really get nervous until he got to his conclusion slide and then it hit me. Luckily, I don't mind public speaking and the audience was very kind. They asked a lot of questions but nothing I coudn't answer. Dave stayed for the very last session of the conference while Catherine and I joyfully went to the pool. We had a very luxurious rime. The weather was perfect and we swam, then ordered chips and dips from the swim up bar--total rip-off it was tostidos with three little containers of "dips for $7--$8 with tip---but it was fun to order poolside and it came in a nifty bamboo container. We have a travel scrabble game and played it at the edge of the pool while munching chips. Dave joined us at the pool toward the end of the game. Catherine had clearly won, so we packed it up and went snorkeling again so Dave could see the wonders of the ocean area. That night The Paddock was having all you can eat ribs for $13 so we went there for dinner--terrible service and mediocre ribs, but we got to eat right at the ocean with our feet in the sand. Plus, how often do you get to eat at a restaurant with a dinosaur on the top? We left Dave to pay the bill and ran across the street to the mall to see if we could buy a brownie from Taste of Belguim. No. They had practically nothing. So I bought a hazelnut chocolate bar and then we all explored the mall--mostly it is jewelery and overpriced clothing and restaurants.
Aruba is famous for its aloe vera but we weren't going to be buying much. Even on the street one sm. tube of chapstick cost $4. Afterward we wandered all the way down to the end of the tourist district to what looked like a grocery store, but turned out to be a 24 hour gas station. We bought bread, jam and peanut butter. On the way back to the hotel Dave showed Catherine how to play video poker and she won $2. At the hotel I set up the chess set I had bought. We played a couple of hands of UNO and just enjoyed being together, being done with the conference and getting to sleep in the next day.
The name of this machine cracked Dave up. It was in the small casino by the conference center.
June 26, 2011 Sunday
Slept in--but could always use another nap. The sun takes it out of you. We traditionally have pancakes for breakfast on Sunday, and one of the restauraunts by the hotel was serving dutch pancakes. We ordered a pineapple pancake, a bacon pancake (came with gouda) and an "Aruban breakfast" to share which meant scrambled eggs, toast, bacon and fruit. A glass of juice was $3.25 so we skipped that! After a leisurley breakfast (all food is leisurely here) we went straight to our ferry and our private island.
We got beach chairs under one of the thatched palapas on Flamingo Beach, put our stuff there and tried out the Nature Trail. The sign said we could use the trail but it wasn't recommended because of mosquitos (Aruba has been unusually wet this past year). We sprayed with OFF and went anyway. The trail was disappointing all we could see were hermit crabs and lizards. Dave and Catherine turned back after awhile but I perservered on. It was just a nice path cut among the island bushes and trees. There were some spectacular birds, but they were always flying off just ahead or behind me, so I never really got a good look. I came to a natural stopping point and turned back. We all went snorkeling, we hadn't yet learned that the fish hang out near the rocks, so we didn't see much, but the water was so blue and the sand so white and the flamingos so exotic that we didn't mind. There were also plenty of iguana. One of them actually let me pet him--not just touch him, but really pet him. He leaned into me when I moved from one side to the other.
We ate lunch at the overpriced island restaurant which was operating on slow Aruban time, but again, who cared? The restaurant was open to the beach and water and palm trees. I would like to have snoozed on my beach chair for an extended period of time, but we were scheduled for a horseback riding trip at 4:30. It was an organized ride, but we were the only three on the trip. A van picked us up and took us to Rancho Pasero--an unprepossessing set of buildings. They were ready for us though--four horses were addled. Our guide was a beautiful blonde Dutch girl named Natalie. There was no step stool to get up on the horses, Catherine managed somewhat gracefully, me and Dave were different stories. It felt awfully high and none to secure. They knew we were novices though (including the horses), and the horses obviously knew the way. It was a BEAUTIFUL two hour walk past ponds with birds and through a desert area that looked a lot like Nevada, then past strange rock formations (people stack rocks for good luck). We went along the beach too.
The trail wasn't all flat and it wasn't all a groomed trail so we really felt like we were riding for real. Getting OFF the horses was also challenging. A word about the horses--they were kind enough not to run away or throw us off, but there was no question who was boss--they were. None of them were supposed to stop and eat along the way, but all of them did. When this happened we were supposed to pull on the reins and kick their sides--well, a horse is a lot stronger than a human and these horses knew it. Also coloring (literally) this trip were the sunburns we had picked up that morning--Catherine especially. We were a sorry lot as we got off the horses. The drivers were so nice though. We were already in the car when they mentioned the sheep and goats they keep at the ranch. Catherine loves sheep so I expressed real interest and they showed up the sheep and goats.
On the way home I asked about the famous Eagle Beach, it was on the way, but they went out of their way to drive nearer than they had to just so we could see it. When we got home we passed around the Aloe, had cool baths and peanut butter sandwiches and went to bed early.
June 27, 2011
Our snorkeling adventure! Left on our own we would have given ourselves a day in between to recover from the horses, but oh well---we were downstairs with towels and sunblock at 7:45. We were one of the first on the bus which stopped at several hotels. Eventually we were dropped of at the dock where we waited some more and then checked in and continued waiting. Actually, everything was running on time, it just felt like forever. Our boat was a big catamaran--kind of like a giant floating letter H.
We were allowed to board at 9:00. There were all kinds of people and the crew was 50 times better than the party boat in Jamaica. The music was fun, not too loud, and they had an open bar with juice, pop, fruit kebabs (which we inhaled) and sandwiches (good ones with salami and cheese) even though they were serving us lunch in a few hours. They passed out snorkel gear and life jackets right off and then gave a snorkeling tutorial to anyone who wanted one. The first stop was fairly close to shore--the water was only 10 feet deep---soooo much fun. Parrot fish, angel fish, bright blue fish and I don't know what all else. They gave us 45 minutes. The next stop was all too soon for me--I had swallowed too much sea water, but this was farther out in the middle of nowhere. The water was deeper and rougher and right below us was the shipwreck Antilla which sank in the 1940's (no deaths, the captain sent the crew ashore and then sank the boat to avoid being caught). It felt very eerie floating over the wreck. The ocean is completely silent and I felt all alone--then I would look up and there would 100 other people. Sometimes below we could see scuba divers--that would have been fun, apparently if you scuba, you can sit in the captain's bathtub. We had 45 minutes there too, but this time I had inhaled so much water that I went back a little early to rest and drink cranberry juice. The sun was perfect and so was the breeze. There was one perfectly bronzed and shaped woman who never did get in the water at all at any point. She just lay on the ropes and sun worshipped. Lunch was a buffet--potato salad, ceasar salad, a chicken dish, a grouper dish, fried potatoes, mixed veggies and a littlepastry with a chocolate spread in the middle. We ate below deck so the wind wouldn't blow our food away. At first I was disappointed in our last stop--close enough to the beach that we could walk to shore, plus at first I didn't see any fish. ThenI discovered the area by the rocks--especially the channel between the rocks. It was amazing, coral, sea anenemoes, all kinds of fish and even an eel. Dave and Catherine found a huge starfish farther out to sea. It's a good thing our time was limited. My body had had more than enough, but I would have stayed there all day. Back at the hotel we all collapsed for an afternoon nap. Water kept leaking out of my nose all afternoon--it was a weird feeling and confirmed (if I had needed confirmation) that I had indeed taken in way too much water. AFter our naps we wandered a bit in the shops then went to dinner at the place that serves the Dutch pancakes. Its quite good. I chose two appetizers rather than a meal--"Bitterballen" a traditional Aruban dish (a kind of goulash with a coating and deep fried in balls) and a "Dutch platter" which was slices of liverwurst and some other kind of sausage and cubes of Gouda cheese served with toothpicks with a pickle on top. Aruba closes down so early at night that we decided to see a movie--Cars 2 at the theater, something we never do on vacation. For some reason we all got free popcorn with our tickets, and the tickets were only $6.50 anyway--it was the first semi-cheap thing in Aruba. We asked if the popcorn had butter and the server seemed horrified at the idea. It wasn't bad and the movie was super cute. We went back to the hotel. Catherine wanted an evening swim and I took my Nook and went down with her. We washed out a few things in the sink and again called it an early night.
June 28, 2011 Tuesday
A free day. We slept in and decided that we needed to book a bus tour for tomorrow. We packed the big beach bag, put swimsuits on under our clothes and went off to attempt to navigate the bus system with the goal of getting to the high rise hotel district, which supposedly had great shopping and for sure had the Hard Rock cafe. It wasn't bad, we browsed a little on the way down and stopped at Lecka Lecka for gelato and got to the bus station just before 11:00. The bus came soon. We knew (sort of) where we were going so it wasn't too scary.The buses are clean and nice there. We got off at the Hard Rock and set off to do some shopping, but it was weird, no tourists and too many closed stores. We eventually found the mall, advertised as the biggest and the best in Aruba, but it too was mostly closed--even the food court and this was around 12 noon! Catherine found her native home--the CONVERSE shoe store
--but to her horror, it too was closed. I finally asked a guy who was sitting in the closed food court and he said things would open around 2:00. So we hiked back to the Hard Rock Cafe
where we were about the only customers and had lunch. I had ultra mediocre fajitas, but Dave and Catherine's burgers looked amazing--especially Catherine's---I'm still suffering from severe entree envy--an apple, provolone and bacon burger.
After lunch we went back to the Converse store which was mercifully open so Catherine's trip wasn't blighted. As an exta bonus there was a cloudburst so we got to stay in the store even longer. Insanely expensive shoes, but Catherine bought a hat and was happy. From there we went to the beach. All beaches are public in ARuba, so we just went to the nearest hotel and to the beach behind it. It's all the same, perfect sand and water. It some walking, but we eventually found a free palapa (thatched beach umbrella) and set up camp (there wre miles of palapas as far as you could see).
Total strangers--but an example of a palapa and a perfect beach
We only brought along one snorkeling set, but even I didn't want to snorkel and tryly, there didn't seem to be any fish--there were no rocks for them to hide behind. It was hot and muggy so I joyfully stripped down and went to the ocean with Catherine. We bobbed around near the shore in the perfect water picking up handuls of sand and shells. When we went back, Dave was ready to come out so Catherine went with him for a second round, while I took a beach chair in the shade of the palapa with a book and dozd off. Getting back to the hotel was fun. We were waiting at the bus stop, but instead of the city bus, some kind of local bus came by and we hopped on with the natives--it was lively and people were talking loudly about the "weekend" (it was Tuesday).
The timing was great--we got back to our hotel area with just the right amount of time to finish buying some souvenirs and clean up for the Bon Bini Festival. Bon bini means "welcome" in the local language of Papiamento and the guide book mentioned this festival with crafts, music and street food that happened every Tuesday in Fort Zoutmann right across the street from the hotel. The fort was built in the 1700's to keep out pirates. Cute is the word for the festival. It wasn't at all what I expected. The inside of the fort is quite small. We paid a small entrance free. There were maybe five tables of local people with crafts--the same kind of stuff as the junk souvenir stands,
and then an area where we could line up and have dinner which as also cooked there by the locals. In the middle of the fort was a stage and some rows of plastic chairs. We were given a little program for the upcoming show.
The food was home cooked and real Aruban--goat stew over rice, a sort of cornmeal cake, a little salad and fried plantains, also cake. There was also "pastechi" which are little meat and cheese turnovers that I'd been wanting to try, but they sold out just before Dave got there. The program reminded me of a ward talent show--local people singing, a girl reciting poetry, a local steel drum band and a group of teenage girls called, "youth in action" who did several dances.
It was all great fun. There was also a couple who cranked a sort of glorified player piano.
We went home in good spirits. Catherine and I went for an evening swim in the hotel pool---so soothing but chilly on the way out! Forget "ocean breezes" it's just plain windy here!
June 29, 2011 Wednesday
Our last full day. We didn't have to be down for our tour bus until 8:45 so we slept in and went down to the lobby carrying only a camera. The bus was late and we were the first ones picked up--then the stops at the other hotels took a full hour, but after that it was a wonderful trip. The first stop was the butterfly farm--a small, but beautifully landscaped enclosure. There was a pretty young tour guide that showed us the stages of butterfly development, and a big blue butterfly landed on Dave and then on Catherine.
From there we went to the California Lighthouse, built in the 1970's after a shipwreck, but is no longer in use--it's a major tourist attraction though because of the view.
We got some ice-cream at a snack truck called Yum Yums, which didn't have pastechi that day.
Next stop was Alta Wista Chapel--a tiny church in the middle of nowhere. It was the first church built in Aruba in the 1700's. Behind the church was a labyrinth which we tried to walk around but couldn't finish because the bus was leaving.
Our guide was great--mild jokes and he pointed out some things such as an Aruban cemetery (picture at the bottom of this post--I can't move it for some reason) that we never would have discovered on our own.
He also drove us up to the giant watertank even though that was off the tour. The next stop was the Casibari rock formation. It's basically a huge boulder with stair going up to the top. The weird thing is that geologists can't account for its presence in Aruba. The view and the wind were both powerful.
On the way to the top
Of course there was a gift shop and FINALLY Pastechi's!! I tried a beef and a ham and cheese. They're very simple and I could easily get hooked. In the end our "three hour tour" was more like a "five hour tour", but we were on island time and it didn't matter much. All of us wanted a nap when we got back to the hotel, but I wanted my nap on our private beach. I packed the beach bag and took the ferry over on my own. One nice thing was that this time the ferry went to the other hotel first--which meant that it went through a neat looking tunnel that connected the properties. This was something all of us had wanted to do. There was only one other woman on the boat, and I don't know if that was the reason, but the captain zoomed us out to the island in record time. It was the middle of the day and everything was pretty full, but I found a free hammock. I dragged two lawnchairs in the shade too and went for a cooling snorkel. I finally figured out that fish like rocks and now that I knew where to look, there was spectacular snorkeling with HUGE colorful fish at the tip of the rocks. I snorkeled all the way down the channel and climbed out near the flamingoes. The hammock was perfect--slung between two palm trees complete with coconuts. I had one of my favorite books and I dozed and read in the shade for more than an hour. When Dave and Catherine joined me I went back in the water with Catherine. At first she didn't want to snorkel, but we met someone who had found sand dollars and she was determined to find some too. Eventually, she found three big sand dollars. I went back to my prime fish viewing spots. After we got out we bought some food to feed the flamingoes. Mostly, they were full, but we did find one who wanted a snack and he ate our of our hands. Famingoes are funny--very haughty and standoffish, but completley silly looking when they turn their heads upside down to eat. We all took a last walk out on the pier then took one of the last boats home. The airport was right there too, and the boat captains had fun with the planes trying to be immediately underneath when the planes went overhead. Sadly there was an even going on at the Marina hotel so the boat couldn't go through the tunnel for Dave and Catherine. Back at the hotel we started to pack. On of the odd "benefits" of the exhorbitant food prices was that room service as actually comparably priced. For once we ordered anything we wanted for room service. Catherine got ribs and veggies, Dave a seafood medley in cream sauce and I got and "Arubian" pizza with ham, pineapple and of course, gouda cheese. We also got chips and salsa with guac, sourcream and cheese. I'm sorry to say that I inhaled the entire pizza.
June 30, 2011 Thursday
Slept in and finished packing. Our flight didnt leave until 4:30, but with security so tight we had to be there three hours early. We checked out and took our bags downstairs for safe keeping then went for a last stroll around the pool and the oceanside--saw loads of fish under the bridge. From there we went to the downtown area by way of the iguana walkway--and got a few last minute souvenirs including what has to be the world's worst souvenir ever--a little ceramic nativity scene with an igloo, eskimos a seal and a polar bear. It says "Aruba" on the front. We stopped at some fancy jewelry stores so Catherine could get some freebie stuff (coupons on every street corner). I tried on a lovely bracelet worth $3,000. Nice, but I liked the $25,000 one better. As planned, we had our last meal at Iguana Joes--all of us ordered the best burger in paradise--it really is, gouda cheese, bacon--terrific. The last stop was at Fort Zoutman (the Bon Bini place) so Dave could buy a little ceramic lighthouse to go with the desk beach he has in his office. Our luggage was overstuffed and awkward, but the taxi was right there and got us to the airport no problem. The airport wasn't really a problem either, but sheesh---US Airways is a no frills deal. Their computers couldn't look far enough into the future to check the big bag all the way home to SLC. They only checked it as far as Pittsburgh. Then through security--the prize for getting through security was more gift shops. We finally found a Papiamento grammar for Dad. After that stand in a big line for customs with a special detour to have our shoes disinfected because we went horseback riding. Then through security one more time and FINALLY we were allowed to our gate. We flew to Charlotte, then Pittsburgh arriving at 11:00 p.m. where we had to rescue the big bag. Everything was closed at that point so we tried to sleep in some uncomfortable chairs--we weren't very successful. Around 4:00 a.m. things opened so we were able to route the big suitcase to SLC, go through security again and fly to Phoenix--off the plane again go across the entire airport to the last plane--and got to SLC around 1:00. We had lunch, lugged all of our stuff to the bus stop. Then lugged it to the train station, then a friend picked us up at the train station and brought us home at last about 28 hours after we left Aruba.
An incredible trip.
Other "stray" pictures, that I either couldn't move, or don't quite fit into the diary.
The amount of cactus surprised us all. Aruba isn't really a tropical place
The Aruba cemetery
A local junk dealer. He had all kinds of dolls hanging on his fence.
A memorial to Anne Frank in a park near our hotel.
Hanging out amid the upsale shops downtown
All of us came home with a selection of scratches and bruises. But Dave's was in the shape of a smiley face emoticon, verifying the fact that Aruba is, "One Happy Island."
No comments:
Post a Comment