Aruba

Our good friends Karl and Anelise invited us to their destination wedding in Aruba this November, and we were excited to accept. It was also an opportunity for us to take some vacation time since we had not been on a real “away” vacation since 2001; and as much as we knew we were going to have a great time, the reality exceeded the expectation.

Aruba is a former Dutch colony in the southern Caribbean that lies less than 20 miles off the cost of Venezuela.  Its unique location provides Aruba the benefit of a constant trade wind that keeps temperatures within the tolerance of New Englanders, but the sun does shine a bit more brightly, and the pasty folk can find themselves baked to a nice reddish brown in short order if not slathered in SPF-900.

With the exception of one major geographical feature, Aruba is pretty much a flat island with no in-land rivers. The northern and eastern coasts are exposed to the open ocean, and are too rough topographically to support tourism development. Recreation spots are limited along most of this length of coastline given the jagged volcanic rock along the waterfront, sharp drop offs only yards from the shore, and rip currents.

All the tourist hotels and recreation spots are located along the white sandy beaches on the western and southern coasts of the island. We ensconced ourselves in the Radisson that sits roughly in the middle of an enclave of half a dozen high-rise hotels; all served by a paved footpath running the length of the main shore line: Palm Beach, and strung with a decent number of restaurants and bars. This two-mile long beach has that gorgeous white sand Aruba is famous for, and emerald green waters that never tire on the eyes. 

The walking visitor will occasionally notice a variety of vividly colored lizards skittering on the margins of the path, or sunbathing by any one of the numerous freshwater pools that dot the hotel enclave.  They are shy and harmless, and add to the tropical flavor of Aruba.

The island is characterized as arid yet is festooned with a vast array of tropical flora, and subject to unpredictable rainfall between November to January.  On some parts of the island, curiously, one would be convinced they are standing in the middle of Arizona or New Mexico with all the cacti that adorn the hillsides.

We checked in on a Wednesday morning, Day 1, to a comfortable King room, and immediately advanced to the Warm Up phase. This entailed a change into bathing suits and flip-flops, a leisurely afternoon lunch by the water, lounging under the golden sun, followed by refreshments at an outdoor bar in the Radisson courtyard. Karl and Anelise, along with her sister Viviane and her husband Nivaldo joined us for a couple of rounds of rum punch.

A rather strong wind and rainstorm arrived for a 20-minute stay during the first hour after dusk, but that only added the right degree of cool comfort and contentment while sipping on our libations. We went out for dinner somewhere later but the memory of where or what we ate has been lost, curiously.

Day 2 was our “low key” day dedicated to sedentary comfort on the beach. The only things we lifted were the bottle SPF-900 or the martini. In a brief fit of guilt one of us was compelled to jog along the beach, but then quickly gave that up. The ice cubes kept spilling out of the cup.

Later on we sauntered over to a wonderful little watering hole called Carlito’s about half a mile down the Palm Beach pathway from the Radisson with Karl and Anelise and their brother-in-law John. Our hostess here in orange is the wife of the proprietor.

Our crew grew in numbers as newcomers to the Karl and Anelise posse arrived on Day 2 and 3. We met a great couple, Lenny and Kristie Bolton, with whom we felt a close simpatico. Lenny is a long time friend of Karl.

As if by magnetic force we usually found ourselves back at Carlito’s at some point to let the good times roll.  It must be said the Clown Prince of our crew, Brian Workman, is just so much fun to be around. He ramps up the energy level by getting everyone laughing and cringing with his unique brand of social commentary and stories. Our revere continued into the late afternoon.  We are happy to report no one was thrown out of the premises, but some had to go back to the hotel to nap.

That evening Evangeline and I went off on our own to the Tango Argentine Grill outside of the enclave to enjoy marvelous meals of filet mignon with roasted potatoes, garlic buttered rolls, cabernet sauvignon  from Spain; spicy chicken stir fry with onions, peppers, mushrooms, rice  and teriyaki sauce, Argentine style.

It was a very nice date.

Once thoroughly past the decompression stage our interest peaked for some action on Day 3, Friday. We were not disappointed because Aruba offers all sorts of distractions through a host of adventure groups willing to pry a vacationer out of the barcalounger.

A chance to go on a snorkeling adventure was too good to pass up; and not since 2001 had this author been free diving. Free diving is a life-long passion introduced from father to son, and hopefully one day will be passed yet again to the next generations of our expanding family. Free diving is nothing more than a mask, fins, and lung power since the best stuff lies below. It’s an activity best suited to warm and clear tropical waters.  This particular adventure included about ten other people, visits to two coral reefs in waters of 12 to 20 foot depths, and a sunken WWII wreck in 65 feet of water that was the highlight of the day. Not having practiced up for free diving, it was a pleasant surprise to discover a comfortable diving depth of about 50 feet.

The crew provided plastic bottles filled with pieces of bread crumbs the diver could use to chum and attract the variety of fish indigenous to these waters. They are all greedy little buggers who can mistake a mole on your body for food.  Our guide challenged us to try and catch the little fishies with our bare hands. But then we all wound up looking like a school of spastics flaying the water trying to grasp things darting all about. What our guide failed to mention is that at least one variety of these fish has spines along the top fin.
Friday evening was a great night to get out as a larger group for some dinner and entertainment off premises. Coincidentally the group chose the Tango Argentine Grill, and it is the opinion here that the grilled swordfish and peppers are just as good a dish as the filet mignon.

After dinner Karl and Anelise led the way to a piano bar called Sopranos. Loud, raucous, and breezy, it’s a great place to let your hair down and air out your vocal chords. It may not be an exaggeration to say New England sports fans own this place. One could spot a Red Sox or Patriot cap anywhere in the bar.

Our treat for Saturday night, Day 4, was a dinner hosted by Karl’s parents, Carol and Brian, at Azzurro. Azzurro’s décor is an eclectic mix of Mediterranean motifs with white cloths, sapphire blue glassware and lighting sconces. This lovely restaurant specializes in a variety of mostly Italian dishes, and they’re famous for a pasta dish prepared in a deep cheese wheel with a flaming whiskey sauce.  It should also be noted here that their veal parmesan dish was delicious. The Karl & Anelise crew, now at full strength, took up two long tables. We were quite lively and having so much fun that we did not pay attention to the violinist doing his level best to earn a tip. He eventually gave up, thrust his instrument under an arm pit, and stomped away to play on the other side of the restaurant.



Anelise & Karl

 

Kristie & Lenny

 

Nivaldo & Viviane




Flaming Pasta in a cheese wheel




Stromboli

 




















After dinner an enthusiastic contingent made its way back to Carlito’s. We proceeded to monopolize the joint (again) and drink a number of concoctions. No doubt the occasional fly or mosquito coming into orbit around any of our persons was immediately overcome by fumes and rendered unconscious.  The Bates couple chose to leave before midnight to get some beauty sleep.

The big dude on the left is Brian

Sunday was a break out day with a 4-hour off-road excursion around the island. For this event we put in our reservations with ABC Tours. These guys are our recommend choice over the hotel sponsored tour group because of lower prices ($85pp vs. $95pp), AND because they let you drive one of the rigs if you’re up to it. The entire party consisted of about 20 tourists and a caravan of four vehicles. Ours was at the back… and we had the largest group. Go figure. We got an eight cylinder, 4-wheel drive, 400 HP diesel powered Land Rover brute with 6 balky gears and a floor stick. The dented and scraped-up contraption rattled while it rolled and spewed black fumes like something from a Mad Max set. If we had a rear view mirror we would have been looking for parts on the road behind us.

heh heh

The occupants in the tarp covered back half of our truck inquired as to our experience with this type of vehicle and terrain. We assured them that we drove a Jeep back home, and noted the sighs of relief. We did not mention, however, that the extent of our off-road adventures back home were limited to speed bumps at the mall.

We toured a handful of locations around the island that included the high elevation of a glacial formation amongst a really attractive plaza of trees and rock one might expect to see in the Grand Canyon. From the top of the glacier formation one could see the highest thing on the island:  a volcanic build up called The Haystack.

From there we rode on to another part of the island exterior known for natural land bridges; one of which was the largest natural formation of its kind in the world until a hurricane in 2005 eroded it to the point collapse.

The surroundings also offered a good example of the island’s ecology.

Our third stop was to a former gold processing plant built like the Alamo. We were told not to pick up anything inside the structure since they used cyanide back in the day to process the mined gold.

Of note were the stacks of rocks along the waterfront that tourists have built over the years because of a local superstition that doing so would bring good luck…so long as a $20 bill is slipped into the stack…according to our tour guides Raul and Rocky.

On this exposed side of the island there is absolutely no swimming. Can you imagine hobbling over that lava flow and rock just so you could be dashed, hashed, and drowned?

Our fourth stop gave the group a chance to cool off with some body surfing in one of the few open water inlets.  In the picture below a crew of off-roaders can be seen parked in the entrance to the inlet, on the far right. That was where we headed after completing our inspection of the gold mine ruins. 

The final leg of our trip to access a turtle-breeding lagoon involved off-road work over lava flows and seriously broken terrain littered with sizable boulders. It was the real deal. There were many chances to tip the rig over or fling our occupants over the sides.

The lagoon was an opportunity to do more snorkeling, and it was a surprise to see so many fish in a 30 foot wide by 15-foot deep pool. This respite also provided a first time encounter with a rather large octopus. Its camouflage among the rocks and coral was nearly perfect, and it became visible only when it jetted away and squished under a rock. It was apparently stressed, as evidenced by its rapidly changing cammo. It stared out from under the rock, no doubt indignant over its interrupted meal.

After a good 40 minutes of splashing around in the lagoon the group was bundled back into the vehicles for the return trip to base camp. We had to retrace the route we just white knuckled through! The reward (for the driver at least) was the chance to slalom the banked curves of the eroded trail from the top of the ridgeline we had to go back over then descend. Yahooo! We paid no attention to the person in back mumbling a novena.

The wedding ceremony was later in the afternoon, and we had a glorious sunset by which to observe the proceedings on the beach. We took a lot of pictures that will be given to Karl and Anelise for their keepsake.

 

Our neighbors John and Carol Gallagher were invited to the wedding as well, and we were very happy to see them.

The bride and groom looked great, and announced their vows under a wooden trellis adorned with flowers and crystals.  The evening kicked into gear with a nice supper on the beach, and then some dancing. A great way to wrap up a most excellent vacation.