Aruba: Vacation In Paradise

“Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you

Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama”
--The Beach Boys

We’re back from Aruba!

Jen and I shared our honeymoon (slightly belated) in the calming waters and crisp sands of Aruba. The temperature was between 82 and 87 degrees, which is warm for me, but I did not notice it much as we had a cool breeze consistently blowing in from the oceans. With extremely low humidity, it truly is a paradise.

We saw some incredible sights on the journey. We went to visit some ruins, we went to the first Catholic Church (1740s)on the island, we ventured into the catacombs of a cave inhabited by bats, and we spent most of our time on the beach.

The food was great, albeit expensive, as everything is imported. The island is made of lava rock, sand, and not much else. The people were wonderful. They were very helpful, spoke English, and were fun to be with. As we were leaving, our hotel manager told us she would see us again, God willing, because “no one goes to Aruba just once.”

Aruba is part of the Dutch Antilles Islands and the natives speak Dutch, English, Spanish, and their own language, which is a combination of the previous three plus some African. They accept dollars, so no need to transfer funds. They also brew their own beer, Balashi. I liked it quite a bit. It had a mild sweetness, like a good pilsner should have. It was also brewed there by the highest quality water purification in the world, no kidding. I had to snag a shirt. I have backed off my beer consumption considerably, but when in Aruba, do as the Arubans do.

Jen is an excellent travel partner, actually she is an excellent partner in everything, but in travel, she knows what she is doing. She booked the rooms through our RCI points, arranged the flights, and was a calming influence on my “ugly American” attitude. I may write on that phenomenon someday, but another blog for another time.

My best meal was either a seafood dish complete with red snapper, clam, scallops, shrimp, grouper, and calamari in a rich lime cream sauce or a delicious Ostrich steak, from the ostrich raised on the Island, both were courtesy of the Pirate’s nest, an eatery associated with the hotel two doors down from where we staying.

As calm and tranquil as the trip was, it was made even better by sharing the time with my beautiful bride.