The air was dry as you pass the expanses of the desert/savannah type terrain. Lizards scurried by your feet as you walk along towards the beach. When you arrive, the sand is white and the water a clear, almost glass like blue. Even though the temperature was 80 to 85 degrees, there is a constant breeze going that keeps you cool. That's what I found in Aruba.
Aruba is a really small island in the Caribbean. The natives speak Papiamento (a mix of Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English) and most speak English and Spanish quite fluently. The capital and the only real city on the island is Oranjestad. The currency is the Aruban Florin and for each US dollar it is 1.80 Florin but US dollars are readily accepted pretty much everywhere on the island. As you may have imagined, their majority of the island's income comes from tourism.
We were in the High Rise Hotel area at the Radisson Hotel. When you come out the other side of lobby, it's like being in a tropical dry forest (yes, there are such things). It was lush green everywhere with palm trees and flowers. I could smell Jasmine and other scented flowers. It smelled like I would expect a romantic evening in the forest would smell like (hopeless romantic, I know). There were parrots in cages scattered around the ground and they were brought out for pictures with the tourists. There were other birds as well, some were simply white, others were yellow and black. I even saw a small teal jewel hummingbird that was no bigger than the palm of my hand. Lizards of varying sizes and cats who made the resort their home also ran around. There were ponds and waterfalls spread out around the resort lending to the tropical feel. In many of the ponds, their were black kois and white and orange kois and they were a lot bigger than the kois I had seen in the states. They looked like they could be about 12 inches long. The paths winded in different directions but all lined with the beauty of the scene. When you arrived at the beach, there were little shade areas called palapas. Most people were either sitting in shade, sun, or swimming in the ocean.
Oranjestad is the center of activity. The buildings are brightly colored like cakes with pastel colors: pink, blue, green, yellow. A lot of the malls are filled high end stores like Gucci and Versace. There are flea markets along the coastal line and little shops along th streets when you go farther and farther into Oranjestad. There are also little museums. Everyone is very friendly and it is very safe.
I spent most of my time at the hotel beach and pool because in all actuality, there isn't much to do in Aruba besides the beach and the capital. I tanned, I read, I swam, that was most days for me. I went into the capital two or three times, went out to eat a couple of times, saw 2 shows at my cousins' hotel (both of which stank and offended my artistic sensibilities), and just walked around. There was a large family dinner one night at an Argentinean restaurant in Oranjestad called El Gaucho. Another night my uncle insisted we go to a Cuban restaurant called Cuban Cookin'. I loved how my family didn't have traditional Aruban food but they had Argentinean food and Cuban food (and for anyone who didn't know, my family's Cuban).
Overall, it was a very relaxing vacation and it was good to take a rest from a hectic life.
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