"Begin at the beginning, go until you reach the end, then stop" Ray Bradbury
We left for our journey to Aruba Friday night with a flight to LAX that was delayed by an hour. Once in LA we stayed at the Marriott and tried to get some sleep before going to catch our flight to Miami...
...then on to Aruba. We arrived in Aruba late on Saturday night and the warm tadewinds were there to greet us.
On our first morning we had breakfast with the whole family at the SeaBreeze Cafe which is the open air cafe at the Divi Village resort. The Iguanas hang out here on the rocks, they know they have it good!
After breakfast we walked across the street (yeppers, across the street!) to the Caribbean Ocean and swam all day long.
Cobi rented a sea kayak and took everyone out to tool around in the ocean on it. It was pretty amazing the farther you got out and the deeper the water, the more vibrant turquoise color it turned but it was always crystal clear!
After a day at the beach we had to get a few groceries. Being the Easter weekend the grocery stores were closed so we went shopping at a convenience store which had a much larger grocery section than we anticipated.
This evening we ate at Mulligan's a restaraunt at the resort with an awesome view. Cobi and I befriended a waitress there who helped us learn a little bit of Papiamento so we could say Hello, Thank you and I love you by the time we left. :) Thus we concluded our first day in paradise sunburned and exhausted but thoroughly satiated and happy.
Here we are goofing off at Mulligan's:
The next morning Cobi and I took a walk down the white coral beach to the webcam to pose for our picture. If you checked it while we were gone, this is the morning I was playing with my shoe. Not a bad morning walk which we took a the majority of the mornings we were there.
Later that day the whole family took a sojourn to the Butterfly farm. This is a neat place where they have netting enclosing a tropical rainforest (Aruba is a tropical desert) and they raise butterflies of all sorts. You just walk in and wander around the fluttering beauties.
After the butterfly farm we tooled around the main city Oranjestad looking for some lunch which we found at a neat little place named Iguana Joes. Cobi and I had a local dish named Kashee Yena. I made this dish at our tropical party this past weekend and actually came pretty close to the flavor of what we had in Aruba!
After a late lunch we took a drive to the California Lighthouse on the Northwest end of the Island.
Grabbed a couple of geocaches on our way back to the condo where we played at the small pool and drank some tropical drinks. We went to bed fairly early to attempt some much needed rest. I unfortunately was a little ill this night and the next day due to ingesting some mango juice in one of the said tropical drinks. I was much more careful the rest of the trip not to drink anything unless I knew the ingredients.
The next day the whole family went to the large pool to play as the girls wanted some pool time and I needed to rest under a palapa and read the whole day. It was a very fun and relaxing day. Hey, if you have to be laid up with an allergic reaction, you may as well do it in a shady spot by a pool, surrounded by palm trees with your personal cabana boy bringing you sprites from the bar!
That evening we attended the local cultural festival, Bonbini festival. Bonbini means 'Welcome' in Papiamento, the local language. There was food, dancing and great music to be heard. We also found some yummy coconut candy that was just awesome. I will have to try to recreate it at home as well.
Here are a few pictures from Bonbini festival:
The next day Cobi, Jordan and I took a guided Jeep tour around the island. You are picked up from the condo and taken to this hub where you are assigned a jeep to drive. We had our own jeep as a family. Our drive took us through the Aruba neighborhoods and I loved the brightly colored houses.
Goats roam the island on much of the mid and northern areas and are referred to as "Aruban deer".
The jeep tour took us by the Fontein cave where we viewed pictographs. Then to a spot on the northern coast to view two of the seven natural bridges on the Aruban coast. Notice the rocky, larger waves and shark infested waters on the north coast, much different from the soft sandy shores of the protected southern coast.
The jeep tour ended up on Baby beach where we did our first snorkeling of the trip. It took a ton of coaxing and support but Cobi got me out into the deeper water and I fell in love with snorkeling. It is so peaceful!
After a long day touring the island we relaxed on the beach some before having a nice dinner at the SeaBreeze and finishing the day with some steel drums. Now that is what I call a nice day!
The next morning on our walk up the beach we encountered a square barrier that was enclosing a sea turtle nest! Every April, they come up on the beach during the night to dig a hole and bury their eggs which will bask in the warmth until July when the babies hatch! What an awesome place to be born huh?
Later this day we went to the highrise area west on the beach from our resort to take a glass bottom boat trip. The boat took us out snorkeling in a great area where we jumped right off the back of the boat into 7feet of water with tons of different fish!
Then the boat went out farther and skimmed over the shipwreck of a German Lumber ship which was scuttled by the captain at the beginning of WWII instead of handing it over to the Dutch Navy who was demanding it. We were lucky enough to see a sea turtle swimming near the boat but not lucky enough to get a picture of it.
After a great day out in the ocean, Cobi's brother Tory, his wife Maria, Cobi's sister Tawni, her husband Dave, Cobi and I all took a local tour bus called the Kukoo Kunuku. This bus picks you up at the resort and drives you to the lighthouse for a champagne toast where you are informed that the whole goal of the evening is to party hard by "Momma" who is the crazy lady who runs the tour. After the toast you are whisked away to Bruce Lee's cousin's house for a formal dinner on an outdoor patio which sits inside the house-ok, this house is huge and very formal but also, Aruban and the whole dining area is open air, it's very beautiful! Next you are taken to three local bars where you proceed to drink like fish and are pushed into dancing on the marble top of said bar half naked while doing YMCA, Cobi, not me! :)
The bus itself is a party with loud music, drunken people and maracas, too fun.
Cobi's brother Tory shaking his maracas on the bus after a few bars!
The next day we soujourned to a little place I like to call heaven, DePalm Island. It is a small island just off the coast of Aruba SE from where our resort was situated. You purchase a wristband and take a 5min ferry to the island where everything is inclusive with the wristband. There is a buffett, a grill, a freshwater waterpark with awesome slides, a white sandy beach a snorkel area and of course, a bar.
We spent the day snorkeling as much as we could, only taking breaks out of the saltwater when our lips were so wrinkled! Then we'd hit the waterslides, eat and drink and get back into the ocean for more snorkeling. There were tons of huge parrotfish that would swim right up to you. They are the bright blue ones. They have these huge "teeth" with which they chew on the corral! It's neat to hear while you're snorkeling.
Sad to leave DePalm Island (ok, we were the last ones on the ferry, and I was seriously ready to move there) we headed back to the condo for a gorgeous Aruban sunset.
Our last day in paradise we spent mostly on the beach. Momma, Maria, Tawni, Jordan and I went for massages at the spa. The bungalows were open air right on the beach which at first is a little revealing but you soon forget your exposure and revel in the sound of the Caribbean lapping against the sand while getting your massage.
Jordan, Maria and I zenned to the max after our massages! We were just staring at the water. :)
Sad to see the day come, we ate breakfast on the patio to the condo for the last time before heading to the airport.
We left Aruba sadly with hopes of a return before long. Once in Miami we faced a long delayed flight, (over three hours) to LAX where we stayed in the hotel after arriving at 3am. Then another delay from LAX to Boise (another three hours were we jinxed?) putting us in again in the middle of the night.
The first day back we had much to do. Groceries were the first order of business, dropping the bikes off to get tuned up and heading to a close friend's house before they headed out to Ireland were all musts. Then we finished off the week working and planting our front porch with nice spring blooms.
I even made a new sign for our front door!
Saturday we invited friends over for a tropical feast and to show our pictures to anyone who would sit through them with us!
I cooked a couple of traditional Aruban dishes as well as a few others from the Caribbean but the Aruban dishes will definitely be regulars in our diet now.
To make a very long story, well, longer...we had the most wonderful of vacations and wish we could truly impart in everyone just how warm, inviting and fun this little island is. The local Papiamento culture is interesting and pleasant to learn about and imerse yourself in. The food is fantastic and the location, well, you can't get much closer to perfect.
We know this blog is long, we had much more to share as we had so many fun adventures while on Aruba. If you would like to see all our pictures check out our picasa page at: http://picasaweb.google.com/kymebrlily
Bon Noche and Mita Stimabu to everyone (good night and I love you in Papiamento)
