Aruba

We had a lovely sail from Curacao to Aruba...calm seas which meant for a good night’s sleep.

Last evening we were treated to a local Caribbean show. Everyone was surprised when instead of a traditional folkloric group showing up, a very hip and enthusiastic group of performers treated us to a wonderful show of break-dancing, barrel drumming, hip hop routines, and even spectacularly clad (or not) dancers. I’m pretty sure we saw some bare bums peeking out from all the feathers and sequins.

Steve was under the weather today, so I ventured out on my own. I took a tour around the island and was struck by many things:

1.   The island is very clean. The government employs men who not only pick up trash over the entire island, they also sweep streets and highways and prune trees.

2.   The island is very flat and has no water. All water comes from a de-salination plant, the second largest in the world, second to Saudi Arabia. A family of five pays $125 US PER MONTH for water.

3.   There is a lot of cactus on the island. It reminded me of Arizona.

4.   All the supermarkets are owned by the Chinese.

5.   Since Shell Oil pulled out of Aruba a number of years ago, the prime industry here is now tourism.

6.   The official language is Dutch (the same as in Curacao) but most people speak a mixture of Dutch, English, Spanish, Portugese )

We leave Aruba in a couple of hours time and will arrive in Cartagena, Columbia in about 24 hours time.

Tonight onboard ship there is a variety show, followed of course, by the full gourmet dinner. Because Steve is not feeling well, I may skip dinner and have something in our room. The library onboard ship has hundreds of good dvd movies, so tonight may be the night to sample some of them.