Bon Bini and Welkomen to Aruba... We arrived in Aruba an hour late due to a mysterious technical difficulty on our ship, but that didn't stop us from having a great day in Aruba. We had booked a tour through Carnival so our late arrival didn't affect us at all. We met our tour guide at the cruise terminal and were taken to our jeep for an Aruban Safari. Our first stop of the day was at the Ayo Rock formation which is a natural rock formation that was inhabited by the earliest settlers of Aruba, an indian tribe originating from Venezuela. After climbing the rocks and sweating 15 pounds off in the heat we boarded our Land Rover and headed to our 2nd stop which was the Aruban Ostrich Farm, but before we could arrive Shandle's sunglasses flew off her head and disappeared forever (so long free pair of Maui Jims). Well, we arrived at the ostrich farm and were able to interact with and feed the largest birds in the world. After the ostrich farm it was time to really see what our Land Rovers could do and our group headed off road to visit the Natural Bridge, the old Dutch goldmine, the Church of Alto Vista, and the California Lighthouse which was named after a ship that sunk right off the northern coast of Aruba. The Natural Bridge collapsed in 2005 after Hurricane Ivan significantly weakened it but there is a smaller natural bridge that still remains, the Dutch goldmine was used to bring over 3000 pounds of gold back to the Royal family in the Netherlands, the Church of Alto Vista was the first church on the island and still remains an active Catholic church, and finally the California Lighthouse is no longer in use but stands tall above Aruba. Along the tour our driver fishtailed, jumped over boulders, got us stuck in 2 foot deep sand, and cracked my head open as he jumped our Land Rover over a group of rocks. After being beaten, bashed, and blasted with sand we ended our tour at beautiful Amarashi Beach for a chance to swim, relax, and wash away the sand and dirt stuck to us. This tour was one of the more adventurous tours and I recommend it for those only wanting to see less touristy places that are definitely off the beaten path.
Shandle feeding the ostriches
The collapsed natural bridge
Some little tidbits about our day in Aruba...
Shandle did indeed lose her sunglasses
Greg did indeed crack his head open on the top of the Land Rover (he is ok)
We saw hieroglyphics from the earliest settlers of Aruba at the Ayo Rock Formation
We saw these really colorful blue lizards that are native to Aruba
Curacao and Aruba both have an extremely unique climate that allows for several different species of cacti to grow all around he islands, sometimes even feet from the ocean or other water sources
The tour company we used was ABC Aruba Tours and our driver stalled our Land Rover over 20 times
Aruba and Curacao are part of an island chain called the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao) and all three were part of the former Netherland Antilles
A few words we learned in Papiamento (the national language of Aruba and Curacao) Dushi=Beautiful Sushi=Trash Bon Bini=Welcome
After finishing our tour we did a little shopping and then boarded the ship for our trip home. We spent a little time in the hot tub, ate dinner, then kicked back by the Seaside Theater with some drinks in our hands and watched the Heat and Celtics battle in game 6. We look forward to a relaxing last 2 sea days which will include a lot of drinking, some good comedy shows, the start of Euro2012, the Pacquiao fight, game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and then some more drinking. Well that's all for now... we'll be home on Sunday.
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