Aruba
was a new "country" (its
more like a protectorate) for both of us. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao
form the Netherlands Antilles. The city (Oranjestaad) has a real Dutch
feeling to it, but there is such a huge build-up of mostly "Western" shops
where the cruise ships dock (there were two including us) that you might
think you'd parked at a shopping mall in the US. Chiles. KFC. "Just
like home" — then why travel? These shops alternate with traditional
Dutch style architecture, cheapening what is really kind of quaint.
Fortunately, Kathy and I had independent shore tours arranged
through Port Compass.
We met the principals of PortCompass on our last cruise, and
in addition to liking them personally,
admired
their business concept, which is to provide alternatives to the
overpriced, generic shore tours offered by the cruise lines.
Port Compass arranges tours using smaller, flexible tour operators,
and does periodic checks to ensure quality.
Scott took a "Jeep Safari" tour, which had him barreling across Aruba's national park in a restored Willey's Jeep, with just the representative of the tour company and Scott. It was a blast. Bone-jarring, but a blast. We got to a number of sites that just aren't accessible to "lesser" vehicles, and therefore were pretty much free of other tourists.
Kathy
went on a horseback tour in the same area and in fact the two
of us connected twice during our respective tours (Aruba is small,
but it isn't that small). Kathy's tour ended earlier than
Scott's and through a couple of strange twists of fate (more
below), and the great flexibility of Scott's tour operator, we
ended up meeting Kathy and the end of her tour, and we
continued together on Scott's tour.
Back to Aruba. Once you leave Oranjestaad, most of the island
is desert-like (think Arizona). It has a rugged beauty to it.
The country is largely sustained by tourism (there's an oil refinery,
but the oil comes from nearby Venezuela). The land is too arid
to support much in the way of agriculture, so food is imported
from (very) nearby South America.
About ⅓rd of Aruba is designated a national park; that's where our tours were conducted. There were all kinds of tourists (and locals) spread over the park: couples in rented 4 wheel drive vehicles (there aren't that many paved roads), groups on horseback, bicyclists, swimmers, sun-bathers and those ubiquitous families traveling in aircon buses on package tours (the buses can only get to certain sites, tho').
We liked Aruba. It isn't the scenic, lush tropical island we might have expected. But the virtual absence of crime ("don't worry, you can leave your bag in the Jeep, no problem") and "if it isn't fun, why do it" attitude were really refreshing in an increasingly-worrisome world. If we were to take a desert sort of vacation, Aruba would be a nice spot for it. And there's great SCUBA diving on the South coast.
The "Natural
Bridge" — attractive but overly touristed.
"Hay
Pardner, come horse around with us" — Kathy's Tour Operator's
slogan
North
coast — beautiful but dangerous currents and undertow
Scott's
transport, "Josephine" the Jeep