#950 vacation memory - Aruba

I was trying to think of something to write about tonight. I even Googled the words "random writing topics". There are many, many sites out there to give you writing ideas. In the end, though, I used my own photos as my topic generator. I fired up my external hard drive, closed my eyes and ran my mouse over the files. It landed on 2006. That was the year MT and I went on our first cruise. I opened up the photos, closed my eyes and ran my mouse over the photos, scrolling up and down and moving the mouse side to side. Here's the pic I landed on:

This is a photo of the California Lighthouse in Aruba. I actually cropped this photo and that is why the lighthouse is so far to the left. I cropped some people, a garbage can and the date stamp of the photo to get this image.

MT and I were in Aruba in 2006 during our first Caribbean vacation, the two week cruise. Aruba was the last stop before we headed back to Puerto Rico. In the morning, we went on separate excursions; he went on a SNUBA excursion. SNUBA is like SCUBA except that you don't carry the air tanks on you when you dive. The air cylinders are on the surface, floating above you. I remember that MT really liked it and had a lot of fun. I went out on a boat to a different part of the island and hung out on the beach. We both enjoyed our excursions.

In the afternoon, we rented a cab, along with another couple we had met and hung out with on the ship, and took a mini tour of one side of the island. We went to see some rock formations, and drove along the coast and drove past this lighthouse.

You may remember that an American girl, Natalee Holloway, had gone missing in Aruba in May 2005 and the island was still buzzing about her disappearance and they were still trying to find her. The area around this lighthouse was one of the places where they were looking for her. They never did find her. Sad story, and scary, too.

Back to my story...We had seen a great beach, so we asked the driver to take us to it. She told us that we wouldn't be happy there because the beach was in front of an all-inclusive resort, so we wouldn't be able to use the beach chairs or get a drink in the bar. We got dropped off anyway. We all took a dip in the water, but it wasn't very fun to sit on the sand without a drink.

We got another cab and the driver took us into the town of Oranjestad. We walked around, looking into many shops. I remember that we bought some beautiful linen tablecloths for our parents. I got a couple of cool bracelets. I took a silly photo of MT and the guy we were hanging out with:

There was a poster or towel with a picture of a gorgeous, topless girl on it in the window of a shop. I told MT and the guy (can't remember his name; let's call him Steve) to act like they were cupping the woman's breasts. Steve is making the universal "she-is-perfection" kissy face. MT was having a good time because I was out in the street, briefly holding up traffic to take the picture - it was a little side-street, so there wasn't much of a traffic jam, plus the drivers could see what I was doing and they were laughing at MT and Steve's antics. The bummer part was that there is glare off the window, so it's a little tough to get the whole effect. Still, it is one of my favorite memories of the day in Aruba. We were all giggling like crazy, and we hadn't even been drinking! I'm sure we made up for it later that night on the ship, but I don't remember that part.

Aruba is arid and dry and desert-like. It wasn't very tropical , except for the temperature. It was nice there. The sand was white and the water was warm. We've thought about going back there to spend some time at an all-inclusive resort. Maybe someday.

I will say this, though: it sure is fun to say ARUBA!