WELCOME TO ARUBA

Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Aruba is now an independent nation, but once was a member of the Netherlands Antilles. The population is bout 70,000 with a heritage of Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, African, and English. Dutch is the official language. It is a desert island.

The port city and capital, Oranjestad, is easily navigable (population: 30,000). The aloe plant is the primary agricultural crop. The Lago Oil and Transport Co, a subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey, built the largest oil refinery in the world. Aruba is one of the most prosperous islands in the Caribbean.

We have enjoyed Aruba several times. A quick shuttle took us from our dock in the commercial area to the town. We shopped some—one of our favorites is the Aloe Aruba store where we purchased aloe-rich hand lotion and sunscreen (our first time here we toured the factory). We had lunch at Iguana Joe’s, a restaurant we like that overlooks the main street. We spent several hours browsing jewelry and watch shops and souvenir shops.

We returned to the ship and I started reading another book, The Street Lawyer, by John Grisham. I finished London Bridges by James Patterson and that will be the last book I read by him. Grisham is a much better writer. TK usually plays in the pool while I read.

I like two-week cruises and the time to read and do “whatever.” I heard someone complaining about sea days and nothing to do. That made me think of how I personally don’t ever seem to have time to just read and how much work I have when I return home—I am going to help with the tall ship festival in Erie in September and must begin my part the second I return, school district work, the charity spelling bee the end of March, the U.S. Academic Decathlon essay assessment (PA and national), and checking in with the Poet Laureate program as well as the district’s poetry program. I should not have been thinking about that! I will avoid anyone complaining about nothing to do, I promise!!!!

Tonight was low-key—we watched Extract with Jason Bateman and Ben Affleck. (Note to Friends M & B: this is the movie we should have seen—it was quite funny!)


SEA DAY
Thursday, February 18, 2010

We were very lazy today—getting up much later than usual. We went straight to the pool to read after the breakfast buffet/lunch. I tried the waffles and TK likes the Eggs Benedict very much. We watched another silent film, The Phantom of the Opera, with Lon Chaney. We stayed poolside until about 6 p.m. then got ready for our 3rd formal evening—TK’s favorite.

I told him he did not have to wear a tie and he was happy for that. Dinner was certainly worth dressing up for: roasted tomato soup, melon soup, shredded shrimp, scallops, and crab, lobster and prawns, with carrot cake as the dessert. Francisco (Philippines) and Praba (India), our waiters, have taken good care of us every night. We have had the same window seat at 7:30 p.m. each evening after the little misunderstanding in the beginning. I was happy to have the same waiters every night—they are so efficient.

TK’s Takes: The weather was great in Aruba. He liked that I said the best thing about cruising was being with him. The pool was open after all, after the incident on Tuesday and the water was much colder (Princess uses fresh water). We were told that the material in the pool was sunscreen or a pina colada, not what everyone thought. Hmmm.

JK's Takes: I am homesick for our family, especially B1 and B2.