WARM AND SUNNY ARUBA!

Monday, January 23, 2017         Sunny /  81 F at 8:30 a.m. which is 7:30 a.m. EST

Last night I forgot to logout of the HAL Internet so I probably lost about 60 minutes. One has to type "Logout.com" into the Internet bar. I am upset with myself, but I am saving a place now for today's blog and will download/upload tomorrow. We are sitting at Starbucks in Aruba right now with free Internet. Aruba is a very pleasant port town, but we are here for only 5 hours so we have to make the best of it!

Blogspot is in a language that I think is Dutch, but fortunately I can understand the tabs well enough.  TK is enjoying a frappuccino (he got up to check the spelling for me) and I have a Chai tea latte. I can see palm trees, the Caribbean Sea, fountains, and a small bridge from our table. There is an little "inlet" in this Renaissance Hotel about 25 feet from where I am sitting and a small boat just picked up some hotel guests to take them to an island off Aruba.  I could probably do a lot of writing just from here!

TK is happy to be at Starbucks in Aruba. Just  behind the trash barrel, 

placed so beautifully, is the little inlet that just picked up passengers. More seem to be waiting. Doesn't TK look like he is in paradise?

Several years ago we went to the Aruba Aloe factory in Aruba and ever since we have been using their sunscreen and hand cream, even ordering online.  At their shop at the Renaissance Hotel Plaza, they mentioned their soap factory was just a free trolley ride away so TK and I hopped on it outside the Plaza. We soon learned that the trolley is a brand new feature in Aruba and very popular. It turned out that the factory was really not far—what wonderful smells of citrus, lavender, cinnamon, and more. Of course we bought some soap—my favorite was the crisp lemon. We walked back to the center city and shopped at the straw market and soon it was time to board the ship. By 1 p.m., our stateroom was still not finished so we sat on the balcony anyway and watched Aruba pass by as we sailed away.

At dinner each evening Mariyadi tells us stories of his home in Indonesia in a rural area. His wife, two sons, and father in law live there and they do the farming. They have papaya, banana, coconut, and bamboo trees. They use what they can, but the rest is sold at market. He said every 35 days they have 250 coconuts to sell.  He showed us photos of his farm, home, and the rice field on his property. On the farm they have tomatoes that are a small variety, cucumbers, durian (“smelly fruit”), peppers, chickens, and a cow to do the plowing, and so on.  He told us of special desserts, lemper (rolled in a banana leaf) and klepon (flaked or shredded coconut rolled into balls with brown sugar and steamed). I hope to ask our friend Ann from the Philippines if she knows of these delicious sounding dishes.

After dinner TK and I went to tonight’s show on the Main Stage with “Five O’Clock Somewhere,” a duo that the daily news said was “the ultimate musical entertainment experience.”  We usually do not seem to go to shows, but after this one we decided we should!  Bridgette from Denmark and Aaron from Ireland met in London. She was classically trained and he had picked up his musical skills from watching and listening to others, virtually untrained, but a “tinkerer.”

We liked their sound immediately, songs of U2. The ship’s band accompanied them, but they played several instruments, like the piano, electric guitars, and a portable keyboard.  He demonstrated a “loop around.” I am not sure I heard the name correctly, but he would play a sound and then that sound would play in a loop. To demonstrate, he made sounds with the following as an example: briefly flicking a lighter, unrolling a strip of cellophane tape, and strumming the top of a blown up balloon. He captured each sound on the “loop around” and then she sang “You Give Me Fever” or it could just be called “Fever,” an older but popular song accompanied by the loop around, the band, and Aaron on guitar. The song was wonderful.

She sang an old Swedish ballad taught to her by her father—“who can sail without wind, who can row without oars, who can leave friends behind without tears? You can sail without wind, you can row without oars, but you cannot leave friends without tears” Her a cappello voice was fabulous and the song, sung in Swedish, was very powerful. They also played a beautiful rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”  To conclude, the duo performed 22 songs in 6 minutes in a sort of duel, each trying to get more acclamation as the audience recognized the song. I heard songs by Blondie, Eurhythmics, Charlie Daniels, and many more! Their finale was “Hey Jude.” We enjoyed this show very much.