keturah

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

I managed to get myself some sort of stomach virus before leaving, so Friday nite and mum and I are finishing the packing I have to keep taking breaks cause something just doesnt feel right. But i finally finish and lay down, then at 2am im up and hovering over the toilet throwing up, sweating, and shaking. And having to leave to catch the plane at 5am. And let me tell you, plane rides with stomach viruses are a blast!! Mum kept looking at me each time we take off, land, or hit turbulance, and lean away from me and ask "You ok?" as i hold my stomach and my other hand over my mouth. So the first afternoon there i just slept till something more than gingerale and crackers would settle in my stomach.
On the second day we went out on the Jolly Pirate Ship.

THey take you out to a couple snokleing spots, including the Antilla, a german WWII shipwreck. That was pretty awsome. Mum had underwater cameras, and as soon as she gets the film developed i may have more pictures for that.
It is an all inclusive day out on the ship, including an open bar. At one point the Police pulled up to the ship and mum asked if maybe it was about them serving alcohol (it was sunday and somewhere along the way mum got the notion in her head that Aruba has a very religious and reserved culture). As it turns out, they were there about the alcohol. They needed to have some.

MMmmmm, rum punch, especially good on duty
They also have a rope swing to jump off into the ocean with. Lots of fun. Also, lots of saltwater up the nose. Clears the sinuses right up!

In I go!!

On Monday we rode the bus, mostly just to see what we could see, into Oranjastad and walked around the malls there a bit. Did not do any shopping, but you have to admit, this is an awfully pretty mall.

We also went to some of the casinos there because we had some $5 free play vouchers. We played for awhile off those and also managed to walk out of the casino with an extra $16. Not much, but still, when your on vacation and can say you made more money that day then you spent its a nice feeling. So we blew it all on happy hour (Mango Daquiries mmmmm) and a nice dinner at Moomba Beach. Its a bar/restaraunt right off the beach near where we were staying. We ate dinner right on the beach with the sand under our feet, and this view in front of us.


There was also this view:

Our waiter, Arjan, who was very friendly and had a nice sense of humor. And most importantly entertained my mother for over an hour!!
Then asked me for a date.
I am still not entirely clear on how that transition was made, but with both he and my mum egging me on it was hard to say no

I had this whole long second update and then somehow managed to close the screen out while i was typing
Ok, so here goes again...

Tuesday we went horseback riding. Mum and i were the only riders with any experience to when they are matching up riders and horses the guide comes to me and says "THis is Capitain, he likes to be the boss and lead the other horses, ok?" Sure, no problem, i know how to ride. Well I wasnt taking into account the other 6 horses, and thier riders complete lack of control. Ever few minutes horses were breaking off from the group in about 3 different directions at once or taking off ahead of the group, so the guides are busy chasing down those horses, and in the mean time Capitain is getting very upset and dancing around under me snorting at the other horses who arent following him like he would like. All while i am attempting to take pictures of the scenery with my giant Canon which isnt really a one handed task even under the best of conditions. But i did manage to get a few good pictures. Some of them are just a bit sideways is all

The ride goes out to the Natural Pool which is on the edge of the rocky shorline where some other rocks jut out a bit from the rest of the shore sheltering this area from the waves that are crashing against the rest of the shore.

So you can swim in this little area, and just a few feet away from you these powerful waves are breaking against the rocks sending spray up into the air.

Then on the way back they take you along the beach where the horses all let loose and gallop along the edge of the water in the sand with the waves coming up and splashing against your legs as the horse runs right through them. Because mum and i were the experienced riders of the group the one guide took us off the main trail to gallop through some more dunes to come out in front of the rest of the group back by the ranch. It had been a long time since i had ridden (not since i had a horse at like 15, and the last time i got to ride her galloping i fell).

Wednesday we went to De Palm Island. Its another all inclusive day package, they take you out to this private island where you can snorkle and eat and there is an open bar and a beach to lay out on. It sounded a lot better than it was though. The snorkling was cool because they have lots of blue parrot fish which are really pretty and they feed them there alot so they are used to the people and will swim right up to you looking for food. Again, when mum develops her film there will be pictures to share... But the rest was rather...well there were more of the Aruban 'rough edges' Arjan was telling me about. Most of the island was a little trashy and the beach was clearly man made as you could see the cement and the tarp sticking out around the edge of the pile of sand they had poured in. You had to drink a lot of free Pina Coladas from the open bar to loose enough focus to make it look pretty. Specially since they were very weak Coladas. But mum and i did go around the farthest corner of the beach and try to get a bit more secluded so we could topless sunbath without offending the other Americans. Course they kept walking over there and looking to see if they could find any more to the island. Nope, thats really all you got for your $50.
Then that nite i had my date with Arjan. We played adventure golf, and i beat him THen went out for some drinks where i met some of his coworkers (including his housemate Peter) then we went down to a beach with a blanket and laid next to the ocean drinking champagne, eating grapes, and listening to the waves and watching the lights on passing ships. How very romantic...

Thursday we rented a car and drove around the island. We went to Arikok National Park to see some caves. THe first one we came to was the Tunnel of Love which wasnt really what we were looking for and they charge to get in so we were going to leave but then the guy working there dragged us back and said we could go for free. So we checked it out. It is a very steep climb down and then back up, and very dark. Lots of 'rough edges' in there. We get to the end of the tunnel down below and look up this rock face and go, wait, where does the path go now?? Somehow when the man said go straight up out the end it just didnt register in that way. Straight up? With my camera in one hand, and a flashlight in the other? Straight up a rock wall i cant see without the flashlight which requires me to hold the button down to work? Ok yea, sure thing.

When we finished that we were done with the caves so we never even made it to the ones we were looking for to begin with. We headed to Baby Beach because we were told by the people at Moomba that was a good place for snorkling, which is really more mums thing than mine. So she went snorkling while i swam for a bit and then laid out on the beach to try and get in a bit more topless sunbathing. Everyone there was european so they were all topless, even the kids, so i felt like i finally fit in
Then we went back to Moomba and got there just in time to catch the last 10 mins of happy hour and 2 more mango daquiries. Then they let Arjan off work early since all he was doing was talking to me anyway. So he took my mum and I out for a nice meal and after dinner drinks. Mum is niether a big drinker nor one for staying out late, so you should have seen her face when he ordered another round for everyone in Dutch (without asking if we wanted more) and a few minutes later the waitress is putting another drink in front of her. That was the face exactly. She made it agian when he paid the bill. Not every guy takes a girls mother out too

Friday we got up and checked out of our condo then went to the beach for one last hour of sea and sun before heading to the airport. We went to check in our rental car, which took forever because they were ignoring us for new clients coming in to get a car. Then when we got into the check in desk we were informed we had missed our flight. That was it, the man said nothing else, just "Ohh, you missed your flight" and back to what he had been doing. "Excuse me, what do you mean we missed it? No we didnt, it doesnt leave for another hour." "ohh well you dont have enough time to get to it, so we gave your seats to some people on standby" I look around for the line that we wont have time to make it through (its a very small airport so its not the distance to the terminal that is the issue) Nope, no line. Because we are the only people leaving their vacation on a friday! It would have taken us about 10 min to get to the terminal, but apparently thats not how they do it there. NOTE: If you ever go to Aruba, make sure you are at the airport 3 hrs before your plane is leaving, because they WILL give your seat away long before the plane takes off. Not 1 hr, not 2, 3 hrs!!
So here we are stuck at the airport with all our luggage and no flight till the next day, and no more rental car. Hey, good thing i met someone while i was there. So i call up Arjan and he and Peter come to rescue us. We call up the condo and ask if we can check back in (its rented out week to week so technicaly we had one more day, but there werent any saturday flights when we booked so we had to leave a day early....wait...no saturday flights, what are we leaving on tomarrow??) So we drop our luggage off at the room again and Arjan and Peter take us to another beach we hadnt been to yet that doesnt have all the tourists and just some locals go to. Then we all went out to dinner (this time mum managed to get the check and i think was quite proud of herself) THen we took mum home and Arjan, Peter, and I went to Carlos and Charlies for dancing. It was lots of fun. Everyone seems to think that Peter and Arjan are a gay couple. It might have something to do with how they dance with each other But i like it. I liked it even better when they put me in the middle It was alot of fun, they are both really fun, nice guys.
THe next day Arjan dropped me and my mum off at the airport where we did stand in line for 3 hrs now that everyone was actually trying to leave the island. Then back home



Side note: Next friday is my birthday!! Im gonna be 25! WOOHOO!! Also i am going to be drunk. I am hoping at least a few of my friends can manage to join me. Anyone else wants to just let me know!