03 December 2012

All ashore

After one day at sea, we finally hit port at Aruba.  I've always read about Aruba, just never figured out where it was until we got there.  This little tourist destination is just off the coast of Venezuela.  Aruba is one of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao) or the Lesser Antilles.  20 miles long, it is a flat, arid island where the temperature hovers around 28 °C (82.4 °F) most of the year.  It is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and it's primary language is Dutch and Papiamento.  Big time tourist trap with hotels and all sorts of dives to invest your $$$.  With no taxes and deep discounts, there are a number of jewelers (Diamonds International) where you can get your diamonds for 60% off what you would see stateside (and not taxes).  Lots of people plan their shopping trips around visiting this island.  We weren't interested in blowing the cash so we spent most of the time in port touring some of the local sites or just wandering around the downtown area of Oranjestad.  

Hauling south
Do you smell bacon?
Coast of Haiti
More skin
Haiti
See a theme, yer? 
Stingray

Aruba
Where's Waldo?


Local street dog
Almost got this one, but my wife thought it was silly/stupid
Street clock


One big ass lizard
Working on the tan
There were a lot of them
And they were everywhere
Looks familiar?



6 comments:

Rock Chef said...

Hey, a British Phone box! I remember those!

And I must say that the street dog looks like he has a pretty good life!

meleah rebeccah said...

Aruba is my FAVORITE place, ever.

And these photos are totes amazeballs!

ShadowRun300 said...

So I was right about Aruba! Score one for me!
Loved the caption "smell bacon?" Too funny!
This looks like it was an incredible trip. So glad you're sharing it with us!

meleah rebeccah said...

PS; you totally should have bought that tshirt!

Abby said...

Boy am I enjoying this cruise from the cheap seats! Love the photos! I totally LOL'd at that t-shirt too.

terri said...

I don't think you could pull off that shirt! You're a nice guy. No one would believe you! :-)

Wow, so much color and so much sun. I could handle it.