Friday/ShabbosThe tour that we booked started at 9am, which meant that our guide, Toto, picked us up at 8:30am. We had considered renting our own jeep and going off-roading ourselves, but in the end we decided that Friday was probably not the right day to attempt an activity which was guaranteed to get us lost. (If anyone should go for a non-weekend, I would totally recommend that though.) All the real jeep tours didn't give the option of driving the vehicle yourself, which is why we ended up in a UTV, which is basically a two person ATV with a canopy covering you.
Toto picked us up and drove us to Aruba's largest wildlife sanctuary, Philip’s Animal Garden. Apparently the guy who started the tour also started a shelter for rescued animals, and made that the first, mandatory, stop on the tour. While animals are neither mine nor Lou's favorite things in the world, we did manage to make it through, and even feed a few, all while avoiding Toto's massive dog which trailed us. (For the record, I'm not afraid of dogs, but when I encounter one that's literally my size, I do my best to stay out of its way. And those of you who may have met me know that this is no gross exaggeration.)
After the animal show, we picked our UTV and got ready to start the real part of the tour. Toto gave us bandanas to cover our mouth and nose, and let me tell you, I was very grateful. Not just because we looked ready for a bank heist, but because when we finished the whole tour, the one strip of our faces that wasn't covered by sunglasses or the bandana, was coated in mud and dust. I shudder to think how much of that we would have ingested had we gone sans bandanas.
The UTV tour took us to the Alto Vista Chapel, the Bushiribana Gold Ruins, the Natural Bridge (which collapsed during Hurricane Ivan), the Baby Bridge, and finally the Natural Pools. Normally, the final stop of the tour is the Natural Pools, where you can swim in the beautiful blue waters. However, the waves were so choppy that Toto warned us that entering the water would be suicidal. Needless to say, we stayed out. We then headed back to the animal sanctuary, loaded back into the jeep, and were driven back to the Hyatt. Overall, we both really enjoyed the UTV. Although the first hour or so started out a drop lame with the animals and the relatively tame driving, Toto definitely stepped it up a notch once we got to the more rugged parts of the island, and we got to drive over rocks and through rivers. I particularly enjoyed seeing a side to the island besides the white sand and sparkling water. (A link to the company we used can be found
here._ Just one last anecdote about the tour: we were only asked to pay when we first got to the animal garden. Lou pulled out his Amex to pay (see his signature), but we were told the company only takes Visa or MC, which neither of us had on us. Toto waved it off with a ‘no problem, we’ll figure it out,’ and continued with the tour. When we returned to the hotel, he informed us he would come back with the card processing machine in about an hour, call our room, and we can come down and pay then. Sure enough, he did and we paid, but I have to admit, I was pretty astounded by the trust he had. Definitely not in Kansas anymore.
After bidding a second adieu and thank you to Toto, we headed over to Superfoods, the big grocery store located just 1.7 miles away from the hotel. We decided to take the city bus there, for the low cost of $2.30 per person. The bus stop is hardly a block away from the hotel and the bus ride took around 6 minutes total. Just be aware that even if you pay in USD, the bus driver will hand you change in the local currency. From the bus stop it was a short walk to the store. We raced around Superfoods, picking up what needed, primarily two disposable grills. We emerged victorious and quickly headed back in the direction of the hotel. It was quite difficult to get a taxi right outside the store, so we walked back to the stop where we waited about ten minutes for a taxi. (But, lemme tell you, those ten minutes felt like an eternity with the sun beating down on our already sunburned and dehydrated selves!) When we got back to the hotel, Lou set up the grill while I went up to raid the Regency Club for bottled water and soda cans for Shabbos. Unfortunately, the wind was not blowing in our favor and the grill only got hot enough to slightly mark the outside of our chicken cutlets with grill marks, so I had to finish cooking them on the electric burner that we had brought. (Lou: next time I'll need to start up the grill earlier
)
After Lou came back from davening at the Chabad next door (literally, it’s in the hotel next door), we ate the Friday night meal with JJ and co. in his suite. His wife and I had coordinated beforehand who would cook/bring what, and we enjoyed a very nice meal together. After the meal, we went down to the lobby and had a bellman escort us back up to let us into our room (a decision we were more comfortable with than any duct tape option). (Lou: nice size minyan for such a small island. I think they have fri night/shabbos minyan every week)
On Shabbos we ate lunch in our hotel room and spent the afternoon just relaxing and soaking up the sunshine. We walked around and explored a nearby hotel that, thankfully, also had no automatic doors. Once Shabbos was over, we walked over to the area situated on the left of the hotel. We spotted a Menorah before we found ourselves inside a very American looking mall, complete with a water fountain show and all. We headed out and spent time browsing through different outdoor vendors, picking up souvenirs for our families and, of course, awesome shot-glasses for ourselves. When I tried bargaining with one of the women, she just laughed. I guess most tourist don’t bother in Aruba, but I still walked away feeling good about the few dollars I had saved.
We then headed back to the hotel and entered through the casino . . . an hour and a half later we left the casino, not a penny poorer. Nah, we didn’t gamble, but we did enjoy a spellbinding blackjack show in which one man walked away from the table over $7,000 richer than he was when he sat down. We picked up a well overpriced but oh-so-delicious Haagen Daaz from a hotel shop and then meandered over to a bar where they were showing the Jets vs. Cowboys game with free shots for every Jets touchdown. Once we realized that only meant a free shot of some nasty green looking stuff, we went back upstairs, fired up our second grill, and watched the rest of the game enjoying some delicious, very non-green skirt steak.
The UTV Tour:
The Gold Mill Ruins from outside:
The Gold Mill Ruins from inside:
The fallen Natural Bridge (with a water smudge on the camera case):
Natural Pools
Directly across from the bus stop:
Grill #1:
Menorah:
The Mall:
Grill #2
