After the Panama Canal, we were definitely on the home stretch of our trip. But we had one more stop and that was the tiny island of Aruba. Aruba was a Dutch Colony and so has Dutch as its official language. The people actually speak a mixture of many languages but the school books are in Dutch. This made it a fun port for us because Dutch is Bryce's mission language.
Of course we had a sea day, but now we're cruising the Caribbean. This is a shot off the back as I was walking around Deck 3.
We decided to just get off the ship and make our own day in Aruba instead of paying big money for one of the ship's shore excursions. We got a ride on this bus all over the island for $15 each. The island of Aruba is 19 miles long and about 10 miles wide. (We were told both 8 and 10, so take your pick.)
First we traveled through town. The architecture definitely has a Dutch influence, but all the signs are in English.
Our first stop was a botanical garden near these big rocks.
We saw more wildlife here than we had in days, including in Costa Rica. See the bunny and the lizard?
Aruba is very much a desert. There is no fresh water on the island except a little rain and what they make in their desalinization plant.
Bryce enjoyed chatting with our bus driver in Dutch. He ended up with only seven passengers when four got off, tired of waiting for more to come. We didn't mind. And yes, there are no windows. We got a bit windblown.
This is the windward side of the island. Not much grows here because of the salt spray.
All of the island tours included the famous natural bridge. Unfortunately, only the small one is still standing. The larger one came crashing down in 2004.
People build cairns here like we have seen on our hikes.
This little Catholic chapel has to have benches outside to seat everyone. I'm standing in the garden near the chapel. Yep, a desert island.
After having a few shipwrecks, a lighthouse was built on the windward side of the island.
The leeward side of the island was built up with big hotels and white sand beaches. After our bus ride, we stopped for lunch and some shopping. It was a fun place to visit.
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