Quadirikiri Caves, another limostome cave, is the last stop in the park. It's deserted when we pull up, but just as we're about to climb the stairs to get inside a colony of quads comes roaring down the road in the giant dust cloud.
I rush up the stairs and fumble with the settings on my camera to get a couple of pictures without people in it.
Love how this natural skylight bathes a small section of the cave in light.
A healthy bat population calls the cave home and I'm having so much fun watching them and trying to sneak their picture. Trust me when I say bats are not very good models!
They apparently love to hangout in pairs! I never knew that about bats but it is so cute!
Just when I'm about to give up on the perfect bat picture I stumble upon bat city!
In hindsight, I needn't have worried about the quad tour -- they left well before we did and when I climb to the top of the small lookout next to the cave the only sign of life are the electronic windmills in the distance.
(panorama -- please click me)
Aruba's nearly unrelenting trade winds help keep the island cool during the hot summer months and the wind farm helps provide close to 20% of the islands energy.
Just before exiting the park, we hit the goat mother load; a flock of probably upwards of fifty goats (and a few confused sheep) are passing through the area.
Quick stop at Boca Grandi.
The red anchor at Seroe Colorado.
A vendor is selling coconuts across the street, which has attracted the attention of several wild donkeys.
Every car that stops is subject to a thorough examination and when I get out to take some pictures, they are quick to walk over and see if I have any food on me. Sorry guys, no carrots!
Back in the car Sandy pulls out a little bag of Werther's -- a caramel flavored hard candy -- and says if horses can eat them, why not donkeys? Well, it's hard to argue with that, except the stuff turns out to be like donkey crack and we quickly find ourselves mobbed.
Oops.
Have you ever tried to close a car window while three donkeys are thrusting their big heads inside? It's kind of like playing whack-a-mole!
Phew, window is closed! Clearly, the donkeys are none too pleased ...
Finally, the donkeys lose interest and move on to their next victim so that we can safely drive off. Stay tuned for more donkey fun in the days ahead; the donkey sanctuary has moved up on our list of things to do.
The I ♥ Aruba bus stop on the way to Baby Beach.
The gloomy weather doesn't make for a great beach day, but our late arrival yesterday messed up our itinerary so we decide a short stop at nearby Baby Beach is in order.
While the views aren't the best due to the nearby refinery, Baby Beach is one of the more popular destinations on Aruba. The protected water inside the lagoon is safe for the entire family and the snorkeling is supposed to be one of the better sites on the island.
Maybe we caught it on a bad day, but my short exploratory mission was a bit ... meh. Some very large schools of tiny silver fish as well as a few larger varieties, but visibility could have been better and what little coral I saw wasn't very interesting.
Sandy didn't quite understand my fascination with this tree, but for me it was the coolest thing about Baby Beach.
Royal Poinciana tree in bloom
At this point, the headache that has been irritating me all day is starting to hit pretty hard and I'm not sure if it's thirst, hunger, too much sun, too little sleep, sinus problems or a combination thereof. I've been forcing fluids all day so I'm pretty sure that's not it, but I am hungry and we pull over at the market for some snacks.
They have some of my Dutch favorites like stroopwafel (caramel wafers), coffee cookies, sultana crackers, and kroepoek (fried prawn cracker) and in my hungry state I just grab all of them. A couple of cookies on the way to dinner do little to relieve my head ache though.
Oranjestad traffic is a nightmare; we are barely moving and it turns out there's a 5K race going on. How I would have loved to have one of those neon yellow race shirts!
Unfortunately, traffic doesn't really let up even after we've passed all the festivities. No matter which street we turn down, we invariably end up in standstill traffic or thwarted by yet another one-way street. Finally, I give up and burn some data by having Google maps help us out. While it doesn't show live traffic conditions, we're able to escape the gridlock by letting it direct us away from the city center.
Yami Yami serves, as they themselves call it, “Dutch Chinese,” something I never knew was a thing until now, but it's basically Chinese food the way you'd find it in Holland, and I am overjoyed to see some of my old standby's on their menu. At less than $12 for a 3 piece combo meal it's a great deal!
Sandy has ordered a loempia (Indonesian spring roll), with sweet and sour chicken over nasi (fried rice) and I got chicken soup with babi pangang (Indonesian grilled pork) over nasi. We also split a side order of chicken sate (chicken skewers in peanut sauce).
The beach is just a short distance from the restaurant so we take our food to go and head down the street to Eagle Beach.
Just in time for the sunset!
The food is so yummy and my babi pangang tastes like in Holland! Now if only the mosquitoes would leave us alone; the wind is dying down and even Deet does little to deter them. This was the only time that they really bothered us.
To be honest, at this point my headache got so bad that I don't remember much from the drive back. I was so glad to be back at the hotel!
The shower doesn't have hot water, but the “island temperature” water is refreshing without feeling cold and after yanking the knots out of my windswept hair for oh, forever, I am feeling like a new person.
Time to get some sleep!
Breakfast: nameless hole in the wall
Snack: Dutch goodies from the grocery store
Dinner: Yami Yami
Hotel: Coral Reef Beach Village and Apartments
