Day 5: Oranjestad and Beaches

Monday, June 1, 2015

The snooze button got me again!! It's so frustrating, 'cause I don't realize I keep hitting it until I fully wake up and by then it's much later than I want it to be. Luckily, the damage today is limited to an extra 30 minutes, but this is our last full day on Aruba and there are still so many things we want to do!

We drive to Eagle Beach and walk along the paved pathway until we find Eduardo's Beach Shack to try one of their açaí bowl specials topped with granola, fresh fruit, honey and coconut shavings.

Sandy orders an acai bowl, but I'm always looking to try something new so I try a pitaya (dragon fruit) bowl. I would give the açaí a slight edge, but you can't really go wrong either way.

Quick walk on the beach

The I Love Aruba store is right next to where we parked the car so we stop in to look for souvenirs and gifts. And guess who we find stocking the shelves ... the woman who helped us find Diana's Pancake Place!

Even though we always try to steer clear of chain restaurants while on vacation, we make an exception for local delicacies at McDonald's. There's one right down the street so it makes sense to check out the McCrioyo breakfast sandwich. Never mind that we just had breakfast haha. 

Exactly what a McCrioyo is, is still a bit of a mystery to me; it's Aruba bread, lettuce, ketchup, mayonnaise, egg, cheese and your choice of meat I think. The bread is definitely a step up, but we're not too fond of the sauces.

They also sell something called a pastechi, an empañada like thing filled with minced meat and raisins. Apparently there's also a Gouda cheese variety, but McD's doesn't make that one ... Why?! Still, it was a lot better than the McCrioyo!

My twice daily ritual of checking with Dennis from Surf Aruba to check on the conditions sounds a bit more positive this morning; waves are still too small, but have started to pick up a bit. Oh please, please, please ... let there be waves this afternoon!!!

The Butterfly Farm is just a short drive down route 1 and houses more than 70 species of exotic butterflies from all over the world. It's one of the few places in the world where they are bred selectively.

You can hang out in the garden for as long as you like, but they will start you off with a guided tour. Our guide was super passionate and knowledgeable about the butterflies. She explained the life cycle of the butterfly and showed us the different stages starting with caterpillars (that come from eggs).

Monarch caterpillar feeding on milkweed

Once the caterpillar has fattened up enough to begin its metamorphosis it will pupate (go from one stage to the next) and form what's known as a chrysalis, like the one pictured below.

All butterflies and moths form a chrysalis, but only a few butterflies spin protective silk cocoons around their chrysalis. Most moths do, like the giant cocoons spun by the atlas moth pictured in the top right of the picture.

Your entrance fee is good for a week and they recommend visiting multiple times, because different things happen at different times. The butterflies are most active in the morning, but easier to photograph in the afternoon when they are drunk on fermented fruit. Early morning is when new butterflies emerge from their chrysalis, so we might give that a go tomorrow.

Fortunately, we both struggled to keep up with the hyperactive butterflies ... I couldn't decide on which of nearly 150 pictures to include as it was.

Julia Heliconians

Tree Nymph

 Tropical Blue Wave

Blue clipper

Malachite

Malachite with wings open ... what a difference!

One of my favorites, the enormous atlas moth. The wingspan of an adult female can be up to 12 inches (30cm)!

I'm always in need of Dutch food so I asked for grocery store recommendations on a Dutch horse forum of all places (the people there seem to know everything!) and sure enough they came up with several places.

Ling & Sons is not only on our way, but they also sell Albert Heijn brand, from my favorite Dutch grocery chain. I am truly like a kid in a candy store and Sandy watches wide eyed as I keep pilling stuff in the cart. Sorry people of Aruba, it was me who almost cleared out all of the chicken flavored Albert Heijn Cup-a-Soup!

They even have unox rookworst, only the world's best smoked sausage ever! Sigh. Why did I not find out about this until we are getting ready leave and no longer have use of a microwave?!

In the end, we leave with about $65 worth of Dutch goodies. 

I'm not much of a shopper, but we're on a roll so we might as well keep going. Next, we hit the Renaissance Mall at the harbor to check out Bula Surf Shop. Worth noting that parking can be a bit of an issue at this time of day, but we luck out and find a spot right away.

The surf shop is pretty cool, but none of the board shorts fit quite right. They do have a neon yellow long-sleeve rash guard I like, but I don't have any shorts to go with it.

We're walking towards the exit, when we spot another store just a few doors down sporting a big banner that reads Ripcurl, Roxy, Hurley, etc ... all big name surf brands!

I'm glad we stopped in, because I end up buying two pairs of board shorts, plus a short sleeve rash guard. And hey, now I have shorts to go with the neon yellow rash guard I saw at Bula, so we pick that one up as well. I'm stoked, because I usually have a terrible time finding surfing gear that fits and here I found two complete outfits in one day!

There is a big cruise liner docked in the harbor when we are exiting the mall. It's the Carnival Sunshine and the sudden influx of people has brought traffic to a near standstill. What better time to explore the area near the harbor on foot?

Dutch pub by the harbor ... I bet this is the place to be when the Dutch soccer team is playing.

Cute fake Dutch store fronts.

Can't believe that we didn't notice at the time that the purple building is a gelato store! According to the reviews on Tripadvisor their ice cream is not to be missed.

Sandy leads the way to the monuments ...

There's the statue of Anne Frank

On the pedestal it reads this quote from her diary:

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single a moment to improve the world." 

Next up, the statue of Queen Wilhelmina, who reigned the Netherlands from 1898-1948, longer than any monarch to date.

And finally, the Cornelis Albert (Shona) Eman memorial, who was a much beloved Aruba politician.

The I Love Aruba sign in front of the Aruba Parliament.

We cross back to the other side of the street and walk along the shore by the Renaissance Hotel, but there isn't much to see ... except this cute iguana!

Dennis just texted me! Will I get to surf after all?

~ ~ Please continue to Part II to find out ~ ~