5/5/24

 We had our island tour today. I am glad we planned it this way. We went around the entire 6 mile wide, 20 mile Long Island. We saw many of the popular sights.

We started at the slow farm. We learned how Aloe is farmed, harvested and the different ways it can be used. As we were standing there, the tour guide cut the end off the aloe leaf. 

The girl in front of me stunk of BO…but it wasn’t quite BO, it was a mixture of BO and spicy beans. 

Turns out, the smell wasn’t from the girl at all. It was the concentrated aloe sap.

As the tour continued, we learned that the island is under Dutch law. The Dutch have their ducks in a row as far as crime goes. There is a 2 % crime rate on the island. If you are caught stealing, it is a minimum of 5 years in prison. None of this appearance ticket stuff.

We also learned that each bar has 4 prostitutes. This cuts down the number of rapes on the island. Prostitution is legal and the prostitutes get free health checks every other day. They come from other islands and can only stay 3 months…then they ship in new prostitutes. I think it will be a fun game to play “who is the prostitute” when we go to a bar.

We saw the refinery, the brewery and a house from the 1700’s. We saw the light house, climbed up to the top of a natural rock formation and got bubbling drinks with dry ice in them called cyclones.

We went to Baby Beach where the water was 3-4 feet deep and had nets to keep the big fish out.  They told us that the white sand comes from the parrot fish poop.

We did go swimming at baby beach. Then decided to eat at a flinstones style bar.

We saw some beautiful artwork in the art district, the oldest chapel and the gold mine ruins. 

We also saw a natural rock bridge. It reminded me of the one we saw at the Grand Canyon. 

We saw and touched the stray dogs, saw a pack of goats and multiple wild donkey.

The public transit is called the Arubus. It hit my funny bone just the right way so I was chuckling about it all day. Clever marketing.

We learned that all the houses have gates and the gates are to keep the goats out. All goats are owned and have tracking devices. If a goat was at your property last and is not accounted for, the farmer can take you to court and you have to pay a fine and all court fees. The goats are let out in the morning and they know how to go home in the evening.

When we arrived back at our Air B&B, we had drinks. We went in the swimming pool and played some good tunes. We talked about our day and also started to tentatively plan tomorrow. What a great first full day!