Bon dia from Aruba!
People here refer to it as “one happy island” without irony, so we will try to refrain from irony in this podcast.
I’m here to write about Arbua’s sustainability efforts, so we are not doing the usual touristy activities, like lying on the beach, snorkeling and making donuts in ATVs. (OK, to be honest, we wouldn’t do that, anyway.)
Speaking of happy islands, our question of the week is about destination slogans that don’t live up to their promise. We’d love to hear about yours. We’ll read your comments in our next podcast.
This is the Shoco, Aruba’s famous burrowing owl. We saw several of them on our birdwatching/sustainability tour with our friend Michael. It’s hard to understate the fragility of Arbua’s ecosystem. All it takes is one ATV to cross a roped-off area accidentally, and this owl is history. We’ll have more about this in the podcast.
The north side of Aruba is uninhabited and very windy but beautiful. You can hike among the rocks and watch the waves come crashing ashore.
As you head south, you get to the developed part of Palm Beach. On this day, just before sunset, there was almost no wind, and the ocean was like a sheet of glass. If you keep driving south to Baby Beach, you can see the coastline of Venezuela.
Don’t forget this week’s question about destination slogans that didn’t quite live up to their promises. I can’t wait to read your comments!
Aruba Confidential: Here's what we found on this "happy" island