Natural Aruba
Sheesh. Aruba usually gets 20 inches of rain a year, and over last night and today, this desert island has probably received one of those inches! On every island we've been on this trip, the locals keep saying, "but this is the dry season" as we're getting poured on.
Yesterday, we drove over to Arikok National Park and hiked to the east coast of the island. We hiked a total of 6 miles in blazing sun and gusty winds through a relatively barren landscape. It was pretty neat. {We saw only 2 other couples hiking - everyone else (most 30 years younger than us) rode 4X4's through the desert.}
Our starting point
A divi tree along the way
Note the line of windmills at the top of the picture
This was the goal of the hike. It's called Natural Pool, but it was beyond me how you could swim there. Apparently at some other time of year, the area just beneath the crashing wave fills enough with water for people to (?)safely swim.
just a cool picture
We were going to take a selfie, then some nice "kids" came by and offered to take one for us
This is actually a tree
On the way back
Small world: one of the "kids" who took our picture was from Murfreesboro (a town just 20 minutes from Mt. Juliet). Also, the corn flakes we bought at the Save-a-Lot grocery store came from Earth City, MO (just outside of St. Louis).
We walked around downtown Oranjestad (the capital) today. Not much to see or photograph, other than the blue horses scattered around as an art installation.
I was standing by the "I (heart) Aruba" sign when I took this picture. I absolutely refused to take a picture of the sign that all the tourists were taking of others and themselves. BUT, I did take several pictures of these blue horses scattered through downtown. I guess I am a tourist after all.
This last picture sums up Aruba for me very well (my favorite snorkeling place on the island):
