Beyond ARuba

ARUBA
Well it seems almost anticlimactic to finally have reached our first port. Aruba survives totally on tourism today it’s oil refineries and gold smelting businesses gone long ago. It is about 74 square miles and is infested with large hotels everywhere. The beaches are open to all, and they are gorgeous. About 90K hardy souls live here, most are Dutch and Roman Catholic (there’s a combination for you).
Hallway consult
One of our fellow passengers struck up a conversation with me in the hallway. He had trekker sticks and we started talking about them. He has ambulatory challenges and uses them; I had been debating whether to bring ours along today. But he also has some foot problems and was wearing sandals which I think I have persuaded him is probably not such a good idea for him to use on outings. Then we discussed his background which involved much work in the public and private sectors in so many diverse areas. He did eventually wind up finishing his working career in the discipline in which he got his college degree.
Internet connection
I have never experienced such unreliable internet service on a ship before that I recall. It may be because of the storm. At least I hope so. I’m getting kicked off with some regularity and Ed has still not been able to connect.
I finally went up to the internet café to check on it all. I couldn’t log into my email because Internet Explorer (Microsoft) does not support any MAC application which is what my email is based on. And they won’t allow Safari or Firefox to be installed in which case I could connect with me.com The tech said that one man said he had gotten on but we are both shocked and I told him I wasn’t going to try it and waste lots of time.
There appears to be a problem with the wifi and laptops; it is a Princess problem and this young man is clearly at his rope’s end trying to mollify those of us with laptops. I may try using a flash card at the terminal for some stuff but not quite yet.
We all feel his pain!
Today’s tour
Since we were late getting into port, we all met in the Casino Lounge and went off ship in shifts. Our tour was on a 55 passenger tour bus but there were probably only 20 of us if that many. We first went ot the Holiday Inn (where Natalie Holloway? Stayed) and caught a transfer boat to a “submarine” to see fish and an old ship wreck: The Antilles. This was actually much more interesting than either of us expected. First of all, the transfer boat ride over there was a new experience as the wind is something fierce here. The submarine immediately reminded me of the submarine ride at Disneyland except this one has large windows. We saw sergeant major, wasser and a few other fish; the wreck was easily viewed and I will try to post one good photo where you can see the guns. This took about an hour and then we were shuttled back where we picked up the bus again. Next we went to the California lighthouse (named after a ship which wrecked there in the early 1900s?) and there are impressive dunes here as well. A gorgeous location for a restaurant for a future visit. They had great old clay pots/jugs and amphora all around.
Next it was the Casabiri a park (and souvenir shop of course) where there are huge boulders and amazing sized cacti. Behind the souvenir shop are some wild animals. Hard to get a photo of the iguana which secret themselves in the cacti. I would too if I were them since they are eaten here. It sprinkled while were were here, something fairly rare in these parts. Everything here looks desert like and parched.
And then we were back in town where Ed and I sauntered through a few shops and then located a market where we bought sodas for a more respectable price than the ship affords. And Ed lugged them back in his backpack. When we are in LA, he has several large boxes of 24 to take on the ship.
Dinner and a show?
Only 4 of us but we had fun talking about all things silly. We went back to the room where I downloaded photos and began to edit some as Ed snored away with some weird ?news? channel droning away in the background (but turn it off and he immediately wakes up!) Soon we were off to the entertainment, a singer comedian. Let me just be as gentle as I can: he was beyond his prime when I was a child. He tries god bless him, and Ed will sit through anything like this so after a polite period of time, I excused myself and found the photos they’ve taken of us so far. There are some really cute photos of Ed. Our Aruba disembarkation photo is sooooo touristy! And the embarkation photo in Fort Lauderdale is imminently forgettable. Nonetheless, I gamely tucked them aside for Ed and I to plow through later.
Access to the blog
If you try to access the blog without success, try again later. I guess there’s a maintenance issue as I had this problem long before I left LA. Combine that with the fickle internet connection here on the ship and it’s a miracle anything gets posted!
Tomorrow
10 am Panama Canal talk
I always learn something new at these lectures and often it’s because of the nationality of the speaker and their particular perspective on events. Such was the case today. He has a slide show with embedded videos to illustrate his points. Altogether really still fascinating how it was all accomplished.
Trivia was moved to another site since our usual location is being used for an art auction. Then when we went to the second site, it was full and there is an overbooking problem. (the emerald lecture was using that space) Despite how I enjoy trivia, this is not a great sacrifice for me, believe me.
Library
I found the large print section. It’s small but with some variety. The sudoku was the offering for today; tomorrow is the brain teaser so I brought Ed a copy to play with. This space is quiet and a wonderful relaxing place to be. One lady had her laptop on but was watching others mostly. No one has started a jig saw puzzle yet. The book club is being discussed by many. There are a few magazines of various stripes to enjoy there.
News sources
CNN is of and on because of the satellite connection I presume. We got bits and pieces of Fareed Zacharia’s interview with an Iranian official. I appreciate that he doesn’t let them wiggle away from the questions but still, like American politicians, they have stock phrases they simply repeat.