Bon Bini from Oranjestad, Aruba

Mike, my son and I were fortunate enough to spend a week in Aruba with Mike’s sister and her husband. It is a beautiful island.

My sister-in-law and her husband have owned a timeshare for many years and fly to Aruba every year. This year, we went with them.

As we flew into the small island, we instantly relaxed. We were spending a week in paradise.

Our home for the week was a Marriott, with a lazy river, restaurants, cabanas on the beach and beautiful sunshine.

Since my in-laws were familiar with the island, we definitely had the VIP experience. They knew the good restaurants and we had a lovely time sightseeing and roaming this beautiful island.

One day, we rented an ATV and wandered around. We went to a local beach, away from the tourists. The beach was quiet and the snorkeling was lovely in the crystal clear waters. We even met the Postmaster General while we sat next to him on the beach. He was very friendly and gave us the insider news on hotels being built in the area.

We met Mama, from Big Mama Grill. She was also very friendly. The food they were cooking smelled divine. It was still early in the morning and they were not open yet, so we were not able to sample her tasty menu, but we heard that her restaurant was famous for a very delicious reason.

After we left the beach, we drove along the coast to several tourist sites including California Lighthouse. I’m not sure if you know this, but we are huge lighthouse geeks, so we had to climb it. It was small and in good condition. The funny thing was, that even though it was supposed to be open at a certain time, we had to wait until the attendant showed up to unlock it. We were on island time, so we did not mind.

The next stop was The Chapel of Our Lady of Alto Vista. This chapel was quaint and small. There was seating outside and inside. We were allowed to enter the chapel and we lit a candle for our angels.

Our next leg of the island journey up the coast included beautiful seashores, eclectic fishing huts, areas to stop and take pictures and more.

We stopped at the Bushiribana Gold Mill Ruins next. This was the only remains left of the Bushiribana Glold Smithing Plant. The plant was built in 1872 by the Aruba Island Gold Mining Company in the heart of a quartz mining area. We were able to walk inside and climb on the rocks inside.

After we left the ruins, we stopped at the Natural Bridge and bought an ice cream before moving on to Ayo, a natural rock formation and ate lunch at a restaurant on Liby Beach. Of course we needed to have a tropical cocktail to quench our thirst as we ate lunch. The lunch and spirits did not disappoint.

After our bellies were full, we meandered over to Quadirikiri Cave. The ranger gave us a tour of this cave in Arikok National Park. He was delightful! He regaled us with history and stories about the island. Even the experienced travelers learned a few new things from him.

We finally returned the ATV and went back to our hotel.

The rest of our trip included delicious meals, friendly people, gorgeous sunsets, and being lazy on the beaches. My sister-in-law was a fantastic host and made sure we had cabanas at the beach and lounge chairs at the pool. We played bingo, floated in the lazy river and most importantly, we relaxed.

I would recommend visiting Aruba at least once in your life. It is the epitome of island life and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.