It has been just a little over a week since I got back from Aruba, and I think I’m finally ready to start writing about it. This post is going to be a long one, I hope you’re ready for it! But first some background info: The Aruba Crew consisted of Me, my cousin Anthony and two of his friends, John and Alex. My cousin’s girlfriend, Natasha, is going to med school there which is basically what prompted this trip.
Thursday Feb 9:
Get home from class, grab my suitcase (packed the day before), and head over to my cousin’s house. We stayed up all night, and morning until we had to leave for the airport around 4:00am. John’s parents came to pick us up, then we went to pick up Alex. The four of us made our way to the airport… we were half dressed for the hot weather in Aruba already so we were freezing.
Friday Feb 10:
Arrive at the airport around 5:00am. The lineup looked pretty long, but we were only in it for 10-15 minutes. Everyone’s luggage was pretty much at the maximum allowed weight, mine was over by about 4kg due to all the food we had to bring. The lady said I didn’t have to pay for the extra weight… I was relieved. By 5:30 we had cleared customs and were sitting at our gate. The next 2 hours went by really quick… I got a little sandwich to eat and before I knew it we were boarding the plane. I got the window seat! The flight didn’t leave on time because they had to de-ice the wings.
Due to my tendency to get airsick I took some Gravol for the flight. This knocked me out for the entire trip… its the only way to fly! We arrived in Aruba a little ahead of schedule due to some helpful tailwinds (trailwinds?). Once we landed we caught a shuttle to the hotel, and once we checked in we spent the rest of the day relaxing, eating and sucking back Balashi’s.
Saturday Feb 11:
We got the GRAND TOUR! Most of the pictures in my gallery are from this day. Natasha took us to see the entire island, from one tip to the other. From the lighthouse to baby beach (I didn’t get any pictures of that, but it was incredible. Shallow water – up to my knees – for at least a kilometer or two). That night we went out to this crazy restaurant called Amazonia with some of Natasha’s friends. This was the most unique restaurant I’ve ever seen. All you can eat meat, 12 different kinds. The waiters walk around with these huge skewers of steak, lamb, beef, anything you can think of. They stop at your table and cut you a piece. And this continues for the entire night… I was in heaven.
Sunday Feb 12:
Right now I can’t remember anything from the morning/day, but I’ll get this updated when I do We ended this night downtown, and hit a couple clubs: Mambo Jambo and Carlos ‘n Charlies. I found out later that Carlos ‘n Charlies was the club where that girl went missing from a couple months ago.
Monday Feb 13:
Oh man what a day… The previous night we went to sleep around 2:30, and woke up at 5:30 to go deep sea fishing. Let me repeat that: we went DEEP SEA FISHING! The trip started out amazing. We got onto the boat around 6, and sailed off into the horizon. We went so far we couldn’t see land anymore (that is the Deep Sea part). After a while I started feeling kind of funny… the boat was swaying side to side, then it started going up and down. As I said before I tend to get airsick… well, I also learned that day that I get seasick too. I spent the entire fishing trip holding on to some bars protruding from the boat for dear life while I emptied the contents of my stomache into the ocean. I also left something else in the ocean… my new sunglasses. Just a moment after I said “I should probably put these things in my pocket” I leaned over the edge again to throw up, and they slipped off, slid down the side of the boat and made a tiny little SPLASH. I actually didn’t care that much due to all the puking I was doing it was the least of my troubles.
When we finally got back to land we (I use the word ‘we’ loosely…) had caught about 5 or 6 wahu (its a fish that kind of looks like a marlin) each about 1 meter long.
I spent the rest of the day sleeping trying to recover from that crazy adventure. I did manage to get up to eat a little though, and thankfully it all stayed down.
That night we ate at this fancy restaurant at the hotel that we had to make reservations for. They made a killer minestrone soup.
Tuesday Feb 14:
The week was already half over, and I thought I’d start to get depressed about that, but who can be sad about being in Aruba? I was having the time of my life. We finally managed to spend a day just chilling at the hotel on our beach. First time in 5 days, it was kind of strange that we hadn’t done that before. I think this is when I started to notice my tan… and my burning skin. That afternoon we took a trip downtown and looked at the mall and all the little shops they had. There were lots of tshirts and handmade crafts but we didn’t end up buying anything. Couldn’t even find a respectable blackjack table at the casino.
Wednesday Feb 15:
Again, I don’t remember much about this day. I’ll get to it though I managed to catch the USA vs Latvia game (I think it was Latvia), it was kind of exciting. Later that evening Alex and John went to another club downtown called The Paddock. I passed on that and went with Anthony to see Natasha’s apartment. The place reminded me of Melrose Place. There were 2 floors of villa style apartments with a swimming pool right in the middle.
Thursday Feb 16:
One day until we have to leave, but I still feel great. The weather was warmer than it had been all week, even though the day started out with pouring rain. This day was filled with more just chilling on the beach.
Friday Feb 17:
This was it… our final day on the island. We got up kind of early, and after breakfast we walked up and down the beach a couple of times before we had to check out and hop on the shuttle back to the airport. The flight back was the same for me as the one the week before. I passed out because of the Gravol and before I knew it I was home. … freezing cold Canada.
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