Day 5
Down in the bowels of the ship, I was woken the next morning by what sounded and felt like an earthquake, but was in fact just the engine working hard to bring us into the port of Oranjestad, Aruba. We had a quick breakfast in the Lido watching as tour groups headed off on their excursions and feeling slightly jealous for those who had a submarine tour planned for the day (note to self: add that to the bucket list!)
Before long, we made our way out into the heat of the Arubian sun and onto dry land again. Our intention had been to catch the local bus up to the California lighthouse, wander around and figure out what to do - so not much of a plan. As luck would have it, the buses were only once every hour and we had over a half hour until the next one, so decided we'd see what options the tour hawkers lingering around the port could offer us.
First to approach us was a stylish woman who told us she could take us around the western part of the island on a tour that was leaving right this instant. With little time to think, we decided to just go for it, and so she ran off to pick up her colourful open topped van for us and another couple to jump into. And then we were off, cruising down the streets as the wind whipped my hair all over the place. I actually enjoyed the open topped bus as not only did the constant breeze mean that we couldn't feel the heat but the view was so much better than if we'd been behind glass.
Every time our guide wanted to point something out to us, she would yell over the engine. "ON YOUR LEFT YOU'LL SEE THE AYO ROCKS" she yelled as we passed the huge limestone structures, "THIS IS A TYPICAL ARUBIAN HOUSE," and so on and so forth. Our little journey took us to the Baby Land Bridge, along the road to which I was nearly thrown overboard by the horrendously bumpy road and lack of vehicle suspension; the tiny Alto Vista Chapel; the California Lighthouse ($1 if you wanted to use the restroom); and back along Palm and Eagle Beach with their beautiful clear water and the occasional impressive shipwreck. All in all, our tour took about 2 and a half hours, which for $20 I don't think was bad at all.
We arrived back in time just to see the free trolley train fill up again with visitors. Hopping on, we squeezed past cars parked too close to the tracks and cruised slowly up the pedestrianised Main Street alongside all of the shops. At the end of the street, the trolley train stops for twenty minutes before turning back, so we decided to hop off and walk back ourselves.
Along Main Street, there were a bunch of signs with recommendations of what to do which I thought was great, with one of the recommendations being to try a pastechi. As it so happened, the only shop with a line coming out of the door was a pastechi stop, so that seemed like more reason than any to try one. We had to queue for about twenty minutes before ordering our pastechis filled with young Gouda cheese (see the Dutch influence) and continued on our way while munching the deliciously gooey empanada-like pastry.
Turning away from Main Street, we headed back down to the seafront, stopping to buy a snowglobe at one of the many souvenir shops and then heading in search of coffee. Thanks to free Wi-Fi in the area, we TripAdvisored and chose the Aruba Experience Bakery and Patisserie, which was slightly out of the way, but a beautiful stone building. They didn't have many pastries on offer when we arrived but the atmosphere was so nice it seemed a shame not to stop for a glass of fresh orange juice.
And just like that, we'd done all we thought there was to do in the little port town of Oranjestad. We wandered our way back to the air conditioned ship, again just in time for tea in the Dining Room (a hard habit to break). This time we were sat with an American military couple and a German woman, providing a nice break from talking to the people you already spend a lot of time with, and find out a bit about other people's lives and their experiences of cruising.
I had a bit of free time for reading and blogging before getting ready for another round of Total Body Conditioning in the gym, this time full of ab work that certainly seemed much more difficult than usual, although maybe that was just due to the extra layers of padding provided by the past few days of eating about four times as much as usual...
Speaking of food, that was next on the agenda with a little bit of variation from the usual as we decided to eat in the Lido due to the Caribbean Themed Dinner that would be taking place there. There was plenty of choice, although not too much catering for the vegetarian diet, so I opted for a delicious bean soup followed by make-your-own-pasta (very Caribbean) and key lime and coconut pie.
The nature talks had been upgraded to prime time so we headed down to the Mainstage for a fascinating talk on birds which told us everything we needed to know and more about birds of the neotropics, from parrots to toucans and hummingbirds. Talks and entertainment seemed to get more popular each and every day so we had a full house by the time we got to the night's entertainment.
This was quite different than those that came before it as we had juggler John Nations, who not only did very impressive juggling tricks involving balls, bats, tennis racquets and knifes; but was also very funny and personable. I'd hire him for a party anyday.
Day 6
The clocks went back over night so we supposedly had an extra hour in bed, but knowing that there's no rest for the wicked, I was up at 7am to face the day. With all that extra time, I decided to head to Just Breathe up on the Lido Deck, again in collaboration with Oprah Winfrey's O Magazine. This was pretty similar to our Stretch and Release classes but with a bit of meditation and yoga thrown in for good measure.
We ate breakfast whilst watching the tiny flying fish jump out of the water from down below, and then headed back for our daily Stretch and Release. Sometimes it felt like the instructor forget we were on a moving ship, asking us to balance on one leg, difficult enough when the ground's not moving below you!
If you've read by blog before or can guess based on my meal choices throughout this trip, you probably know that I'm a vegetarian. However, this didn't put me off attending America's Test Kitchen's demonstration of the perfect Steakhouse Dinner, as I truly find the demos very interesting and relaxing. What's the going rate for a television salesperson? Now that's a job I'd like to try.
Our next nature talk was at 11am and on amphibians and reptiles. We learnt about all the differences between toads and frogs, and a bit more about one of my favourite toads, the Pebble Toad (YouTube its defence mechanism); differences between crocodiles, alligators and caimans; no discussion on snakes to make sure not to trigger any guests fears; and the water walking basilisks.
Given that it was Sunday, brunch was on offer in the Dining Room, so I opted for yummy caramel corn pancakes, smashed avocado on toast, and apple crisp. Going hungry is definitely not a fear on the Volendam! I raced back to the theatre to catch the second America's Test Kitchen demo of the day on 'Everything Salmon', again more interested in watching the demo and the skill of the presenter in talking continuously whilst engaging the audience than the food itself.
At 2pm, we headed to the Mainstage for a talk on the History of the Building of the Panama Canal given that we would be passing through it the following day. We learnt about its origins as a French project, all of the issues that occurred with landslides, diseases and poor engineering that led to the failure of the project before it was reignited by the Americans who led the project to its completion. Admittedly I knew very little about the Panama Canal beforehand, but attending the talk made me excited to see it as well as appreciative of all the effort that had gone into its creation.
If you've read the earlier editions of this trip series, you'll know that we managed to win a voucher for the spa, so I decided to put this to good use with a special multi-treatment they'd concocted. This consisted of an exfoliating rub, full body massage and wrap. A hugely relaxing hour, but I was surprised to hear that days at sea were the most popular for the spa - I'd have thought not rocking back and forth would be more relaxing!
Dinner was back in the Dining Room with beet risotto and pineapple crisp. I rushed off to the small Hudson Room on deck to hear the tale of La Segua, a Costa Rican folklore about a woman spurned by her lover who then turned herself into a terrifying flaming horse headed lady terrifying other playboy men who tried to lure young women away. Very interesting story and read well, with sounds effects provided by the attendees (dun dun dun!)
It was then to the Mainstage for the second show of the Volendam singers and dancers, this time titled 'Variations'. We saw some great dancing include an interesting street dance to classical music; and beautiful musical theatre style singing of songs such as 'Amigos Para Siempre' and 'The Winner Takes It All.' Without a doubt, one of my favourite parts of cruising so far has been the entertainment - I'd pay good money to see this stuff any day.
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