hours by air from Miami, Florida and within easy flying distance of other
U.S. cities. Most of its 27 luxury hotels are lined up neatly along the
northwestern shore.
Aruba is an easy island to get to know, and equally easy to love. Just l5
miles off the coast of Venezuela, it is far enough from home for adventure,
but small and friendly enough to feel like a second home.
The Arubans themselves may be their country's best advertisements.
Long secure in a solid economy with good education, housing and health
care, the Arubans regard tourists as welcome guests.
The native Aruban is a mixture of Dutch, Spanish, and Arawak Indian
ancestry -- and so is his unofficial language, Papiamento. Dutch is the
official language, but every Aruban child studies English and Spanish
from the age of l0 and most residents speak it well.
Aruba's multi-cultural history is vivid in its sightseeing attractions. From
Fort Zoutman's Museum and the William III Tower to the early twentieth
century Dutch architecture on charming streets like Wilhelminastraat, the
city of Oranjestad is perfect for a walking tour. In the cunucu, or
countryside, undeciphered writings on the walls of the cave at Arikok
National Park, recall Aruba's earliest residents while the Church of Santa
Anna, with its famous 115-year-old oak altar, represents more
recent history.
Topography and vegetation are unusual for a Caribbean island. On the
south and west coasts are miles of pristine white beaches that rank
among the most beautiful in the world, rimmed by calm blue seas with
visibility in some areas to a depth of a hundred feet.
The beaches curve like an Aruban smile along the western shores, soft
and white and fringed with palm trees, sloping gently toward the calm,
transparent turquoise of the Caribbean.
The waves of the Atlantic crash like incessant thunder against the
northern cliffs, carving high, arched coral bridges and deep, dark, secret
limestone grottoes.
Between the two extremes, in a desert landscape where the cacti grow to
the height of a man, great building-sized tumbles of boulders stand like
the legacy of some ancient, angry god. Winding roads lead to rocky
passes and hidden coves, or sometimes to nowhere at all. Green
parakeets call to their mates, and troupials flash billiant orange against
the deep blue of the Caribbean sky.
Politically, Aruba has made quiet and peaceful change. On January l,
l986, the nation left the Netherlands Antilles to become a separate entity
within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Now Aruba has its own governor,
appointed by the queen. Local government is democratic, with an elected
2l-member Parliament and Council of Ministers.
Technically, Aruban tourism began in l957 when the first cruise ship, the
Tradewind, came to call, and in l959 when the first hotel/casino, the
Aruba Caribbean (recently restored to its former prominence by the
Radisson Hotel), opened its doors. However, the world truly began to
discover the island in the mid-l960s. Hotels, casinos, restaurants, shops
and amusements have been popping up ever since.
The island's most famous trees are the watapana, or divi-divi trees, all
permanently sculpted into graceful, south-bending shapes by the
constant trade winds.
