"Things That Make You Go.....WOW!!! " a Aruba Travel Page by SabrinaSummerville

When I told people I'd be ringing in the New Year in Aruba the first question most of them asked was "Where's Aruba?"

One or two people who did know it said "But there's nothing to see or do there." These were all people who had visited for a day as part of a cruise package. Let me tell you, they were all so very wrong.

Aruba is an amazing island, full of surprises at every turn.

Of course, we were lucky to have fellow VTer Pushi Rubiano and her Husband as our personal guides, so we saw parts of the island that perhaps very few tourists get to see. While the scenery isn't the lush tropical kind of thing that most people expect from the Caribbean, the landscape is more than interesting as my photographs will attest. The picture here is of a dead Divi Divi tree ...... but more of that later.

One of the things I really noticed about Aruba is the wealth of animal life that abounds. It's literally a paradise for bird watchers. I spent hours on the beach watching the pelicans dive for fish, and delighted in discovering brightly coloured black and orange Scotts Orioles at the breakfast table scraping the sugar packets. Iguanas are everywhere and look like miniature dinosaurs. They all look so different and are very smart - in fact I am convinced that some of these little guys pose for pictures as they look at you with their beady little eyes.

I also saw lizards and snakes (ok, one dead snake), donkeys, goats, all wild ..... and the list goes on.

One of the things that attracted me to Aruba in the first place was pictures of the stunning and brightly coloured Dutch looking buildings that I had seen in books and brochures. The reality is every bit as stunning as the advertisements.

The buildings in Oranjestad, in particular, have this very Dutch appearance. Some of the smaller shopping centres on the island, such as the one at the Alhambra Casino, try to emulate this image and the result is very pleasant eye candy. Heading inland, the theme of colour is continued in the painting of the family homes of the islanders.