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June 2005

South Coast

David Aaronson
2005-10-01 20:46:31

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The so-called south coast of Aruba (it actually faces west as much as south) is the lee side of the island and contains most of the population and all the resorts and 'safe' swimmable beaches. Somehow our internet-based research on beaches turned out to be shockingly accurate and the beach we stayed at (Manchebo) is pretty much exactly what we would have wanted had we surveyed the island first.

We stayed at the Manchebo Beach resort (this picture (1) is taken from our balcony there) which is just a little south of the center of the low-rise area. Coming up the coast from the capital Oranjestad one first reaches the low-rise area which has nice wide beaches, a lot of extended stay lodging, time-shares, apartments and the like, and is relatively quiet. The next area north is the high-rise area which is pretty much the spring-break style chaos that every Caribbean city seems to have at least a component of. Most of the hotels and restaurants up that way are American chains (although some good restaurants can be found). Life in Aruba (as a visitor at least) consists mostly of waking up at some point and wandering down to the beach, where you claim a palapa (the little thatched shade mechanism) and a lounge chair. Later if you work up the energy you can wander away from your palapa in short bursts to swim, consume tropical drinks, or go in search of more suntan lotion.

This is assorted lizards including two iguanas and an exciting teal-colored thing on that rock in the back left (2). I spent the better part of a morning herding these three lizards together so they could be in one photograph so I hope everyone reading this appreciates that. Iguanas are pretty much everywhere except the high-rise area (where they would be tortured by intoxicated teenagers). Note that herding them is not a recognized form of lizard torture. It's entirely possible that they even like it. If one is interested in lizard-herding as a career ...

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