Day 17 - Storms in Paradise & Aruba Nightlife

Day 17 (August 22, 2023)

Trouble in paradise!!!

I woke up at half past five - there was a thunderstorm. And not a little. I watch the thunderstorm from the pool. A constant change from night to daylight. Cool. According to the weather radar, a big storm will blow through until 9 a.m. So far it's not raining, there's just a thunderstorm.

I still can't sleep anymore and watch the spectacle for a while. As dusk falls, the sky opens its floodgates. It's pouring rain - including a thunderstorm - and it doesn't want to stop. Our terrace is under water after a short time. So we probably won't have to fill up the pool again this week.

Today we're having breakfast in the house for the first time, because it's still the end of the world outside.

At 9 a.m. the rain slowly starts to ease. We're thinking about what we're going to do today. The beach is not up for debate for now. Hmm, it wasn't there yesterday. We search the internet for alternatives to “sitting in the villa” and decide on the “ Butterfly Garden ”. We went to the Butterfly Garden in Dubai at Easter and were absolutely thrilled by the many butterflies. Son is happy, so let's go.

The street in our residential area is completely under water. Underbody washing included 😉 There is water everywhere on the main street too.

Before that we go to Super Food for lunch again. Today the selection of vegetarian dishes is unfortunately very limited. I can't have more than a tomato and cheese baguette today. We take some more drinks with us - our supply has already dwindled quite a bit - and after a lot of begging, a bar of “Tonys” comes out for the kids, then we drive on to the Butterfly Garden .

At $19 per person ($10 kids up to 17 years old), the entrance fee is pretty steep, so we bite the bullet and pay the entrance fee. Son is so happy. Included here is a short tour with an explanation about the many species of butterflies and the time it takes to develop from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Very interesting. In contrast to the Butterfly Garden in Dubai, it is strictly forbidden to pick up a butterfly here. In Dubai they flew at us and if you held your hand to them, they climbed on them. Here in Aruba “just looking” is allowed. If someone accidentally hits your head, it will be tolerated. Here too the motto is: don't touch it!

We stroll through the Butterfly Garden for about 1 hour. It's hot and humid. There are also a few budgies in the butterfly aviary, hopping from branch to branch while chirping.

We continue to Eagle Beach. We all have beach clothes with us, but I don't feel like swimming without some sun. The sea doesn't look really nice without the sun - unfortunately...

We stop at the parking lot in front of the Fofoti Trees – the landmark of Eagle Beach.

The Fofoti tree has a twisted trunk and grows diagonally towards the sea. The Fofoti is often confused with the Dividivi tree, but they are not the same trees. The special shape of these trees is primarily due to the constant trade winds. The Fofoti is protected by law, as indicated by signs.

We take a few photos and are amused by Sohnemann, who looks past the trees a little further along the sea and promptly gets wet from one of the blowholes that are hidden there.

Just a few meters away we find a large tree with a swing and set up our beach chairs here. I sit down on the beach in my chair and doze – after all, the night was short. The husband throws himself into the water, we prefer to watch.

Towards the late afternoon we drive back to the villa, have dinner and drive back to Signature Beach for sunset. Like last time, we find a parking space here - right next to the police station.

After sunset we drive along JE Irausquin Blvd to the Hilton Hotel and look for a parking space. Here the bear is raging at the bars and restaurants opposite, there is no parking space to be found. We drive to The Village Parking ($4) and then take a look at Aruba's nightlife. We stop at the “ Mambo Jambo ” bar and find a nice spot. It's happy hour right now - how convenient! Here you can get happy hour cocktails for $4.50!!! We arrived 5 minutes before happy hour ended. Our waitress - a lively and talkative lady with German roots - advises us to order several cocktails straight away, so we would pay the happy hour price. How nice, so there are 2 cocktails for each, 2 x beer for the husband and 2 x “mocktails” without alcohol for the son. What a cool evening!