Last night in Aruba

It’s my last night in Aruba so I figured I should update my blog.  Some days I am full of energy and go out exploring the island…. And then it takes me a day or two to recuperate.  I feel like an old man saying that.

I feel like I did a lot while I was here.  Probably my greatest accomplishment was getting to be a certified open water diver.  That’s something that never expires!  And it feels good to have another skill set.  I mean… I know I can always improve at it… but I am pretty confident under the water.

I also started another blog, a book club blog, and I finished the book “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho.  You can check it out at www.whatisoakreading.blogspot.com.  The next book I am going to read is called “The Art of Possibility” by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander.  My mom gave it to me and told me she really liked it…. So, I’m gonna give it a try.  The third book on the list is “Eat, Pray, Love” I keep being told that I need to read it… so I guess I will.

So the other day I went hiking.  There’s one mountain here… it’s not even really a mountain it’s more like a really really big hill.  It is called the Hooiberg which is Dutch for Haystack.  So I hiked the 561 stairs to the top (I counted both ways…. Wikipedia was wrong… it says 562) and there was a great view of the whole island from the top!  What was even better was I could see Venezuela from there too!  Venezuela is my next stop…. So… It was just like… kinda something I did… to look ahead on the journey I guess?  Corny I know… but sometimes it is good to do things like that I think.

So I have a friend named Alfredo… he loves the beach.  Anytime I want to take a trip to the mountains he would rather go to the beach.  Ok… so me and Alfredo have never taken a trip together… except one time to Tijuana for tacos….. but it’s probably because we like things that are such polar opposites!  Anyway…. The reason I bring that all up is because one day we had a conversation about hiking mountains and he said he just didn’t get the point.  And you know… all I could tell him is that it is really hard to convince someone who has never been to the top of a mountain… just how great it is!  I heard an old story…. Obviously before the internet and Google earth and stuff like that… that talked about only those who make it to the top of a mountain can ever know what it’s really like… and what that view is like… and the majesty of it all.  The book I just read kinda talked about it… when something is so majestic… like fire… you can get caught just staring into it…. Have you ever done that?

Anyway… one morning I set out on foot to hike the Hooiberg.  Along the way I passed a place called Casibari.  It is place with Rock formations in it.  There is a sign at the gate that reads:

“Inscription For A Garden Gate

Pause friend, and read before you enter here.  This old stone wall encloses hallowed ground. Here in a mellowed garden dream away the years steeped in serene, sweet light and muted sound.  Here in tranquility peace abides.

For God walks here at cool of evening tide.

Pause, friend, and strip from out your heart all vanity, all bitterness, all hate.

Quench for this hour, the fewer of your fears.  Then treading softly pass with-in this gate, there, where the ancient trees wait, hushed and dim, May you find God and walk awhile with Him.”

 

I’m not gonna lie to you… initial reaction…. Corny!.... but when I walked into the place…it did feel different.  There weren’t many people there, the gift shop was boarded up… and it seemed to be a non touristy place.  There were lizards, and dragonflies, and birds, and owls (which are birds… I know) , and so many different species.  And the lizards were jumping all over the cacti (that’s a bunch of cactus plants) …. And these were smooth warm rocks and so it was suddenly like I was in a giant sized aquarium that people keep lizards in you know?  With the electric rock that heats up that they like to lie on?  Except it was perfect.  There were people there for the mosquitoes to eat and dragonflies to eat the mosquitoes and lizards to eat the dragonflies and birds to eat the lizards and iguanas to eat the birds and owls to eat the iguanas…. And people to ….. take pictures?

Anyway.. I spent way more time there than I had planned because it was a place that just had a great feeling to it.  And every time I tried to leave I found something new and great.  I found these owls that were living in holes under rocks!  So I looked them up when I got home. “Burrowing Owls” !!!  Makes sense huh!

Anyway…. I wandered forever trying to find the steps that go up the Hooiberg and I finally found them.  Great view from the top.  I walked into the city afterwards down to the scuba shop and hitched a ride home with Mark.

I’m sure I have more to say.. but it’s 3 AM… and I can’t think straight…. Maybe to be continued….. maybe I’ll just pick back up and talk about Venezuela later… anyway…. I won’t have a computer readily available to me anymore…. So I don’t know when my next post will be.  Wish me luck!

Just another day in Aruba

So, I have a lot of people ask me how I like traveling alone.  It's kind of a weird thing to do.... true... and I've already kinda talked to the downsides of it, but there is an upside too!  When I go to a museum... I stay as long as I want or as short as I'd like.  When I am amongst a group of people I can keep to myself and contemplate the universe or I can reach out and make friends.  Its funny how you can do something so many times and still get nervous each time you do it.  This is my case with making new friends.  I don't know why I get nervous... I really have never had a bad experience with it... stuff usually goes really smooth... but I have to make a concious effort and just do it.

Yesterday I went diving again to two places I have been before.  The Antilla (the sunken ship) and arashi beach (where I saw turtles)  So this trip I saw 6 turtles 2 Sting rays and 3 eels!  One of the eels heads was bigger than mine!  The huge eel wouldn't come out of it's hole, I would have loved to see how big it actually was.  There were tons of people on our boat, more than I have ever gone out with before.  We split into two groups, one group was this diving school from Holland and my froup was a mix of other people.  A couple from Chicago, a couple from Belgium and Germany, me, another local, and mark.  I didn't expect to make so many friends but I really had a great time getting to know the people in my group.  After the two dives I started getting to know the other group from Holland.  I told them about my story... and they were teaching me things in Dutch.  It's funny that the first words people are usually most anxious to teach are bad words... haha.... anyway afterwards they invited me to stay on the beach with them for a barbq. 

Theres a funny stereotype that the Dutch people are cheapskates and greedy.  Ever heard of going Dutch on a date?  That's where you go out to eat with a boy or girl or friend and you pay for your own meal, even on dates!  So this guy Fred from Holland told me he calls that "going American" :)  I heard a saying: If you meet an intelligent, attractive and friendly woman who likes going dutch then you should hang on to her for dear life.... thought that was pretty funny.  Actually I havn't encountered myself in any situation where I can find this stereotype of the dutch to be true.  The first week when I was out with friends they were insisting on buying me things, then this bbq, I only had a credit card at a restaurant to the waiter paid my tab and told me to bring him the cash later....  Anyway, I have found the Dutch to be nothing but generous..... so consider that myth busted! :D

I washed the dog today.... I couldn't find any dog shampoo... so I used dish soap.... speaking of washing with dish soap, I couldn't find any regular soap when I first moved in here and I kept forgetting to buy soap at the store.... so I showered with dish soap for like 3 days.... works fine... just takes a little longer to rinse :)  Anyway... what's funny about the dog is that there are lots of ticks here.... and dogs in aruba are really suseptable to "brown tick fever" .  I am told that frontline and other tick shampoos don't work so I was given instruction to fill a bucket with water and then to put a syringe full of poison into it and then to wash the dog with it.  Seriously the bottle just says "Poison" well it says "Veneno" which is poison in Portugese.  Beneno in spanish.  Anyways I washed the dog, poured it in his ears like the owner told me to... and now he's sad that he has to stay outside till he's dry.  :D 

Anyway... pretty uneventful day.... just saturday chore day.... washed the dog, cleaned the house, and watched college football :D  I made another blog ... its like my book club... http://whatisoakreading.blogspot.com/   I have a lot of extra time to read so I am going to write about the things I read and stuff.  My hopes is that it will keep me interested in reading, inspire others to read, and also have people suggest great books for me to read.  I am starting with "The Alchemist" which I have already read but I want to read it again.  That's all for now, thanks for reading!

PADI Certified!



Mark looks like someone I know in Lindsay.....
Except that he has long blonde hair... guess who?



As you may have already read in a previous post, the first people I really met on the island were people that work at the fly 'n dive scuba center.  My first 4 days on the island were spent diving in pools, the ocean, and in a classroom doing bookwork to become open water certified as a PADI diver.   I have done 5 dives so far and they have all been unique in their own way... it has been a great new experience.

1. Mangel Halto-  Nothing too exciting on this dive… I saw a juvenile eel and a juvenile flounder… and was just learning a few skills and getting used to breathing under the water.  It is a lot like wearing an SCBA as a firefighter.

2. The Antilla - The Antilla is World War II shipwreck off the coast of Aruba that is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving destination.

When Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, the relationship between the two nations was obviously strained. As part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this extended to Aruba. The Antilla was a German U-boat supply ship that was anchored off the coast of Aruba at the time. When a contingent of Dutch Marines told the Antilla to surrender, the captain asked for an extension, and the Dutch accepted and gave the ship 24 hours to surrender.

The Antilla was fairly new at the time, and rather than see her turned over to the enemy, the captain decided to scuttle the ship. After putting the crew ashore, he heated up the boilers, which were amidships, and opened the seacock. When the cold sea water hit the hot boilers, they exploded, ripping the ship in half. It sank in eight minutes.

At 400 feet long, the Antilla is one of the Caribbean’s largest shipwrecks. Only the cruise liners Bianca C and SS Antilles are bigger, at around 600 feet. It lies on its port side at a maximum depth of 55 feet, though it can readily be seen from the surface. (Wikipedia)

Arashi Airplane – This thing was waaay cool… I swam through the inside of the plane like a giant tunnel… and afterwards me and mark stood on top of the plane where the pilots sit and did muscleman and Zeus poses :D  Swimming through here reminded me of the tv show “Lost” when they find the airliner in the ocean.  J  Pictures do this place more justice than my words can.

4. Fingers- So as we are swimming around Mark is constantly making his fingers into a gun and acting like he’s shooting big fish.  Well I followed him through this little arch past what I thought was a beautiful purple plant.  It looked like it was kind of breathing… and I had seen other small plants that suck themselves into tubes when you get close.  Well I expected this “plant” to do the same.  Well Mark started signaling to me to get out of the way and be careful and then he signaled to the other divers to come over.  That purple thing I thought was a plant was really a lionfish!  The lionfish is one of the most venomous fish on the ocean floor. Lionfish have venomous dorsal spines that are used purely for defense. When threatened the fish often faces its attacker in an upside down posture which brings its spines to bear. However, a lionfish's sting is usually not fatal to humans. If a human is envenomed, that person will experience extreme pain, and possibly headaches, vomiting, and breathing difficulties. 

So I didn’t have any “extreme pain” but I had a terrible headache and I started barfing off the side of the boat afterwards.  Could have just been a coincedence I guess…. Who knows?

5. Sponge Reef-  Home of the soft coral ranging from the orange elephant ear sponges to purple and yellow tube sponges. Also lots of vase and small basket sponges.  What’s cool about diving is that the deeper you go colors start to disappear so the deeper you go the more and more blue things get.  That’s not the cool part because it would be cool to see things in full color.  But what is cool is you start to see the most amazing blue and purple things in colors of purple that seem unnatural.  Anyway… I’m loving diving… it’s great.

We saw 5 turtules and a Ray on one of our dives... it was cool being so close to them.

there were swarms of these fish.... it was amazing to see the way they all moved together.



This fish reminds me of Oprah for some reason....



Brain Coral



Aruba not Jamaica... but I'd still like to take ya ;)

It took me 12 hours to get to Aruba.  I flew from SLC, UT to New York the night of the 6th and had a layover and went to Aruba the morning of the 7th.  I was pretty excited about that because the pass ended the 6th so it’s like I got an extra day.

I met a nice girl on the plane... Single.... Recently divorced... I almost asked if she wanted to hang out but I decided that didn’t feel right for the adventure... She was going to a wedding.... Anyway.... I set out on foot.... I asked a bus driver where the nearest beach was.... He said "on foot?” Of course... Anyway... He told me to walk along the highway so I did.  A couple miles down the road I hit a place on the beach called fly n' dive.

I met a guy named john... He is the owner of the dive shop.  I wanted to ask him about a guest house... But I asked him about diving first.... I told him I'd love to dive but I needed to find a place to stay.  I told him my situation.... As far as traveling goes... He offered me a discount and then sent his nephew looking for a place for me.

So I sit on the beach like all day waiting to do this dive... Because they said I was going to.... I met this hotel owner and also another lady who owns a boat offered to let me sleep on her boat.... But I think she wasn’t just being nice so I said no... :)

So finally I go back to the shop and they tell me to start reading a book and to watch some movies.... So this is the cool kind of school :)  I have always done well at school if I applied myself… I feel like I can do pretty much anything if I apply myself…. Scuba is something I have always wanted to do…. So of course I am going to apply myself and pay attention :D  Plus I have this secret desire to be a James Bond type of secret agent… so I gotta know how to scuba right?  And learn some languages… stuff like that…

While I was watching the videos and reading this guy named Mark walks in and asks if I have found a place to stay yet.  I said no… and he told me I could sleep on his floor for the night and he would bring me back the next day to start diving.  A definite roof is always better than a possible roof…. Even if you have to sleep on the floor... so I said yes and we took off.

                                                                                                

When I slept that night Mark flicked a huuuge cockroach off his arm and it seriously flew 2 inches from my face before hitting the wall and scurrying off... haha

I dropped all my stuff off at his house and then we went to a local hangout/bar/mini mart to meet some of his friends.  So when we get there he introduces me to all of his friends and we get to talking and they are all Dutch.  It is crazy… I had no idea that there were a bunch of Dutch islands…. Anyway…. Long story short I meet this girl named Judith… She told Mark that she was going to Holland for 2 weeks and worried about her Dog because she didn’t really want her X boyfriend to take care of it… but that she felt like it was her only option.  Right then Mark tells her that I am looking for a place to stay and that I’ll take care of her dog.  She says she’ll think about it but the next day she said yes!  Woo hoo!!! Free place to crash at for two weeks in Aruba!  Are you kidding me??? I mean I know I have always had good luck… but wow this is just great!

So I went diving 3 days in a row, Friday 1 Dive, Saturday 2 dives, and Sunday 2 dives.  Aruba has some amazing things to see!  I guess I’m kind of spoiled because I’ve seen places where a lot of divers plan trips to go see… like the Antilla.  I’m going to write this blog about Aruba so far and my next will be about my 5 dives.

So far I have met a bunch of Dutch people and a couple of Arubans.  They speak 4 languages on this island.  English, Dutch, Spanish, and Papiamento (Aruban language).

One night I met Vera, Merleen, Janette, and Camilo….  Then next day Vera and Janette came diving (they had been previously) and Janette came Diving on Sunday.  Saturday night Vera and Marleen wanted to go out clubbing and can you believe I said no?  haha I was so tired and I knew I was diving the next day… and I had just got to my new apartment… so I stayed in….  last time I checked it’s not cool to go to a club in hiking boots or sandals :D  I was so tired because Mark kept me out till 3 AM the morning before bouncing from club to club…. And then we woke up at 7 the next day to go diving…. Yeah… I have to leave that whole part out to keep this family friendly… but just know that Mark is a wild man… and well… just make up your own ending and probably everything you think of happened…. Not necessarily involving me…  actually I was so tired of waiting for him to get done partying I eventually went and fell asleep in the car….  But the stories he told me the next day… yeah… crazy…

Yesterday (Sunday) at the beach after my swim two girls came by where I was sitting and just started putting on lotion… seemed like they wee hanging out for awhile so I started talking to them.  My philosophy is that when you are in a new area you need to make as many friends as possible…. Anyway… they added me on facebook... maybe we’ll hang out sometime… who knows?  Since I don’t have a phone here facebook has been my only way of communicating with anyone… sometimes I’ll find a wifi hot spot and I can use skype… so that’s nice.

Sorry I really can’t go into detail about what I think about the people I meet…. Because well I’m gonna see them again… and that might be weird if they read this and ask me about it…. Ultimately I would love for the people that I meet along the way as well as my other friends to read my blog and follow my travels.

I took the dog for a walk today… he’s scared of everything… every time a car drives by he jumps into the bushes… then I walked to the main touristy part of town to buy a cord for my camera so I could finish this blog…. Mark gave me a ride to the grocery store and then into town… time to finish the blog and relax! I walked just over 8 miles today… and I’m just pooped.. and my feet hurt from wearing flip flops….