Aruba #1

Aruba trip so far:
Plane travel was exactly as it always is with the exception of being lucky enough to be on 2 COMPLETELY FULL planes. Flight from Charlotte to Aruba is 4 plus hrs, and boy were we ready to get off that plane. Aruba immigration was easy as they wheeled me right through in my chair. Caught a cab right away to the Marriott and driver was very nice and interesting. Marriott is very deluxe. Corky was waiting on us in the lobby, and after we were settled a little, he and Judy showed us around. After our tour we spent some time unpacking, and went to dinner at one of the restaurants here at the Marriott complex. (There are three separate Marriott entities all in one giant complex) We had one of the best plates of Mahi Mahi I had ever tasted. It was situated on a bed of roasted vegetables with mashed potatoes, and some type of sauce. (and cream brûlé for desert) Washed it down with a couple of Balashi beers, which is the only beer brewed here in Aruba. Probably one of the only beers in the world brewed with de-salinated sea water. (95% of the water in Aruba comes from the world’s second largest desalinization plant) Saturday, it was up early and stake out four good chairs around the pool. Can’t reserve your chairs until 07:30, but then you put your big towels on them and claim them for the day. After I claimed the chairs, I shared my granola bar with a pretty little blue lizard then got in the pool and started walking laps. Bet I walked 20 or 30 laps around this pretty good sized pool. Then I found a cool water seat under a palm tree and it allowed me to work my legs against water resistance and work on the range of motion. Alternated between reading a book and cooling off in the water for a large part of the day while Vickie was off at the Casino playing bingo. Later Vickie bought us some tube type blow up things and we spent some time floating around the big lazy river they have in the huge wandering pool here. Went to dinner Saturday night at Hostaria Da Vittorio and had some really great authentic Italian food (Vickie had some amazing vegetable and wild mushroom risotto and I had some veal medallions in a killer butter sauce with wild mushrooms) and shared a bottle of GOOD Italian wine. Corky and Judy have been coming here for quite a while, so they know a lot about the places to dine. Also, Corky is quite an aficionado of both food and wine, so we have our own gastronomic guide to the island. Vickie and I don’t often go out to eat, let alone at restaurants of this caliber. Sunday morning was pretty much a repeat of Saturday, except Vickie and I took some bagels and coffee out by the pool and had a morning picnic. Tried something new, and walked laps against the current in the lazy river. Vickie walked with me and we went and explored another part of the pool that has a water fall, spray jets on a wall, and a water slide. Then we walked back through the other side of the lazy river against the current. Read a book again for a while, (Vickie went to the casino) then grabbed a snack and went to the room to watch the Talladega race. Tonight we went to dinner down in Oranjestead at the Dutch Pancake House and in the process, we got to se a lot of the little back streets etc of the city. The pancakes were totally different than what we were accustomed to. Corky and Judy suggested we order 1 savory pancake and one desert pancake and share. So Vickie and I ordered a Dutch which had ham, cheese, and leeks in it, and a Pear Flambé. (with rum) The food was once again wonderful, unlike anything we had ever tasted. All the while we were eating, we were in an open air café overlooking a park. It was cool and a breeze was blowing in off the ocean. Just across from us some musicians were set up on a little open air stand, and kept us entertained with all types of music. Meanwhile Corky kept us enthralled with stories of his past adventures. It is totally amazing, if you didn’t know him, you would think he was trying to impress someone with name dropping. But the truth of the matter is, he’s not. He really did perform for all those Presidents, and really did work with and spend time with many famous people. And of course my personal favorite he really did perform a duet of God Bless America at a Presidential reception with Kate Smith. After dinner, once again the “Vickie never met a stranger” show was on the air. A tall young boy was sitting on a bench listening to the musicians. He waved to Vickie, and somehow pretty soon they were dancing (the only ones dancing) on the sidewalk in front of the band. Turns out the guy, was a young (23 tomorrow) evangelist from Holland. He came to Aruba with just a suitcase, and has since become somewhat of a phenomenon. He was totally amazed by how things had just happened in a good way, that he never planned. We had an interesting time talking to him and his entourage. (All young kids but good kids) In the fiction can’t be this strange department: one of his group was a beautiful young girl with strange gifts. She was a twin whose twin died in the first trimester (before birth) and somehow, she ended up with some extra bones and sort of a dual circuited nervous system. She was able to move parts of her body independent of others, especially appendages of the hands and feet. She also had some strange bone structure in her hips that allowed her to dislocate them at will without any pain. She said her friends thought she was an alien. All I know was she was the prettiest young alien I had ever seen. Well finally it was back to the Marriott and I’m writing this while Vickie has gone back to the casino. She says there is a dolphin machine she really loves from past experiences at Vegas. Can’t fault her though, she plays for hours, and usually ends up money ahead. Bye for now.