Aruba #6

Sunday morning, we set off to find the church of the folks we had met the previous week. With a lot of circling, direction asking, and backtracking, we finally found the church. We were happy to find it, only to be told by a fellow out front that the entire service was in Papiamento, the native language of Aruba. We were very disappointed, and getting ready to leave, when the beautiful alien girl appeared and was very glad to see us. She asked us to at least please stay for “the singing”. We agreed, and we offered to sit in the balcony so as not to disrupt the service. A very nice lady offered to translate for us, and we had a wonderful time singing praise songs, some with familiar tunes, in Papiamento. Quite an experience which also reminded us, that music is still the universal language. We left after the singing as it would be too difficult to follow the preaching through a translator. All our new friends were happy we came, and very surprised to see us. We also had the joy of discovering that our translator’s daughter was a World champion wind surfer at age 15. Later in the store downtown, we purchased a prominent windsurfing magazine with her on the cover. We have a picture of Corky with her. After church we returned to the Condo, had some lunch, napped, and later hit the pool. Vickie went back to the casino for a short time while we napped. She returned to join us at the pool excited to tell that she had yielded $230 this time. In any event, we stayed quite late at the pool lazing around the lazy river, so we decided to eat in this evening. Corky had stashed some fixings for just such an event, so we had penne rigatte, marinara sauce, and sangria. For dessert we all had ice cream cones. Monday morning, we worked on getting our dinner reservations organized for the rest of the week, and set out to go to the butterfly farm and find some CD’s to transfer pictures onto. The butterfly farm was very interesting. It is a small (about the size of a tennis court) ecosystem completely screened with 12 foot high mesh making a big cube of space. Inside this space, they grow and nurture butterflies. We had a tour by a very knowledgeable Frenchman who explained to us how the butterfly life cycle worked, and what we needed to help nurture butterflies in our own environment. All in all it was a wonderful time. In search of the CD’s we ended up at this giant mega mart sort of like a super Wally Mart with a True Value hardware store hitched to the back for good measure. The whole mess was in a rambling sort of mall with shoes, appliances, bakeries, internet café, etc. etc. We found the CD’s and also on our quest was some Pastecki which is the local portable food type indulgence. This consists of puff type pastry wrapped around stuff, and then either deep fried or baked. One of the primary items is a meat pie that looks something like a Hostess fruit pie, filled with a savory meat concoction. Also they have hot dog like things wrapped up in the pastry and baked. We also enjoyed some of their pastries for desert. We stopped off at Little Switzerland so Vickie and Judy could visit a particular vendor for some blouses, and another store where everything was $10 for something or other. We had an interesting sight when we returned to the resort. Somehow a person had managed to drive their rental car over the curb, through the shrubbery, and through the metal fence out to the sidewalk. We never got any details, but it was quite entertaining. I had not mentioned, but we had been under an ocean swimming prohibition for the last two days due to a highly unusual school of jelly fish that descended on the island. That was lifted today, so back in the ocean tomorrow. We rested up a little (naps) when we returned from the CD expedition, and then got ready for dinner. We had reservations for 6:30 at Madame Janette which Corky said is one of the best on the island. We were not disappointed; the food was great, ambience wonderful, cost not extraordinary, wine list great, and portions truck driver size. We were seated outside and it threatened rain a little, but held off and allowed us to enjoy our dinner. Corky and Judy split a pork tenderloin schnitzel with Cesar salad and blue crab lollypops for appetizer. Vickie had tournedos of beef, and I had coconut and almond crusted shrimp in Thai red chili sauce. For desert, Corky and Judy had chocolate soufflé with ice cream, and Vickie and I had rum marinated roasted pineapple with vanilla ice cream. We each had a glass of Chateau de la Coeur Grand Cru Classe, St. Emilion Bordeaux wine. Must mention, it has rained quite a bit off and on in the last week. This is quite unusual for Aruba, which only gets 3 or 4 inches of rain a year. The rain is quite interesting however. You can see the towering clouds and see the rain falling directly under them. You can also watch as they move across the island and out to sea. Tomorrow Vickie and I are going snorkeling, and Corky and Judy are headed back to the jewelry store. We have a reservation tomorrow evening at a restaurant they call Tango which has live tango dancers as a floor show.