ARUBA!!!

Aruba was amazing! Loved every minute of it, from the beautiful beach, the crazy Carnival celebration, the incredible diving, the absolutely amazing food to the challenging, but fun golf...honestly, what more could a girl ask for in a vacation? 

Seriously, these people know what they are talking about when they say Aruba is One Happy Island! I was surprised by the fact that Aruba isn't a lush, tropical island. In fact it is quite the opposite...dry and deserty with lots of iguanas and lizards. But I found the land to be quite beautiful and captivating all on it's own. 

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am all about the beach! Can I just tell you....Holy Cow! The water was a beautiful turquoise color with soft white sand. There was actually quite a bit of coral on the beach in the water. When we w

ent diving the dive master said that Aruba i

s actually a coral reef that keeps building itself up and pushing up out of the water. This is what causes the dry, deserty conditions. Aruba has no natural water sources and gets very little rain. Because of that they have built a water desalinization plant that takes ocean water and turns it into usable water. We loved the drinking water. It was like perfectly filtered bottled water coming out of the tap. 

We had no idea that we were in Aruba during Carnival. It was so fun to be a part of this celebration. We were told by one cab driver that people spend more time and money on Carnival than any other holiday including Christmas. The costumes were elaborate, the music loud, and the dancing plentiful. I did, however, feel like I had smoked a few packs of cigarettes and was tipsy on the fumes of all the alcohol consumed. Oh, we had fun though!

I think the part I liked the best about Aruba was the people. Everyone was so open and friendly and happy. It was an interesting mix of Dutch, Latin and American influences. The people were beautiful. Aruba is definitely One Happy Island!