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Aruba is a curious place
Last fall I ended up spending most of a week in Aruba due a friend's access to a family place to stay. I still find myself musing about the social and economic structure and general vibe of the place.
In some ways it reminds me of Las Vegas. There are a few areas along the coast offering a very packaged experience with a lot of service and a bunch of shopping that goes at high-end as you want. Turn at right angles to the axis of the tourist strip, and it's a whole other world.
I think I'm pretty good at noticing class and racial tension, though, and it wasn't like anyplace I can recall being. We ended up pretty far from the beaten track at times, and in dealing with people there was neither a "wtf are you doing here?" vibe nor a subtle deference. Interactions were... matter-of-fact, perhaps?
I've been thinking for much of a year about how to distill the vibe and I still don't have good words for it. I don't necessarily buy the "One Happy Island" that's the ubiquitous tagline, but they do seem to have something good going.
PS: As far as all the usual tourist stuff (filtered through my interests of course) goes, they have a lot of horses and it's a good way to explore the backcountry, but it's too damn hot for my taste. I'm told they either have no wind or All The Wind, and if it had been a no-wind week I think I'd have been doing the poolside-fancy-drink circuit instead of exploring. Even so we had saddlebags full of water bottles that started out frozen. My favorite place to eat is probably Indo (Surinamese place in Noord), with Kamini's Kitchen (waaay down in Seroe Colorado) good for a Nice Meal Out. The National Archaeological Museum was closed when we were there, but the Historical Museum of Aruba seems almost completely ignored but had a really thought provoking exhibit about the history of weaving in Aruba with a bunch of history and culture and social commentary viewed through that lens, some very contemporary; highly recommended.
In some ways it reminds me of Las Vegas. There are a few areas along the coast offering a very packaged experience with a lot of service and a bunch of shopping that goes at high-end as you want. Turn at right angles to the axis of the tourist strip, and it's a whole other world.
I think I'm pretty good at noticing class and racial tension, though, and it wasn't like anyplace I can recall being. We ended up pretty far from the beaten track at times, and in dealing with people there was neither a "wtf are you doing here?" vibe nor a subtle deference. Interactions were... matter-of-fact, perhaps?
I've been thinking for much of a year about how to distill the vibe and I still don't have good words for it. I don't necessarily buy the "One Happy Island" that's the ubiquitous tagline, but they do seem to have something good going.
PS: As far as all the usual tourist stuff (filtered through my interests of course) goes, they have a lot of horses and it's a good way to explore the backcountry, but it's too damn hot for my taste. I'm told they either have no wind or All The Wind, and if it had been a no-wind week I think I'd have been doing the poolside-fancy-drink circuit instead of exploring. Even so we had saddlebags full of water bottles that started out frozen. My favorite place to eat is probably Indo (Surinamese place in Noord), with Kamini's Kitchen (waaay down in Seroe Colorado) good for a Nice Meal Out. The National Archaeological Museum was closed when we were there, but the Historical Museum of Aruba seems almost completely ignored but had a really thought provoking exhibit about the history of weaving in Aruba with a bunch of history and culture and social commentary viewed through that lens, some very contemporary; highly recommended.