Last Day

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Today for breakfast….the buffet! Shocking I know!

After breakfast we took a cab to the Aruba Aloe Factory and Museum. This is a really neat place! They have an aloe farm smack in the middle of town and there is a free guided tour. Our guide explained how aloe was brought here from Africa, so it’s not native to the island. However, they now have a thriving industry growing and turning it into everything from sunscreen to deodorant to shampoo. Of course they have aloe gel, but I was amazed at all the other products. The one interesting fact about aloe is there is a very concentrated yellow sap that is part of the plant which is actually a laxative. They make sure to remove that before processing the gel. Wouldn’t want to ingest that! After the outside portion you are able to view the different rooms in the factory and try out all the samples. The tour ends in the store. Highly recommend this if you are in Aruba.

We were going to walk from the factory to downtown Oranjestad but our tour guide said that was not safe so she called us a taxi. The nice thing about taxis in Aruba is the prices are set by the government and you can see the fares online so you know exactly what you will pay. Pretty nice!

Downtown we did our shopping for gifts for people back home. And then we walked. We walked down by the cruise ship port and marveled at the size of the ship that was docked. And then we kept walking, past the I love Aruba sign, past some old cruise docks, by a beach with some really white sand and continued along the water until we were too tired to keep walking. We got a taxi near the Divi Aruba All Inclusive resort and headed back to the hotel. We walked about 3km and the sun was warm!

We had lunch at La Vista which was very good. I had a salad with spinach and goat cheese and Renee got a pizza. We ended up sharing both. Then we were able to get a palapa and spent the afternoon in the shade.

Dinner was very fancy at Ruth Chris Steakhouse. Renee said it was her birthday so they put some confetti on the table, which was cute! I ordered the crab cakes and she had the petite filet with blue cheese crust. We also shared grilled asparagus and au gratin potatoes. And then they came out with a little cheesecake and sang happy birthday. It was a really delicious dinner!

Had time to go back to the room to change into shorts and head to the beach to watch the sunset. It was nice to sit out by the water and enjoy the cooler evening breeze. A really nice end to a really nice 5 night trip.

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