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Published: January 13th 2006
the girls on top of the moutain
there is one mountain on the island, ONE and we just had to run up it. kind of cool, but a pain to get down in the dark.9 nights, 10 days in Aruba. 1 olympic sized pool. Close to 30 hours of training. 2 ocean swims. 2 swimming related injuries. 1 boat ride. Countless flipturns. 3 people to a bed. 0 clothes. WAY too much money spent. Beastly muscles.
thank you college swimming training trip.
The swimming was done at the only competition pool on the island, the Piscina Olympico which is on the southeast side of the island, about thirty minutes from the high-rise hotel strip. We did not stay in a high-rise hotel of course, just near them. The pool was great.. finally a place large enough to accomodate the girls and boys teams at the same time. Some days we even shared the pool with a young team of Aruban syncronized swimmers, which was heavenly as you might have guessed.
As for the touring stuff, we had a single morning practice last thurdsay into a day off on Friday and lets just say we used our time well. Our 24 hours of not swimming celebration was kick started with an upperclassmen trip on the Kukoo Kunuku party bus. (Highly enjoyable. 100% recommended for those with a ton of energy and a high tolerance) Kukoo Kunuku
itinerary: pick up at hotel, champagne toast at the California Lighthouse around sunset-- gorgeous, amazing dinner at a private home, four consecutive stops at bars - some local hangouts and some well known, drop off at hotel. And it comes complete with Kukoo Kunuku drink vouchers for each stop and seasoned party animals for hosts that lead silly dances and try and entice people up onto the bar. It was a seriously good time.
The next morning the whole team boarded our privately chartered party boat. I don't know what time we came in from the Kukoo Kunuku, but i do know that we were all waiting to board the boat while the bar was being stocked at 9 or 10 AM. The boat was open bar. Clearly, if we stop drinking for too long we would be disrespecting our well-earned time off from training. The boat took the fifty of us and the open bar to De Palm Island which is right off the southern coast and is home of the best snorkelling in Aruba. The island also has a great lunch buffet, a snack bar, a real bar, and a little lagoon area with some Free Willy rocks
Christmas in Aruba!
I'm amazed at Christmas decorations in warm climates. that might just be the most beautiful place i've ever seen. After two hours on the island it was back on the boat to go home, with a stop and a dip in the ocean on the way.
Everyone i met there was pretty friendly, taxi-drivers, shopkeepers, etc. but there was a couple mugged outside of our resort while we were there and i definitely wouldn't go around at night without a big group and at least one boy per taxi. I certainly wouldn't classify it as a scary place, a little common sense seemed to go a long way in terms of security, and i would definitely go back. Go back and stay at the Hyatt. The gorgeous gorgeous Hyatt. On the beach with a casino and TCBY. Sigh.
All in all the food and the nightlife was pretty good, the weather was amazing, and there were plenty of cheap shopping huts to peruse.
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diwaker
non-member comment
great
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