Aruba – Day 5

Happy Birthday to me!  It was an overcast day but that didn’t stop it from being hot!  We took a chance and hopped on the Autobus and got promptly pulled over by inspectors.  We chatted with a couple from MN/MD (they were in some odd transition) while our driver and officials yelled at each other.  Soon, with all paperwork in order, we zoomed into Oranjestad.  We wanted to get some souvenirs, enjoy the city a bit, and find a little something for the birthday girl!  We found a Dutch bookstore with books the kids love to read but, of course, all written in Dutch!  We drank pineapple soda and wandered through the streets.  We also enjoyed time at the open air market by the pier.  We didn’t want to spend the whole day shopping so we went back to the resort and had Cinnabon – the best birthday cake ever!  Feeling bloated, we donned our suits and found a boating company that would take us parasailing.

Parasailing...by far the sketchiest scenario we found ourselves in that week.  Long story short, there were about 6 other girls on the boat, none paying customers.  Apparently, everyone had met at the bar the night before and were invited for the boat ride!  So up in the sky we went while the “ladies”, aged 18-50something partied in the boat with the crew.  It was so weird and thank goodness their credit card machine was broken so Mike had to run get cash!  They then tried to charge us TWICE the amount they had initially quoted us!  NO WAY.  We got out of there fast, but not before I told the girls to be safe!  We walked along the Amsterdam Manor beach and witnessed our fair share or European-style sunbathing.  It’s funny how acclimatized one gets to unusual things.  Of course, we played more volleyball, this time with some Atlanta football players as well as more locals, and Jeff and Lindsey.  Then back to the pool for…happy hour!  Sat in the hot tub with about 10 other people, one of them a 20 year old whose father was a Dutch pop star back in the day.  He sang us a song, “Rock on Baby” or something like that and asked us if we knew it.  No, we didn’t.  We politely extracted ourselves from the overwhelmingly southern hot tubbers and got read for dinner.  As we walked to the bus stop we stopped and bought a hair brush for Anneke from a sweet lady who paints them.  Anneke’s first ever personalized item!  And then we had to run like crazy to catch our bus…

We had an AMAZING dinner at Texas de Brazil.  The salad bar alone was worth the money but the meat was  life-changing!  How anyone could be a vegetarian is beyond my comprehension.  Anyone eating this quality of meat just couldn't be!  We ran into Jeff and Lindsey (another unplanned tradition!).  We ate until we could eat no more and sank into meat coma.  We managed to stay awake for the bus ride home.  We met a family from England and a terribly inebriated local man.  We made it home in time to Skype with the kids.  A great birthday for me!!!