Aruba: One Happy Island: Days 8 & 9

The number 13 -- lucky or unlucky?

Lucky in this case!

Palapa #13 -- our home for the last two days of our trip.

My turn to float (I'm the one on the blue float.):

I see you taking a picture of me...

From ocean to pool. Sun, warm pool water, reclining chair, and good book. Does it get any better?

The view from my seat:

Trying my hand at the panoramic feature on the iPhone:

Glad I came back to the beach after being in the pool -- a wedding had set up right next to us!

We sat at Palapa #13 throughout the ceremony. It was neat, although windy (the bride's veil blew into the ocean!)

The evening of day eight, we decided to venture into Oranjestad, the capital of Aruba. We got there around 7:30 on that Friday night and it was DEAD. The mall (which has many "upscale" stores was closing at 8). We wandered around there a bit (I couldn't get up the nerve to go into Louis Vuitton) and then hit the casino (shocking, I know!) and decided to eat at the third iteration of the Smokey Joe's trio, Iguana Joe's Aruba. It was probably my least favorite of the places we ate at. It was across from a REALLY noisy bar/dance club (?) and techno music was blasting throughout our meal. The food was just so-so.

On the menu:

John had sangria (again, shocking) and I had Grandma Joe's Lemonade. That stuff was potent!

John had a shrimp BLT wrap and I had a grouper BLT. Nothing to write home about.

We went back to our hotel room saddened that we'd have to pack it up and leave the next day.

Bon Bini Aruba!

Aruba: One Happy Island: Days 6 & 7

So as not to disappoint my readers, day six has brought us right back to the beach.

We're kind of cute, aren't we? :)

In addition to the lizards that joined us at Gilligan's for lunch, there several birds. There was this one bird that was completely black with a bright yellow eye. It had an Edgar Allen Poe vibe to it.

Still having fun.

Still relaxed.

Since we'd enjoyed Smokey Joe's so much, we decided to go to one of its sister restaurants. (It has two -- Iguana Cantina and Iguana Joe's). For some reason, I had it in my head that Iguana Joe's was within walking distance of our hotel and that we'd passed it on one of our nightly walks. John and I walked down the high-rise hotel strip and kept looking at each other wondering where it was. Turns out that the Iguana Cantina was within walking distance, so we went for that. It's a Mexican restaurant that overlooks an outdoor mall. Every night they have a "water/light" show. I'm not really sure I'd call it a "show", but there were actually people sitting in stands watching it.

On the menu that night:

Chips & salsa (of course)
Katie: Shredded chicken burrito (I really need to branch out.)
John: Coconut shrimp

To drink for both of us: Sangria swirl margaritas:

Traditional evening photo:

Day seven. Back to the beach. It's a tough job but someone's got to do it.

Traditional lunch at Gilligan's.

If I close my eyes and think hard enough, I see frozen raspberry margaritas and a "bucket" o'shrimp in front of me.

Even after eating all that, John can still float.

I thought I'd be all artsy and try to write in the sand and take a photo. Yeah, didn't exactly pan out.

(It says "John & Katie, 10 years.) I won't quit my day job.

I may not be able to write in the sand, but I have no problem relaxing in the blue waters of Aruba with my husband of ten glorious years.

Dinner on day seven. We'd been waiting for this ALL WEEK. We were headed to Madame Janette. If you've been to Aruba but never been to Madame Janette, you MUST go. It was our "get all gussied up night" so naturally I wanted extra photos. (You can click on photo below to enlarge it and see how fancy we look.)

(In case it wasn't clear from these blog posts, this picture confirms we love Aruba!)

Madame Janette is in Noord, which is not walkable from the high-rise hotel area and is basically hidden in a residential neighborhood. Taxi drivers can find it easily, but if a tourist rented a car and tried to drive there? Forget it. Twists and turns and in someone's backyard. 

Luckily cab drivers can drive the route from the high-rise area to Madame Janette in their sleep, because John and I put our cab driver to the test (and lined his pocket.) As soon as we go to the restaurant, stepped out, and looked at the menu, I realized I had forgotten my lactose pills. ::sigh:: 

I had dreamed about a cream-type frozen drink or a large slab of meat doused in cream sauce.

WAIT!!!! 

Luckily our taxi driver was still idling there. Um, can you take us back to the hotel? He gave us a bit of an odd look, but happily drove us back to the hotel, waited while I ran up to the room and grabbed my pills, and then drove us back. We arrived back (for the second time) just moments before our reservation.

Phew.

We were escorted to our seat and promptly asked if we were allergic to cats. 

Um, what?

Apparently there's a resident cat that roams the section we sat in. I'm not a big cat person, but he/she sat below our table and wanted a chin/belly rub and he/she got them (mostly from John, as is evidenced by this photo.)

On the menu:

Appetizer: Janette's Homemade Crab Cakes with chef's spicy island aioli

VERY GOOD. Yummy, in fact.

John's Entree: (from the specials menu) Comentatore Mario Andretti's Veal Chop. 

Yes, that was for ONE person. HUGE. Delicious, according to John!

Katie's Entree: (also from the specials menu): Pasta a la Mamma Mia.

AMAZING. Delicious sauce and just the right amount of creaminess.

Drinks were Appletinis for me and a Brown Lady for John.

Best night. (insert heart here.)

Up next: days eight and nine -- last two days. :(

Aruba: One Happy Island: Day 5

I know what you're expecting.

You're expecting me to say, "We picked up where we left off yesterday" and then see a gorgeous picture of the beach in Aruba.

WRONG.

On day five, we decided to mix it up. I had read that the Butterfly Farm was pretty cool and knowing that I'd need a break from the beach (not John, mind you), we decided to check it out.

It was within walking distance of the Radisson and was a nice change of scenery. 

On our trip there, we walked by the RIU Palace. This "hotel" is next to the Radisson and stands out like a sore thumb (in our opinion.) When we were pulling up to the high-rise hotel area from the airport, we thought it was a religious temple of some sort.

Anywho, back to the Butterfly Farm.

When we arrived, we were greeted personally by the owner and had a nice chat with him. Before entering the actual "farm," the owner gave us a heads-up, so to speak, on the fact that the butterflies might land on us, not to panic, it might feel weird, but they don't bite, etc... I thought to myself, what are the chances of this happening? Just wait.

Some pics taken while waiting for our official tour:

Butterfly food:

Our tour guide taking us through the life cycle of the butterfly:

Remember that "head-up" the owner gave us? Yeah. Butterfly? Meet sweaty tourist.

After that harrowing experience, we decided it best to go back and pick up where we left off.

I think I was pretty successful at relaxing, don't you?

For dinner on the night of day five, we went to Amazonia Churrascaria, a Brazilian BBQ. This is another place that we'd gone ten years ago. The premise is pretty cool. You first eat from the salad and soup bar. Then, once you flip a coaster to green (GO), the waiters start bringing out all sorts of meat on skewers. They keep bringing it to you until you flip the coaster to red (STOP). Our favorite was the garlic sirloin.

Lady luck was with me that night. We visited the casino at the Westin (a few hotels down from the Radisson), sat down at a penny slot, put a $20 bill in, took a few spins, and BAM.

I WON $500!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!