Rockets and Firecracker Craziness!!

We have been hearing a lot of continual noise from rockets and firecrackers.  It was during our walk that we got to see what was actually happening.  About 100 feet of rockets and firecrackers are braided together into a long rope.  One end is ignited and then a continual blast of gunpowder is lit up with small flames erupting, with unbelievable noise, and a ton of smoke cascading through the rope until it is complete.  A small band then leads a parade of people into places of business!!  We saw them go into the RBC!! This custom is practised at this time of year to ward off evil!  Even funnier, when I was reading about this practise, someone wrote they thought a coup d'etat was happening when they first hear all this racket!

                            The camera didn't catch the small flames accompanied by the smoke.

                                         Rocket and firecracker leftovers!  Get out the broom!

Cars, Scooters, Bicycles, Buses, Walking and Oranjestad Street Views

We took a walk looking for the bike shop that rents bicycles.  Our first thought was to rent a car to explore this small island, but found it to be very expensive, so we downsized to a scooter and was shocked at the price quoted, so we thought a bicycle might fit the bill, but that was even too much for our budget!  And we thought the bus was expensive...not any more. The bus and walking it will be!! 

                                          Not sure what this oven was used for.

                                         The Renaissance Hotel boardwalk

                                         The Renaissance Hotel beach area.

                                         That's me...24 hours...but I do sleep for part of it!

Italy in the World...vino e delicatezza...

Not knowing where to go for supper, we meandered through the streets of Oranjestad, window shopping and checking out restaurants.  We finally happened to come upon a small building that looked very interesting.  It was a small Italian restaurant...Italy in the World.. that also sold vine and food.  Looking curiously inside, the owner spied us, and led us to a table that we gratefully accepted!  The restaurant was very small and the owner warned us that we may have to wait a bit for our meal, and were we fine with that.  We ordered a glass of house red where the grapes for that wine are grown in the northern part of Italy.  Delicious!!  We were very happy the meal took awhile to come, because we started talking to a couple of interesting gentlemen next to us who shared travel stories of their lives.  They have both been all over the world many times over.  They now live in Aruba and happen to be neighbours who went out for a nice meal together.

                      Here is a portion of the old wall before updates to the building happened.

                                        The interesting gentlemen.

This building we had supper in used to be part of the fort that is across the street. It was used as the officers quarters. It is the white building on the left side of the photograph.  This area looks vastly different now!