ARUBA

The Caribbean isn't all that bad. There are a few killer spots that take my breath away, like Aruba.


An island within sight of the Venezuelan coast, Aruba seems like any other random Caribbean cruise port once you step off the gangway and find yourself in Oranjestad, a tacky tropical version of a little Dutch town. But once you leave the casino and bar-riddled streets, you will find yourself in a barren desert-like terrain of cactus plants, dusty dirt roads, and natural curiousities such as the 'natural bridge' (a bridge carved out by centuries of crashing waves) and a series of underground caves.

Our first day there a group of us rent out a couple of jeeps and drive recklessly all around the island, ripping it up offroad in cactus fields and eventually finding ourselves lost in the island landfill. A tire explodes on one of the jeeps by the time we make it to the caves, and on the way back to the port (with not much time before sailaway) the same jeep breaks down altogether. Luckily a local good Samaritan couple in an SUV come to the rescue and we make it back to the ship in time.

Our last visit to Aruba gives us a full day to say farewell to the 'Happy Island;' the ship doesn't sail away till midnight. We enjoy a nice dinner at a waterfront Italian eatery, head to the casino and catch a local show, then meet the rest of the Summit's crew at Carlos 'N' Charlie's, the epitome of the tourist bar, for yard-long drinks and table dancing (it's actually the same bar that Natalee Holloway is kidnapped from a month later. For an interesting article on the sensationalism of American media, go here:http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/7/3/491/18474).