Sights to See

Approaching Ayo

Ayo: Scoops out of rocks

Ayo: Up

Ayo: Judi in a tunnel of boulders

Ayo: Down

Ayo: Our shadows on the Aboriginal paintings

So then it was mid afternoon, the rain had passed, the sun was out, and we had a map.... Did we dare venture forth again and try to find our way to something? What? We decided on the Ayo Rock Formations. And, with the help of the map... we found them! Yay to a good map!

And the Ayo Rock Formations were nothing short of awesome. On this sandy, mostly flat island they look as though a titanic giant had been holding a cup full of enormous boulders and had simply turned it over and dumped them in a pile. The boulders -- and some of them are gargantuan -- are stacked willy-nilly. Someone has created a path with steps that takes you up into and through the boulders, and it's beyond my ability to describe it to you. All I can say is it's just awesome, and something you should do.

To top it off, many of the boulders have hollowed out sections, like someone took a giant melon-ball scoop and scooped rock instead of melon. Sometimes the scooping is so extensive that the remaining rock is nothing more than a giant egg-shell. One of these egg-shell rocks is turned upside down, creating a small "cave," and inside this "cave" ancient Indians painted images which are still there today. Bars seal off the "cave" to protect it from vandals, but the paintings, which the park's caretaker says have been dated to 1493, can still be easily seen. One looks to me like a person riding on the back of an big animal. Interesting, considering the Indians of the time did not ride animals. If that's what it is.

The top of the Casibari Boulders

VERY steep steps down from the top

Emboldened by our success with the Ayo rocks, we decided to try to locate another similar formation: The Casibari boulders. And we did! Double-yay for a good map!

The Casibari boulders aren't on the same scale as the Ayo, but the government has created a path that culminates is a series of steps to the top of the most massive boulder, and that was a more harrowing climb than anything we did at Ayo. Harrowing for Judi, that is, who in case you did not know suffers from vertigo. But she went up, like a trooper. A scared trooper, but it's okay for a trooper to be scared.

Then our wonderful map guided us home.

I am so pleased to have seen the Casibari and especially the Ayo sites. And so what started out as dismal and frustrating day ended as a wonderful day. And we, emboldened even more, have now set out an agenda of other places that we want our wonderful and magical map to guide us to.

Today we took our Magical and Most Fabulousio Map and headed out to See Aruba:

Judi on the California Dunes

Unscaleable Lighthouse seen from the Dunes

The Old Men, do you see them?

California Lighthouse: This lighthouse has nothing to do with the state of California. It's named for a ship that sank off the northern coast of Aruba. It's very pretty. The guidebooks say to admire the view from the top. It would be a much nicer stop if you could do this, but the lighthouse is barred and gated, and, alas, you cannot go to the top. Why do the guidebooks suggest things you cannot do?

California Dunes: These dunes are not in California, but in Aruba, near the California Lighthouse. To get to them you have to do some creative navigating and then drive over some rough dirt roads, but we had a Map! No problemo. They are white-sand dunes, and there's also lots of rocks, coral, and big waves along the coast. Photo-ops abound. So I took many photos. Really, this is worth visiting. They just make it so difficult to find and then get to.

While we were exploring the Dunes, and the wild coastline, I saw a rock formation that made me think of three old men (kind of overweight), huddled together, and I took a picture. Does it look like that to you?

That was the California Dunes. Bump, bump, bump along the road to see them. Bump, bump, bump along the road back. It was worth it.

The Windmill: This is easy to find, but, in my opinion, not much to look at. Judi took a picture.

Alto Vista

The altar in Alto Vista

Alto Vista Chapel: Everyone comes here, and it is very nice. The interior is simple but sincere. I enjoyed it a lot. The tiny (and I mean tiny) chapel faces a small amphitheater of concrete benches so the congregation, which can't possibly fit inside, can sit during the service. How devout must you be to hear Mass sitting on bare concrete? A note on finding this place: When the road splits and there's no sign, bear left.

Santa Ana Church in Noord: There are supposed to be beautiful carvings in this church, but it's locked, and you can't get in. Again, why do the guidebooks tell you to do things you can't? This is frustrating.

Charlie's Bar in San Nicolas: I had to stop and ask directions to this place, only to discover later that it's marked on the Magical Map, I just didn't realize it. My bad. Charlie's is colorful outside and in, and we took a couple of pictures, but we'd just had lunch and weren't hungry or thirsty, so we didn't get much out of this stop.

Lourdes Grotto: Interesting stop. Was good to do once. Wouldn't do again.

Frenchman's Pass: This was billed as a canyon populated by flocks of wild parakeets. We found it pretty easily, thanks to the Amazing Map, but it wasn't much to look at, and there were no parakeets. Maybe they were away at a convention.

Balashi Gold Mines: What was this structure used for?

Balashi Gold Mine Ruins: We didn't really plan to do this, but it was right next to the Frenchman's Pass, and in fact we were turning the car around in the entrance to the Mines, so we thought, hey, why not? The Balashi Ruins consist of the remains of a number of large stone structures, which are actually very interesting, but would be a heck of a lot more interesting if there were placards or whatever telling us what we were looking at. How did they mine gold here? What was the purpose of this huge stone tub? Why are these two walls facing each other, six or seven feet apart, with these openings in them in a line about ten feet off the ground? What was that used for? What was the purpose of this lined pit? It could have been really fascinating to learn about the gold mining process on Aruba. Especially since someone (the government?) has taken the time and trouble to create paved walks all through the ruins, connecting the various outbuildings, for the touring public's pleasure, but walking around and looking at things when we have no idea what we are looking at is just a little short of the mark.

Today we picked up our enchanted map and set forth once again, to finish seeing the sights of Aruba:

First was an attempt to find a museum located in an old native house called Para Bada (Papiamento for "be envious" -- there's a story behind it). This museum had been written up in a huge sidebar in the magazine that we were given when we boarded the plane in San Juan, but the article didn't mention an address, directions, or phone number. So this morning I got to play Stump The Concierge -- she had never heard of the place, either. She called a local museum director, who told her it was "off the beaten path" -- meaning it might be a good idea to have a Jeep to get to it. But if we went back to the Alto Vista Chapel and then kept going on the road past the chapel, we would see it on a hillside.

So we tried. The result (we do not have a Jeep) was some harrowing driving on horrible, rock-strewn dirt roads, and lots of bumps, but no sign of Para Bada. And who would put a museum in this inaccessible wilderness anyway?

So strike one against us.

Crypts in Santa Ana Cemetery

A child's grave in the Santa Ana Cemetery

The fate of all the plastic flowers

Next was a stop by the cemetery at Santa Ana Church. The cemeteries in this mostly Catholic land have lots of colorful crypts, kept decorated with artificial flowers and such. Today we saw what was obviously a child's grave -- it was maybe four feet long -- gaily decorated with balloons. A sad story probably lies behind that one. The child's name was probably Daisy.

Then back to our journeys: We planned to do the remaining attractions, all along the north coast of the island, from west to east, but got a little lost and ended up going from east to west. These things happen. I'm not sure how, but they do.

Cut cactus fence with raw materials in the background

Speaking of getting (just a little bit) lost, I'd like to mention that this is a fairly dry island, maybe because of the Trade Winds that blow without relief, and the island gets drier and more desert-like as you move east and north, into the teeth of the Winds blow, that south some but mostly west. But it's dry. Cactus grows everywhere here, but much more so to the east and north. Lots of cactus. And while we were (just a little bit) lost -- did I mention we were (just a little bit) lost? -- we passed a place where someone had enclosed his (or her) land with a fence made of cut cactus. It was not something you see every day. I had three thoughts, in this order: Thought #1: This is not a fence I would want to cross. Thought #2: How the heck did he (or she) manage to cut and transport these cacti and stack them to make this fence? (I haven't answered this questions, by the way.) Thought #3: I gotta take pictures. So we stopped to take pictures. Then back to our journeys:

Natural Pool: We managed to find this place (which wasn't easy), and were turning down the final road to make our approach, when an old native man in worn clothes walking slowly down the middle of the road waggled a finger at us. I stopped. He came over. I rolled down the window. "Where are you going?" he said (accented). "Natural Pool," I answered. "You cannot go to Natural Pool," he said, "not with this car. Need four wheel drive. Need Jeep." After all the effort we put into finding this place, we were very disappointed, but I asked him how to get to Arikok Natural Park instead. He told me, and when we parted I told him, "Danki." He nodded absently and turned away, but then apparently realized what I had said and turned back, a huge smile on his face. "Danki," he said approvingly, and nodded his finger at me, and then turned away again. He seemed pleased.

Aborignal cave paintings

Arikok National Park: Judi and I had debated trying to get to Natural Pool anyway, despite the old man's warning. That is, until we got into Arikok National Park. As we were bouncing slowly along the rugged dirt "road," Judi said, "If the old man says we need a Jeep to get to Natural Pool but he thought it was okay for us to come here... then we aren't going to Natural Pool." Amen. The road in Arikok was really tough. To make up for it, the scenery was stunning. And we saw dunes, we saw Boca Prins, and we saw Indian drawings inside a cave, not to mention Indian carvings of a buffalo and a god. This was really great. Although it would have been easier with a Jeep.

Natural Bridge: This isn't what I was expecting. There are several natural bridges, and maybe I had seen pictures of a different one, but this was the one all the signs pointed to.

Bocas: A boca (Spanish for "mouth") is a narrow cove worn into the wall of rock or coral that makes up a coastline. When the waves surge against the shore they flow into the boca and are concentrated until they hit the final wall and then they burst up in a dramatic shower of water. There are many bocas along Aruba's north shore, and we stopped at several, but the waves must not have been good today.

A few words in general about Aruba's north shore: It's desolate, rocky, and very, very windy. The trade winds that blow incessantly across this island first make landfall here, creating a shoreline that is very dramatic.

Our final stop was the Bushiribana Gold Ruins. This is a bigger ruin than the Balashi Gold Mine that we stopped at on Tuesday, but again, it would benefit greatly from placards describing what was done here, and how, and what the different structures and rooms were used for. That would make it a lot more interesting.

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