It's you... Not Me

I never have the time I think I'm going to for writing about what I'm doing or what my latest thoughts are about where I'm at. (The less structured one's day is, the less time it seems one has to do...anything productive.) Aruba has been fantastic. Our last tropical vacation was to Atlantis in the Bahamas. The only thing missing that time was truly tropical weather. We had a fantastic time there because of the service and the ridiculousness (meant to be a positive remark) of the Atlantis hotel. In the case of Aruba, though, it seems that the people of this tiny island are able to one-up the opulence of the Atlantis with their general (and sometimes overwhelming) friendliness. The most fascinating part of the island is the complex mix of cultural forces. The Spanish and Dutch have had tremendous influence on the culture here over the past five centuries. Although the island reverted to the Dutch (and is now an independent state in the Kingdom of the Netherlands) in 1648 (credits to Wikipedia for the article on Aruba), the Spanish effects are apparent in the language here, Papiamento (an odd mix of Spanish, Dutch and some English - although there seems to be other words intermixed, which are none of the above...) and the culture. They love to party. A young man on the boat we went deep sea fishing on told me proudly, "we celebrate holidays that aren't even ours - the 4th of July, for example..."
The nicest (touristy) thing I can say about the island besides the people is the weather. I hadn't been here since 1989, so my memory of what it was like were quite dim. I read up a bit on the weather here. Most websites that do any reporting on Aruba state that the climate is steady. They are right. It has been in the mid 80's (30C) the whole time we have been here. The nicest thing about the weather - which I hear some complain about - is the breeze. It is constant. I love it. It means a pasty, white midwesterner like myself won't melt in the sun.
Another hot topic is the mix of tourists. Wow. You never really learn about your culture and that of others (I thought I had seen it all) until you're packed on a beach with people of all types of different sensibilities.