DESTINO
POR EL MUNDO
f
Julio 2014
40 41
Aruba,
the happy island
The entire sea could fit into your eyes, and the whole sun in your aquarium. Pablo de Rokha To talk of white sand beaches and the turquoise-colored sea in the Caribbean is almost a redundancy, and commonplace. But Aruba, the happy island, marks a basic difference within that extraordinary universe called the Leeward Antilles, which is part of the Lesser Antilles. The island of Aruba has experienced a succession of human occupations: the oldest archeological remains found so far on the island date to 1,000 A.D. The caquetĂos were the original inhabitants; belonging to the Arawak tribe, a people that was widely distributed throughout South America. The caquetios managed to overcome the rough ocean currents (even though Aruba is only 25 km off the coast of Venezuela), and arrived on the island to stay. Frequently attacked by the Caribs, exceptional sailors who also threatened and conquered communities along the South American coast, they managed to maintain control. The Europeans left a record of having discovered the island, in the pen of Amerigo Vespucci, when in one of his letters to Lorenzo Pierfrancesco de Medici, the patron of his voyages, he describes the details of his discoveries. The commander of that expedition was the Spaniard Alonso de Ojeda, the man who after having participated in the second voyage of Christopher Columbus, began his own expedition, in the company of Vespucci. Aruba was one of the many stops along that journey, during which number of priests stayed behind, and assimilated the cacique or tribal chief Simas into the Catholic religion. Upon his return so Spain, in 1499, Alonso de Ojeda was later appointed as the governor or Aruba, which was part of what was called New Andalucia. He served in this post starting in 1508. The Spanish began to lose interest in these dominions, and the Dutch, moving into the vacuum, offered to buy the islands in 1638, and they remained in Dutch hands for nearly two centuries. The English took them over for eleven years, and then returned them to the Netherlands. In 1924, the discovery of extensive deposits of oil in Venezuela, beneath Lake Maracaibo, led a Canadian company to build a storage port of immense oil tanks, brought by small ships to Aruba, which were the only vessels that could navigate the shallow waters of Lake Maracaibo. This long and intricate history of the island has meant that its inhabitants today are descendants of more than forty nationalities from around the world, and its economy is overwhelmingly centered around tourism. A profusion of
languages spoken by the people engaged in providing tourist services facilitates communication with visitors from all over. Large hotel chains have set up shop in the island, offering multiple options to travelers in terms of quality and price. The abundance of marine life has made the isle a prime destination for both surface and deep diving. And if it is beaches you want, there are varieties for all tastes, close by and featuring many services, each one a true natural jewel. Local cuisine is mostly focused around the catch of the day, lobsters and shrimp. The green plantain is a must in local dishes, as well as the coconut milk accompanying the fresh seafood. International food is also served in various places, with a surprising variety of dishes and ingredients imported from distant corners of the world. If your vacations plans include the sea, the sun, the ideal beach, water sports, and top tier hotels and restaurants, then you have just found in Aruba, the happy island, your next destination.