Once a week, on Sundays I publish a recap of the news and current events in Aruba.

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Current Events in Aruba

Carnival season in Aruba is still ongoing, this is the final two weeks for parades.

A lot of developments happened on the island recently….

Chill Beer Gets New Logo

Brouwerij Nacional Balashi, which is Aruba’s local beer brewery company, re-branded the chill beer.

The new logo of chill is clear and simple, which resembles the purity of the beer.

Not only did they change the chill logo, but the beer case packaging, six pack holder and the shape of bottle has a different design.

Chill has a special offer during Carnival season.

If you buy 5 cases of chill beer, you get 3 free cases. Or get 6 free, if you buy 10 cases.

Take your receipt to the brouwerij nacional balashi and receive one shirt for every 2 cases bought.

This deal of beers is only for glass bottles, not for beer cans and is only available during Carnival Season, which ends in February.

Here’s the new logo and bottle for chill…

Bucuti Resort Achieves Top Ranking Again!

Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort makes it to the top of the list for tripadvisors rankings!

The resort sets a record for being nominated 2 times in 3 years as the top 25 romantic places to stay out of 1 millions hotels around the world.

Bucuti also ranks #1 for the most romantic resort in the Caribbean!

The resort is an adult only, and is dedicated to offering guests romantic experiences, and wellness treatments.

If you’re still thinking about a romantic island getaway, don’t look further than Aruba & staying at Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort.

Read more – Top 5 romantic beach side dining restaurants in Aruba.

Renovated Red Parrot Restaurant

Red Parrot, one of the many restaurants at Divi & Tamarijn resorts received a makeover.

The interior of the restaurant is completely remodeled with a contemporary design.

New tables and chairs, new fabrics, different lighting, new carpet, fresh paint job and brand new artwork.

The food at red parrot is delicious – a must try when on the island.

New Roundabout at Superfood Intersection

Next month construction works will start to create a roundabout at the intersection from super food supermarket.

According to the director of the public works company, the roundabout will creates more safety for traffic. Because it reduces high velocity and there’s no need for traffic lights.

It also provides a safer way for visitors to cross from the hotel area to go grocery shopping at super food.

Rent a car now in Aruba!

 

Aftermath of New Beach Policy

A few weeks ago the minister of infrastructure announced a “3 strikes your out” to the beach policy and introduced new task force to enforce it.

Since then the task force patrolled the beach and controlled over a 30 water sports and chair vendors.

They closed down 3 water sport establishments.

One of the establishments that was removed is “Island Water Sport NV” owned by a local, existing since 1990’s.

They have three locations, in front of RIU, Marriott hotel and on Eagle Beach.

According to the owner, be sued the government for removing his establishments, because he has all the required permits.

Whether the water sport establishment will be allowed back on the beach will be decided in court.

Closing Down Parkietenbos Dump

Last year the minister of environment and nature announced that parkietenbos will be closed down within 90 days into 2018.

However, after a study done by experts, they advised the minister that only 80% of the operations at parkietenbos could be shut down at the moment.

An area near then the district of Sero Theisji has already been assigned as the new location to deposit the islands waste, in a responsible manner.

The operation will be supervised by serlimar which is the islands waste management company.

Transportation Minister Considers Lowering Bus Fare

Minister of transportation mentioned that a possible lowering of bus fares during  a press conference.

The government and the director of Arubus (Aruba’s public transportation company) will be evaluating the restructuring of bus fares.

Price for bus fare is varied at the moment…

One ride with a standard card is $1.71 – The advantage card is $1.14 per ride and if you pay cash it will be $2.57!

According to the minister a study will be made to restructures the bus fares.

Any updates on bus fare prices will be published in the following newsletters.

Aruba Doet Looking For Volunteers

Aruba Doet is one of the biggest volunteer programs on the island.

This year they registered a record 210 projects.

Projects were submitted by different companies, foundations, schools, sporting clubs and scouting groups.

They vary from regular yard maintenance and repainting jobs to beach clean ups and giving a helping hand to different organizations.

The event will take place on March 9 – 10, 2018.

Over 4000 people will be helping out on these 2 days in Aruba.

Are you up for a different adventure?

Every volunteer will receive a free t shirt, a certificate, and a reusable water bottle.

Sign up for this unique and local experience at www.arubadoet.com

Mangroves Destruction at Mangel Halto

President of Aruba Bird life Conservation alerts the government a second time for possible mangrove destruction near Mangel Halto.

The first time ABC alerted the government was for an area of mangroves near Santo Largo in Savaneta that were slowly dying.

Public works company took note of this and fixed the situation, now the mangroves are slowly restoring back to normal.

Read more – Stop The Destruction of Mangroves in Aruba

According to the president of ABC a few mangroves near Mangel Halto were intentionally damaged to make way for smaller boats to pass through the lagoon.

This incident started a movement to create an awareness campaign about protecting and conserving Aruba’s nature.  

At the moment the department of nature & environment is investigating the case of mangrove destruction near Mangel Halto.

The affected area is near Spaans lagoon, which is officially under the protection of Arikok since April 2017.

There’s a total of 15 nature areas that still needs to be officially transferred to the Arikok by the government.

Here’s an aerial image of the mangroves in Santo Largo, at Savaneta.

Colors of The Aruban Flag

Aruba is the most visited island in the Caribbean.

The beautiful beaches, landscape and the people keep visitors coming back.

Aruba’s beauty is also wrapped in its flag.

If you’ve been wanting to know more about the Aruban flag keep reading…

The Aruban flag was inaugurated together with the islands national anthem called “Aruba Dushi Tera” on March 18, 1976.

Aruba Dushi Tera means “sweet island of Aruba” in English.

The flag is blue, with 2 yellow horizontal stripes and a four-pointed white-fimbriated redstar.

So how is Aruba’s beauty incorporated in the flag?

The colors and symbols have a special meaning…

Blue represents the beautiful ocean that surrounds the island.

The four-pointed star represents a compass, and shows the 4 coasts which forms a natural barrier from the ocean.

The white border on the star symbolizes the white beach sand found in Aruba.

Red is the love that locals have on the island and also represents the Indians who lived on the island and lost their lives trying to protect it from intruders back then.

The yellow stripes represents the status aparte of Aruba.  

Two stripes are separated representing the islands independence in the Dutch Kingdom.

Yellow also represents the islands gold industry back then, flora and fauna like the native aloe plant, kibrahacha tree and wanglo.

March 18, 2018 is a national holiday in Aruba.

Government Denies Hotel Expansion

The government denied the developers of the Sands Group the permission to continue with expansion of an existing hotel on Eagle Beach.

The new infrastructure minister cancelled a permit by the Sands group to build a 600 room all inclusive hotel and 200 timeshare units issued by the previous minister.

The group dropped an injunction proceeding after the new minister issued a stop notice to the Sands group.

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