Posts

Aruba News Report – Weekly Recap of Local News in Paradise

Once a week (on Sundays) I make an Aruba news report with the most relevant news on the island.

If this is your first time reading my newsletter – welcome!

Aruba News Report

This newsletter is for you, if you’re looking to keep up with what’s happening on the island (in English free of charge).

Why is the only newsletter about Aruba in English free? Because it is supported by readers who donate to the website that cover all the website costs (maintenance, hosting etc.)

Before you read on, just bask in this amazing view of Aruba…..

Bask in blue…

#1 Family Destination

Did you know that one of the most popular travel blogs named Aruba the numero uno island for family vacation?

According to Caribbean Journal – “Aruba, the Dutch Caribbean’s tourism capital has managed to create what is right now the most family friendly destination in the region”.

The news was a proud moment for all of locals, and people who work in the tourism industry.

Aruba won the award because of various factors, such as our airport (that is being renovated at the moment), the island’s infrastructure, transportation, the variety of available flights to Aruba, our beaches, flora, fauna and the friendliest people you’ll ever meet.

Enough reasons for you to (re)visit Aruba with your family.


Sir Richard Branson Kite Surfs in Aruba

Aruba is not only famous for its beaches, but also for the trade winds – surfers from all over the world seek Aruba for the breeze.

Even Sir Richard Branson decided to kite surf near fisherman’s hut during hi winds (kite surfing competition), while on a business meeting on the island to explore Aruba’s sustainable projects including the new sunrise solar park in San Nicolas, solar parking lot at the airport, smart community and vader piet (a place with big windmills).

The well known businessman likes to kite surf, and think it’s one of the best sports in the world – and Aruba having such great trade winds makes Aruba the go to island in the Caribbean for him.

Aruba news report

He’s really good at kite surfing.

Renovations at The Mill 

The minister of tourism was invited by the new owners of The Mill to see the ongoing renovations.

Yes, if the news is not known to you, it’s true – The Mill is being renovated.

Aruba news report

The owners of the resort and the minster of tourism.

The Mill is investing over 10 million dollars into the project.

They’re going to renovate everything from the lobby, pool, rooms and restaurants.

After the renovations The Mill will be re-branded as Marriott Courtyard.

Riu Hotels

Gasoline Price Drops Again

If the price of gasoline on the island is of interests to you, because you want to rent a car – you will be happy to know that the price for fuel dropped 4.1 cents.

At the moment one liter of gasoline will cost you 173.2 cents at the pump.

The price of diesel also dropped with 4.9 cents (a liter is 136.6 cents at the moment).

Use this to calculate your gas budget in Aruba.

If you want to rent a car on the island, but don’t know which company to rent from – click here to send me a car rental request via email, and I’ll give you a quote for any car you like and reserve it for you personally.

New Paid Parking System

The government is going to introduce a new paid parking concept to replace the wheel boot.

Many people have different opinions on the introduction of paid parking on the island, some think it was a good decision, because it created space and order, but other people say it’s bad for the downtown area.

Not too long ago did the owners from the downtown stores manifest against the paid parking and the government decided to eliminate the wheel clamp immediately after the manifestation.

The removal of wheel clamps doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay for parking, because those who break the parking rules will get their car towed.

The government is also aware of the parking situation for visitors – during an interview he mentioned that they’re looking for other options for visitors to park without worrying to pay for for it.

The current parking situation counts only for the downtown area of the island, the hotels and beaches have free parking 24/7.

Oil Spill Claim

The organizations and volunteers who spent money to clean up the oil spill have to report all costs on paper that they spent on the beach clean up.

They have to deliver it to the government who will in turn make one main claim and send it to those responsible for the oil spill in Trinidad.

The date for each organization and volunteer to deliver their cost list is August 25, 2017 – after that the government will finalize all papers to send in.

It’s not clear how much the total claim will be, because none of the organizations or volunteers disclosed how much money they used during the beach clean up.

Some beaches on the north coast are still suffering from oil patches that are drifting towards the island and stick to the rocks.

According to oil spill experts, the oil patches stuck on our rocks should be left alone – oil is a natural product and nature will do its own work to restore the damage as time goes by.

Popular Article – 15 Beach Must Haves in Aruba (click to read)

Money for CITGO Refinery Available

The minister of energy recently declared during an interview that CITGO and the government signed an agreement to transfer the money necessary to rehabilitate the refinery.

How much money are we talking about?

This hasn’t been clarified as of yet, but I’m sure it’s a mega amount.

CITGO is waiting on certification for foreign exchanges from the central bank of Aruba so they can transfer the funds necessary to finance the rehabilitation of the refinery.

According to the minister, after the money is received we will notice more manpower in the refinery.

At the moment there’s about 400 people working on the renovations of the refinery, however at the end of this year this number will increase to a 1000 workers.

The first phase of the project should be completed at the end of 2018 – this means start up of the first half of the refinery, which will produce 125 thousands barrels per day.

After the first phase is done, they will move on with the other half of rehabilitation and the refinery will produce 210 thousand barrels per day.

The new refinery will be as big as the previous ones on the island (Valero, Lago) – the difference is it will function as an up-grader to make different crude products which in turn will be sold internationally.




Hospital in Aruba

The patients who are in the old hospital building at the moment are going to be transferred to the new hospital building in the month of August.

According to the director of Aruba’s hospital – the patients are going to be transferred to the new building because they they need to start renovating the old one.

The hospital has been expanded with new buildings.

All equipment and machinery are ready to use, just some IT aspects are missing and still need to be finalized before the patients make the move.

All nurses are going to take an exam called “training for patient experience” to keep up with the international medical standards (there’s already 4 local neurosurgeons that were recognized in Aruba, and more students who studied medicine are returning).

The government invested a lot of money into creating the new hospital buildings and in renovating the old one in an effort to better the medical care on the island. 

There are talks in the parliament about medical tourism, where visitors from all over can come to Aruba and seek medical attention for a better price than back home.

ShelfPack - revolutionary luggage with shelves!

New Cars for the Navy

There’s about 33 new military trucks being shipped for the navy in Aruba. 

All vehicles are being shipped at the moment via Curacao – 12 of these new trucks are already on their way to Aruba. The rest of them should be shipped this week.

The trucks will be used for training, humanitarian missions, accidents, floods and in combat (if ever necessary).

Aruba Baseball Little League Sub Champions

Sport is very important in Aruba.

You can see the fruits of our labor with all stars in baseball like Xander Bogaerts.

There’s more all stars to come in the future, because our Aruba’s little league made it very far during the Caribbean little league series held in Antigua.

The players managed to win the sub champion title after losing to Santo Domingo 8 – 5 during the championship game.

We’re proud of our little league team, because they put Aruba on the map internationally in regards to sports.

The winners of the series (santo domingo) will represent the Caribbean in the little league world series 2017.

We’re proud of our athletes for making it this far – congratulations.

Support Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

I invest my personal time to make this newsletter available to you for free, because I know how much it means for you to stay up to date with what’s happening on your home away from home. 

If you want to support me with maintaining the website costs or want to buy me a beer so I can stay creative (because nothing great was invented by drinking water) – please make a donation of your choice.

Click on the amount you wish to donate and you will be directed to paypal on the next page.

You’re awesome!

 [sdonations]2[/sdonations]

Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Did you enjoy reading this week’s important Aruba news recap?

If so sign up for my newsletter to get future news updates out of Aruba straight to your email -for free.

Join my newsletter today and I’ll email you my “Aruba on a Budget” e-book as a gift…

/by

Latest News About Aruba – The New Traffic Laws You Should Know About

Every weekend, on Sunday I write a recap of the latest news about Aruba in English, because I know how important it is for you to stay connected with what’s happening on your home away from home.

If this is your first time reading my newsletter welcome – enjoy the read!

Latest News About Aruba

This week a lot has happened on the island – let’s start with one of the most important news in Aruba….

New Traffic Laws

The minister of justice introduced new traffic laws this week that you should know about, if you plan on driving in Aruba.

Now there’s a law that you can’t use your cellphone to text while driving in Aruba.

You might be thinking, only to text, can you still use it to call while driving?

No, because if the police notices that you have your phone in your hand while you’re driving, they are allowed to pull you over and give you a fine, whether you were using your phone or not – the fact that you have your phone in your hand is enough reason for police to fine you.

There was already a law against using cellphone while driving in Aruba, but it was too general.

This new update on the law specifically states that it’s prohibited to have a phone in your hand while driving a car.

According to the minister, most people cause unnecessary accidents by using their phone while driving (calling & texting), but texting is the predominant cause of accidents on the island.

Another law introduced by the minister of justice is directed to drivers who cause accidents, and leave the scene without waiting on authorities to arrive.

People who cause hit and runs will be prosecuted and punished more severely.

Depending on the severity of the accident you caused, the maximum jail time you can get is 4 year, before the new law it was 2 years.

Take this notice as a warning – don’t get caught with a phone in your hand by the police while driving in Aruba.

If you’re looking to rent a car, but don’t know which company to rent a car from – let me help you find a rental car in Aruba.

Click here to request a car rental quote from me personally.

Update On Oil Spill

The communications manager of Aruba’s national park (Arikok) announced that the oil spill isn’t considered a crisis anymore.

This means that all the beaches (including natural pool) in Arikok have been declared open again!

Yes, share the great news with all your friends that are coming to Aruba.

However, they’re still monitoring the beaches for any oil patches that might be drifting our way.

Volunteers and public workers will keep cleaning the beaches until July 20, 2017.

The beach clean up can take longer than expected, because the amount of oil that spilled in the sea and still needs to come our way is unknown.

It could take weeks and months before tarballs stop washing up on our shores.

One thing is for sure, the beaches on the north side of the island (including natural pool) is open again for the public.

What’s Going To Happen To Mio?

A few weeks ago the minister of telecommunication gave MiO (phone provider) until June, 30 2017 to pay their licensing fees, which have been reportedly unpaid for almost two years.

What’s the total amount they owe the government?

Word around the island is close to 8 million dollars!

According to the minister of telecommunications, in a previous interview, he will “pull the plug” on the company if they don’t pay their debts in a timely manner.

MIO tried to find a solution with the minister, but nothing MIO could come up with were satisfactory for the government to agree on.  

What’s mio’s side of the story? We don’t know – because no one released any information yet regarding their case with the government.

During a recent interview, the minister of telecommunication mentioned that the licensing fees for phone companies are straightforward – if you want to open a phone provider on the island, you need to sign a contract for 10 million dollars for 10 years (1 million a year).

The time frame of the contract can’t be changed – this count’s for either a small phone company or big one.

So what does this mean for you, if you’re used to using MIO to get internet?

There are other alternatives, like Setar and Digicel.

I have experience with Digicel, you can buy a chip or a device to connect to the internet.

Where can you find a Digicel?

There’s a Digicel in the arrival hall at the airport and two other offices in the downtown area.

Trash Burning Pilot Plants

Last week there was a big fire at one of Aruba’s landfills (Parkietenbos).

The government announced that they will be closing the dump as soon as possible – something the inhabitants from parkietenbos wanted for years now.

However, is the announcement of closing the dump just a political stunt – to get votes for the current election?

Whatever the government’s intention behind it is, the employees from one of Aruba’s waste management company (Serlimar), which is responsible for managing the landfill, didn’t take the news lightly and demonstrated in front of the parliament his week.

According to a spokesperson for Serlimar, the government signed a contract with Serlimar and one of the agreement is that the government can’t make any decisions about the landfill without including Serlimar in it.

The good news is that the government assured the employees from Serlimar their jobs, even though they plan on closing the landfill.

So what’s the government going to do with Aruba’s waste, if they close the landfill?

One of the alternatives the government came up with is to partially burn the trash in special incinerators – and recycle the leftover trash or process it for a different end use.

The government hired several local companies to experiment with burning the trash from parkietenbos and finding ways to minimize the fumes that will be released in the process.

The government will give an update on the landfill situation this week – if they’re going to close the landfill or not….

Petition To Stop Hotel Construction

A few weeks ago the minister of infrastructure announced that two hotels will be constructed in the area of San Nicolas (sero colorado).

According to the minister, both hotels will be all inclusive and 500 rooms each.

Locals didn’t take the news well and expressed their dislike on social media.

A local journalist started a petition to stop the construction of the hotels in sero colorado.

She started the petition against the government, because sero colorado is a unique place on the island and should remain untouched.

What makes this part of the island so special?

It’s rich in history – there’s Indian caves, water tunnels, phosphate mines and ancient paintings made by Aruba’s first inhabitants.

The leader of the movement is also worried that the construction of new hotels will damage the beaches in this area.

Locals don’t want another hotel in Aruba and hopefully the government gets the message!

Bushiri Hotel

While the minister of infrastructure is planning to build 2 new hotels in sero colorado, he also plans to bring down one hotel in the downtown area that has been unused for years now.

The minister of infrastructure announced that the Bushiri hotel will be brought down a few months ago. However, since the minister’s announcement, the public works company cleaned the area around Bushiri, but the building is still standing tall.

Many people are wondering when the Bushiri hotel is going to be removed.

The director of Aruba’s public work company announced that they received a petition from the government to bring down the building.

According to the director they are evaluating the project in regards to the technical and judicial aspects, before they accept the project.

They gave the government an estimate for the project just over half a million dollars.

After they accept the project and the government approves it, which can take about 2 weeks – they will have 45 days to bring down the building, pick up the waste, clean up the area and level the ground with sand.

The hotel might not be there on your next visit….

What do you think the government should build in this area?

New Cinema or not?

There’s a case being fought in the courts against the government and a commercial investor who wants to build a new cinema on a wetland area (locally known as Salinja) on the north side of the island.

Of course, Aruba Bird Life Conservation is against the new cinema because, the wetland is very important for the bird life in this area.

The commercial investor started a case against the government, because they are taking too long to transfer the wetland area to the investor, so he can start building the new movie theater.

However, the government doesn’t feel obligated to transfer the area as of yet, because they are not ready to do so – which is causing the impasse at the moment.

Aruba bird life conservation is speaking up for nature and is trying to stop the project.

The judge will give a sentence on July 5, 2017 whether the commercial investor is going to be given this piece of wetland or not.

You might be thinking doesn’t Aruba have enough theaters? One in renaissance, and the other two other ones in Paseo mall.

The problem is, the commercial investor is closing down the cinema in Paseo mall and wants to build a new one.

In my opinion, there’s no need for a new cinema, and certainly not on a protected wetland area.

Second Political Debate

A second political debate will be held after locals witnessed Aruba’s first debate a few weeks ago.

The next debate is going to be directed towards millennials and has been organized by a group of millennials.

All 10 leaders of the political parties have agreed to take part of the debate.

This year’s election is going to be different than all the previous years, because millennials are more involved with politics than ever, and politicians are fighting for their votes.

The debate is going to be focused on topics and issues our millennials are facing in society. .

Debate Format

It will be different than the previous one – the first change is that the debate is going to be held in two sessions instead of one.

During the first session all leaders have to answer the same questions, so the public can see their vision and ideas. The second part of the debate is going to be two politicians debating about several topics – I’m sure everyone is excited about the second part of the debate.

The event will be held on July 13, 2017 at 7:00 PM until 11:00 PM at Cas di cultura.

Support Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Every Sunday I post a weekly recap of important Aruba news – for free!

Because I know how much it means to you to be able to stay connected with your favorite place in the world…

I invest my personal time to make this newsletter available for you and  I have a few monthly costs to run this website.

If you want to support me by buying me a few cold beers to stay creative (because nothing great was invented by drinking water) or want to help with the website costs, please make a donation of your choice.

Click on the amount you wish to donate and you will be directed to pay pal on the next page.

[sdonations]2[/sdonations]

Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Did you enjoy reading this week’s important Aruba news recap?

If so sign up for my newsletter to get future news updates out of Aruba straight to your email -for free.

Join my newsletter today and I’ll email you my “Aruba on a Budget” e-book as a gift….

/by

Newspaper in Aruba – Everything You Need To Know About Recent Happenings

Once a week (on Sundays) I do a recap about the newspaper in Aruba.

If this is your first time reading my newsletter – welcome.

Newspaper in Aruba

First of all I want to wish all dads a happy father’s day!

Let’s get to the newspaper in Aruba – a lot of new things happened this week, but let’s start with what’s still headlining the news in Aruba lately….

Oil Spill

The oil spill is still a trending topic on the island.

International experts that have been hired to examine the oil spill have classified the spill as category tier 1 – which means is a mild spill, only causing localized damage.

The experts also said that the crude patches stuck on the coves should be left alone and not removed by hand, because it can be dangerous.

The patches on the coves will be cleaned by the ocean itself over time.

The Current Situation

All the tar-balls that washed up on Aruba’s north coast are sinking beneath the ocean and is very hard to clean.

The beach clean up has been downgraded from intensive to passive and will be done regularly during the following 6 weeks.

Animals affected by oil spill

Unfortunately a few birds were found dead.

Some birds that were affected by the oil spill, were rescued and had to be taken care of so they could survive, before they let them out in the wild again.

Aruba bird life conservation is in charge of saving all the affected birds and other animals from the oil spill.

Important To Know

If you are planning a trip to Aruba and want to do any excursions, take note that the beaches in Arikok (for example natural pool) is closed – you won’t be able to visit these beaches until further notice by the government.

In case you wanted to help out with the beach clean up, when you’re in Aruba, please call 297-5851234 to sign up as a volunteer.

Fire in Parkietenbos Aruba

Parkietenbos is Aruba’s official landfill dumping site since the 1960’s.

However, the people who live near parkietenbos have been complaining about smoke that has been coming from the landfill – but the government isn’t doing nothing about it.

This week there was a huge fire on the landfill accompanied with numerous explosions.

The government couldn’t ignore the big fire on the landfill and said that the dump will be closed very soon.

They are already processing all permits to be able to stop locals and companies from depositing their waste at parkietenbos.

Previous governments have tried to close the landfill numerous times, but none of them succeeded. Maybe because, the locals were glad that there’s a landfill to throw away their waste – however, now the situation is getting out of control.

The landfill is saturated with no place left to deposit waste.

The government needs to come up with a better way to process Aruba’s waste in a sustainable and responsible manner.

Aruba’s Hospital

Horacio Oduber Hospital is under construction – two new buildings that are nearly finished, and a couple of days ago the hospital started another project.

They are renovating the current hospital building – renovations already started this week in the lobby, cafeteria and the pharmacy area.

Due to the current situation there’s going to be less space in the lobby area from the hospital until the renovation is completed.

Green Corridor Bridge

This week the prime minister visited the new bridge at spaans lagoon to see the progress they are making with the construction.

The project manager of the green corridor stated that there’s a few things that still need to be done before the project is completed.

For example applying asphalt to create new roads at both ends of the bridge and a few more other works.

The bridge itself is practically done, it’s just missing a few finishing touches.

Everything has to be finished in August 2017.

The addition of the green corridor highway and bridge will cut the travel time to reach san nicolas from the downtown (and vice versa).

The government paid for the bridge in a form of a “lease”, which they will pay the company yearly for 20 years.

If there’s any damage to the green corridor, the company is responsible for fixing it – in the case they don’t repair any damage, the government can deduce the costs of repair in the lease.

This type of agreement with the company ensures that the green corridor will be maintained during the 20 years of the leasing contract.

CITGO

The government signed important documents with CITGO and other stakeholders that will expedite the rehabilitation of Aruba’s refinery.

Agreements that were signed were in regards to expats control, customs protocol, service agreements and loans to finance the rehabilitation of the refinery.

The refinery should be operational in the second half of 2018. .

Gas Price

There’s good news for you if you plan to rent a car in Aruba – the price of gasoline just dropped 4,7 cents a couple of days ago.

At the moment a liter of gasoline costs 177.3 cents at the pump.

Take the gas price into consideration for your budgeting, if you’re renting a car.

If you don’t know which company you should rent from, let me personally help you find a rental car.

Click here send me an email and request a car rental quote from me personally.

Lotto is Still Looking for a Millionaire

Aruba’s lottery is still looking for looking for a millionaire…

The current jackpot is about 1.7 million dollars – enough to retire and buy a villa on the island.

Last week someone came very close to winning it, just missing the mega ball to claim the prize.

Within a week the total jackpot increased with 300 thousand dollars.

Are you going to be the winner for the next drawing, which is this Tuesday?

You don’t have to be a local to participate – even visitors can take a chance and win.

A ticket will cost you $4.00 – have a local friend buy you a ticket here, if you’re not on the island.

I am buying my ticket – if I win you will hear about it, I’ll be giving away some free airfare tickets to Aruba.

Good news for Casino lovers!

You can become a millionaire – if you’re a member of Tropicana Casino.

For the first time in history Tropicana casino is going to give away a million bucks.

All Tropicana casinos will be participating – Tropicana Aruba Resort & Casino, Tropicana Atlantic City, Tropicana Evansville, Tropicana Laughlin, Trop Casino Greenville, Belle of Baton Rouge Casino & Hotel, Lumiere Place Casino & Hotels and MontBlue Resort, Casino & Spa.

Each casino has their own promotion and qualification to pick one winner, who will proceed to the next round which one of them is guaranteed to win one million dollars.

So if you’re in Aruba and never played at Tropicana before, sign up and start playing the slot machine to get your ticket for a chance to win the cash prize.

The promotion starts on July 1, 2017 and ends on October, 7 2017.

For more information about the promotion visit tropicana casino’s website or their Facebook.

No More Plastic Straws

Aruba Wine & Dine wants all restaurants in Aruba to be more “green” by introducing biodegradable straws.

Plastic straws usually end up in the sea on Aruba’s beaches and forms a danger to our marine life – so the idea behind biodegradable straws is for restaurants to take a small step towards being more “green conscious”.

The current restaurants that are going to make the switch to these new straws are moomba beach, hadicurari, salt & pepper, fishes & more, dragon-fly, tango argentine grill, sopranos piano bar and cafe the plaza.

Hopefully the movement will be followed by other initiatives to introduce more sustainable products into the restaurant business on Aruba. 

Popular Article – Read 15 Must Have Beach Items in Aruba

Accident With Electricity

Yesterday a man died while working on a man lift near the highway of the airport, because he accidently hit his head into a high voltage electric cable.

He was fixing a billboard sign right in front of budget car rental – according to people who saw what happened, they say a huge fire and smoke form as the man touched the electric cable.

The police, ambulance, and firemen were notified about the situation – but unfortunately they couldn’t save the man’s life – he passed away.

Crime in Aruba

This week the police were notified that a robbery was taking place at a business in the district of socotorolaan.

The employees of the place say two men walked in with firearms and demanded money. They didn’t have any mask on, and their faces were caught on camera.

The robbers managed to take five thousand dollars, and two cell phones.

But within 24 hours the police caught one of the robbers – a native on the island.

He will be interrogated and the police will probably find his helper and incarcerate him within no time.

Well done guys, two thumbs up for Korps Politie Aruba.

Accidents in Aruba

This week visitors got into 3 different car accidents on the island.

Two accidents happened on sasaki weg near superfood, with one of the rental cars ending upside down in a ditch near sasaki weg.

A buggy also ended up upside down in a ditch near the Marriott resort.

Luckily no one was severely hurt during these unfortunate accidents.

Always be careful when operating a motorized vehicle in the island.

Support Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Every Sunday I post a weekly recap of important Aruba news – for free!

Because I know how much it means to you to be able to stay connected with your favorite place in the world…

I invest my personal time to make this newsletter available for you and  I have a few monthly costs to run this website.

If you want to support me by buying me a few cold beers to stay creative (because nothing great was invented by drinking water) or want to help with the website costs, please make a donation of your choice.

Click on the amount you wish to donate and you will be directed to paypal on the next page.

[sdonations]2[/sdonations]

Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Did you enjoy reading this week’s important Aruba news recap?

If so sign up for my newsletter to get future news updates out of Aruba straight to your email -for free.

Join my newsletter today and I’ll email you my “Aruba on a Budget” e-book as a gift….

/by

Aruba Newspaper Update on Oil Spill, New Hotels & Other Developments

Once a week (on Sundays) I do a news recap about the most important topics in the Aruba newspaper.

If this is your first time reading my newsletter – welcome!

Aruba Newspaper Update

A lot of things happened this week, but let’s start with the most important topic in the Aruba newspaper.

Update on Oil Spill in Aruba

We were all shocked by the news that Aruba was hit by an oil spill that happened in Trinidad.

Fortunately most of the oil drifted away from Aruba, due to a shift in the wind that changed the currents of the sea.

The big questions is – did this oil damage our precious beaches?

An international company was hired to inspect the beaches of Aruba. 

They assessed the situation from above by helicopter to see which beaches were affected by the oil spill.

Five areas were detected that was affected by the oil spill. It is suspected that 2 of these zones have residue oil from a spill that happened before this recent one.

Our precious beaches like eagle and palm beach and all the other popular beach alongside the hotel area have remained unaffected by the oil spill.

Experts say the oil that washed up on Aruba’s shores isn’t as dangerous as they expected it to be.

The tar balls that drifted towards Aruba are of low intensity, containing low amounts of toxic materials.

 

According to the experts, the oil that’s stuck on the coves can’t be easily removed by hand, but mother nature should provide the right elements to clean itself up as time goes by.

The Current Situation

Public workers are scouting the north and east coast of Aruba’s coastline every morning to signal left over tar balls heading our way. They noticed that the amount of tar balls drifting towards Aruba decreased by 3% since the oil spill first hit the island.

The government and national park Arikok are organizing an oil spill cleanup at different beaches in Arikok this upcoming month.

If you’re in Aruba during this period and want to help clean up – contact Arikok to help.

Send an email to Arikok – info@arubanationalpark.org or call them at (+297) 585 1234.

The claim

The government is waiting for the reports from different organizations that helped clean up the oil spill, to assess the total damage the oil had on Aruba so they can officially claim the company responsible for the spill.

A plan for the future

The government clearly didn’t have a plan in place to handle the oil spill.

This is a sign that they need a plan to prevent cases like this from happening again.

They better start as soon as possible before the reopening of the refinery, because we’re going to be dealing with all sorts of chemicals, oil, gas and other potentially toxic materials – we should be prepared for any calamity that might happen.

Popular Article – Read 15 Must Have Beach Items To Bring To Aruba

Two Hotels in Sero Colorado

A few weeks ago the local newspaper wrote a few articles about the minister of infrastructure transferring property to investors so they can construct two new hotels in sero colorado, near baby beach – but there wasn’t much information available about which hotels were going to be established in San Nicolas.

The minister of infrastructure gave more detail information about the hotels that are being built near sero colorado during an interview this week.

According to the minister, the new hotels that are being built near sero colorado are from Spanish descent.

One of them is NH hotels, which will be an all inclusive resort with a total of 500 rooms. The other hotel chain is from “Expedia Group” which also has a total of 500 rooms available.

The minister mentioned that NH hotels is the closest between both hotel chains to getting all green light to continue with construction on east side of the island.

At the moment you can see the walls of the hotels being erected, it is just a matter of time until this project will be realized. Even though many people are against more hotels in Aruba, especially in a vegetated area like sero colorado.

Would you stay in one of these hotels in Sero Colorado?

I will keep you updated on the developments about the hotels in San Nicolas in future newsletter articles.

Aruba’s First Political Debate

Political elections are in September, 2017 – a few more months and we will know our new polictal party that wil lead the island forward.

In approach of election day, chamber of commerce organized a political debate.

The leaders of the 7 biggest political parties were invited to share their views on different topics.

The debate was watched by nearly everyone living in Aruba on TV and was streamed live on Facebook.

What actually happened that night was far from a debate, it was just the political leaders answering questions that were sent in by locals.

They didn’t really debate against each other, however a few times some politicians took a stab at their colleagues and the “debate” got some life and spice.

The topics that were covered ranged were…

  • general health care
  • medical tourism
  • approving marijuana for medical and recreational use
  • immigration
  • retirement age
  • illegal landfills (parkietenbos)
  • tourism
  • eCommerce
  • crime & Venezuelan refugees.

There’s talks for a second political debate – the date is not known. Hopefully they turn it into a real debate – politicians actually debating against each other…

Insel Air Aruba Declared Bankrupt

A judge recently declared insel air Aruba bankrupt, but the status of insel air international (which includes curacao) is not clear.

Airport officials are alerting everyone not to buy tickets for this airlines – due to the uncertainty of the company. If you buy airfare from insel air international and they declare bankruptcy, you won’t get your money back.

Amount of debts

Insel air Aruba left almost 17 million dollars in debts after their bankruptcy.

This astronomical debt is owed to over 300 international and local creditors. For example, car rentals, restaurants, insurance companies – to name a few of companies they owe money.

What about the employees?

At the moment, most of insel airs employees are without a job.

The prime minister wants to create a regional airline to absorb the big hit on insel air’s employees.

There’s talk to partner with KLM to manage a regional airline.

Hopefully the prime minister manages to put this together to help insel air’s employees.


Hygiene Control in Aruba Restaurants

The authorities (police, fire department, and public health department) held a hygiene control at 28 restaurants (and takeaways) in the east side of the island.

They closed the following restaurants due to not meeting hygiene requirements (or not having the necessary permits) – Grote Berg Snack, E.M. Snack, Juana Morto Take Away, Asian Sranang, Big Happy, Aki Sushi, Tio Pepe, Rising Dragon, Charm Jam Jerk House, Peng Hu, Palmita Fortune House and J.R. Restaurant.

They will be reopened again after they meet all requirements by the local authorities.

Take this as a precautionary message, and think twice before you eat at one of these following restaurants (or takeaways).

New bicycle path in Aruba

The minister of infrastructure and the prime minister of Aruba recently divulged during a press conference that Aruba will get a new bicycle path.

It will be constructed along the roadside from the green corridor highway – which starts from the airport until San Nicolas.

The new bike path will be approximately 6 kilometers long, beginning from the district of sero theisji.

There’s possibility to extend the bike bath with an extra 20 kilometers if they connect the path with the district of San Nicolas, the still to be developed watty vos boulevard project and linear park.

According to the ministers, this project is beneficial to the health of the local community, the locals who practice the sport of cycling and for everyone who enjoys biking.

The bike paths will be built separately from the highway providing safety for all cyclists.

Developers of green corridor highway will be donating a thousand bikes to Aruba’s youth after the bike path project is finished.

With the addition of new electric bicycles around the island, and a new bike path that is going to be created – I foresee a lot of people riding bikes in the near future along Aruba’s roadside.

Aruba Car Rental – Click here to get my personal help with renting a car in Aruba.

Who Want’s To Be A Millionaire in Aruba

Aruba’s local lottery company is looking for the islands next millionaire…

The current jackpot is about 1.4 million dollars.

You don’t have to be a local to participate – even visitors can take a chance and win.

A ticket will cost you $4.00 – have a local friend buy you a ticket here, if you’re not on the island – the next drawing will be this Tuesday. If no one wins it for the next 3 drawings, the jackpot will surpass last year’s 1.7 million dollars winner.

Can you imagine winning the lotto in Aruba?

I’m sure you’re thinking about retiring and buying a ocean front villa and inviting me to celebrate of course 🙂

Support Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Every Sunday I post a weekly recap of important Aruba news – for free!

Because I know how much it means to you to be able to stay connected with your favorite place in the world…

I invest my personal time to make this newsletter available for you and  I have a few monthly costs to run this website.

If you want to support me by buying me a few cold beers to stay creative (because nothing great was invented by drinking water) or want to help with the website costs, please make a donation of your choice.

Click on the amount you wish to donate and you will be directed to pay-pal on the next page.

[sdonations]2[/sdonations]

Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Did you enjoy reading this week’s important Aruba news recap?

If so sign up for my newsletter to get future news updates out of Aruba straight to your email -for free.

Join my newsletter today and I’ll email you my “Aruba on a Budget” e-book as a gift….

/by

Important Aruba News – Is The Oil Spill An Issue For Your Visit to Aruba?

Once a week (on Sundays) I do a recap about important Aruba news.

If this is your first time reading my newsletter – welcome!

Important Aruba News

A lot of things happened this week, but let’s start with the most important Aruba news at the moment….

 Oil Spill On Aruba’s Beaches

About a week ago more than 200 barrels of bunker fuel leaked from a storage tank at a refinery in Trinidad.

A few days later after the oil leak happened, the local authorities noticed the oil drifting towards Aruba (also towards Curacao, Bonaire and Venezuela).

Beaches Affected By The Oil Spill

The beaches on the north coastlines of Aruba have been affected by the oil spill. This includes boca druif, boca chikito, wariruri, natural bridge, dos playa, boca prins, boca grandi and other coves on the north coast.

Oil patches have also been found on the bay known as “pet cemetery” near baby beach.

Luckily, the beaches near the hotel area have not been affected by the oil spill.

Public Notice

Aruba’s national park Arikok advised the public not to swim at natural pool or other bays near the north coastline, because they are cleaning these areas at the moment.

The entrance to natural pool and other beaches on the north coast are closed until further notice.

Clean Up The Beach

The prime minister held a press conference with local environmental organizations, NGO’s and CITGO to form a plan to remove the oil and keep the damage at a minimum.

Volunteers and workers from local cleaning companies have been working around the clock to clean up the beaches on the north coastlines.

cleaning up the beach

In the meanwhile, the local marines are monitoring the north coast of the island by boat and helicopter for more oil that might be drifting towards Aruba.

They are also keeping an eye out for fishes, birds and turtles that might have been affected by the oil spill – but no reports have been made yet of animals affected by the oil spill.

The oil in the sea has formed clumps and turned into tar due to the sea salt (known as tar-balls).

The oil patches that washed up on the Aruba’s shores formed clogs on the beach and coves, making the oil hard to remove.

this is a tar-ball

Is the oil spill going to affect the local drinking water?

The spokesperson for our local water treatment company (WEB) said that the drinking water in Aruba hasn’t been affected.

They are closely monitoring the water quality they are producing for any abnormalities.   

Since the announcement of the oil spill, they placed extra barriers in their water intake system as safety to keep out any oil from entering their water treatment plant.

The water treatment company is located on the southern part of the island, which is on the other side of where the oil washed up on Aruba’s shore -which means this part of the sea is pretty much unaffected by the oil spill.

According to WEB, Aruba’s water is still up to international standards and safe to drink.

Who’s going to pay for the damage?

The bureau of disaster control in Aruba is examining the composition of the oil.

If the composition of the oil patches is known, they can match it with the origin and find out if it’s really from the leak in Trinidad or if it’s from a nearby tanker.

Either way, the prime minister of Aruba announced during a press conference that the company that is responsible for the oil drifting into Aruba’s shore will be held accountable in regards to the damage and expenses to clean up our beaches.

The government is taking note of all the costs to clean up the beach, how much oil washed up and the location that the oil drifted on the island, so that they can write a claim to the company responsible for the leak.

All the environmental organizations and cleaning companies are bearing the costs to clean up our beaches, but their expenses will be claimed afterwards.

The Current Situation

According to the government, there’s good news – the biggest oil patches have already drifted into Aruba’s shore and cleaned up.

Less oil patches are expected to wash on Aruba’s north coast shore compared to the first few days.

The beaches near the hotel area have not been affected, so if you’re coming to Aruba and want to enjoy the beach closest to your hotel, you’re free to do so – it’s completely safe.

This oil spill shouldn’t be an issue for you if you’re visiting Aruba – you have nothing to worry about.

The natural pool and the beaches on the north coasts are still closed until further notice.

Read More – 15 Must Have Beach Items in Aruba

The Start of Hurricane Season in Aruba

It’s official – since June 1, 2017 the hurricane season has started in Aruba.

The government realized that they don’t have a system in place to alert the public of disasters or calamities after hurricane Matthew – so they introduced a new app named Alert FM.

Alert FM gives you instant messages of any calamities during the hurricane season in Aruba.

The app also lets the police, ambulance, red cross and other organizations involved during the hurricane season to alert and update each other.

The app is free, you can download it in the app store (iPhone users) or get it in play store (android users).

Once you download the app, you have to fill in a zip code to receive alerts from Aruba – the code is 99888.

Aruba is outside of the hurricane belt, so hurricanes seldom strike directly towards the island.

However, when a hurricane is forming in the Caribbean it can have tremendous effect in Aruba, in the form of heavy continuous rain with flooding and tropical storms.

Meteorologist are monitoring the situation closely and will alert the public if they notice any irregular activities.  

There’s a couple of hurricane names already for 2017, such as – Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irma, Jose, Nate, Sean and Whitney

New Parking Rule for V-cars

A couple of weeks ago the government announced the removal of the wheel clamp in regards to paid parking in the downtown area of Aruba.

However, since the government removed the wheel clamps, Aruparking (the company in charge of paid parking) don’t have an official sanction to fine someone (other than towing their car).

The government wants to introduce a new sanction – send a fine home if you break any of the parking rules.

This will work for the local community, but what about tourist who are driving car rentals? It’s nearly impossible to send a fine home for a visitor.

So the government is thinking of introducing a new way for tourist to pay for parking – one idea the prime minister brought forward during a press conference was to charge the car rental companies a tariff that will be included in the car rental price, that allows you to park for free in the downtown area.

This way you don’t have to worry about paying for parking in the downtown area, because it’s already included in your car rental quote.

However, this hasn’t been made official yet – at the moment your car rental quotes excludes this tariff.

Contact me, if you’re want to rent a car in Aruba, but you’re not sure where to rent from.

Click here to send me a car rental request and get my personal help to find the best car for you..

Olde Molen Murder Suspect Turns Himself In

The person who fatally shot a 26 year old (Ralph De Palm) near olde molen nightclub, turned his self into the police, after the cops issued a detention order in the media.

The prime suspect related to this shooting is a 22 year old named Erick Schneiders.

The police didn’t mention any more information and are investigating the case at the moment.

Pilot Arrested After Denying Instructions

The police arrested a pilot after he denied to follow instructions from the control tower at the airport in Aruba.

According to a spokesperson from Aruba’s airport, the pilot took off for Venezuela from Aruba, and a few minutes later after he made a return for Aruba, but he denied to follow instructions when he turned back to land on Aruba.

A delta airline flight was just coming in, and he could of put the lives of many people in danger.

The public ministry seized the plane and are investigating the case.

The pilot is still under arrest and will probably lose his license.

Jet-blue To Use Face Recognition

Jet-blue is going to partner with u.s customs to roll out a pilot program using face recognition to eliminate manual passport checks.

They are going to start the program in June 2017 with travelers who are departing from Boston’s Logan international airport to Aruba.

You can participate in the pilot program without any prior enrollment or registration.

If you choose to participate in the face registration system during the check in process, you won’t be needing your boarding passes.

Just step up to the camera for a picture that recognizes your face.

The camera is connected to a database that contains your flight details.

Shorter lines during check in, gets you faster to paradise 🙂


New Solar Park in Aruba

Aruba is going to get a solar park in the district of lago heights – it’s called “sunrise solar park”.

This week there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the new solar park.

Richard Branson was a distinguished guests during the ceremonial opening.

The addition of this solar park will bring Aruba closer to the 100% renewable energy vision of the prime minister.

Sunrise solar park will be completed within a year and will be the biggest solar park in the Caribbean region.

A total of 15.000 solar panels will be producing 6 MW of electricity for the island.

Aruba is one of the only islands in the Caribbean that is making great progress into sustainable innovations.

Support Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Every Sunday I post a weekly recap of important Aruba news – for free!

Because I know how much it means to you to be able to stay connected with your favorite place in the world…

I invest my personal time to make this newsletter available for you and  I have a few monthly costs to run this website.

If you want to support me by buying me a few cold beers to stay creative (because nothing great was invented by drinking water) or want to help with the website costs, please make a donation of your choice.

[sdonations]1[/sdonations]

Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Did you enjoy reading this week’s important Aruba news recap?

If so sign up for my newsletter to get future news updates out of Aruba straight to your email -for free.

Join my newsletter today and I’ll email you my “Aruba on a Budget” e-book as a gift….

/by

News of Aruba – What’s Happening in Aruba Recently

Once a week (on Sundays) I do a recap about local news of Aruba.

If this is your first time reading my newsletter – welcome!

Breaking News in Aruba

So what’s been happening on Aruba?

Let’s start with…

Robbery in Aruba

A robbery took place last week at a jewelry store (Kevin Jewelers).

The owner of Kevin Jeweler told the police that 3 Spanish speaking men entered the store, pointed their guns at the employee’s and held the manager hostage.

The robbers didn’t have any masks on, their faces were caught on camera.

Until now, the police can’t find the suspects yet.

Home Robbery

Three men robbed a home in the district of Madiki.

The robbers entered the house and tied a man and his son (9 years old). They took their belongings (phones, jewels, and money)

The police found the getaway car and arrested the owner of the car (a lady) – but the police didn’t find the robbers yet….

Could this be the same people who robbed the jewelry store?

Murder near Olde Molen Nightclub

The local community was shocked with the news that someone has been murdered near Olde Molen nightclub (close to The Mill Hotel).

The police got a notification that guns were fired near olde molen, and they immediately went there to check out the scene.

When they arrived they found a person on the floor, but already dead.

The victim was a 26 year old boy known as, Ralph De Palm, born in Haiti.

No one has been arrested yet for this murder – the police is still investigating the case.

There’s a suspicion that the murder is related to drugs.

This is not the first time for a shooting at olde molen nightclub. Because in December 7, 2015 someone shot a 37 year old man to death. The suspect was sentenced to 18 years of jail.

Previous to this incident, there were many other shootings and fights here.

As a local here on the island, I will not be going anywhere near Olde Molen Nightclub at night. It’s very dangerous there – take this as a warning not to visit this nightclub – ever!

Man Found Dead Behind California Lighthouse

The police was notified that a body was found near the coast of California Lighthouse, but the person wasn’t showing any signs of being alive.

Local forensics diagnosed that the man died because he drowned, and not because of a murder.

The victim was living in Aruba, but he was born in Curacao in 1970.

This is a very sad case – what was he doing at the coastline at night?

Be careful when visiting the rough coast of Aruba, because if you fall into the sea, the waves will crash you against the rocks – the results can be deadly.

Moratorium on Supermarkets

The government recently declared a moratorium on supermarkets in Aruba.

They did a research on supermarkets on the island. The results confirm that there’s a total of 185 supermarkets (and mini markets).

There’s about 2 supermarkets per 1000 inhabitants – which is too much according to the Aruban government.

In the past 5 years the total amount of supermarkets in Aruba grew from 90 to a total of 185, while the population didn’t change too much.

The Aruba Trade & Industry Association agrees with the decision of the government to declare moratorium on supermarkets, because the amount of supermarkets is excessive compared to the amount of people on the island.

All petitions to open a supermarket will be denied, only the requests before May 23, 2017 will be processed.

The moratorium is for two years.

In my opinion the government should also control the supermarkets to watch if they are keeping their prices fair, and not charging too much on their products compared to other supermarkets.

Restaurant Hygiene Inspection

The police inspected restaurants in the district of San Nicolas and closed a lot of these establishment during their regular hygiene control, due to not having permits to run a business or not having good hygiene in the restaurant.

They closed House of Cake, Dos Reis Snack, Fruteria Dominicano and La Granja. But these restaurants are open back again, because they got their permit and hygiene back in order.

However, there’s a Chinese restaurant called wing wag bar that has been permanently closed, because they didn’t have a permit to run a restaurant.

The police are going to be inspecting restaurants in the area of Noord in the following months – let’s see which of our favorite restaurants will stay open and which ones will be closed down.

Info on Citgo

Bloomberg recently published an article saying that CITGO is basically a scam to process Syrian oil in Aruba and transport it to America.

According to Bloomberg, they have access to emails and other documentation as proof that the plan is to sell Syrian oil for a cheap price to Venezuela, which in turn will be processed at the “new refinery” –  CITGO.

The refined oil will be then be transported to America and distributed to all gas stations.

Bloomberg interviewed a Venezuelan oil dealer, and he admitted to play a part in the plan – but he also said that he has nothing to do with the situation any more.

Long story short – if it’s true what Bloomberg is saying – we’re caught in a big scam!

First Turtles

Last week the first turtle came out a nest located in Eagle Beach – it’s the first turtle for the year 2017.

It took exactly 63 days and 3 hours for the first egg to hatch. A few days later, two other turtles were spotted.

There’s a lot more turtle nest around the beaches of Aruba, so there’s plenty of turtles that need to make their way to the sea in the following weeks.

Support Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Every Sunday I post a weekly recap of breaking news from Aruba – for free!

Because I know how much it means to you to be able to stay connected with your favorite place in the world…

On my part I invest hours into being creative so I can making this newsletter and have a few monthly costs to run this website.

If you want to support me by buying me a few cold beers to stay creative (because nothing great was invented by drinking water) or want to help with the website costs, please make a donation of your choice.

It’s not necessary to do so, but if you feel like it, please do so – I would highly appreciate it.

Use the PayPal donation button below to donate.

[sdonations]1[/sdonations]

Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Did you enjoy reading this week’s news out of Aruba recap?

If so sign up for my newsletter to get future news out of Aruba updates straight to your email.

Join my newsletter today and receive my “Aruba on a Budget” e-book as a personal gift from me right in your inbox.

/by

Local Newspaper in Aruba – A Lot of Positive Developments

Once a week (on Sundays) I do a recap of news that I’ve read in the local newspaper in Aruba.

If this is your first time reading my newsletter – welcome!

First of all, if you’re a mother – I want to wish you a Happy Mothers day. Everyday is your day, today is just extra special day!

Enjoy your presents 🙂

Local Newspaper in Aruba

This week’s local newspaper in Aruba was full of political headlines, a sign that election is getting very close (in September 2017), but I skipped right through the political propaganda, and noticed a lot of positive developments that I like to shed some light on…

Successful Dog Spay & Neuter Campaign

United Dogs Aruba gave 328 stray dogs in the district of San Nicolas a better future, because of a spay & neuter campaign last week.

Their original goal was to sterilize 400 dogs, but they reached pretty close.

Besides sterilization, the dogs were also vaccinated, dewormed and got a chip. The microchip contains important information about the dog.

I considered this campaign successful – congratulations and thank you for doing it!

Thumbs up to United Aruba Dog and all the people who volunteered.

7 illegals detained near Baby Beach

The local coast guard detained 7 undocumented people who were trying to enter Aruba in a fishing boat.

A operator noticed a suspicious movements on his radar, and immediately dispatched two coastguard boats to patrol the coasts of Baby Beach.

About 2.5 miles south of Baby Beach, the coast guard caught the suspicious boat.

Five of illegals have a Venezuelan nationality, one of them is from Ecuador and the other person from Colombia.

The captain got detained and charged with trafficking people.

Warda nos costa (coast guard) seized the ship for further investigation.

Mosquito Traps

The department of public health placed mosquito traps all over the island, to find out which type of mosquitoes are on the island.

They are under the assumption that the mosquito type – aedes taeniorhynchus, is to blame for the zika outbreak a few months ago in the district of Savaneta, Pos Chikito and San Nicolas.

The results of this experiment are crucial to adjustment of the current policy regarding combating zika and to establish new guidelines to prevent mosquito for the the upcoming “rainy season in Aruba”.

At the moment they placed 4 traps around the island – including one at the hotel sector. More traps are going to be places in the coming days.

The amount of reported and confirmed zika cases in Aruba at the moment is very low.

The minister of public health didn’t specifically say the amount of cases during a recent interview, but he assured the public that the confirmed cases of zika are well below the minimum level.

Here are a few tips to help you protect yourself against mosquito bites in Aruba…

Update On Toronto Murder Suspect

Four suspects who were caught last week in connection of the murder in the district of Jaburibari were released from jail.

However, there are four other people who are also suspected to have something to do with the murder and are still incarcerated.

One of them is, Michael Teddy Gibson, who is being accused of being involved in a gang related murder at Regent Park in Toronto (April 2, 2016).

The public ministry reported that the case is still under investigation, so they can’t give out too much information.

2 New Hotel in San Nicolas

The minister of infrastructure (Benny Sevinger) announced the construction of two new hotels in the district of San Nicolas.

During an interview he said that the negotiations with the hotel chains are almost complete, and in a short period the investors will be receive the land to start construction.

The minister didn’t specify which hotels will be opening, or the locations of the resorts.

However, I have a suspicion that one of the hotels is already started construction, near rogers beach.

According to the minister of infrastructure, the hotels will not be built directly on the beach (keeping the beaches public) and they have to contribute to the development of the district of San Nicolas.

The question many people are asking is, isn’t the new hotel going to have a negative impact on Aruba’s reserved nature area?

Some locals are calling this announcement fake news, just a political stunt – what do you think?

Is The Rehabilitation of the Refinery Delayed?

Word around town is that the rehabilitation of the refinery has been delayed, pushing back the start up date from 2018 to 2020, because there’s no money to fund the refurbishment.

But the minister of economy denied these claims, assuring the public that the timeframe of the refurbishment is on schedule.

According to the minister of economy, a large part of the rehabilitation process will be completed in the last quarter of 2017.

Gas Price On The Rise Again

The gas price is on the rise again, and it’s the highest since 20 months ago.

Gasoline is now 5.2 cents more expensive – 182 cents per liter. The price of diesel also increased. One liter of diesel will now cost you 146 cents per liter, an increase of 3.1 cents.

If you’re renting a car in Aruba, take these gas prices into consideration.

Want to rent a car in Aruba? Click here to rent your car with me.

New Restaurant in Renaissance Marketplace

There’s a new restaurant opening where cilo lounge used to be in the renaissance marketplace.

The new restaurant will be called Le Garage Bistro, a French bistro offering lunch and dinner.

During an interview, the new owners mentioned that they are close to opening their doors in the coming weeks – with a new staff and chef!

Folkloric Parade Display

On May 28, 2017 there will be a cultural parade event held, starting at 4:00 PM from La Cabana Hotel to Paseo Herencia Mall.

The parade will display Aruba’s folkloric clothes and traditional music.

If you’re on the island, stand on the roadside to witness the local folkloric parade.

Support Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Every Sunday I post a weekly recap of breaking news from Aruba – for free!

Because I know how much it means to you to be able to stay connected with your favorite place in the world…

On my part I invest hours into being creative so I can making this newsletter and have a few monthly costs to run this website.

If you want to support me by buying me a few cold beers to stay creative (because nothing great was invented by drinking water) or want to help with the website costs, please make a donation of your choice.

It’s not necessary to do so, but if you feel like it, please do so – I would highly appreciate it.

Use the PayPal donation button below to donate.

[sdonations]1[/sdonations]

Vacations By Aruba Newsletter

Did you enjoy reading this week’s news out of Aruba recap?

If so sign up for my newsletter to get future news out of Aruba updates straight to your email.

Join my newsletter today and receive my “Aruba on a Budget” e-book as a personal gift from me right in your inbox.

/by