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Friday 9 december 2022 locAl
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            Another Treasure of Aruba’s Beaches: Sea Glass!




            NOORD - It is hard to imag-
            ine  this  happening  today,                                                                                        The  ruby  red  glass  stones
            but  years  ago  people                                                                                             are  typically  from  old  car
            dumped all kinds of refuse                                                                                          tail-lights.
            straight  into  the  ocean,
            including  old  cars,  and                                                                                          Then,  the  sapphire  rocks
            their  household  garbage,                                                                                          are  the  remnants  of  bro-
            which  of  course  included                                                                                         ken  apothecary  bottles.
            lots of glass. Over the next                                                                                        The  most  common  and
            30  years  the  pounding                                                                                            the  easiest  to  find  are  the
            waves cleaned the beach,                                                                                            brown  (Amstel  &  Polar
            by  breaking  down  every-                                                                                          beer),  green  (Heineken
            thing  but  glass  and  pot-                                                                                        &  Balashi  beer)  and  clear
            tery.  The  pounding  waves                                                                                         glass  which  are  the  soft
            washed  the  trash  up  and                                                                                         much  loved  “soft  drink”
            down, back and forth. Tons                                                                                          bottles.
            of  polished,  broken  glass
            pieces  were  created  by                                                                                           If  you  like  to  see  the  sea
            the  pounding  surf.  These                                                                                         glass  for  yourself,  and  be
            smoothened, colored glass                                                                                           in awe of the power of na-
            particles then settled along                                                                                        ture,  rent a car or jeep and
            the  sea  shore  in  millions,                                                                                      go  explore  our  deserted
            and  that  is  why  you  can                                                                                        beaches on the north  side
            find  these  beautiful  and                                                                                         of the island. Make it a fun
            colorful pieces on the north                                                                                        family day!
            shore beaches of Aruba.                                                                                             Even if we didn’t mean to
                                                                                                                                pollute  the  Beaches  how
            Especially  on  the  strip  on                                                                                      we did, it is inspiring to see
            white sand between the fa-                                                                                          just how the earth can cor-
            mous  Natural  Bridge”  and                                                                                         rect our mistakes.
            the huge red anchor close
            to “Grapefield” beach you                                                                                           Funny,  how  trash  can
            will be able to find your own                                                                                       change into treasures!
            pieces of sea glass. The sea
            glass  that  was  created  is                                                                                       Everybody  knows  that  you
            the product of a very long                                                                                          are  not  allowed  to  take
            and  interesting  process.  It                                                                                      local  shells  home,  but  the
            can  take  anywhere  from                                                                                           people  working  at  the  air-
            10 to 30 years to make sea                                                                                          port have no problem you
            glass.  The  name  for  any  ter, where sand  and  other  ances  and  even  motor  short-sighted  mistakes  we  taking  sea  glass  home.  A
            piece of glass that finds its  rocks act like sandpaper to  parts  were  discarded  on  were  making  that  could  few  of  those  pieces  make
            way to the ocean and tum-    smooth out its rough edges.  the beach. The waves and  have      potentially   ruined  great  souvenirs.    You  can
            bles  around  in  the  water  Sometimes as the sea glass  weather  conditions  wore  these  beautiful  beaches.  place them in a wine glass
            long enough is “Sea glass.   is passed through fire, it be-  down      the  overwhelming  But  thanks  to  natural  pro-  or large bottle for decora-
                                         comes fire glass, the rarest  amount of garbage in the  cesses,  the  ocean  trans-    tion  and  every  time  you
            The colorful pieces of glass  of  sea  glass  with  certain  water,  creating  millions  of  formed  the  trash  into  the  look at it a smile will light up
            are being used for decora-   inclusions, just like precious  beautiful smooth rocks.   sea glass.                   your face thinking back of
            tion,  handcrafts  and  jew-  gems.                                                    Each  colored  gem  on  the  your  unforgettable  Aruba
            elry!                                                       It’s  hard  to  believe  the  beach has its own story.  vacation! q
            Once  glass  makes  its  way  For  years,  the  water  beat
            into the ocean, the glass is  against  the  different  kinds
            broken up into shards and is  of  trash  being  dumped.
            tumbled around in the wa-    Glass,   household   appli-
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