Page 6 - AHATA

a8 local
Saturday 26 OctOber 2024

Aruba Tourism Authority honored loyal visitors at Caribbean Palm Village Resort!

The Aruba Tourism Authority recently had the United States.
great pleasure of recognizing Distinguished Ms. Toni Carter from Brentwood New York,
Visitors of Aruba. The honorees were respectively United States.
honored with a certificate for their years of visits,
loyalty, and love for the island of Aruba. Mr. Jorgino Willems representing the Aruba
Tourism Authority, and staff members of
The honorary certification is presented on Caribbean Palm Village Resort bestowed the
behalf of the Minister of Tourism as a token of certificate upon the honorees, presented them
appreciation and to say “Masha Danki” to with gifts, and thanked them for choosing
guests who have visited Aruba 10, 20, or 35 Aruba as their favorite vacation destination, as
years or more consecutively. their home away from home.

The three levels of honor are as follows: The top reasons for returning to Aruba provided
by the honorees were:
Distinguished Visitor (10>years consecutively • Aruba’s people.
visiting Aruba) • Aruba’s beaches.
Goodwill Ambassador (20>years consecutively • Aruba’s weather.
visiting Aruba) • Aruba’s restaurants.
Emerald Ambassador (35>years consecutively • “Family & Friends”
visiting Aruba)
On behalf of the Aruba Tourism Authority, we
The honorees were: would like to express our sincere gratitude and
appreciation to the honorees for their continued
Distinguished Visitors visits to the “One Happy Island”.q
Mr. Charles Santiago from Brentwood New York,

In celebrating 200 years of Oranjestad...

Learn about the history of the famous town hall!

(Oranjestad)—If you’ve two lived a posh life in the of construction, Maria was pair, as the maintenance Their house was also con-
ever taken a stroll through city center, and their man- not allowed to see the cost became too high to structed by Dada Picus, uti-
main street Oranjestad, sion—once the center for building nor be anywhere cover. lizing Veneranda’s design
you may have stumbled neighborhood parties— near the construction site. vision that was inspired by
upon a big green house now serves as a public It wasn’t until after her hon- The land was sold to Land a house she saw in Carta-
with beautiful colonial de- town hall for civil marriages eymoon that she saw the Aruba in 1986, but it did not gena, Colombia.
sign. This legendary house, and is a cultural monument completed mansion for the see a renovation until 1997.
now used as a town hall for on the island. first time, furnished entirely Nowadays, it serves to host Nowadays, this mansion lies
civil marriages, was once by her sisters-in-law. weddings, and is attached in ruins. However, the Aru-
owned by a wealthy doctor The house was designed to a modern building situ- ban government recently
and formed part of the elite by architect Chibi Wever, The mansion also con- ated behind—the Aruban announced its official res-
neighborhood in Oranjes- and constructed under the tained the doctor’s office, census office. toration, with plans to con-
tad. leadership of famous mas- as well as a pharmacy. Af- vert this monument into a
ter carpenter, Dada Picus, ter the death of Jacobo, Jacobo and Maria’s man- governmental office and
Jacobo Eloy Arends was who was famous at the the house was inherited by sion was situated in front public space for visitors of
an Aruban physician, and time for his construction of his son, an Aruban dentist, of another famous man- Oranjestad. q
in lived in Oranjestad dur- beautiful buildings. who converted Jacobo’s sion, owned by Jacobo’s
ing the 1920s. In 1922, he office into his own dental brother Frederico Maxi- Source and pictures credited
married Maria Monica The construction of the practice. Over the years, miliaan (Machi) Arends. to: “De Kolibrie op de Rots (en
meer over the geschiedenis
Lacle, the daughter of well- house started once Jacobo the house was rented and Frederico was married to van Aruba)” by Evert Bongers.
known business man at the and Maria got engaged. It used by third parties, but Veneranda (whom the
time, Adriaan Lacle. The is said that during the time eventually fell into disre- mansion was named after).