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local Friday 29 december 2023

Aruban legends:

Frenchman’s Pass

(Oranjestad)—If you ever plan on the area of Spanish Lagoon.
taking a group tour of the island,
you may pass through the French- There are many ghost stories sur-
man’s Pass in Balashi. The French- rounding this area, but one of the
man’s pass (known to locals as most famous one involves a lonely
“Franse Pas”) remains a mysteri- hitchhiker, trying to find a ride back
ous—and spooky—road of which home in the dark rainy night.
its legend is told from generation to
generation. Sometime after trying to hitchhike,
the man saw a car approaching,
The history of the Frenchman’s appearing almost ghost-like in the
pass—and how it got its name— rain. However, since he needed a
dates back to the colonization era, ride real bad, he didn’t think twice
when the French tried to colonize and jumped in. But to his horror, he
the island, but were met with an noticed that the there was no driv-
angry mob of indigenous settlers, er in the front. Paralyzed with fear,
refusing to give up their land. How- he didn’t dare to get out, and the Cruz. there’s the idiot who sat in our car
ever, as the French were heavily car started to move. Arriving at a nearby bar, he or- when we were pushing it!”
equipped with fire arms, the indig- dered a drink and began to tell ev-
enous settlers began to retreat, When approaching a sharp turn, eryone about his experience. Ev- French man’s pass is one of the
and hid away in nearby caves. The the hitch hiker braced for impact, eryone grew quiet, because they few sites on the island that keeps
French colonizers tried to smoke but just when he though the car realized he wasn’t some drunk the locals on their toes. While most
them out of the caves, but the might drive straight off the road messing around; he was telling the ghost stories may not have real
indigenous settlers ended up in- and crash, he saw a hand ap- truth. grounds—or some may even be
haling too much smoke and most pear out the window and turn the a set up story for a joke, this pass
died in those caves. From then on, wheel. For the next few turns, the Sometime later, two men walked contributes a lot to our culture of
this passage was known as French- hand appeared again. After hav- into the bar and one of them no- folkloric story-telling. q
man’s Pass, and there have been ing had enough, the man decided ticed the hitchhiker. He called
many accounts of spirits roaming to jump out and he ran to Santa out to his buddy and said: “Look, Source: visitaruba.com

Aruba’s Bocas: home to the rarest fossil reefs on the planet!

(Oranjestad)—If you’ve Bremen, Prof. dr. Alessio
been to the northern coast Rovere from the Ca' Fosc-
of Aruba already, you’ve ari University of Venice and
probably noticed how the Prof. dr. Gianfranco Scic-
ground differs entirely from chitano, from the University
the sandy beaches on the of Bari Aldo Moro, present-
southern part of the island. ed their research on these
These hard surfaces, with fossilized coral reefs at the
sharp bumps and holes University of Aruba. Their
are actually fossilized coral focus for their research in-
reefs, of which its growth cluded studying the health
and changes can be and formation patterns of
traced back to the last gla- these coral reefs, and to
cial period. investigate how these reefs
have responded and can
On May 30 2023, geosci- respond to fluctuating sea
entists, Dr. Patrick Boyden levels or extreme weather,
from the Marum research like hurricanes and tsuna-
faculty at the University of mis.
put things into perspective. This research is also im-
Through underwater and The ground on which we portant for the future of
land surveillance, and 3D have walked many times coral reefs on the island.
models of the reefs, they in the northern part of the By studying rising sea lev-
were able to narrow down island hold such rich history, els and climate impact on
when these formations history that dates back to these coral reefs, we are
started to take place. They a time that most of us can- able to take concrete ac-
were also able to track the not even imagine. As the tion in protecting and pre-
fluctuation of sea levels scientists themselves have serving our coral reefs. So, if
during the past hundred or pointed out, these fossilized you are ever visiting one of
even thousands of years, reefs on the windward side the bocas or driving along
and the effects that this are truly an incredible and the northern part of the is-
fluctuation has had on the rare remnant of geologi- land, please be conscious
coral reefs of the windward cal history, as they provide to help protect our natural
side of Aruba. a clear view of how these historical remnant. Oh, and
reefs have formed. wear (coral-friendly) sun-
These findings can certainly screen! q