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LOCAL Tuesday 14 November 2023

Aruba to me

ORANJESTAD — You are back and again. the purchase included paradise,
we would like to portrait you! By For today we received a lovely relaxation, beautiful waters and
inviting you to send us your favor- message from Sharon and Charles weather, fine dining from casual to
ite vacation picture while enjoying Nemser from Williamstown, MA, formal, and a life long love of this
our Happy Island. USA. incredible island.
They wrote to us saying: “Aruba Fast forward 36 years and we now
Complete the sentence: Aruba to to me is heaven on earth. My hus- own enough points to come at
me is ……. Send your picture with band, Charlie and I have been least 3 times a year for 20 weeks
that text (including your name and coming to Aruba since 1987…ev- total. 66 visits later we fall in love all
where you are from) to: news@aru- ery year. over again as we approach the is-
batoday.com and we will publish Our first visit we stayed at The Gold- land from the air. We always have
your vacation memory. Isn’t that en Tulip. On an overcast, rainy day 2-3 visits booked in advance be-
a special way to keep your best we were approached by a gen- fore we even touch down.
moments alive? Please do note: By tlemen to talk about purchasing Gone are the days of only small
submitting photos, text or any oth- timeshare. We didn’t know exactly businesses and walking the tarmac
er materials, you give permission to what that was, but we thought let’s as the island is constantly growing
The Aruba Today Newspaper, Ca- do it, we can get a free jeep for and evolving year by year. our little home away from home
ribbean Speed Printers and any of a couple days. So we had a free and each of them has fallen in
its affiliated companies to use said lunch, talked for about an hour Nothing can EVER replace the love.
materials, as well as names, like- and bought pre-construction a stu- friendliness, the kindness, and ap- We travel elsewhere, but we al-
ness, etc. for promotional purposes dio at Divi Village. So we got much preciation we always experience ways return here to our little piece
without compensation. more than we anticipated. each and every visit to this friendly, of heaven.”
Last but not least: check out our safe island.
website, Instagram and Facebook Little did we know that the pur- Thank you for sending us this won-
page! Thank you for supporting our chase included the lifelong friends We love Aruba, as do our children derful message sharing what Aru-
free newspaper, we strive to make we would make with locals and and grandchildren. We have intro- ba means to you with us and our
you a happy reader every day tourists alike. Little did we know duced many family and friends to readers!q

Aruban legends:
Frenchman’s Pass

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