Page 13 - HOH

Tuesday 9 augusT 2022 LOCAL
A10

Another Treasure of Aruba’s Beaches: Sea Glass!

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