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LOCAL Friday 30 May 2025

Enjoy one of the best views on Aruba at the top of the

Hooiberg Hill

(Oranjestad)—If you are consisted of 900 steps.
a regular hiker, or may- Over time, as the steps
be want to spice up your faced erosion, the govern-
morning work out session, ment decided to renovate
then you might enjoy one these stairs in 1991. This
of the most popular climb- new project delivered the
ing sites on the island: The newer staircase with only
Hooiberg Hill. 587 steps. However, don’t
Accompanied with a 600- be fooled—it may still be
step staircase, this hill over- a work out to get on top.
looks a great part of the In addition, there is now a
island, the Caribbean sea, located at the center dis- manota Hill at 189 meters gazebo placed halfway up
and sometimes even the trict of the island, Santa (620 feet), located in the the stair for a little rest. The
Santa Anna mountain lo- Cruz, the Hooiberg Hill is Arikok National Park. view at this resting stop is
cated in the coastal state the second highest point The staircase that run on also a sight to see.
of Falcon in Venezuela, on the island at 165 meters the side of the hill was first The best time to climb the
providing one of the best above sea level (or about built in 1951, when Mr. Edu- hill would be early in the
views you can get on Aru- 540 feet above sea level). ardo Tromp constructed it. morning or right before sun- However, the hill is of course
ba. The highest point is Ja- At that time, the staircase set, as it may not be as hot. open all day, every day.
Aruban legends:

Frenchman’s Pass

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