Page 14 - AHATA

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local Wednesday 21 May 2025
Aruban fruits in season

Tamarijn and Macapruim

Aruba grows her own fruits and veggies and dicinal and culinary purposes. It is a medium-
there are some pretty out-of-space local spe- sized bushy tree with evergreen leaves and fruit
cies you may never had heard of, but really that develops in pods characterized by long,
healthy and delicious. Currently there are two brown shells. Inside is a sticky, fleshy, juicy pulp,
fruits that are currently in season: the ‘tamarijn’ which is the Tamarind fruit. Both sweet and sour
and ‘macapruim’. in taste, the fruit contains a significant level of
vitamin C, as well as vitamin E, B vitamins, calci-
Tamarijn (Tamarind) um, iron, phosphorous, potassium, manganese,
and dietary fiber. There are also a number of or-
ganic compounds that make tamarind a pow-
erful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.
Season: March-May.

Macapruim (red mombin)
This tiny apple-looking fruit is related to the ca-
shew fruit. It’s common in tropical countries
in South America and the Caribbean. Its tree macapruims are not really sold in supermarkets;
does not hold many leaves when the fruit is in the ones you do find tend to hail from Venezu-
season, giving an appearance of a dried out ela. Macapruims are a great source of calcium,
tree, adorned with red Christmas balls. The phosphorus, iron and have a small amount of
Macapruim seed is quite large for such a tiny fiber. They contain carotene, B-complex vita-
looking fruit, but when ripe, the flesh tastes mins, and several important amino acids. They
A delicious, sweet and sour fruit that has a wide sweet and juicy, with a thick peel that’s almost are also high in antioxidants, which help cleans
variety of uses and applications, both for me- crunchy when you bite into it. Aruban grown the body. Season: April-August. q

Forgotten gems

Open air movie theaters

(Oranjestad)—During the span of theater that “Talkies” were first
over 100 years, Aruba only saw streamed, movies with sound. This
five open air movie theatres. Now theater mostly streamed Ameri-
practically obsolete on the island, can blockbusters for the American
these theaters were once frequent- expats, this way making sure that
ly visited by locals and migrants in these migrant were not missing out
the 20th century. on entertainment from their home
land.
The first open air theater was con-
structed in 1920 and was commis- In the 1950’s and 60’s, Savaneta
sioned by Shon Eduard (Eddy) de saw their own open air theater,
Veer. This theater was located at located in front of the Marinier’s
the Hotel Colombia in Oranjestad, Kazerne (Marine Barracks). This
which is now where the Aruban theater was mostly visited by the
census office is located. The the- neighboring marines, who didn’t
ater was simple; it only consisted of have much entertainment other
a screen, and visitors had to bring than movies at that time.
their own chairs to enjoy the popu-
lar silent movies of the time. The last and most recent open air
theater was constructed in the
American migrants who worked in form of a drive-in theater. A popu-
the refinery and lived in the Lago lar American concept, the Drive a separate price that you had to
Colony in Sero Colorado also had Inn located in Balashi was a hot pay called the “car crash”.
their piece of the pie with their spot for teenagers, who had the
Open air Theatre, which formed habit of cramming all their friends This theater closed around 2012,
part of the Esso Club, also known in one car to go see the movies. but was re-opened during the
as the Pan-Am Club. It was at this For this phenomenon there was
pandemic in July 2020, where
movies were streamed on a gigan-
tic screen set up in front of stacked
containers. However, this nostalgic
form of entertainment did not last
very long as it was closed again
only a year or two later. Nowadays
you can still see the stacked con-
tainers when you drive near the
bridge in Balashi. q

Source: “De kolibrie op de rots en
meer over de geschiedenis van Aru-
ba” by Evert Bongers.