Page 9 - aruba-today-20230201

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LOCAL Wednesday 1 February 2023

Another Treasure of Aruba’s Beaches: Sea Glass!

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