Page 19 - AHATA

Tuesday 10 June 2025 locAl
A10

Aruba’s neighborhoods; the meaning behind their names

Just like any other coun-
try, Aruba has unique and
beautifully named neighbor-
hoods that all form a part of
its culture and development.
Many of these names have
a historical background and
meaning that teaches us
about the island and its rich
culture every day.

With this series, we want to
take you on a journey of dis-
covery, where you’ll learn
not only the beautiful names century a large part of Ana-
but the history behind it that bui was developed to have The biggest probability that
gives it life and meaning. luxurious villas and a golf historians believe is that it
course, which lead to it get- comes from native descent,
Anabui/Tierra Del Sol ting the name Tierra Del Sol, during the time in the 19th
This neighborhood can be Spanish for Land of the Sun. century where Mestizos still
seen on Van Raders map The name is not an official lived on Aruba. The name
and Werbata as Anna Boei. name, but the name of the can’t really be explain and
Anna Boei is a name of which development proyect that according to books on its his-
there isn’t much information took place. It is hoped that tory seems to be more of a
about its origin. the best and Iboa; the juice that has been more or less the original and ‘old’ name sign of corruption.
of a cassava, which together speculated and assumed of Anabui is never lost and
The best historians were able would mean “the best juice for the word Anabui and it’s now it will be remembered However, it seems to come
to deduce is that this name of a cassava”. meaning. by both locals and tourists. from combining A(n), which
came to be because of a is a generalizing prefix and
miscommunication between If one assumes that the actu- During the second world Angochi Goeiza, which means ‘the
Van Spengler and the na- al word heard was Anaboio war and later, this area was This name can be seen on spirit of a living man’. Ango-
tives who were living on the instead, consisting of Ana used as a terrain for train- the Werbata map with little chi remains more of a guess.
island. In the Arawak/Taino meaning the best and Boio ing of shooting by militia and cursive letters. It is the
language one can find the (bohio); house, the iteration and latero n Korps Marin- unofficial name for the area This neighborhood’s abbre-
word Anaiboa, which con- of Anabui would mean “the iers (the marines of Aruba). given by a tenant to the land viation is; An.q
sists of Ana meaning flower or best house.” This is the origin By the end of the previous that was rented to him.

Forgotten gems
Open air movie theaters

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

In the 1950’s and 60’s, Savaneta
saw their own open air theater,
located in front of the Marinier’s
Kazerne (Marine Barracks). This
theater was mostly visited by the
neighboring marines, who didn’t
have much entertainment other
than movies at that time.

The last and most recent open air
theater was constructed in the