ARUBAVILLE IS THE NEXT BEST THING. It turned out gorgeous, and you are invited to eat, drink, and chill at Arubaville, on Bucutiweg 50, behind the airport. The former Marandi Restaurant reinvented itself courtesy of genius owners Marvin van Paridon and Addie Meijer. Jeanine, Addie’s wife was in charge of color coordination and Marvin’s sister Maike, helped pull all strings as Marvin recuperated from a touch of pneumonia. But they did it, in just one month. A complete transformation, under a new logo of a dead goat’s skull by Johan Stopples. One has to appreciate the guts and the vision it took to flawlessly execute this ambitious repositioning. As you know, the partners had a successful restaurant. They didn’t like the concept anymore, they change it. Wow, they make it sound easy. They moved with their cheese and now they are content again! Sunset Happy Hour is especially gorgeous from the double deck, overlooking the lovely Spanish lagoon, where you are welcome to hang out any time with a Chill bucket of 6 beers for only $15. The food looks very photogenic, pretty and colorful, featuring all day contemporary dining!
OCCIDENTAL ARUBA ATTRACTS ATTENTION. In February I read that Occidental Hotels & Resorts, owned by billionaire Amancio Ortega, of Zara clothing store fame, and his partners at a Spanish bank, have attracted interest from US-based hotel and leisure operators, among several other bidders, living to pay as much as $700 million for the chain’s 6,700 rooms in 19 hotels across 8 countries! This week we heard that the Marriott International is interested in the all-inclusive wanting to get into that lucrative segment of the market. What’s good for Hyatt International – Hyatt already operates two all-inclusives in Mexico, must also be good for Marriott International. So who knows, the Occidental Grand in Aruba might become a Marriott brand one day. Sounds good to me!
WELCOME EL NINO. Are you surprised that the Easter Holiday is long gone yet we still have these winds rustling in the palms, and the dry heat toasting the grass?! It’s El Niño developing in the eastern Pacific Ocean, which promises to suppress the number of storms during the upcoming Hurricane season. This is how it works: We get more winds locally because the water in the eastern Pacific Ocean is warmer this spring. This warmer water promotes atmospheric stability in the Atlantic. So while we currently see a change in the wind’s direction and speed, it will probably prevent tropical storms from forming and/or ease their severity. The El Niño phenomenon happens every two to seven years!
FAREWELL TO VIRTUOSO ANGELA. She played at weddings, at last year’s Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival, on board John Walker Voyager, and this week she played for the last time with the Cuban combo at Cuba’s Cookin’. Classically trained, sexiest violin player ever, Angela Flores is leaving Aruba for a while to study in Houston Texas. We hope she comes back soon, for a concert appearance in a Landa Henriquez production, without trading her cute Venezuelan English accent in favor of a real southern drawl. Angela, an engineer by profession decided she liked her violin best, and abandoned Engineering for music, post graduation. Friends sipped delicious Mojitos and munches on plantain chips as Angela dazzled them with her musical artistry, with Douglass Marcus on the tambourine. Douglass invited his good friends to mix, mingle, meet and dance. He put out the wine and snacks, and we delivered friendship and the camaraderie.
CULTURAL & MUSICAL HERITAGE PRESERVED. Cas di Cultura was packed, with Minister Otmar Oduber, and Minister Juan David Yrausquin on hand when Michael Lampe revealed the source of his inspiration, at an amazing Datapanik concert. The event started with a lobby happy hour, followed by the screening of a new documentary containing great footage on Aruba’s culture and the music, showcasing the history and tradition of tambu and caha di orgel. Michael charmingly interviewed two elderly authentic Aruban musicians, and was rewarded with a loud round of applause. The production, graphics complemented by the equally talented Ken Wolf, son of Michael’s sister Trudy Lampe, was filled with psychedelic laser and smoke effects, and featured tracks from the new album Fuente, played against a palm fringed stage, with a giant screen, showing Aruba’s landscape and landmarks, simply gorgeous! A high-energy Michael was accompanied by Vicky Arends Croes and superb Rachel Lampe, vocals, Jonathan Veira on piano, fireworks by Sergio Jansen on guitar, Angelo Koolman, Mariachi and the legendary Tambu player from the documentary, who received a standing ovation, as the highlight of the night. I am sure that he is still pinching himself wondering if he made this up. We’re proud of Datapanik, and Michael is a true cultural icon!
NOT GOING ANYWHERE. Chef Thomas Mitter called me to tell me that I heard wrong, Amadeus Aruba Bar and Restaurant is not relocating, it is staying in the same exact location and continues to serve great food in a 17th century ambience! And that I can continue to drive to Tanki Leendert every time I have a craving for Schnitzel and spatzle! If you have been wondering why the food on De Palm Island is so good, it’s no secret that chef Mitter is also involved with the operation, in charge of culinary excellence on the island.
AT TIERRA DEL SOL. If you wondered just like I did, what the former Asst MD at Caribbean Mercantile Bank N.V. is doing these days, I will tell you. Cisco Quant is at Tierra de Sol, as financial controller. Which is a great place to work, if you absolutely love golf. Which he does. So that’s a perfect match. We both met on the showroom floor of Garage Central looking at new cars. Apparently, his high-achieving daughter will be getting a co-financed car from her father, so she can drive herself to school. Lucky girl.
CARTAGENA, SECOND SEGMENT. On our last day in Cartagena we spent considerable time at the Sofitel Legend Santa Clara, in the elegant spa, then lunched poolside, on ceviche and Chardonnay. If you go to Cartagena and you happen to have a romantic soul and deep pockets, stay at the Sofitel. They have a giant Botero nude sculpture in the courtyard, and works by textile artists Olga de Amaral in the lobby. It’s all gorgeous beyond words. In the afternoon we caught an Art Tour covering art galleries and street-art graffiti with Rainbow Blue, yes, that is his name, a freelance journalist and writer who moved to Cartagena in 2002 and loves it. At the end of the tour we deserved a Hendrick’s Gin & Tonic with thinly sliced cucumber at Demente, a very cool bar at Plaza de la Trinidad, where I started a love affair with the owner’s dog, a friendly English bulldog by the name of Socio. Cartagena would have continued to fall into ruins if García Márquez, author of Love in the Time of Cholera and Colombia’s only Nobel laureate, had ignored it. Apparently, he did not, because he decided build a home in Cartagena, a rather modern structure, overlooking the water. He never lived there, he didn’t like the house apparently, but the mere fact that he built it, gave people the same idea, that they should build and rebuild and cherish their heritage. The rest is history, Cartagena is worth visiting. [email protected]
