Our long-standing ritual of going downtown at 12:30pm on New Year’s Eve was truly enjoyable. Imagine, we’ve been doing it for 21 years. I parked just behind the Arubus central station where a diligent homeless has been building up the parking lot’s stock of wooden pallets. I am not making it up, but the parking lot now enjoys a crazy system of partitions, which must be the handiwork of a mad man, otherwise they are impossible to explain. I got to the waterfront in time for a fast track up the Renaissance bridge to Cilo City Lounge for a beer, and then in a counter-traffic maneuver we crossed the bridge back to our strategic location across the band setup at the Renaissance Mall. The traditional millions of firecrackers delivered plenty of smoke, hopefully sufficient, to run the fucu out of every business in town and usher prosperity in, for 2016. The marina deck where Carpe Diem Restaurant resided was empty, every stitch of custom furniture removed from the spectacular and oversize waterfront location. That was one of the most beautiful restaurants ever created in Aruba and it proved that having a great vision is not enough. In order for a good idea to be successful it requires strong field support, in the operation area, and in this case, it was unfortunately anemic. As the pagara came to its climax, we walked around the mall to mainstreet for more noise and smoke. Apparently, Sport Caribe, had a fashion show earlier in the day, and when were walked by NBO and Kevin James just started their instruments, with a loud and extra pounding base, building up the excitement for the pagara blow-up. Moving on, I would like to thank SunSpecs for another cold beer, just before catching a charming, young Dande band on one of the street benches. The adorable teens dispensed a general blessing, without asking for our names. I think I like the old way of individual blessings, better. So down the street we went, tracking the bang-bang. Caribbean mercantile Bank had a huge set up in the heart of mainstreet dropping a large blue ball into a high-tech music system, but their schedule conflicted with the Renaissance pagara, and we missed it. Sometimes, before or after we had some more refreshments at the hole-in-the-wall across Mango which gave us sufficient fuel to trot further down to the hopping Pastechi House, for our annual treat, then to the end of the main street to congratulate Kono Pizza on the opening of their new location at Plaza Nicky Habibe 108, store 7, Tel: 5861444. By 3pm, the main street was rocking, and on the way back to my car more merchants concluded the last business day of 2015, detonating million of firecrackers to ward off the evil eye, and guarantee their own individual business success in 2016. We stopped for incredible lunch at the Hollywood Smokehouse at the Alhambra Casino and Shops, enjoying slow cooked BBQ ribs and salads, chased by the best hand-crafted Bourbon Old Fashioned. Expertly made coffee at Piazza Italiana at Palm Beach Plaza Mall concluded our adventure. We arrived there just in time to watch Kelly Alwani and his family ignite a surprise pagara for the mall. We also heard from friends that the 12 million firecrackers from the Marriott Surf Club to the Marriott Aruba Resort and Stellaris Casino were of mythical proportions, but alas we missed the spectacle due to conflicting downtown schedules. The old year was escorted out with a ton of activities, and the New Year was welcomed with open arms and an air of optimism. The first baby was born at 3am, a boy. His mom, just fifteen years old reports it was a natural birth and that the baby arrived at 52cm, weighing 3,420, in perfect shape. The fact that she is only 15 is the less-than-perfect reality of babies having babies. Additionally, in the case of the Chevrolet Celta discovered burned at the ruins of the Gold Smelter at Frenchman’s Pass, I suggest giving Aruba’s men in blue a few compulsory hours of TV instruction, Hawaii Five-O would be helpful to demonstrate how to open a car’s trunk following its discovery. Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams would have checked the trunk for sure, immediately, so I suggest a few hours in front of TV sets, aiming to improve performance. Aruba’s Police Force is reportedly transitioning its people to desk jobs, and TVs would provide additional learning opportunities for them, especially from the Hawaii Five-O experts.
PROFOUND KINDNESS. La Cabana Beach Resort & Casino Timeshare owners, Tom & Pat, encountered profound kindness here. On their last night, the couple attended the Plaza Cafe Christmas show along with 300 other people, taking pictures and enjoying the moment. Upon leaving, Tom unknowingly left his cell phone where he was sitting, and went back with Pat to the hotel. He realized the phone was missing when he reached his room, and jumped back into his car, to return to the Plaza Cafe immediately. There the security personnel did not have any information and asked Tom to come back the following day, but Tom was leaving the island and considered the phone lost. The next morning, after breakfast and before going to the airport, he decided to stop back at the front desk to see Aichel Lynch, and explain the challenge to her. She went into action immediately by calling the phone, and amazingly it was answered by the Christmas Show’s EMCEE Ruben Garcia who was happy to return the phone to the hotel a few minutes later. The story only comes to show, says Tom, how great the people of Aruba are, when strangers found and turned the phone over, to Ruben Garcia, who went out of his way to return it, and most of all, La Cabana Beach Resort & Casino executive Aichel Lynch, who took the initiative to find it. Tom made it on time to the plane with his phone!! It is very clear why Aruba is named ONE HAPPY ISLAND, he says, it’s all about its people!!
