Happy 2014! This January, I took my first trip of the year to…where else? My favorite place in the whole wide world, Aruba. This trip was pretty short; only four days, but totally worth it. Why do I love Aruba so much? So glad you asked:

• Despite what happened to Natalee Holloway, it’s relatively safe.
• Your American dollar can go far; it’s comparable to…America. (versus Europe)
• It will not rain.
• It’s 83-89 degrees farenheit. Every. Single. Day.
• Everyone on the island is nice. 
• The island is so small, you can’t get lost.
• The island is so small, you can see everything in one day.
• I love eating fish. Aruba is an island, so there’s lots.
• Your biggest problem will be choosing a restaurant to watch the sunset while eating dinner. (true story)

But you didn’t come here you read words. You came to see photos. So here they are.

My favorite restaurant in Aruba is Passions on Eagle Beach. This is Eagle Beach. You can just pull over, park, and you’re at the beach.

This is Passions. Angel’s green cocktail tasted better than mine. It was called “Angel’s Kiss”, ironically, and was made of coconut rum, pisang (??) and pineapple juice. Mine was the Aruba Ariba, served in virtually every restaurant on the island; made of rum, vodka, orange curaçao, banana liqueur, coecoei, pineapple juice, orange juice & grenadine.

Paige joined us for dinner, but didn’t drink.

Tunisian Style Grilled Marinated Shrimp: Grilled shrimp on a bed of salad. Served with asparagus and drizzled with peanut-ginger sauce. (appetizer)

Aruban Seafood Soup: A rich cream based soup with mussels, shrimp, calamari and grouper finished with a dash of cognac.

 

The next day, we took a boat to a private island.

This is Flamingo Beach…for obvious reasons. This side of the island is topless.

 

This flamingo was doing the snake. No lie.

Just after this photo was taken, that flamingo came for my camera. Don’t worry, it didn’t break.

This side of the island is Iguana Beach. Yes, there are iguanas there, but they don’t bother you while you’re on the beach.

After a long day at the beach, we headed to the Flying Fishbone in Savaneta for another sunset dinner.

This drink was called a Brown Lady. We drank it in honor of Black History Month.

I had the grouper with grilled shrimp and curry risotto.

This is chocolate ravioli with vanilla ice cream and caramel. The chocolate inside the ravioli was so bitter that we couldn’t finish it.

The next day, we sailed to the private island again. This time, Paige drove.

The water from the Caribbean Sea is walled by strategically placed rocks, preventing sharks, stingrays, jellyfish and other creatures from reaching shore. As a bonus, the huge waves were tempered, and we could sit our chairs in the sea and read comfortably.

Angel and I tried to find a place to eat dinner before the 6:45 pm sunset. No dice. Had to catch it while we could.

Ended up eating at CILO, right across from the hotel. Live music and more fish. Yum.

Grilled salmon and cream spinach.

Fresh baked brownie bites, caramel, walnuts and vanilla ice cream. DEE-licious.

Last day. Breakfast at our own hotel for once, the Renaissance Aruba. Note: You HAVE to stay here in order to take the boat to the private island.

Watermelon Cooler.

Angel and I had a great and relaxing time. I think we achieved our winter tans–and I can’t wait to come again!

Wondering why I didn’t do more than sun and eat? Because I’ve seen everything in Aruba already. Want to see more from previous trips? Click here and here, or even here. And if you ever want to know more, just drop in a comment to ask about my stay, taxi fares, things to do, etc. 🙂

Until next time,

Insana