Thursday: Rambling, and a finish with France

A bumpy drive; an excellent meal

Aruba's rocky windward cost.

Natural Bridge

The Ayo Rock Formation

The island's signature divi-divi tree.

A calm waters of Baby Beach.

Dinner at Chez Mathilda was a fantastic finish

We had reserved a car the day before so we could take our own tour of the island. Actually, on good advice, we reserved a jeep. Not an actual Jeep mind you, but a Suzuki four-wheel drive shortbox that did the trick.

Rambling around the Aruban countryside was quite an experience. The island is a desert full of rock, sand, cactus, the occasional divi-divi tree and more rocks. After leaving the hotel and heading up to the California lighthouse (named because of a shipwreck off the island's northern coast), we left pavement behind for a while. What the guide books call a dirt road is more accurately described as a semi-flat driving surface. It's not a gravel road, because there is no gravel. Nor are there road signs. There are tire tracks. And, in some places, the tire tracks disappear and so does the semi-flatness. I don't know how people expect to use cars and make this trip. Perhaps they believe a suspension is optional.

In any case, we drove (slowly, avoiding as many large rocks and potholes as possible) through the Aruban countryside, keeping the sea on the left at all times.

Our first stop was the Alto Vista Chapel, a tiny building with more rows of pews outside that inside.

The ruins of the gold smelter weren't that interesting (big pile of rocks that had once been arranged as a building) but along the road were started noticing small piles of rocks, neatly stacked that fascinated us. No idea what they were all about, but there had to have been recent human intervention.

We then continued on to the Natural Bridge, which is actually a collapsed cave. After many pictures, we grabbed lunch at the nearby snack shop.

We then found our way to the Ayou Rock Formations, which are gigantic and required no human intervention and apparently remain a geologic mystery.

We then left the self-drive tour of the map we'd been given and struck out for Arikok National Park, which covers almost one-fifth of the island.

And now, another disgression about Aruban roads:

The island road system is actually a collection of one-way streets. So the main highway is 1A (going from the hotel area to the capital city) and 1B (going the other way). On maps, such roads tend to be thicker lines and had seemed to be reasonably well-marked.

The road running past the Ayo rock formations is labeled 6A on the map. Can't say I ever saw such a sign (though there were pointers to Ayo and Arikok and other places that corresponded to our map). And it seemed to be mostly dirt. This should have prepared me.

The road that runs through Arikok to the sea is labeled 7A on the map. Again, never saw a sign. And this land doesn't realize it's supposed to be a road.

Perhaps the Arubans have done it this way to ensure you take your time and look at the scenery. It is gorgeous. Red rock, cacti, hills, trees and scrub brush rolling along the interior until you get back to the sea, where dunes show up. Take a left at the dunes and you'll get to the marvelous twin beaches. A little rough for swimming perhaps but white sand and clear blue water make for beautiful sights. A couple of surfers came as we were leaving, apparently intent on trying out the crashing waves.

We stuck with route 7 (it got wider and flatter as we left the park) and drove down to San Nicolas, once Aruba's most important city because of the oil refinery.

It doesn't have many spots for visiting, but it does lay claim to Baby Beach, home to shallow waters perfect for beginning snorklers and small children. We walked around the lagoon for a bit and took a few pictures. By then it was time to head for dinner.

We had made reservations the day before for Chez Mathilda at 8 p.m. This would give us enough time to go back to our hotel, bathe and change clothers and get back to downtown. so, we jumped back in the truck and got back on 1B and drove through the many little roadside settlements (I suppose you could generously call them towns) but decided not to drive through the "big city."

Route 4B would take us around, back inland and through some small towns and much closer to the island's favorite hill "Hooiberg." It's not the biggest or tallest "mountain" but it is the closest to town, thus providing the best views of the city and hosting most of the radio towers.

Route 4 got us to Route 2, which runs north toward the high-rise hotel area. Actually it gets you to the district of Noord, where Route 3 comes in to take you back to the beachs and hotels.

While it may have sounded complicated, the driving was smooth and we were back at the hotel in plenty of time to shower and change and get into town.

Most of the guidebooks warned that traffic in Oranjestad can snarl, mostly because there aren't too many roads for all of the traffic that wants to go certain places at certain times. Fearing that dinner would be one of those, we left early. It was probably a good thing, since if we had hit a rough patch, we'd have given ourselves time. But Route 1 zips along like it's an interstate, so we were plenty early. We took another walk around downtown, sat in the Renaissance courtyard for a while and then headed over for dinner, arriving slightly early, instead of really early.

A fine French restaurant, Chez Mathilda seems more like an old home tucked in next to one of the modern shopping centers. In the front room, patrons are greeted and there are couches for waiting with the piano player in one corner. We were immediately taken to our table in the corner of the next room. Most of the tables used this evening seemed to be in this room, though there was another dining room further back.

Part of the honeymoon special that the island's tourist association promotes, the restaurant does a few special things. Like stawberry champange to start off.

The rolls came with an herb butter. I think it might have been dill. But it may not have been. Anyway, it was good.

We each ordered soup as an appetizer -- Jen had French Onion, I went with the evening's special, a warm zuchinni soup -- and then came some sorbet with champagne to cleanse the palette.

Why Americans don't take more time to enjoy food like this, and the company of their loved ones, is beyond me.

For the main course, Jen had duck. I had Chilean sea bass. Wonderful. I mean, it was really good. Really good. Yes, this was possibly one of the best meals I've had in my life.

For dessert, Jen selected chocolate souffle, which they broke for her and poured in the warm chocholate sauce, while I ordered syllabub. It's a fruit and custard mix with lady fingers. And espresso. Italy has taught me that an espresso with dessert is a mighty good thing.

By then it was time to go back to the hotel and crash. Definitely a full day, but a very fulfilling one, which we would need to offset with some more beach time.

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