Touring



Alto Vista Chapel - Est. 1750

For the first couple of days on our Aruba trip we crisscrossed the island, exploring the less travelled areas.   There had been a mix up with the rental, so instead of the Jeep we expected, we were given a Lexus SUV.   That may sound like an upgrade but not quite.   Far from a luxury ride, the SUV was several years old, had high mileage, and felt like it needed brakes.     For our purposes, it was fine and we had a nice time touring on the backroads.   The following are a few paintings of the places we visited because we had the vehicle.




Aruba Wind Farm

The charming and historic Alto Vista Chapel above had a light yellow stucco exterior and a bright red roof.  The land around it, like most of the natural geography is dry, rocky and cactus covered.

There are ten massive wind turbines on the eastern side of the island.   The tradewinds not only provide the storm-free climate, but now, energy as well.  Nine of the ten turbines are shown in this painting.

Baby Beach Facilities

I liked this interesting composition.  The trash truck and tin roof were brilliantly lit by the sun while the attendant sat motionless in the shade of the overhang.  Looking in the opposite direction from this scene is the gorgeous Baby Beach.   We snorkelled and took underwater pictures of the amazing variety of tropical fish.  I am looking forward to getting the tropical fish pictures back.   For now I have this painting of  the restrooms.





Aruba Natural Bridge



Rock Cairn



A natural coral bridge that spanned a cove along Aruba's coast collapsed on September 2, 2005 destroying one of the island's biggest tourist attractions.   This painting shows a smaller natural bridge that still stands near the location of the collapsed bridge.   Many people walk across the bridge as shown in the painting.   The terrain was rough and boots would have been better than sneakers.  Waves tend to break just before the bridge and the white seafoam is the sharpest contrast against the dark underside of the bridge.  There were many rock cairns at the natural bridge, depicted in the painting on the right above.

Oranjestad, Aruba

During the day, downtown was bright and colorful.  The buildings were yellow and pink and bright blue.  The cruise ship is in the background at the end of this street.  This painting depicts a hot midday scene, with few people walking about. At night, downtown was cooler and more lively.


Finally, we pulled into a gas station in a non-tourist section and asked the attendant if he could fill the tank to half, since that was the level we needed in order to return the vehicle to the car rental.  He was very funny and leaned in the driver window to see the level.  Even after pumping a bit, he noted that the gas gauge did not seem to be  move up.  He smiled and started expertly rocking the vehicle, and sure enough, the dial inched up beyond the half tank we needed.   We paid and included a tip for this very helpful and efficient worker.

No painting of the gas station experience - just the story...