Caves, Ruins, Cactus, and Rough Trails

August 17th, 2008. After yesterday’s tough adventure, Sara and I decide it’s important to get and stay positive. Unfortunately, 4 hours of desert off-road driving takes it out of a person, especially when there are NO ROAD SIGNS anywhere.

Aruba has no road signs – none. It’s unbelievable, and we can’t imagine why. It’s small, but it’s not that small.

Despite backtracking a few times, we did manage to drive from one end of the island to the other, stopping to see some stuff along the way.

The Alto Vista chapel, originally built in 1750 and since restored.

Bushiribana gold smelter ruins.

A semi-modern lean-to in a cool little cove on the north coast of Aruba. It’s probably used to smuggle drugs into the country at night (just a guess, btw), but during the day it’s a fun little stop along the main road.

Aruba’s baby bridge, smaller than the recently collapsed natural bridge. Like a lot of Aruba’s natural beauty, this attraction was besmirched by trash floating in the water below just out of sight.

The Fontein cave inside of Aruba’s Arikok National Park, which we toured extensively.

Feral goats and donkeys roam the northern half of the island.

The Dutch military has a live fire range right next to the main trail.

We were glad to have done this, but it was a lot of work. The roads were rough, we were hot, and we got lost twice. Again, no road signs. To Aruba’s government – why not improve the northern half of the island? The desert is worth seeing, but it’s a lot harder to get to than it should be.

At least we managed to get some quality snorkeling time in today.