Week 1: Aruba
Day 1 (January 3, 2016):

Flew to Aruba. Stayed at Solar Villa.  Got a ride from the owner and his friend to Smokey Joe’s BBQ and ate some delicious ribs and jerk chicken by the hotel pool. Passed out by 9 pm.

   
   
Day 2: 

Walked to the beach and stopped at a grocery store for some pastries, juice, and rum for breakfast. Walked several miles on the beach until sunburned and exhausted. We ate a late lunch at salt & pepper, a tapas bar, and loved the fried mahi mahi so much we came back later in the week for three orders. Walked home and ate cold leftovers by the pool. And it was awesome. Then we made friends with a fellow hotel guest from France before retiring early again.
Day 3: 

Packed our bags and hiked to the bus stop before taking a bus and hiking another couple miles in the midday sun. Ate an awesome brunch at Linda’s pancake house. Spent the day hanging by the beach and made friends with a nice guy and his family who love to travel as well. We ate a late lunch at salt & pepper and had three orders of fried mahi mahi with the local beer, balashi. No rooms at the inn so we stayed with a very nice family on the far side of the island after a tour of the desert side beach. 

   
    
    
 Day 4: 

Hiked to the chapel and water tower in the morning before heading to de Cuba bed and breakfast. We ate some great seafood at a local restaurant before going to the beach. Sarahi built a Zelda sand castle and made new friends. We stopped at wacky wahoos for one of the best dinners of my life. Then we headed back to the B&B for some relaxation and shuteye. 

   
    
 Day 5: 

Walked to the beach, took a bus to another beach, and hiked several miles along the coast. We saw some awesome coral beaches and cool wildlife. Continued walking until we reached the end of the island. Found an ocean cave. Walked to the lighthouse. Tired and sunburnt we tried what I thought was a shortcut through the desert. It wasn’t. Covered in thorn scratches and cactus needles, we eventually backtracked and made our way back to the beach. Then we had to walk another couple of miles to the next bus stop. We couldn’t decide where to eat dinner and walked all the way back to the hotel finding most restaurants had not yet opened for dinner. We stumbled upon a Dutch bar only a block from our hotel and had some amazing fried foods and chicken schnitzel. It was so good we came back for more later that night before heading to bed. 

   
    
    
    
 Day 6: 

Relaxed in the morning and got a ride to our next B&B. Once we dropped our packs we hiked on into the Arikok National Park. We hiked through the barren landscape for several miles before reaching the natural pool and dos playa beach. We spent the afternoon here snorkeling with the fish, cliff jumping, and taking pictures of the breathtaking views. We hiked back and were starving so we continued on to a little pizza place another mile down the road. It could be that we were starving but it was the best pizza we’ve had in years. We headed back to the B&B, made some cocktails, and read by the pool until bed. 

   
    
    
    
 Day 7: 

Enjoyed an unbelievable breakfast with fellow guests from Europe. The B&B owner is a former chef and we felt so spoiled. We spent the morning relaxing and reading before heading to the south side of the island at noon. We walked quite a while after giving up on waiting for the bus. We found a beautiful beach and relaxed for awhile. We took a secret path through the mangroves and continued on. While waiting for a bus a couple of tourists from Virginia asked us for directions to Zeerover’s, which is exactly where we were trying to go! So we hopped in and made it there in a few minutes. After waiting in line for close to an hour, I picked out our fish and a bucket full of shrimp which had been caught and delivered to the restaurant dock that day. Soon it was fried up whole and we were digging in to some incredible seafood. We ended up sharing a table and a ride back with our friends from Virginia. We wandered around until finally finding out hotel and relaxed for awhile before exploring downtown Oranjestad. 

   
    
    
 It was a fabulous week!