Aruba (aka Mum was so happy to get back on land!)

All this time at sea, and I still manage to get behind on my “homework”! Friday mum was feeling quite ill and the ship was definitely a-rockin'. Mum spent the entire day in our cabin, sitting on the loveseat with her eyes closed. I was feeling perfectly fine, which led to her bitterly wishing that I could suffer the way she was suffering – some mother! I kept myself busy meeting new people on the ship and attending the port lecture on Cartagena. We tested room service and found it to be a good option when one is not up to facing the main dining room. Saturday morning we awakened to much calmer waters and mum had a miraculous recovery – we arrived into Oranjestad in Aruba just after 11:00 and were quickly sent off on our tours. Aruba is very lovely – it was hot without being too hot, and there was enough of a breeze as well as some cloud cover to make it a very pleasant day! We toured the Aloe Factory and ended up buying some of their fine products. Next we went to the Butterfly Farm which was very interesting – there were some huge butterflies in there, and some with very beautiful colouring, and our guide Marlin was full of information. We drove around the town a bit and then drove out to the Ayo Rock Formation where we had a bit of rain. All in all it was a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday! There are so many brightly painted buildings in Aruba that it all seems very cheerful, and the people were very friendly. Now I'm going to try to forget Aruba because every time I say "Aruba" the song "Kokomo" pops into my head! We spent Sunday at sea and basically did “the usual”.....reading, relaxing, attending the lecture on the Panama Canal. In the afternoon we attended the interview the activities director did with Tab Hunter, movie star and musician from the 50's and 60's. He was very entertaining and had some really great stories about the movies he worked on and the stars he worked with (including Natalie Wood, John Wayne, Paul Newman, Gary Cooper and Sophia Loren). That was definitely the highlight of the day! Monday we spent the day in Cartagena, so I'll try to write about that tomorrow when we are going through the Panama Canal, but here is the preview – it is HOT!!!