Arashi and California Lighthouse

6 miles walked today

Today we took the bus to Arashi to see the lighthouse. This ride in a cab is $21 one way but instead our bus pass was $2.50 one way. For what it cost to do one round trip to the lighthouse we will take a total of 4 trips and see all parts of the island. First we went to Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast.

Our bus dropped us at Arashi Beach and then we walked the half hour up hill to the lighthouse.

We got there just as things were opening up, a little after 9am. There were some food trucks serving fresh coconut water which I decided to try. I asked the vendor if I could take his picture and it turned out really nice! He also has a blue macaw and a African Gray parrot. The coconut water was a little different (I had never tried it before) but it was refreshing after that walk.

Then we climbed the lighthouse. It had 117 steps which spiraled up to the top. The steps were very steep and the railing was a thick rope.

At the top it was very windy. Mom stopped to take her glasses off so they wouldn’t blow away and I used the opportunity to ambush her with a picture when she first experienced the wind.

When we got down our legs were all jittery and jello-like. We read about the lighthouse and rested a bit before walking back to Arashi Beach.

At the beach after some hemming and hawing we decided to splurge and rent chairs and and umbrella for $25 since we were going to spend the day there.

It was really sunny and hot. I went for a few swims. Mom cooled off in the water too. We also people-watched a lot. There were lots of European tourists at the beach and lots of men in Speedos, and not in a good way. There were people snorkeling and windsurfing.

Mom was under the umbrella most of the day and I spent about half my time under the umbrella and the other half in the sun trying to get a little tan. At one point we realized that the umbrella wasn’t blocking any UV and we were both burned. Luckily not too bad but we decided we better get indoors soon.

We watched a bus go past and then packed up and walked toward the bus stop. Only problem was they only run once an hour. It came right on time and we got back to Oranjestad in great time once we were moving. Mom wanted to get a long sleeve shirt to help protect her for more sun and I ended up finding a dress there too.

Then we stopped at a little quick mart to buy some bananas for breakfast tomorrow.

We decided to cut through the lobby of the Renaissance. An employee flagged me down and I thought, oh shit we’re caught but she gave us a free drink! It was rum and vodka in orange-mango juice topped with malted soda (a local thing–I think it’s basically NA beer). I don’t really drink so Mom had to drink both.

When we got back to the Airbnb, we both took showers and put on lots of lotion to try and offset the sunburn. Then we had an easy spaghetti dinner at home before going out for dessert.