settling In

I love the name of my new neighborhood in Aruba: Tanki Flip.  The two words just seem to complement one another in a happy-go-lucky way. All kinds of sunbeam images come to mind. A friend mentioned tank-top and flip-flops when I told everyone where I would live; both items are useful when living near the beach. Basically, one can imagine blue water and acrobatic type action when hearing the name. Tanki Flip just sounds like someone is inviting you to jump off the high dive into a swimming pool on a sunny day. The actual origin of the word is quite grim and gloomy. It is a haunting story of sorts. A tragedy, really, albeit a tragedy that takes place in paradise. One story tells about a man, Flip Kelly, who was dejected by his girlfriend and plummeted to his death by jumping into a tank of water. Another story tells us that Flip’s death was accidental, not a suicide. Rather he was riding his horse when the poor creature took a tumble in the mud, plunging head-on into the water. Poor Flip was all tangled up and drowned in the water alongside his horse. Regardless of which story you adhere to, Flip flipped into a tank of water and drowned to death. Hence the name Tanki Flip. So much for sunshine, cool breezes, and blue water.

I just moved into my house here in Tanki Flip and am slowly settling in as a resident on the island of Aruba. I love my neighborhood and the mix of people living in it. My next-door neighbors are Dutch on one side, and the neighbors on the other side just moved here from Venezuela. The neighbors across the way speak Papiamento, the native island tongue. They had a wild fiesta the first night I slept here. That was the same night all the electricity went out for no apparent reason, which I am told happens all the time around here.

Then there is the gatekeeper for our tiny cul-de-sac who confirmed for me that there really is a tank of water in the neighborhood of Tanki Flip. I call him a gatekeeper because he lives off the main road in front of our cluster of houses behind his. None of these roads have names. We all take the name Tanki Flip as our address. There are no street addresses in Aruba, and all of the resident numbers are clustered together haphazardly. He claims his family once owned the land where my house stands. He is a collector of sorts and gathers all kinds of stuff, which he proudly displays all around his house. He also collects the stories of the land and people in Tanki Flip. He seems to have the background story of everyone in this area. He was very pleased when I knocked on his door and introduced myself, admitting he had wondered about me and what I was doing here, as if a spaceship dropped an alien into his village.

So there are some immediate adjustments that one must make when moving into any new home. There are things you instantly love about your new place and other things that present pesky inconveniences. I love the Dutch door that opens off my kitchen into the backyard, and the windows that invite all of the light and island breezes inside, but maybe not all of the lizards, scorpions, and snakes that find their way through said windows and door.

I didn’t get one of those all-inclusive packages, the furnished place with electricity, water, and such. I didn’t move furniture from home because it would not have been cost-effective. Instead, I edited an entire life of contents to fit into six suitcases, which I checked at baggage, spending more than the price of my plane ticket. Still, that was way less expensive than shipping even a few small boxes. Therefore, I spent my first few weeks here finding my way around to places like WEB, Aruban water utilities; Elmar, Aruban electricity; Setar, Aruban telecommunications; and Cas di Max, a furniture store where I bought a bed.

Eventually, I discovered arubadeal.com, which is the equivalent of Craigslist here. It is a great site for buying furniture since you can pay a fortune here for furniture of very low quality. I just got a great price on a 2,000-dollar sofa from a very sweet family who just moved here from Curacao. It is also expensive to get many household and personal items, so you learn early to live with only what is essential. Are zip-lock bags really necessary? How much plastic do I really need to live my life? I feel like I am truly living the tenets of reduce and reuse.

Everything at home is so cheap and plentiful; American consumption is not a myth. Things here are super expensive, so you have to prioritize your shopping list to include only the things that you absolutely need. Services are also expensive, and everyone on the island is resourceful in using airco, or air conditioning. Many houses only have airco in one room. Everyone here opens their windows to use the constant trade winds as air conditioning. Still, it really isn’t very cool because it is always hot outside, even by Texas standards, so you have to learn ways to deal with the heat. I’m learning to drink a lot of cold water, which is very easy to do here because it is clean and delicious right out of the faucet. Desalination of seawater provides the island with its only source of water. No more lugging bottles of water to and from Whole Foods.

Ironically, the best way to beat the heat is just to get out in it because there is always a beach involved in just about any activity you take part in on the island. My favorite beach so far is Baby Beach. We went snorkeling there the weekend before last. It is located at the southernmost point of the island, St. Nicholas, where the goats and donkeys roam free. After Baby Beach, we went to eat dinner at Zeerovers, where the fisherman dock and deliver the catch of the day. Dinner in Aruba usually takes place outside so that you can watch the sunset. There is so much nature to take in all around the island. I can’t wait to go to Arikok. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find any new friends who share my enthusiasm for the Donkey Sanctuary or the Aruba Butterfly Farm, so perhaps I will save those excursions to take when friends and family from home visit. I have a long list of places to explore and document along the way.

Basically, every step you take outside is an adventure. Even running errands is fun. I have some errands to run right now: I am on a quest to find blinds and curtains.

my first 48 hours

Day 1 – I arrived last night, well after sunset  (between 6 – 7 PM here, year-round), with 6 oversized suitcases. I had to lug them all through customs after a bit of interrogation by immigration. The marimba players in baggage claim really helped soothe my frayed nerves. I met Richi, owner of Richi Rentals, who was holding a homemade sign that read Tiffany. He promptly asked, “Can you drive a standard?” Apparently, that was all he had left to rent. Business must be good for Richi Rentals. I passed his little test drive in the parking lot and was on my way, shot out behind the wheel of a jerky stick shift onto the roads of a dark island with no visible landmarks and multiple detours due to road construction along the main highway. Welcome to Aruba!

This morning was equally as rough because I didn’t find coffee until around 9:30 AM. Driving a standard without coffee is about as much fun as driving one in a foreign country in the middle of the night. I made it to Superfood, had a hefty Dutch breakfast, and then checked in on the house I’m renting with the leasing place, Aruba Happy Rentals. Mostly I just needed to pick up authorization forms to set up utilities since I am not a citizen of this country.

Then I was off to a luncheon with new teachers on the waterside. We shared the surf and turf platter. Both teachers just arrived yesterday: one from the Netherlands and the other from Egypt. After lunch, we went to Aruba Bank, where I quickly cashed a check for my relocation allowance. On the way inside, I witnessed a stray dog hunt an iguana in the parking lot for lunch. I have never seen a dog with such a high spring in his steps as that dog when he pranced away from the bushes with a giant lizard wringing about in his jaws.

To end the day, I drove to the south side of the island to visit WEB (water utilities in Aruba) and set up water at the new place in Tanki Flip. After connecting the water, I got lost in Tanki Flip, trying to find said new place. There are no street names in Aruba, and the house numbers are not in any kind of order. Tanki Flip is unlike any neighborhood I have ever seen, almost like another planet. I finally found the house and realized I was going to have to give up a 2-mile walk twice a week, at least in this new neighborhood, due to the fact that there are too many stray dogs all over this island. I will walk along the beach; instead, I suppose–the iguanas seem harmless.

Day 2 – I still need to solve the coffee in the morning situation. Mornings are rough. I’ve made my way to Superfood each morning to start the day with breakfast and one strong cup of coffee. Today, connecting electricity and buying a bed were the big boxes to check off on my very long list of things to do. I mapped out routes online and stashed Aruban Florins away in my wallet.

On my way to Elmar (electric company), I missed a turn onto the main street, which was a fabulous mistake because I got to dodge hundreds of jars of Jiffy Peanut Butter that flew off the back of a flatbed truck in front of Hooters. Some of the peanut butter jars busted open, and peanut butter was smeared all over the street pavement. I think my tires may have even made peanut butter tracks. Once I was finally on the main road, I soon ventured off what had been my anchor driving in Aruba to find Elmar inland. That took me into another world altogether.

The streets became very narrow and congested with tiny Hyundai and Kia cars that frantically zipped up and down and out from nowhere. I think speed is how the natives distinguish themselves from the tourist. My periphery vision is overworked because not only do you have to contend with all the Speed Racer native islanders, but you also have to look out for pedestrians who constantly cross the road and all kinds of stray animals and bicycles and other unexpected things like peanut butter. Things are constantly coming at you from all directions. To make things extra chaotic, all the radio stations are in Papiamento, an island language amalgamation of African, Dutch, Spanish, and Native American. 

The utility companies have been an unexpected pleasure. Everyone told me it would be a nightmare, but I really think the Dutch aesthetic found inside every government building here; the Dutch design really helps me to relax and enjoy it all. The interior spaces are beautiful, and the buildings don’t feel like you are going to jail, as it can sometimes feel in the States when you take care of these sorts of matters. Everything went very smoothly for the most part, but then I decided to swing by my school for directions to the furniture store because I was suspicious of how easily everything was coming together.

I was lucky to just come across Elmar because I was really very lost when it appeared. Mapping out my route online proved to be pointless. There are no road signs here, so everyone gives directions by landmarks (turn right at the big tree) and various roundabouts (all intersections in Aruba are roundabouts). I have to give myself an extra 30 minutes to get anywhere because I will inevitably take a wrong turn or miss something along the way. Because of all of this, I knew it would be helpful to just have a friend at work draw me another map of circles and tall trees.

The furniture store was near my school and had signs posted to help me find my way. Cas di Max is what it is called. A colleague told me I could get a good deal on a mattress there, which I believe to be my most important purchase. Paul, the salesman and owner, was very helpful. His sales pitch went something like this: I always tell people that buying a mattress is a lot like buying a bra. I spent way more money on the mattress than I wanted, so I guess his sales pitch worked.

After that, I decided to go to Arashi Beach and reward myself for tackling both items on my agenda before 1 PM, even after the late start due to the coffee debacle. It’s the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. I haven’t found the words yet to describe it.

Then I met up with a teacher friend who just arrived from Florence. She lives in the complex where I am staying until my house is ready. We walked across the street to Bingo for a Heineken and snack platter of strange Dutch meaty morsels, including Bitterballen (I’m still not sure what’s stuffed in these balls?) Then we took her to get a new mountain bike, which turned out to be too far away for her to ride it back, so I suggested that she ask the salesman to force fit it in the back of my Hyundai as part of the deal. He miraculously was able to do so, but then we had to drive back home like a clown car at the circus.

Anyway, I just got home, and the sun is about to set.  That is all I have to report now. I will write more later.