My takeaway from Aruba. The slogan is "one happy island" It is that. People are super friendly. I usually look at how people behave behind the wheel. That says a lot to me. In Aruba, drivers are very courteous. They will flash lights or give a toot of the horn to tell another driver "go ahead" They are always willing to stop and let bikes/pedestrians cross the road. There are no stop signs or stop lights. It's all yield signs and round-abouts.
Crime is very low. According to a couple of the locals, once in a while some would come illegally from Venezuela, (only 15 miles) and they can't work on the island and would resort to stealing. When they would get caught they would get sent back immediatley. Wow, what a concept! LOL
I didn't see any homeless at all, even tho it is pretty expensive there. Drugs are still illegal. I only smelled pot one time. In one of the major grocery stores, apples were $9/lb, a rib eye, $50/lb and a 6 pack of Budweiser was $15. The weather is the same just about every day. 88/90 to 78/80 over night and the if it's not windy, it's windy-err. On the rare occasion that the wind isn't blowing, that means a storm is brewing.
I doubt that I ever go there again, just cuz of the distance. I can go to Mexico on the pacific or gulf side and have the same stuff, and probably cheaper too. It is a very nice place tho. We met people from all over the world, but, some people from Maine and New Hampshire told us that Aruba is their spot. They can get there from Boston on a 5 hour flight, non-stop.
