Blue and Green Beach Days

Something to please the eye on a dark weekday evening here in the north…

My favorite colors all together in one place – Eagle Beach, Aruba (2012)

The island of Aruba was, not surprisingly, gorgeous and our spot on Eagle Beach was calm and not even close to crowded. This was in the month of November and the weather was warm, hot but not too hot. The water was clear and clean. The beach looked like paradise – like it was straight from a travel poster.

We’d brought our own snorkeling gear with us for the occasional excursion and spent most days on the pleasantly empty beach, with pelicans as our company. They dove into the water at fast speed throughout the day.

While I floated in the water, I imagined Venezuela, whose shores weren’t far away, and Panama, which I’d heard mentioned in a conversation. In the same waters across the sea, people might be floating idly, doing the same thing I was doing.

I watched a couple go swimming with their sunglasses and hats on, and I watched the clouds. The island was full of iguanas everywhere, a colorful bright green.

But even paradise isn’t perfect. Once the sun set, the insects appeared. Without a sound, mosquitos would slyly bite my arms and legs full of itchy red spots in just minutes. So we spent most evenings indoors.

That didn’t really matter because our internal clocks were still in a completely different time zone and we didn’t feel like going to Palm Beach for the touristy night life anyway. We were there to slow down our pace and enjoy doing nothing special. Dolce far niente, as they say in the movies.