It’s easy to stick to the beaches when you’re visiting the Caribbean isle of Aruba. But head off the beaten track along a dusty road not far from the Arikok National Park and you’ll find yourself in the company of gentle-eyed beasts who want nothing more than a loving hand on their back and some kind words.

The donkeys at the Aruba Donkey Sanctuary welcome visitors and approach with curiosity, eager to make their acquaintance. It’s been 11 years since their sanctuary was created and in that time they have learned to trust people, despite the years of maltreatment many of these animals have endured.

You can tell a lot about a country by the heart of its people, and in particular, by their collective treatment of the humblest among them. The Aruban donkey was once essential to islanders’ transportation, and has been a resident for 500 years, ever since the Spanish introduced them as a form of transportation.

When cars and buses became commonplace on this arid Caribbean isle, however the donkeys, who had numbered close to 1,000 in the early 1900s, were rendered redundant. Many locals set their donkeys free or sold them to the circus where they were butchered for tiger food. The government resorted to shooting stray donkeys until by the 1970s there were only 20 left.

Fortunately for those remaining donkeys, two local islanders, Ramon Boekhoudt and Mervine Kock, gathered a group of supporters and decided to open a donkey sanctuary in April 1997. “We were compelled to try and help the donkeys after seeing them killed by cars and people, maltreated, poisoned and left to die tied under a tree without water and food,” Boekhoudt says.

In the region of Santa Lucia on donated land, they created a refuge of 15,000 square meters where the donkeys could live out their days happily and safely. Today volunteers care for some 60-odd donkeys, all of them heavily inbred donkeys that hail originally from North Africa. There are still approximately 100 donkeys wandering wild in Aruba.

“We castrate our male donkeys as soon as they arrive now, to prevent further inbreeding,” explains Desiree Eldering, a volunteer from Holland who has been working with the donkeys for the past decade. “Our hope is to bring in fresh blood by introducing donkeys from Venezuela or Columbia, either by bringing in a stallion or artificially inseminating the mares.”

Eldering loved horses until she met the donkeys and found herself captivated with their friendly nature. She knows them by name and relishes her time spent with them, relaying stories about each one.

“Those two just clicked when we put them in an enclosure together,” she says pointing to two animals huddled close together. “Today they are inseparable.”

Some have suffered abuse at the hands of islanders, like the first donkey to arrive at the sanctuary, who had endured boiling water thrown on its back by a group of youths.

The Aruba Donkey Sanctuary hosts school groups and tourists, its goal to educate the public about these sweet natured creatures, and in the process, reduce animal maltreatment. It’s working and people are changing their ways, says Eldering.

“Ten years ago there were many more stray dogs and cats than there are today on the island,” she explains. “There was a time when the veterinarians’ offices were empty because people just didn’t care if their animals were sick. But today, they do care and those offices are busy.”

The non-profit sanctuary, which operates without a cent of funding from the Aruban Government, raises funds to care for the donkeys through donations, souvenir shop sales and an adoption program, where members of the public adopt a donkey by paying $180 for its annual upkeep.

But money remains scarce, and the goal of importing fresh donkeys from South America to end the inbreeding won’t happen without an injection of financial assistance. “What we need is money to maintain these poor and helpless creatures,” Boekhoudt says.

On this blistering hot day on the island, however, their future looks bright and promising. The volunteers are clearly happy to be at the sanctuary, and an hour after its official closing time, visitors are still coming through the gates and receiving a warm welcome from both the donkeys and the volunteers.

We stroke their rough skin, laugh as they try to munch our backpacks and leave with fluffy miniature versions of these braying creatures.

We hope their life on Aruba will be dominated by benevolence rather than the cruelty of years past.

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes freelance travel writer Lauren Kramer who lives in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver B.C. Canada.

About the photos:

1: Desiree Eldering cares for and feeds the donkeys. Mark Aginsky
photo.
2: Dusty country roads are now paved, with new buildings like the
Royal Plaza Mall popping up. Aruba Tourism Authority photo.
3: A street scene in Oranjestad. Aruba Tourism Authority photo.

If You Go:

The Aruba Donkey Sanctuary is located in Santa Lucia. Hours are 9am-12:30pm Monday through Friday, and 10am-3pm on weekends. Admission is free but donations are welcomed. Info: www.arubandonkey.org; (297) 584-1063

There’s a joke in Barbados that God must be a Barbadian. It’s the only way the 270,000 residents of this Caribbean island can explain the fact that year after year, they are spared from direct hurricane hits, while other isles not far away bear the brunt of the damage. “Every year we’re warned that a hurricane is coming, but each time it turns left or right of Barbados in the nick of time,” says Charles Marshall, a tour guide with Island Safari.

Marshall is at the helm of a mud-splattered jeep that’s escorting me and a group of travel agents through the island’s gullies and forests. Along the way, we pass large tracts of land filled with the waving heads of sugar cane plants, Barbados’ economic mainstay before tourism took a firm grip in the 1980s. “Every last drop of our sugar cane is exported to Europe, and we import our sugar from Guatemala,” notes Marshall wryly. “It makes perfect sense to our government, but it mystifies us locals.”

We’re standing on a hilltop, spellbound at the perfect beauty of Barbados’ rolling sand dunes that slope gradually towards a turquoise ocean. Foamy waves crash onto a powder-like sand, and the water is irresistibly warm, its transparency revealing the movement of brightly-coloured fish that dart through the shallows.

To get a better view, I board the Atlantis Submarine later that afternoon, for a trip 150 feet below the water’s surface. Inside the submarine, passengers sit back-to-back, their faces pressed against the porthole windows as a whirring sound fills the chamber and the numbers on our digital depth gauge start to rise. The light diminishes with our increased depth, and the only view initially is an expanse of deep blue. Suddenly, we’re at 120 feet and sitting on the ocean floor.

“This is the safest vehicle you can travel in,” our pilot, Adrian, assures us. “We can go as deep as 600 feet, and if the power should fail, the submarine will float straight up to the surface.”

At first I find myself checking the windows for signs of water leakage, but when none is apparent, I turn my attention to the subterranean outside world. We pass the ghost of a ship, the Lord Willoughby, which was sunk in 1974 to give recreational divers something to explore. Today, it looks straight out of a movie set, its skeletal remains encrusted with seaweed and its decks filled with the tropical fish for whom this vessel is home.

Next we approach a coral reef, marveling at its undulating topography, and at the bright corals that flourish in Barbadian waters. There are tubular corals, some with palm-like fronds that wave in the current. One has the appearance of a massive clam, while another looks like a giant, colourful amoeba plastered against the rock.

At 100 feet, the window yields a ballet of thousands of tiny fish swimming in unison around the corals. Then a school of horse-eye jacks floats by like silver apparitions. “They’re aggressive, territorial and quite tasty,” quips Adrian, as we start our ascent.

Submarine submersion is one way to experience the under-water world without getting wet. Another is a visit to OceanPark, an exquisitely kid-friendly, outdoor aquarium. Now just a year old, it displays the eastern Caribbean’s unique marine environment, with exhibits ranging from ray pools to shark tanks and the rocky coast. In the touch pool, kids are encouraged to feel the texture of marine creatures. In other areas, notably the Piranha exhibit, touching is less advisable.

If you’re keen to get up close and personal with marine life, one way to do it is by snorkeling with the endangered green turtles, who gladly acquiesce to the caresses of snorkeling visitors provided their appetites are sated. Obligingly, the crew of Tiami Cruises offered sliced fish to entice them on my tour, and within minutes we had two large turtles peddling the water around us, their serious faces surfacing occasionally as if to ask, Oliver-style, “Is there more?”

In Barbados, the answer is unabashedly yes. With a plethora of secluded beaches, a seemingly never-ending supply of sunshine and blue skies, and a dozen parishes, each with their own personality and attraction, it’s easy to fall in love with this island.
And if the dearth of hurricanes is anything to go by, God all ready has.

2021 Update: Thomson Cruises has now been re-branded as Marella Cruises

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes Lauren Kramer, a freelance travel writer who lives in Richmond, BC, a suburb of Vancouver on Canada’s West Coast.

If You Go:
• Getting There: The five-hour route between Barbados and Toronto is traveled daily by Air Canada. For more information visit www.aircanada.com or call (888) 247-2262

• Where To Stay: If you’re traveling with kids, the Almond Beach Village ( www.almondresorts.com ) is the best option, an all-inclusive establishment that, in 2005, was voted second in the top ten Caribbean family resorts by Conde Nast. With four, professionally staffed kids rooms, the village caters to newborns up to 18-year-olds, with child-friendly pools, wading pools for the tots and well-stocked play areas with swings, slides and more. For more information call (800) 4-ALMOND

• What To Do: The trip on Atlantis Submarines ( www.atlantissubmarines.com ; (246) 436-8929) occurs daily. Adults $89, kids $44.50 and discounts available for online bookings. Ocean Park ( www.oceanparkbarbados.com ) is open daily 9am-6pm. Island Safari Barbados ( www.islandsafari.bb ; (246) 429-5337) offers a land and sea safari where a four-by-four island tour is followed by a catamaran trip. Tour duration is eight hours; Adults $112.50 and kids $55.

Photos by Lauren Kramer:

1. Aboard Island Safari’s jeeps, visitors to Barbados go off-road to explore the island’s rugged terrain.
2. The Atlantic coast of Barbados is known for its turbulent waters and long stretches of spectacular coast line.
3. Barbados boasts many beautiful churches in its parishes, with magnificent views at every turn.
4. One of the island’s oldest resorts, The Crane Hotel, has incorporated its historic 1800s structure into its present day facade.

The aromas of tostones (fried plantains) and asopao (a traditional chicken-and-rice soup) drift out of local eateries. Tourists pause in front of colorful storefront displays, and a sea of pedestrians and cars moves past. Narrow cobblestone streets beckon in each direction I turn, while the sounds of salsa resonate from a nearby plaza, enticing me to move a little closer.

My longtime friend, Lori, and I are on the first port of call on a weeklong Caribbean cruise. It’s a crystal-clear Sunday afternoon in the old town district of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The city of San Juan is made up of three distinct areas: Old San Juan, the beach and resort area, and outlying communities. Old San Juan, founded in 1508, is the second-oldest city in the Americas.

An infectious energy fills the air as the sounds of the park rotunda’s steel drums intensify. Children play nearby as adults gather to visit. Passing tourists stop to listen, snap a few photos and dance for a while.

Music is almost as vital to Puerto Ricans as the air they breathe. Folk music here possesses a passionate language all its own. Décima, seis, danza, plena, bomba, son, bolero, mambo, merengue and salsa are all popular in Puerto Rico. The country’s music and dance have been heavily influenced by Cuba and the Dominican Republic, as well as the United States.

Still dancing to the exhilarating beat, Lori and I meander through the narrow cobblestone corridors. We soon reach Calle del Cristo, a popular shopping street. The stores here are filled with clothing and jewelry bargains, tourist trinkets and local art.

At the end of one quiet corridor, a small, faded church with a decorative bell tower is guarded by tall iron gates. La Capilla de Cristo, the Chapel of Christ, was built as a memorial to a much-celebrated miracle. In 1753, a young boy participating in a festival horserace lost control of his horse and plunged over a precipice.

This landmark, with its Campeche paintings and ornate gold-and-silver altar, was erected in celebration of his miraculous survival. José Campeche (1701-1809) was the founder of Puerto Rican national painting.

Heading back toward the frenzied street activity one block up, I begin following the tantalizing aromas wafting from the area’s kitchens. Adobo and sofrito — blends of herbs and spices — offer many of the native foods a distinctive taste and color.

Adobo, a combination of peppercorns, oregano, garlic, salt, olive oil and lime juice or vinegar, is rubbed into meats before they are roasted. Sofrito, a mixture of onions, garlic, coriander and peppers browned in either olive oil or lard, is colored with achiote (seeds of the annatto tree), which gives a signature bright-yellow color to the island’s rice, soups and stews.

Similar to Spanish and Mexican cuisine, Puerto Rican cooking is a uniquely tasty blend of Spanish, African, native Taíno and American influences. Locally grown seasonings and ingredients such as coriander, papaya, cacao, loquat (a member of the apple/pear family) apio (a root vegetable) and plantains are used regularly. The locals often refer to their scrumptious cuisine as Cocina Criolla. Signature dishes include kidney stew, shrimp Creole and black-bean soup.

The narrow, winding cobblestone streets are influenced by Spanish architecture, with old stucco walls fronting colorful, tile-roofed buildings in a lively mixture of colonial blues, greens and yellows, with ornate balconies and heavy wooden doors.

Many homes and businesses gracefully open onto inner courtyards in the elegant style of Andalusia in southern Spain. As we climb higher, the waterfront glistens like a jewel down below.

When founded, in 1521, a massive wall was built around the city to protect it from its enemies. Nearby fortresses, including El Morro and El Arsenal, were erected, as well. Used as a stopover for ships from Spain, San Juan was built as a stronghold to prevent adversaries from taking control of the island.

A popular waterfront square, La Casita, has a weekend craft market, complete with jewelry, leather goods, homemade soaps and colorful prints of local landscapes. Across the street from the harbor lies the Casa Don Q Puerto Rico, which houses the Destilería Serrallés, a family-owned-and-operated rum distillery, established in 1865.

Don Juan Serrallés, the son of a Spaniard who settled in the area, produced his first few casks of rum using a still he imported from France. Today, more than a century later, a family member still presides over this company, which produces and distributes much of the rum sold on the island.

Casa Don Q offers both rum tastes and a historical perspective on the area’s rum-making industry. Large Puerto Rican sugarcane plantations began distilling rum in the 17th century and the rum was soon shipped to colonial America. Once America became a nation, rum was largely displaced by whiskey, which was distilled from grain grown on the American plains.

Almost a century later, the rum industry regained its former standing when the government created more rigid standards for producing, blending and aging rum, and distilleries were outfitted with modern, sanitary equipment.

These improvements, along with the severe whiskey shortage at the end of World War II and an aggressive marketing campaign, soon led to its reemergence in the States and beyond.

With our last sips of a refreshing rum punch and the end of the day approaching, we allow ourselves one final stop. The fountain outside the waterfront Sheraton Old San Juan Hotel & Casino offers us a pleasant spot to rest for a few last minutes to take in all that we have savored during the afternoon hours. We hail a taxi for the short distance to the cruise ship, now awaiting its arriving guests.

Old San Juan has offered a captivating gateway to the Caribbean and the many adventures that lie ahead. Its historical perspective, architectural charm and local artistic flair are all welcoming and refreshingly genuine.

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes freelance travel writer Leslie Jones who makes her home in California.

About the photos:
1: San Juan’s Government building.
2: A sample of the unique architecture.
3: The fountain outside the Sheraton Hotel and Casino.

If You Go:

Old San Juan Tourism
http://welcome.topuertorico.org/city/sanjuan

Puerto Rico Tourism Company
www.gotopuertorico.com

by Habeeb Salloum

A few years ago, on a trip to Havana, Hemingway’s granddaughter Mariel is reported to have said: “Cuba has three icons – Che and Fidel and my grandfather.”

Without question her words rings true. A good part of Hemingway’s history saturates Havana. In this city he is everywhere.

During my latest trip to Cuba, while following Hemingway’s Trail, I stopped a young man in Havana too ask him directions to the hotel Ambos Mundos, made famous by Hemingway. During our conversation he surprised me by remarking,

“You know that Hemingway was a great Cuban!” I looked at him in amazement. Yet I should not have been surprised. This famous American novelist has become an idol to Cubans – both old and young.

Ernest Hemingway who made Havana his main home from the early 1930s often frequented numerous bars and restaurants that have today become almost holy place for Cubans as well as countless tourists. It is as if this noted novelist by his actions and writings, to the Cubans made his name everlasting.

Our first stop on Hemingway trail was in Old Havana at the Bodeguita del Medio Bar/Restaurant, located midway on a small street near the Plaza de Catedral. I could barely look through the window as I made my way through dozens of tourists trying to enter one of Hemingway’s watering spots.

It was here that Hemingway made the drink mojito famous. Thousands of tourists visit the Bodeguita every year just to remember the novelist and try to decipher the innumerable writings of famous people who have inscribed their names from top to bottom on the bar walls.

At the back there is an overpriced restaurant where one can savour traditional Cuban cuisine. Yet despite the price, his name imbues so much magic that the restaurant is always full.

From the Bodeguita, we walked for about 15 minutes to Hemingway’s favourite eating-place, El Floridita Bar/Restaurant, located on the edge of Central Park. Here, he spent much time sipping on daiquiris – some assert that this drink is his invention. Today, a steady stream of tourists drifts in and out to soak up atmosphere and down the not-so-cheap daiquiris.

A 10-minute walk from El Floridita, we came to the edge of Plaza de Armas where the fully renovated Ambos Mundo Hotel stands. It is a charming abode where Hemingway used to stay before he bought Finca la Vigia, his permanent home in Havana. It is said that if a visitor stays in this hotel he/she will surely dream of the characters in Hemingway’s novels.

In his favourite very small room number 511, Hemingway was inspired to write his famous novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls. With the money he made from this novel, he bought Finca la Vigia.

The room has been turned into a museum where some dozen items are exhibited. For a two-dollar fee visitors can view the Room 511, preserved ‘just as it was’ when he stayed there in the 1930s – even the bed he slept in still looks like it is newly made. Yet, despite the steep fee for so little, when I visited the museum there was a line up of visitors, of mostly Canadians, waiting to enter.

Leaving Old Havana behind. We drove to Finca la Vigia, located on the outskirts of the city – Hemingway’s home from 1939 to 1950. Here he entertained famous people and where he fought and loved a number of the many women in his life. It was donated by his forth wife Mary to the country that he loved and it has become a tourist shrine, called the Ernest Hemingway Museum.

In the last decade Hemingway’s old wooden country home fell into disrepair and the foundations began to crumble. A short time ago, a group of American preservationists were given permission by the US government to restore the building.

Now under renovation the Finca is closed to the public. It is planned to return it to its original state as when that renowned writer called it home. Hemingway’s personal belongings, furniture and books are being kept in storage until the Finca is fully renovated.

The only things that visitors can see are the outside of the villa; a high tower-like structure with a fine view of Havana, built by his forth wife Mary as a writing den that he never used; his dry swimming pool; the graves of four of his cats that he loved; and his renovated fishing boat, El Pilar.

As we left past workmen working on the Finca one of our group remarked, “They are enhancing Hemingway’s Cuban aura. Truly they have adopted him as an idol.”

Still wrapped up in the aura of one of mankind’s great literary figures, we made our way to Cojimar, a fishing port on the edge of Havana where Hemingway often went on fishing trips on El Pilar, and where he was inspired to write his famed novel, The Old Man and The Sea. It won him the Noble Prize for literature and was made by Hollywood into a movie, starring Spencer Tracy.

For me, it was sheer pleasure to walk the streets where Hemingway once trod then head to the Bar/Restaurant, La Terraza – now a fisherman-turned-tourist hangout and no longer a fishing village.

Back in old Havana as I walked its narrow streets bordered edged by spectacular renovated historic mansions, I reminisced with a friend about our Hemingway tour.

As we parted, he summed the novelist’s connection to Cuba well, remarking: “I now know why Hemingway loved this city. Look as these splendid structures and all the attractive women walking the streets! Are they not like beautiful flowers enhancing a charming scene?

You know Hemingway loved gorgeous women!”

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes author and freelance travel writer Habeeb Salloum, who lives in Toronto, Canada.

Photos by Habeeb Salloum:
1: The Capitol Buildng.
2: Ladies selling flowers at $2.00 each. Also $2.00 for tourists to have their picture taken
with them..
3: Horse and buggy awaiting customers outside the Ambos Mundo Hotel.

Cuba travel Guide – 2018: Essential Cuba guide book
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I look down at the cobblestones outside the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales in Havana, Cuba. They are rectangular, and laid flush, like bricks—except that they’re brown and have an intriguing grain to them. “Unusual, isn’t it?” Our guide, Pepe, grins at my puzzlement. “It is exactly as it looks. The street here is paved with wood.” He points to the elegant facade across the street. “The bedrooms of the Governor and his wife were just up there. So as not to offend their ears with the sound of horses’ hooves and cart wheels, they installed the wooden cobblestones to dampen the sound.”

We are in Old Havana—except that it looks far newer than the rest of the city, thanks to extensive restoration and renovation projects.

We enter the palace and walk across the foyer to the courtyard beyond, just in time to see a peacock fan its tail and begin a promenade through the cool, inviting garden that is nested within the palace’s embrace.

Later, we climb up to the second story of a building on the edge of the Plaza Vieja and look out over the courtyard and the city. The view is a little disconcerting.

In our immediate vicinity: candy-coloured pastels and crisp, new facades that look like a Disney version of Havana. Though it is wonderful to see that the beautiful city is finally getting the care it requires, it also feels a little like someone built an historically accurate replica of what Havana once looked like, but didn’t think about adding a patina of age to lend it character.

But then, you look further afield. There’s no transition at all. From candy colours and Disney, to Old Havana, un-retouched and authentic. Some buildings look like a bomb was detonated inside. The nicer ones although bedraggled, with faded, peeling paint, are blessed with intact columns; others use unfinished two by fours to prop up sagging doorways and balconies.

We continue our tour, indifferent to shops in the old city, most of them offering luxury goods we could just as easily buy at home. But, there is one establishment we cannot resist the chocolate shop.

Inside, the air is redolent with the enticing dark aroma of hot chocolate being served at antique-chic tables. My husband and I exchange glances, our weariness supplanted by anticipation. “Our treat,” we tell Pepe.

When the hot chocolate arrives, it is thick enough to stand a spoon in. Rich and sweet, but with a sharper edge of bitterness than we’re used to, it is a like meal in a cup. We drink it in slow sips, rolling the complexity of the flavour over our tongues, before swallowing it down.

Then, our flagging energy restored, we bid our farewells to Pepe, and head for that other Havana, un-restored and compelling, which has been calling to us all day. Here, it’s all but impossible to find convenience stores, and restaurants are often as not in someone’s house, a small sign in the window proclaiming their status.

As the tropical evening tints the sky mauve, we find our way to La Zorra y el Cuervo—the Fox and the Crow—a cramped basement that is one of the hottest Cuban Jazz tickets in town.

We are starving after our wanderings, but the best they can rustle up is a plate of ubiquitous ham and cheese sandwiches that are so popular in Cuba.

The place fills rapidly and a haze of smoke soon thickens the air.

The musicians strike up the beat. The lead singer, a curvaceous woman with wavy black hair and a mischievous grin, has a full, throaty voice and a sensual, grounded singing style. The rhythm and the instrumentation are as rich and earthy as dark Cuban chocolate.

We allow ourselves to be engulfed by the lush, vibrant rhythms of Havana.

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes Susan Deefholts, a freelance travel writer who lives in Ontario.

If you go:
www.gocuba.ca/en/destination_habana.asp

Casa Particulares offer rooms for rent in private houses. Casa de Ana, at www.anahavana.com, has useful information about the city, lots of links and even walking tour maps. Ana is very helpful, checks her email regularly, answers questions and provides services even if she doesn’t have availability at her place. Her friend Pepe offers walking tours of the city.

No American travelers checks or credit cards are accepted in Cuba. Bring plenty of cash to convert, or Canadian credit cards, from which to draw cash advances to cover purchases in Havana.

About the photos:
1: View from a terrace at the Plaza Vieja.
2: Because of embargoes, vintage cars are still in widespread use.
3: San Francisco Square