Aruba’s winds fill sails for a successful Hi-Winds 1999

Some consternation arose on the first racing days of Aruba’s Hi-Winds international windsurfing challenge, Wednesday, June 9, when wind speeds didn’t reach the necessary 15 knots, but spirits lifted as the winds returned. By the second day the wind was at full force and continued to blow straight through the competition’s conclusion, Monday, June 14. In the end it was the Virgin Island’s Jimmy Diaz who was proclaimed the Overall Winner, with Aruba’s own Roger Jurriens capturing the sixth spot.

This years competition involved over 100 participants coming from all over the Caribbean, South America, Europe and the US. When the time wasn’t occupied by racing, the long-distance race and sport competition, competitors enjoyed various celebrations at diverse locations including Salt & Pepper and Havana Beach Club.

‘Clogging’ comes to Aruba as part of a reciprocal cooperation project

Nominally-priced tap, jazz and cheerleading lessons offered recently at the Step-by-Step Dance Studio, in Bushiri, through a joint effort of the Aruba Dance Foundation and the Mitzi Layne Dance Group of West Virginia, US. have brought smiles to many young Arubans.

Wilma Kuiperi of the Aruba Dance Foundation explains that the lack of teachers in these dance variations prompted the reciprocal cooperation enabling Aruban students to learn American dance forms such as tap and clogging and conversely introduce tumba salsa and merengue to American dance students.

Friends get together and replace stairwell at Mangel Halto

Tommy Hano, Winn Hymel, Jim Parks and Russ Nolte decided to get together and make a difference at one of their favorite dive sites - Mangel Halto. A newly-constructed stairwell constructed by these four friends (with a fresh coat of paint provided by Coastal) replaces a long-neglected stairway to the sea. The new stairwell was put in place on Thursday, June 17, allowing safe access into the Mangel Halto lagoon for swimmers and divers alike.

The idea was first introduced to the gang by a local diver Haime Vingal, and quickly caught on as the friends realized the truly poor state the stairwell was in. Not only replacing the stairwell, the group took it upon themselves to also replace the platform’s rotting boards with new treated ones

Flying to Aruba from Europe and South America just got easier

As confirmed by ATA Europe Director Rafael Estrada, a 17:45 flight from Caracas to Aruba has been given the green light to start as from July. The new Avensa flight has been timed specifically to meet the flying needs of South American and European travelers making their way to the island with an estimated time of arrival of European and South American flights arriving in Caracas about two hours earlier than the Aruba outbound flight. With clearance received from Venezuela’s Civil Aviation Department and a confirmation made by Avensa General Manager of Traffic and Sales, Alfredo Senador, everything is a go for the new flight.

The new Avensa flight, together with the recently instituted Avianca Bogota to Aruba flights, will make getting to Aruba, from both Europe and South America, a little easier.

CATA 1999 succeeds in bring together Latin America and Aruba

The Annual Tourism Conference Aruba (CATA) for Latin American tour operators was a great success with a total of 120 participants, accounting for various tour operators, airline representatives and members of the media from Panama, Puerto Rico, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. The event provided a forum to discuss with the impact of the millenium on Latin America, one of CATA’s primary themes this year, as well as allow for brainstorming sessions and meetings between the different markets and hotel and activity company reps. Lectures were offered by Efrain Toro, from KPMG in Orlando, Florida, who spoke about the impact of 2000, and Guillermo Vizquez, of Gerencia de viajes magazine, who discussed the use of the internet by the tourism industry. ATA Assistant Director of Marketing Miriam Aristizabal-Dabian, who was one of the main organizers of the event, was summarily pleased with the outcome of this year’s event. "Normally, we organize CATA in September, but this year we choose June as it is during the high season for Latin America. Because the time of year was more favorable, we had more participants than last year, "she explains. Not only drawing more participants, Miriam also views this year’s CATA as successful in the effectiveness with brainstorming sessions yielding more information on who is our consumer as well as broaching difficulties posed by lack of airlift and promotion.

"There is a great deal of interest in Aruba by Latin America, not only do we offer the opportunity for a relaxing vacation, excellent beaches, a variety of activities, and, most important importantly, a safe environment but there is no language barrier or need to obtain a visa to visit here," says Miriam. Pointing to the fact to the number of Argentineans who participated in CATA, despite the fact that there is no direct flight, Miriam Illustrates that the Latin American does indeed hold many opportunities as a tourism market for Aruba.

"Invasion 1999" at Cas di Cultura

Invasion 1999 is an extraordinary and innovative exhibition of different forms of artistic expression. The artistic disciplines consist of music, dance, fashion, art, photography and performance, with a modern theme presented from an original perspective.

Invasion 1999 will bring many local artists together forming a wonderful spectacle with an emphasis on creativity and interaction. This event gives local artists the opportunity to exchange ideas while involving the spectators in their creation or presentation. Each stage will change simultaneously portraying an expression of contemporary art. Artists will create their art in front of the spectators, so they can go from one stage to the other and observe what they like and can also interact with the artists.

It is difficult to describe what the public can expect at this event, since it is a first for Aruba – never before has there been a similar presentation on the island. No doubt a combination of audio-visual entertainment augurs well for a very enjoyable evening.