Aruba Carnival preserves what Brazil has been losing – 02/14/2024 – Tourism

Aruba, that island in the Caribbean, is all they say. Just stepping on the white sand of the place, looking at the blue Hollywood sea, gives you the feeling that you have become rich. So much luxury. In the hotel sector, it is a parade of brands. Hytt, Barceló, Hilton, Renaissance, with casinos. There are Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton stores, just to name the best known.

Perhaps it is the clash of opposites that leaves foreigners looking astonished when they cross the area of ​​the capital Oranjestad dedicated to the local Carnival parades. It’s a Carnival so rooted and popular that even us Brazilians forget what it’s like.

In Aruba, there are no street blocks or sambadromes with very expensive tickets. It’s zero fuss. It doesn’t smell like pee or ethyl waste. Nobody wears costumes. Everyone, however, enjoys the unexpected abandon.

Local citizens leave their homes to watch parades. He carries his portable car seat and a stocked cooler. Father, mother, uncles, grandparents and all the kids will come. If it’s daytime, some add an umbrella to the combo. As here, the thermometers easily reach 30 degrees, but the sun disappears much faster.

Most settle on the sidewalk, behind isolation strips — when there is isolation. There is no cattle-friendly fence that has become common in Brazilian carnivals.

Many take speakers and turn them on full blast before the parade starts. Each part of the audience has a different Caribbean beat. Basically, Carnival is packed with tumba, soca monarch and calypso, and one of its variants, the road march.

Like our samba, its origins are Afro. Although they have traditional drums, they also use the steelpan, a steel drum with a xylophone sound.

The professor and researcher at the Aruban Pedagogical Institute, Gregory Richardson, has a doctoral thesis on the local Carnival and details the construction of these musical genres. In his assessment, they are forms of subversion and cultural resistance by former slaves.

To the crude ear, everything is the same, but each sound has a particular beat. Musician Richard Tattoo Quanti is proud to be currently the only performer capable of singing all three genres.

Defining the rhythm here in writing is difficult, but imagine the sound of the band Calypso from Pará, mix the Bahians Axé and Olodum, play the thin beat of the steelpan in the background. That’s it.

It will be impossible to understand the lyrics. The groups sing in Papiamento, a language born and raised in the region, with status as an official language in Aruba. She is an oral miscegenation.

Back there, slaves adopted a Creole language, which combined the colonizer’s Portuguese and Spanish. Since 1636, Aruba has been part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, known as Holland, and Dutch is taught in schools. As he makes his living from tourism, the Aruban speaks English. Papiamento mixes these lines.

At parades, everyone takes a cup. In the case of children, it is really hydration, with water and juices. Adult content is a mystery. You can have any drink. The blocks have an open bar wing. The wealthiest have up to three bar cars. Many people push drinks in wheelbarrows in the middle of the avenue.

Passengers scurry up to the counter and refill their glass as they move along the avenue. These are priceless scenes.

Although there is competition in the parades, the criteria are much looser than those of our Carnival. It is almost the norm for passers-by to abandon the formation to hug family and friends who are watching the parade. It’s pure fraternization.

There is no appeal to sensuality, with boosted butts and breasts. People of all ages and body types parade.

On the pre-Carnival Saturday, the Lightning Parade, or Parade of Lights, takes place. Cars and costumes flash along the five kilometers of avenue. Each costume has a mini battery that lasts up to five hours. The audience follows. Wear glasses, bracelets, hats, anything bright. Some wrap themselves around the lights.

It’s a popular show in itself and very different from what you see around here.

The Aruba native speaks enthusiastically that his Carnival is the same as Brazil’s, only smaller. The scale is unparalleled. Brazil has 200 million inhabitants, Aruba, 107 thousand.

Let’s be fair. Even with all the differences, there are similarities. The costumes and floats in the parades are the same. So much so that it is not possible to identify whether a passerby is from Aruba or Brazil in official photos of the island.

The great similarity, however, is the carnival soul.

The dedication, love and pride in putting the block on the street owe nothing to the feelings that drive schools in Rio, artisans in Olinda or workshops in Salvador. The Oderber and Flemming family is an example of this.

Following the tradition of three generations, he spent January working on building a float for the children’s parade. The production took place at home and cost US$15,000, almost R$75,000. Half came from contributions, but the other half came from the family budget. Gilliany Oduber, who works in sales and marketing at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, says with a wide smile that it’s worth keeping the tradition and seeing her children Brayden and Melía in the parade.

The Aruba Carnival celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2024. The ATA (Aruba Tourism Authority) reinforced its work to integrate the festivities into tourism. The advantage is that the party is longer. It begins just after Twelfth Day, on January 6, and continues until Shrove Tuesday.

For those who can’t give up Carnival in Brazil, it’s worth exploring this extended pre-festival. As it has specific days and locations, it will always be an extra, which will not be confused with the routine of other Caribbean attractions.

The Fakkel Optocht or Torch Parade opens the season. The agenda continues with weekly parties, for one, two or three months. The calendar changes annually as it adjusts to Holy Week celebrations.

The parades also take place in San Nicolás, a neighborhood that received the majority of Africans and is considered the birthplace of Carnival.

In the two weeks before the festivities, there is also, at dusk, the Sunset Parade, in Noord, close to the Palm Beach hotel zone. Those organized explain that the parade is less exuberant, but it doesn’t matter. The tourist goes crazy taking a selfie with the sunset that looks like it was hand painted.

There’s also J’ouvert Morning, Pajama Party. In this case, it starts at dawn, and the fun is to watch the sun rise. To end the festivities, the island carries out, after the grand closing parade, the symbolic burning of King Momo. It is the ashes of the end so that the next Carnival can shine.

ISLAND IN DETAIL

Aruba is located 25 km off the coast of South America and outside the hurricane belt. It offers 360 days of sunshine with an average temperature of 28 degrees. The climate is reminiscent of the harsh northeast. Cacti are a common plant in the landscape.

The beaches have transparent waters that, from afar, produce that deep blue vision, the hallmark of this Caribbean island.

In 2023, Eagle Beach was named by Tripadvisor’s Travelers’ Choice as the best beach in the Caribbean and the second in the world, after Baía do Sancho, in Fernando de Noronha.

Baby Beach and Arashi also entered the ranking of Caribbean beaches in positions #19 and #23, respectively.

Around 20% of the island belongs to the Arikok National Park, a protected area with desert fauna and flora, caves with cave paintings and beaches very different from those found in the hotel zone.

There is no shortage of sports options. It is possible to ride a buggy, jet sky, kite surfing and boating. The local cuisine is rich, the drink options are diverse and tasty. There are award-winning hotels and villas.

Aruba imports almost everything, including the delicious giant shrimp that are on the plates of several restaurants. The stars of local production are soaps, shampoos, creams and other cosmetics based on aloe vera, grown and processed almost by hand, and Balashi beers, made with desalinated sea water.

Although the local currency is the Aruban florin, even the burger menu is in American dollars.

Tourists have options for daily flights to Aruba operated by Avianca (via Panama), Copa Airlines (via Bogotá) and Latam (Lima).

Here’s an environmental spoiler. The famous pink flamingos are on a private beach. You have to pay to see them. As they are not native to the island, their wings are clipped so they cannot fly. In turn, different species of turtles frequent Aruba to reproduce freely.

The journalist traveled at the invitation of the Aruba Tourism Authority