Aruba Trip Reports

Paradera Park Apartments

December 19th to 28th, 2006 by Auntie Mame

Aruba Forum Profile: auntie_mame

This was our seventh trip to Aruba and our first staying off the hotel strip.

Car Rental

We always rent a car. This year we really needed one. Paradera arranged the rental for us from Value Car Rental. It was a white Yaris which ran very well. The Value people picked us up at the airport and drove us to the rental office (near Gasparito's). The paperwork took only a minute and we were off. It was equally easy at the end of our trip. The day before leaving we called Rich and told him what time we would be at the office. One our final day we took the car to the Value office and Carlos drove us down to the airport. I actually like that arrangement quite well.

Lodging

We stayed at Paradera Park Apartments. The property is a jewel and the owners are wonderful. The place was decorated for Christmas with a wreath on every door. Inside there was a small Christmas tree on our bureau. The fridge was on, with ice cube trays filled and a pitcher of cold water inside. We felt well and truly welcomed. We had a studio, which has everything one would need. The pool and gardens are beautiful. We spent quite a bit of time there.

What we did

We spent some days on the beach (Malmok or Eagle), some days at our pool, some days touring the island. We went again to the Donkey Sanctuary where we fed the donkeys our carrots. More of Natural Bridge had fallen so we needed to check that out. On Christmas day we went to the AMBR for the BB party. We met up with 'EagleBeachBoy and 'Liz from NJ' as well as Jurgen and Chef Marc from AMBR. It's always nice to meet folks you've been online with. We did some shopping at Ling's and Certified but most of it in the small shops on the back roads. We ate pastechi for breakfast, had lunch at the beach, some dinners at home with an amandelstaaf that was a gift from our hosts for dessert. We spent a pleasant two hours at Caribbean Laundry which we chose because it advertised a "relaxed washing atmosphere with air conditioning and lots of parking space." (They do have laundry service at Paradera but we require certain products due to allergies - so we always do our own.) By the end of our trip we had almost begun to feel like locals rather than visitors.

Where we ate

The real reviews will be in the restaurant section but a quick rundown.

Returned to:

  • Bingo - for both lunch and dinner. Always a winner. It's a 'must go' for us. If we lived on Aruba we'd be there all the time.
  • Linda's Pancake - Yum!
  • Salt and Pepper - very good indeed - awesome gazpacho
  • French Steak House - Christmas dinner. Loved it.
  • The Garden - at The Mill Resort, this is always our 'reasonable price' stop. Very good still.

New to us:

  • La Granja - down in Savaneta. Fast food chicken. Really really good.
  • Fishes & More - excellent - and Rick (from MJ's) is there now as well.
  • Chef's Table - this is the stuff of which Michelin stars are made. 'nough said'.

Overall

Looking back, I think that was my favorite time in Aruba. We have stayed at fancier places and for longer periods but there is something special about getting off the hotel strip, hearing almost no English unless someone was speaking to us and even shopping locally. And there is certainly something special about Paradera park Apartments. If we return to Aruba for an eighth time it will probably be to Paradera.