Aruba

[hezzier]

We went to Aruba for April vacation and had a great time.  We stayed at the Hilton, it's in the Palm/Eagle Beach area so lots of water activity/sport shops along the beach between hotels.  Lots of restaurants were across the street from many of the hotels in the area.  We paddle boarded, DH and kids rode Big Mable (a tube behind a motor boat), went on a catamaran for a snorkel trip, DS parasailed, a van tour of the island hitting a few main sites like the Aloe Factory, Alta Vista Chapel, California Lighthouse, Natural Bridge, Casabari Rock...and relaxed on the beach...we rented palapas (a thatched roof umbrella with lounge chairs) through the hotel each day in order to have some shade.

Communicating about allergies was a little sketchy.  Some locals looked at me with blank stares, others jumped right in saying they had no nuts (yet I saw nuts on the menu) and others seemed knowledgeable.  They speak 4 languages...papamiento, dutch, english and spanish...not that it helped with allergies.

We ate a large breakfast at the hotel in the morning.  We checked with the manager to see if the belgian waffle was safe, the chef said to have the server get a fresh one from the kitchen each morning instead of from the buffet (had almonds available as a topping) which we did not eat from (we ordered off the menu).

We ate at Gilligan's (at the hotel) the first night.  Again they seemed a little sketchy (this was one where they said no nuts, but have nuts on a salad), but DS had fish.  They make their own focaccia there so he ate it.  Kids also had lunch from here the next day...DS had a burger...we decided the cross contamination of the bun was minimal so went for it.  DH and I mostly skipped lunch and had a snack if needed...we brought enough enjoy life protein bites to sink a ship.

After that day, the kids ate from a place next door called The Bread Basket which was about 1/2 the price of the hotel for lunch.  Again bread was sketchy...no labels on the bags of buns.  He ate a burger and fries from there daily.  Interestingly enough, one day the bun was plain, the next had sesame seeds...thankfully he isn't allergic to sesame anymore.  Eating on the island would have definitely been more challenging with a sesame allergy.

Dinners were at different places:  Lola's Tacos was across the street and served street tacos...baja fish, crunchy octopus, fried shrimp, roasted brussels sprout, and normal things with pork, chicken and beef.  It was relatively inexpensive so ended up eating their twice since everyone liked it so much...mind you, you need to eat about 2 orders of 2 tacos to get a decent sized meal.

Aqua Grill was a 5 minute walk.  Higher priced, fresh fish...kids made the mistake of ordering fried seafood platters, they would have been better off ordering non-fried fish.  DH and I had great meals of red snapper.  I think this was the most expensive meal.

Fishes and More was also right across the street.  The server seemed the most knowledgeable and piped up about if DS was having a salad that he needed to skip the dressing since it had pine nuts blended into it.  I think there was a grouper dish where you could add almonds for an additional charge.  We all had fresh fish and loved it.

We skipped all desserts and picked up M&M's at the hotel gift shop for a treat.  DD and I wandered after dinner through little shops one night and grabbed gelato one night in the hotel after the boys had already gone up to the room...it was fine, nothing spectacular.

We were definitely lacking in fresh fruit and veggies compared to what we eat at home.

Almost everything is imported (except fresh caught fish) in terms of food so it's all expensive.