This Week in Aruba: January 11-17, 2019 (Week 2)

01/14/19 • 37 min

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first episode of This Week in Aruba in 2019. We're gonna switch things up a lot this time and flush the format. So last year, TWIA was more events-based, but this year, we'll be focusing more on commentaries for what's happening around Aruba or some topics from the view of the people who love to visit Aruba via the Facebook and forum posts.

We have a couple of topics that we want to go through:

Who has the best cheeseburger on the island? Some popular opinions are:
- Alfie’s
- Local Store
- Twist of Flavours
- Chalo Burger
- Barney’s
- Dushi Bagel
- Bingo
- Matthew’s
- Champion’s
- White Modern Cuisine (during lunchtime)
- Smokey Joe’s
A subject that’s near and dear to our hearts about adopting pets from Aruba.
What do you do when a friend asks you about Aruba? How do you react to that question?
What’s the best time of year to visit Aruba? The weather is mostly the same all-year round but are their certain factors that will make you go a specific month?

We’d love to hear your opinions on these topics as well! You can contact us via the One Happy Podcast hotline at (302) 635-0815 or send us a message on Facebook or via email to [email protected].

So now we’re gonna jump into the events happening this 2nd timeshare week in Aruba from Friday, January 11th to Thursday, January 17th.

Aruba Carnival Season

When: January 5 to March 3, 2019 (all day)

Carnival means weeks of events that bring you
- colorfully decorated floats
- contagiously throbbing music
- luxuriously designed costumed groups of celebrants of all ages
- King & Queen elections
- electrifying Jump Ups
- Torch Light Parades that wind their way through the streets at night
- the Jouvert Morning Pajama Parade
- the Children's Parades
- and finally the Grand Parade!
Officially starting in November, the majority of events, celebrations and parades are held in January and February until the Burning of King Momo, marking the end of Carnival Season.
After the Burning of King Momo the entire island goes on hiatus, known as Carnival Monday (official day of rest).

Prins & Pancho

When: January 12 (Sat) / 7:00 pm - 12:00 am

Where: Carnival Harbour Arena (Oranjestad)

Prins & Pancho Election and Coronation (Children and Youth)
The Prince and Pancho are two figures in Aruba's carnival tradition.
The Prince's main task is to present his Queen to the people upon her election, and to accompany her wherever she appears.
The Prime Minister opens the reign of the royal court by handing over the keys of the Island to the Prince.
Pancho is the personal assistant of the Prince. His role is to tell jokes and accompany the Prince in his royal functions.
The Prince and Pancho are chosen for their royal qualities. The duo is chosen for their comedy, personality, educational content and audience popularity.

In the past, we used to have a long list of events but this time we just want to focus on a main event per week. We will have more events listed in the future, but for now, we just want to keep this episode short and sweet.

Onto the cruise ship schedule for this week:

Before we go, we’re giving a shoutout to Vallon Davis who I recorded a One Happy Podcast episode with. Thank you for being patient with me on your episode despite some technical problems.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of This Week in Aruba! Let us know your thoughts over the new format by contacting us via the One Happy Podcast hotline at (302) 635-0815 or send us a message on Facebook or via email to [email protected].

We have a couple of topics that we want to go through:

Who has the best cheeseburger on the island? Some popular opinions are:
- Alfie’s
- Local Store
- Twist of Flavours
- Chalo Burger
- Barney’s
- Dushi Bagel
- Bingo
- Matthew’s
- Champion’s
- White Modern Cuisine (during lunchtime)
- Smokey Joe’s
A subject that’s near and dear to our hearts about adopting pets from Aruba.
What do you do when a friend asks you about Aruba? How do you react to that question?
What’s the best time of year to visit Aruba? The weather is mostly the same all-year round but are their certain factors that will make you go a specific month?

We’d love to hear your opinions on these topics as well! You can contact us via the One Happy Podcast hotline at (302) 635-0815 or send us a message on Facebook or via email to [email protected].

So now we’re gonna jump into the events happening this 2nd timeshare week in Aruba from Friday, January 11th to Thursday, January 17th.

Aruba Carnival Season

When: January 5 to March 3, 2019 (all day)

Carnival means weeks of events that bring you
- colorfully decorated floats
- contagiously throbbing music
- luxuriously designed costumed groups of celebrants of all ages
- King & Queen elections
- electrifying Jump Ups
- Torch Light Parades that wind their way through the streets at night
- the Jouvert Morning Pajama Parade
- the Children's Parades
- and finally the Grand Parade!
Officially starting in November, the majority of events, celebrations and parades are held in January and February until the Burning of King Momo, marking the end of Carnival Season.
After the Burning of King Momo the entire island goes on hiatus, known as Carnival Monday (official day of rest).

Prins & Pancho

When: January 12 (Sat) / 7:00 pm - 12:00 am

Where: Carnival Harbour Arena (Oranjestad)

Prins & Pancho Election and Coronation (Children and Youth)
The Prince and Pancho are two figures in Aruba's carnival tradition.
The Prince's main task is to present his Queen to the people upon her election, and to accompany her wherever she appears.
The Prime Minister opens the reign of the royal court by handing over the keys of the Island to the Prince.
Pancho is the personal assistant of the Prince. His role is to tell jokes and accompany the Prince in his royal functions.
The Prince and Pancho are chosen for their royal qualities. The duo is chosen for their comedy, personality, educational content and audience popularity.

Onto the cruise ship schedule for this week:

Before we go, we’re giving a shoutout to Vallon Davis who I recorded a One Happy Podcast episode with. Thank you for being patient with me on your episode despite some technical problems.

Previous Episode

EPISODE 119: Vallon Davis Returns to OHP

It's a new year, which means it's time for the first podcast of 2019. On this episode, we welcome back Vallon Davis who was a past guest in One Happy Podcast. Vallon is someone who is very passionate about Aruba and it's always a pleasure to have him on the show.

Now, this won't be the usual format of OHP because Vallon and I have done all that before. This podcast episode will simply revolve around our conversation as he recounts his experiences from his latest trip to Aruba last September 14-26, 2018.

Vallon is from Trinidad, so he's a bit different from my usual guests who are mostly from the States. He talked about the flight difficulties that he encountered, which you may not expect, considering that he lives in the same region as Aruba.

We also discussed the different properties that he stayed at. He has a penchant for finding off-the-beaten-path kind of accommodations which is very interesting to hear about.

Other topics that you will come across: how the movie-watching experience is in Aruba for those who haven't tried it yet, the restaurants that Vallon visited, and other small challenges that he faced during his journey down in Aruba.

ON THIS EPISODE OF ONE HAPPY PODCAST, YOU WILL:

Hear about the mysterious story about the opened lock in his suitcase
Listen to a story of how he got mistaken as a staff and an Aruba local
Know why he wants to learn Papiamento for his next Aruba trip
Hear all about his recommended website for finding flights

ACCOMMODATIONS AND RESTAURANTS MENTIONED:

Next Episode

EP. 120: Jeremy Patterson Shares His Aruba Story

Today we invite to the show, Jeremy Patterson, an incredible guest who I met via Instagram. He reached out after having discovered the show and we have been talking back and forth ever since. Jeremy runs a website called whenisyournexttrip.com. "When is your next trip" is dedicated to Jeremy's travels and you really should go there to check out some of his photography.

So, Jeremy stumbled upon the podcast while he was looking for Aruba content and was blew away by the fact that it has more than a hundred episodes. I was absolutely thrilled to know that One Happy Podcast usually accompanies him on his daily commute because that's exactly what I envisioned this podcast's purpose — to be able to listen to it while you're doing something else in your daily lives.

On this episode, Jeremy and I will discuss the place he usually stays at in Aruba, his favorite activities and restaurants, and basically his experiences in Aruba.

He is a fellow Pittsburgher who's been to Aruba 9 times over the past 12 years. He first came to Aruba back in 2006 by a family invitation and stayed at Divi Aruba. Everywhere he’s stayed at ever since he started going to Aruba is pretty much around the Divi property.

Fishing is one of the activities that Jeremy is fond of doing on the island. Jeremy also enjoys heading over to the Renaissance Private Island, sunset cruises, relaxing and people watching. Jeremy also happens to take incredible pictures using his iPhone.

The restaurants he enjoyed from his trips include ODB, Hopi Bon, Dutch Pancake House, Casa Tua, Fusion Wine and Piano Bar, Matthew’s, Ricardo’s, Lucy’s, MooMba, Bugaloe, Nos Clubhuis, and Zeerovers.

ON THIS EPISODE OF ONE HAPPY PODCAST, YOU WILL: