Aruba: Shrouded in Mystery

On the western side of Aruba, the native "fofoti" hardwood trees all point west where the majority of this small island's hotels and resorts are found. This is because of the constant trade winds.

Like the tree, Aruba, under the global crime microscope, still stands as one of the top tourist attractions of the Caribbean.

What really happened that May 30th when Alabama teen Natalee Holloway vanished into the night? We study the island and it's people to come up with some interesting points of view into the mystery that shrouds the island paradise. We also give you an opportunity to comment on each article and a forum dedicated to the unanswered questions that get more complicated as time goes on.

Based on what you know, would you visit Aruba? And if you've been, would you go back? Do you feel it's safe?

Aruba - "One Happy Island"

ORANJESTAD, Aruba -- Things are a little different now in Aruba's capital city which features beautiful, pastel colored, traditional Dutch-style buildings and a variety of shopping and night spots for its main source of revenue, tourists.

Teenagers in tight jeans and small tops treat themselves to the free ladies'-night drinks served icy in foot-long orange plastic glasses. They dance to the beat of loud rap music with suggestive lyrics at Carlos 'n Charlie's.

Others standing by who watch the young crowd at this wild night spot are mainly middle-aged American tourists curious to get a glimpse of the last place Alabama teen Natalee Holloway was seen with her high school group before she left in the early hours of May 30, 2005, with three locals.

Since that fateful day, Carlos 'n Charlie's, a local Mexican (TexMex) eatery, bar and party place has been the object of curious sightseers. Likewise, tourists make their way to the beach area near the northern end of beautiful Palm Beach, where it is thought the 18-year-old may have vanished.

Certainly Aruba has been the very center of 2005's most publicized "unsolved mystery". Repeat tourists who have enjoyed this "paradise" year after year, and most of the local population are simply upset. This spectacular tropical getaway, which sits some 15 miles off the coast of Venezuela, uses the motto "One Happy Island" on each license plate and hundreds of signs proclaiming what was once their true sentiment.

Just like the island's famous "divi-divi" tree (caesalpinia coriaria, also known as the watapana), whose branches lay toward the west because of the constant trade winds, Aruba's reputation of a safe tourist destination is being tried. Aruba is clear of the hurricane routes, though in 1954 it was damaged by hurricane Hazel. What sets it apart is the warm, friendly residents; sleepy and peaceful white-powder beaches, and its many casinos.

But now that the media has put Aruba on the map, what will happen to this island that has put all of its effort into making tourism the number one revenue generator? Will negative public opinion form creating a ghost town of the highly developed hotel and resort industry? Can travel bargains be found now that the island has received a black eye?

Aruba crime statistics and tourism statistics - Next>>