More Murals

 This is one of my favorites. The prikichi is a beloved local bird. In this mural, its head is painted in saturated colors, but the tail is washed out, almost transparent -- the species itself is fading away, the artist warns, threatened by overdevelopment and invasive boa constrictors eating their eggs. The lovely gentleman raking trash offered to move his pickup truck so I could get an unobstructed photo and apologized that the streets were dirty and not nicer for the visiting tourists. I thanked him but told him to stay, leave the truck and himself in the picture, he was part of the story. Here in this struggling town, even the people with the most menial jobs went about their day to day lives surrounded by rich art, and who's to say that isn't an equal or greater definition of "wealth?"

Part of this carnival dancer's costume is real gold tiles. The flowers in the background pay homage to the Arubian flag: the red hibiscus in the upper left is the red star, the two rows of yellow blossoms across the bottom, and the pale blue background. (Our rental car in the lower left corner for scale -- and what a beautiful way to remember where you've parked!)

Pairs of herons/egrets seems a common theme, and since heron is also Dan's spirit animal we enjoyed every one of them!

This one is called "King of the Streets" and the 3-D effect is incredible; that's a flat shop front. The aloe plant and the hanging bat (for guano) are both historically money makers. 

It is illegal to remove shells of sand from the island, but tourists can give themselves "angel wings" made of seashells in this backdrop.

Closeup of the shells

Not sure about this one. Making origami from a high-denomination bill in the local currency.

This one is meant to be viewed through a red or blue filter. Prophetically, it was made in 2020 and shows how they can't quite get in sync and there's something keeping them apart.

Viewed through the blue filter, you can see her surface and his deeper core...

... and vice-versa through the red filter.

The leatherback turtle goes out into the world, but comes back to the beach where it was born to lay its eggs and create the next generation. So too with island youth, who go to Holland for college. There's been a brain-drain in recent years as many young people choose to remain in Europe, for jobs and at least in part because the exchange is favorable compared to the island.

Another mural honoring locals while they're still living; this gentleman (Hidaro Donker (sp???)) bugged the government to get street lights in town.

Sarah Quito Ofredo is a windsurfing champion; if you look closely her shirt is the ocean. It is said that she's so good she can take her morning coffee on her board with her and drink it and never spill a drop.