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HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
We caught the always-busy banqueting staff of the Hyatt Regency
celebrating a private moment, Sharon's birthday, at the bar at
Amazonia Churrascaria. The trio of over-achievers, Sharon
Kelly, Yvonne Cardoze & Pamela Bryson, relaxed over delicious
caipirinhas before leisurely enjoying their dinner at the famous
Brazilian steakhouse . . . Jan Falcone, Mayra Lagveem, Jeanette
Keith, Claudia Ruiz Vasquez, Orietta Mansur, Poes Booi, Jenny Erazo &
Carol Habibe celebrated Michelle Piazzi's birthday at Jan's
new pool on a Sunday. Michelle now live in Buenos Aires, and
loves it, though she keeps coming back here so I suspect she is a bit
home sick and misses her girlfriends. Fajita’s a la Petit
Café Restaurant were messy and delicious . . .
ON TIME DELIVERY.
I cannot even begin to tell you how disturbing it is to still get
telegrams in the mail. It’s mid April, the telegrams were send the
third week of February. Aruba’s post office delivers inadequate
service, with telegrams lingering SEVEN weeks on the way . . .
DEVELOPMENT.
This week presented a record number of learning opportunities with
ATA sponsoring a too-long, too-slow, full-day E-Conference while
AHATA sponsored an interesting and diverse production titled
Business Intelligence Workshop. The speaker, a Cornell
University professor Chekitan Dev., Ph.D, was masterful,
engaging and charming. I found the presentation of the CBS especially
good. Louisette Christiaans Yarzagaray, represented the
Central Bureau of Statistics in a straight forward no BS fashion.
She is clearly passionate about what she does and it was great to
finally find use as well as public recognition to the ant-work, the
methodical collection and digestion of facts and figures, done by the
bureau. It boiled down to the big question, Yes, to more development
or No, to more rooms, cars and foreign workers! The forum could not
answer – there is no definite answer - but the question loomed large
over heads as the ATA, CBS, & Central Bank data mingled. Amy Ras
Speyer, Amsterdam Manor had an excellent suggestion to
somehow fuse all the info into one paper, with recommendation for the
future based on accurate findings, not just notions. Chekitan agreed
with her that we need to close the gap between the business
intelligence we collect and the actions we take. We got to be SMART,
he advised, Scan, Mind, Analyze, Report & Transform, meaning
Think before shifting into gear. From my narrow point of view we
cannot open one more store, one more restaurant or one more hotel room
without building a new highway to the airport. It is a top priority to
alleviate the congestion of town, create a proper taxi stand for
Royal Plaza and ban the Free Zone trucks from entering the
boulevard. Send them around to the new four-lane highway which is so
badly needed . . .
REAL ESTATE.
One of my friends, a repeat guest to the island, decided this week to
attempt to purchase a home in Aruba. What shall I tell you, it ain’t
cheap and the fact that lovely homes sit in dust-bowls as far as
infrastructure is concerned, does not make it easy. While mulling the
purchase idea over we got in touch with Solito Real Estate and
Simon Arends, as well as Best & Solid and Rene van
der Spaan. They both seem to have the Noord and West
Point area under their sphere of influence. Once I started paying
attention I noticed that Absolut Real Estate is also big; then
I saw Amparo Latham having dinner at the Sunset Grille
Restaurant with some of her clients, tourists who are new home
owners on Aruba . . .
FRODIGAL SON.
Sergio Duarte is back on the island. Fifteen years ago when
Atlantis Hotel was conceived and built by the Duarte family Sergio
lived here and had a good time, chasing chicks, waterskiing,
night-clubbing. Later the project got into trouble, fell into a state
of despair, and was quagmired in the courts. Over the years a number
of personal and business losses – Sergio’s beautiful sister lost her
life in a tragic car accident at the then dangerous airport junction –
humbled and quieted the man. He is today happily married raising two
beautiful boys and hoping to return to Aruba and revive Atlantis. The
trouble, he says is over, the government has been paid and most issues
settled. I bumped into Sergio at Lounge Rouge, Texas de Brazil,
accompanying business man Alfonso Riverol and a pair of
glamorous women. Some things don’t change . . .
SUPERSIZE ME.
With so much talk about McDonald’s and the showing of the movie
Supersize Me, I decided it is time to check the fast food giant
out; see for myself how bad it is, after all, I haven’t stopped there
in at least ten years. My son has grown! The drive-through lane in
town is depressing. Paint peeling, bare concrete, garbage cans and
electric installations. But who cares, I thought it would be a short
ride. It was anything but short, I was stuck for twenty minutes, two
cars away from the window, I think they were cleaning and by the time
I got my industrial chicken covered with cardboard cheese, it was
cold, and I was suffering from claustrophobia and a nervous breakdown,
on Sunday afternoon. The dogs at De Palm island ferry terminal
were grateful. They thought my sandwich was good when I offered it to
them . . .
DINNER AT MOOMBA.
Nice ambiance, and the food is decent. We enjoyed the serenity. What’s
gonna happen to Moomba when Ritz Carlton checks in?
Nothing, the Ritz is on hold I think. The company has not been granted
a tax holiday and won’t come without it, unless Parliament reverses
its decision regarding tax holidays . . . it’s election year, who
knows what can happen . . .
COLUMN ON LINE.
While Bati Bleki may be found at
www.diarioaruba.com an expanded version may also be read on www.visitaruba.com.
R.C. fax #586-1707
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