Aruba: Caves, Casinos, and Cacti   Mark Carroll Near Aruba's airport, meandering paved roads are lined with shops, grocery stores, auto parts stores and fruit stands. The mix of small commercial buildings quickly gives way to single-story houses surrounded by fences of dense cacti as one travels toward the "cunucu" -- the island's arid countryside.   Ten minutes outside of town, the road into Aruba's interior turns to cracked earth and loose stone. Wild goats, chickens, and wandering dogs share the road with 4-wheel-drive vehicles (highly recommended for accessing this rugged territory). The road eventually winds it way to Arikok -- a national park that encompasses about 20 percent of the island. In the "cunucu" or countryside or Aruba, cacti have overgrown an abandonded, dilapidated house.

Arikok's arid landscape stretches to the sea. Prickly pear, yatu, and kadushi cacti stand among scattered divi-divi trees permanently bent at 45-degree angles by the ceaseless tradewinds. Above the sounds of the powerful wind, parakeets and troupials can be heard chattering, and the bleating of goats reverberates across rolling hills.

A regular site in the arid Arikok park, gigantic stands of cacti reach into the blue Caribbean sky. Contrasted against the fingers of a cactus, the smoking pipes of an oil refinery foul the air on the isolated southeast coast of Aruba At the fractured base of one such hill, within sight of the blue sea, the stalactite-draped entrance to Quadiriki Cave invites exploration. Bats fill the air with a soft, fluttering sound as they dart in and out of the cave's entrance. Many of the flying mammals remain hidden in the smooth crevices of the cave's ceiling. The cave tunnels into an ancient coral formation, and at the tunnel's distant end, a faint light can be seen glowing beyond thick columns of stone. Walking toward the glow, down the narrow passageway, the light intensifies with every step. Suddenly, the tunnel expands into huge room with two cracked openings in the ceiling. The brilliant Caribbean sun beams onto the floor, flooding the cavern with light and illuminating the etched details of its weathered walls.   Near Quadriki, turquoise waves and a powerful wind smash onto the rugged shoreline. These ceaseless, violent processes have carved through a limestone wall, creating a natural bridge. The wave-hewn structure, impressive in its symmetry, funnels breakers and draws tourists from their hotels on the island's calmer, leeward coast. A neon-covered casino rises above the streets of the capital of Aruba, Oranjestad.

On the leeward side of Aruba, the wind is slower but still quite strong. Sunbathers and beachgoers don't seem to mind...some even take advantage of it. Wind surfing is a popular tourist activity, along with the standard aquatic-sports fare of jet-skiing, snorkeling, and diving. When the sun goes down, the clubs and casinos light up. The streets of island's capital, Oranjestad, come alive with tourists and ocean cruisers spilling off massive ships docked nearby. The economy here relies heavily on tourism, and the government and people of Aruba do a good job of keeping their guests entertained and well fed.

However, the economic stability of Aruba does not hinge entirely on tourism. Since the 1920s, the oil industry has also played a major role. In the 1970s, Aruba's refinery, at that time owned by Exxon, had become one of the world's largest. The Coastal Oil Company currently runs the (now downsized) facility on Aruba's southeastern coast. In the town on San Nicolas, the behemoth refinery dominates the landscape. Smoke spews from the stacks and the smell of burnt oil hangs constantly in the air.   Aruba manifests the classic tradeoffs between the preservation of pristine natural landscapes, the lure of industrial money, and the drive to develop tourist industries. Just as the island's wind and waves vie against its limestone coasts to shape the islands physical profile, these competing cultural forces will work to shape the future for this land of fierce cacti and searing sun, of smokestacks and casinos, of friendly people and unparalleled Caribbean beauty. Light from a whole in the ceiling illuminates the innards of Quadiriki Cave on the northern coast of the island.

© 2000, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution