Since the bus system kind off sucks and costs money and we don’t have a rental car anymore we started hitchhiking on the island.
On an island filled with all-inclusive tourists who generally book their hotels, rental cars with their flights and locals who usually own a car hitchhiking is almost completely foreign.
But Aruba’s slogan ‘ one happy island ‘ might not always be for the poor part of society financially, they are mighty nice and layed-back towards taking people with them. With a smile as well.
At the time of writing we hitched about ten rides from different parts of the island. People pick us up readily, willing to pound out a few extra kilometers to put us exactly where we want to go and always up for a nice conversation.
We have been in cars with a doctor from Belgium, different people from Netherlands as well as a bunch of ‘islanders’ from various professions. From painters to volunteers giving children sexual education to cargo-haulers. We ended up at a local party ( see previous post ) and even at 2 am we got a ride within 20 minutes. Usually it takes less.
So yes, hitchhiking on Aruba is very possible and easy although the fastest way is to ask people directly since they are not really used to it. It’s an unique way to see the happy slappy tourist island from a local perspective and discover a part not many people get to see, but which is worth it.