At Carnival, on parade, all groups are special, they work so hard to dazzle and entertain us, but this year Empire Carnival Group impressed me the most with their mindfulness, innovative twist on history and push to perfection.

A young, talented woman, QueenAnne Bergen, holds the project together with an army of resolute volunteers, each in charge of another aspect of the parade, logistics, design, transportation, band, and bar. Many are entrusted with the tasks of dressing, bedazzling, feeding, quenching thirsts, and inspiring 550 people on the road during several parades, culminating with the 72nd Grand Annual, in Oranjestad.

Empire Carnival Group has a waiting list for next year, it delivers a quality experience, makes it easy and enjoyable for their members, hence, the push to grow, though QueenAnne wants to grow in moderation, not to overburden her team, or dampen the enthusiasm of her target audience, the island’s generation Y professionals, with a sprinkle of X & Z.

The theme for next year was already picked, in a meeting three-hour meeting, two weeks ago, it will focus on strength, togetherness and resilience. Work on Carnival 73 has been put to motion, even before Carnival 72 wrapped up.

QueenAnne explains that for her, group ambiance, an intangible, is most important, her team wants to see people having a wonderful time. And the group delivered. EMPIRE Carnival Group has won Best Ambiance for 8 consecutive years. This year, the team was also rewarded with Champion Group, the highest honor a group can get.

The group on parade presented a tribe, resplendent in olive green, yellow and gold. The fabric design was inspired by the island’s prehistoric petroglyphs. Real feathers were replaced by innovative strings, beads, and iridescent artificial feathers, vibrantly dyed, delivering a bold and luxurious look.

We gave up real fathers for animal cruelty considerations and called ourselves a tribe, in avoidance of Indian cultural appropriation, QueenAnne explains.

EMPIRE has been on parade for 9 years. An offshoot of ELITE the island’s premier entertainment and production group – audio visual services and event management. The beginning was modest. One hundred people presenting an Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden theme. This started a great learning curve where each year the group grew modestly, striving the deliver the BEST Carnival experience to those who signed up. Slowly they built a reputation for excellence, and acquired equipment from toilets to snack truck, to avoid rental charges. They annually shop for wholesale materials in New York and Colombia and pamper their band, BULERIA, who has been with them from the start.

BULERIA carries much of the responsibility for success. They play a variety of music, not just one genre, from Tumba to old road marches to Soca, and are 100% live, from start to finish.

QueenAnne explain she always wondered how come they never won Group of the Year, until one of her team members suggested re-reading the regulations and finding out what was missing in their stellar presentation.

Surprise. The regulation stipulated a queen and at least one float.

They had a queen in 24 hours, the organization’s dedicated PR person Janice Boekhoudt, a popular dancer and a sworn carnavalista. The float took twenty people, and two weeks, but they now answer all requirements and hope that next year they will be snatching the Group of the Year title from TOB a formidable contender, with 1,000 members, phenomenal road pieces, and a priceless stable of talented artisans.

This year, concludes QueenAnne, from the airport, as she was leaving Aruba to go back to Miami, was especially difficult. She now lives in the U.S. to be able to provide her youngest son with medical treatment for a very rare genetic disease. The doctors are optimistic and think he will outgrow the symptoms of the condition, and we are hopeful too, QueenAnne adds.

In talking to designer/philosopher Egmar Irausquin

The theme of the 72 Carnival reflected on the Empire Carnival Group Community. Members know each other and form an exclusive bond as a modern tribe, leaning on ancestral heritage. Egmar reports doing the research for the theme in which the contemporary tribe bring light and enlightenment into the island in the second millennium.

For the Children parade, yes, they also had a stellar representation during Children’s Carnival, they delivered a tribe of indigenous animals, from Aruba, avoiding invasive species, such as goats, that actually endanger the local fauna.

For next year, the discussions have just begun. The theme of STRENGTH, and its related values of togetherness and resilience, are being translated into mood boards. The idea is to educate and change the community/world, infuse it with positive forces, to fight hatred and exclusion. A kind of urban military for the good.

Kids will be presenting sports, as the vehicle with which strength is gained.

And you thought Carnival was just party…no, it is not, it directs fresh content at the community, and carries food for thought.

We recently heard the Minister of Tourism, Transport, and Labor, Wendrick Cicilia, speak.

Instead of the fluffy addresses he usually makes off the cuff, without notes, this one he read from a prepared text. He was speaking to important leaders in the community, and it is a sign of respect to come prepared.

The former Minister of Tourism of yesteryear, Tico Croes, accompanied Cecilia, which was a welcome sign that the minister is recruiting real-life-experience, instead of just relying on his chief of staff.

(Antoinette v/d Berg, a seasoned tourism and hospitality executive, a former VP of Marketing & Sales for Marriott International, tried it for a while, and returned to the private sector.)

The text of the address was not an easy one to get through, it was long, some say too long, and it contained a lot of the catch phrases we have been hearing since 2018, with zero impact to alleviate the pressure on our infrastructure, traffic, and beaches.

The delivery was not flawless. The text contained many tongue twisters.

Our officials have been saying high value, less volume, for almost a decade, with no results, mostly since the former Minister of Tourism, Dangui Oduber, was emotionally attached to volume and measured his success as a minister by arrivals.

Back to Minister Cecilia.

The address presented his vision. He intends to focus on a tourism industry that is regenerative and benefits the whole community, he said. As an example of a regenerative initiative, the minister expressed his wish to discuss the introduction of a monthly “rest day” for the ocean and beach, which means ZERO activity on the water for one agreed day a month, no cruise ships, no snorkeling trips, to allow the ocean which he considers a NATIONAL ASSET, to recover. To achieve that, there will be a dialogue process with stakeholders in the next few months to finalize the vision for Aruba’s tourism for the next years.

That was a bold idea, and we welcome bold ideas, because that is what it takes to make real change, but this idea is doomed to failure because negotiating with EVERY stakeholder from watersport operators to beach goers is an ill-fated move.

We all agree that a strategic shift is necessary for our island, but the ocean is not the ONLY challenge we experience. Aruba must reduce the number of users every day. It is not about closing for one day and getting twice as many people the following day. It is about real reduction, in numbers.

There are many easy wins for Aruba to right the ship, explains one of my readers, but we must find someone with courage to do it. The “rest day” will not work. Sounds great but few will get on board. If we want to reduce congestion on our beaches and the impact on nature, a good starting point is to reduce the number of people who go there. Reducing the number of cruise ships is an easy win and a good start. How can it be done? Raise the head tax. Aruba is one of the cheapest in the Caribbean. If we want to reduce cruise call by 50% raise the head tax substantially! In the Bahamas, cruise ship passengers pay from $90 to $300 EXTRA per person, for beach experiences. Secondly, you might want to reduce the ship size, to no larger than 2,500 passengers and thirdly limit ship calls to one ship in port per day. No three to four ships on one single day! The few who earn income from the cruise industry will initially complain, but eventually adapt. The FCCA, the Cruise Association will threaten and bully, but Aruba needs to stand firm. This is the only measure governments may take for immediate impact. Cruise tourism does not match the high value low impact model.

Dear Minister Cecilia, while we are talking:

You must curb the use of UTVs/vehicles: Impose a ban on new imports and parts of UTVs. Do not allow replacement of those already trashed. Designated certain area on the island where they can be used. Regulate all vehicles, including scooters, bikes, all PMDs, personal mobility devices, or PEVs, Personal Electric Vehicles.

Fix the wastewater treatment plant at Bubali Plas, no band aids, this required a root canal, and please read the Carmabi Report.

Be Bold and regulate the Short-Term Vacation Rental: Introduce registration requirement; Introduce a requirement for rental platforms to list ONLY those that are registered. Enforce laws, such as lodging license, long lease designation and tax compliance. Limit non-residents buying multiple homes.

For the hotel sector maintain/publish policy to NOT provide hotel permits for any projects that have not started construction – except for small boutique properties in Oranjestad and San Nicolas.

Negotiate with developers that have ALREADY received lease land and permits from the government to achieve a delay in building more rooms.

Supervise the enforcement of rules for watersports vendors which will result in the reduction of boating activity, as it will eliminate those who do not comply.

If you tackle all issues on this laundry list you will go down in history as the Most Powerful Rookie, not a minute before.

Forgetfulness is normal, it’s not always pathological

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/forgetfulness-is-normal-its-not-always-pathological/

University Students Deliver a Detailed Report to the Aruba Timeshare Association

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/university-students-deliver-a-detailed-report-to-the-aruba-timeshare-association/

Sarampi = Measles

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/sarampi-measles/

Student Apartments and Social Housing

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/student-apartments-and-social-housing/

Fashion at your fingertips

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/fashion-at-your-fingertips/

Famed local designer Ronchi de Cuba will be giving an 8-week fashion workshop in the incubator of Cas di Cultura, to locals, 15+, at no fee, from March 2nd to April 30th.

This is an invaluable opportunity for those aspiring to become fashion designers, with an interest in the technicality of collections, the life cycle of fashion, discovering their own personal aesthetics, learning about capitals of fashion around the globe and mastering all design principles, in an interactive, twice a week. Monday & Thursday, from 6 to 8, course.

He promises students a full review of casting, hair, make up, music, choreography, in preparation for the graduation show.

Designer Ronchi de Cuba has for the past 33 years dressed us, showing us a fun time at fashion shows, at model competitions, at Knockout Models and Koma Models auditions, at Aruba in Style events, at Art Fashion in San Nicolaas, and at the annual Aruba Fashion Week.

He carries his own label TRB, Trash by Ronchi, in his store and atelier in town, from where he dresses politician and socialites, including the previous Prime Minister and the Minister Finance and the current Minister of Tourism. He was active this year designing dresses for the island’s Children and Youth queens of popular Carnival groups.

His most important contribution to our island is his Pygmalion effect, he regularly invites local teens to join modeling classes, they bring him their braces and pimples and low self-esteem and at the end of the course they all transform into swans, gorgeous, self-confident, male and female models, with runway and camera experience, having completely changed the way they look at the world and how the world looks at them!

Ronchi reports he fell into fashion watching his grandmother, mother and aunts get meticulously dressed, following the fashion dictates of their time. In high school he was allowed to exercise his creativity and put on elaborate shows, which ended him in design school, and defined the trajectory of his life.

While being a college dropout in 1989, he started presenting shows, anyway, and giving modeling classes, then in 1993, five years into his intuitive adventures in fashion he went back to school to the Miami Institute of Fine Art and Design to finish his degree. He was ready for the world stage.

Since then he has been presenting several collections each year, under different labels, and became the ultimate ambassador of chic on the island.

As a designer Ronchi laments the decline of style, and the cheapening of mass fashions and would like to see the consumer more informed about the quality of the fabric and the design, before making the investment in the purchase.

The workshop was Lotte’s idea, Lotte van den Heuvel, from Cas Di Cultura, and Ronchi is enthusiastic about the initiative. At the end of eight weeks graduates will put on a fashion show, with their own designs on display. This will not be a sewing class, all students are expected to have mastered that, and they will be challenged in many ways, deconstructing garments, reconstructing them, turning existing designs inside out and upside down, and in the process, they will discover who they are as creatives.

At Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, Valentine’s Day is not only celebrated at the table or under the stars, but also through the art of meaningful gifting. This season, the resort invites guests and locals alike to discover a different expression of love at Seráfina Boutique, an adults-only boutique curated to reflect the same intimate spirit as the resort itself.

More than a boutique, Seráfina is a destination for gifts that tell a story. Each piece is selected with intention, offering couples the chance to surprise one another with something deeply personal, beautifully made, and often found nowhere else on the island.

From exclusive greeting cards designed especially for Seráfina to soft pillows adorned with playful and romantic quotes, the boutique celebrates love through thoughtful details that feel both personal and joyful. These are keepsakes meant to be cherished long after Valentine’s Day has passed, serving as gentle reminders of shared moments, laughter, and connection.

For couples seeking to deepen intimacy, Seráfina offers a refined collection of romance and wellness-inspired couples’ accessories, thoughtfully selected to encourage closeness, curiosity, and shared experiences. Elegant massage oils, sensual self-care essentials, and interactive couple-focused games are presented with the same discretion, quality, and sophistication that define the Bucuti & Tara experience.

Beauty and wellbeing take center stage with the island’s most extensive selection of K-Skin Care products, known for their luxurious formulas and wellness-forward philosophy. These offerings make especially meaningful Valentine’s gifts for those who view self-care as an essential expression of love.

Jewelry lovers will discover handcrafted pieces by local Aruban artisans alongside refined designs from European talent, available exclusively at Seráfina. Each piece is selected for its craftsmanship and individuality, ensuring every gift feels intentional and anything but ordinary.

The experience is completed with a carefully curated collection of dresses, resort wear, and beachwear that balances timeless elegance with a contemporary edge. Many designs and brands are available only at Seráfina, making them ideal for those seeking something truly special for an upcoming getaway or a romantic evening on the island.

Just like the resort itself, Seráfina Boutique is rooted in authenticity, quality, and emotional connection, offering an adults-only environment where intimacy and discretion are thoughtfully prioritized. It is a place where Valentine’s gifting becomes more than tradition; it becomes a personal gesture, guided by care and intention.

This Valentine’s Day, Bucuti & Tara invites guests and locals to step inside Seráfina and discover gifts that celebrate love in all its forms, quietly luxurious, deeply personal, and unmistakably unique.