If you are planning a nice family vacation to the island of Aruba, you surely cannot wait to take off and get there already. This beautiful tropical area is full of warm sun, gorgeous beaches, and plenty to keep you busy. While some of your crew might want to head to the pool with a towel and book, some of you might be expecting great Aruba sports to participate in.
When going out for a great vacation, you should know that every member of your family probably has their own ideas of what will make it enjoyable. Different activities appeal to different personality types and while some might prefer a relaxed trip, others like to be constantly on the move.
As you sort through the various hotels and resorts available that are within your price range, you should keep this idea at the forefront of your mind so you can pick somewhere that everyone will be happy with. If they offer a nice beach, an outdoor pool, shopping, sports, entertainment at night, and good food, then it is probably a safe choice and of course, the more they have to offer, the better.
For the active types who are looking to always be doing something, there are sports here that take place in the water and outside of it as well. You can almost always find a game of volleyball taking place on one of the many gorgeous beaches.
For activities in the water, there is scuba diving, deep sea diving, windsurfing, jet skiing, snorkeling, and kayaking. You can also find banana boats and water skis that attach to the back of a boat. This is definitely the place to go if you are looking for some fun in the water.
There are also other kinds of sports that you might not expect to see at your local baseball field or basketball court near your home. These include jumping on a trampoline while hooked up to two bungee cords, that allow you to flip and fly high into the air. To really feel like an acrobat, there are some resorts with a type of circus training program that also lets you try walking on a tightrope.
There are other activities that might suit your tastes more, such as horseback riding, which can take place on the beach and provide a stunning alternate view, as well as dancing, which happens almost every night at the fun and famous carnival. Most hotels will also offer golf courts and tennis courts for those who know what they like and want to stick with the familiar.
There is such a variety of Aruba sports on this fun-filled island, that you might find yourself participating even if you expecting to simply sit and lounge with your book. You cannot help but be drawn into the laughter and excitement emanating from all corners of this glorious island. In a place like this, almost everyone gets caught up with the fun whether they tried to or not.
As Germany spread its troops across Europe, conquering all in their path, the pockets of resistance began to grow as well. Men and women went into hiding, taking any chance to sabotage and attack Axis powers. Boy Ecury was one of the heroes in these underground factions, helping to pave the way to liberation.
When Segundo Jorge Adelberto Ecury was born in Orajestad, Aruba on April 23, 1922, no one could have predicted where his life would lead. He grew up in a very large and affluent Catholic family, who sent him away to school in 1937 because of his rebellious spirit. Boy, as he was nicknamed, along with his brother Nicky eventually attended the Brother of St. Louis in Oudenbosch, Holland.
After graduating with a diploma in commerce, Boy moved around Holland, visiting many areas including Rotterdam. While he was there, the German occupation began after the Nazi's destroyed the city and took control in May of 1940. Another student from the Antilles, Luis de Lannoy, met Boy in the nearby city of Tilburg at this time, and the two became fast friends. It was Luis who first introduced Boy to the underground resistance, who all together crippled German troops at any opportunity.
By 1942 it was too dangerous for the swarthy Boy to remain in Tilburg, and he moved on to Oisterwijk to join their resistance party. Luis stayed behind, but the men kept in touch by sending letters whenever possible. The Oisterwijk Resistance Council, along with Boy, continued to sabotage the Axis army by blowing up their trucks with homemade bombs and ripping up railroad tracks. They would also aid any allie pilots, soldiers, or other victims of the occupation that they encountered. The force that drove Boy and his comrades was that they had nothing to lose in their resistance, since nothing was worse than the current domination.
When Boy heard that his old friend Louis had been betrayed and arrested in early 1944, he traveled to the prison in Utrecht to free him. He was unsuccessful, and although Boy managed to remain free, Louis was stuck in the prison to be tortured and interrogated for information. Luis finally escaped in September of that year during the bedlam of Mad Tuesday.
Boy aborted his mission and returned to Oisterwijk to rejoin the opposition. He and the others traveled around from place to place, searching for shelter in safe spots. Boy's dark-skin put him in even more danger than the rest, and so he was transferred away again, back to Tilburg in October 1944. Allied troops had surrounded the nearby area, and soon after were able to liberate Oisterwijk. Though Boy had a chance to be freed as well, he decided to stay and continue the struggle.
There was an underground commando group called the Knokploegen in The Hague, which Boy left Tilburg to join. Together with these onderduikers, or freedom fighters, Boy took many courageous risks on missions, such as the attempted assassination of a leader of the Dutch NSB party, who supported the Nazi's. The members of the resistance would endanger their lives daily in hope of making a difference in the war and some did not survive.
On November 5, 1944 Boy was heading back to his hiding place after attending mass for the day, when he was attacked and arrested in front of the German security police building. He, like Luis, has been betrayed by a previous member of the rebels who had been captured. Boy was sent to Scheveningan where the prison guards tortured and interrogated him the rest of the day. It was clear that Boy would not give away anything, and so was shot to death on the Waaldorpervlatke plain the next day.
Years later, Dundun Ecury traveled to the Waaldorpervlatke to retrieve the body of his son Boy to bring him back to Aruba to be buried. In 1947 there was a burial ceremony for Boy, where he was awarded military honors. The city of Oranjestad, where Boy Ecury was born, erected a statue in his honor in 1949 and later built a war museum in which Boy was granted a permanent exhibition to celebrate their hero. A Resistance Commemorative Cross from the Dutch government was posthumously bestowed to Boy in 1984 to thank him for his sacrifice on their behalf.
Boy's legacy continues past his death through his nephew Ted Schouten, a film maker who took interest in the uncle he had never met. He talked with his grandfather Dundun and wrote a book 'Boy Ecury, an Antillean Boy in the Resistance' in 1985 which was reprinted again fifteen years later. Franz Weisz, a famous Dutch director, approached Ted to make a film about Dundun's search for his son after the war which came out in 2003 in the Netherlands.
