alternative titles:
"tonight's gonna be a good, good night"
"who let the dogs out?"
"good times never seemed so good"
...or any of the plethera of sing-alongs from last night.
if you have a bucket list, go ahead and add "kukoo kunuku" to your list.
if you don't (or even if you do), i'm adding "turning you on to kukoo kunuku" to my list.
aruba must be visited again, if only to go kukoo.
"kukoo kunuku" is an aruba phenomenon. ..you begin by boarding a brightly colored bus, and you take a little ride to the lighthouse for a champagne toast to the sunset. ..seems simple enough.
below: donna and tom sign-in, with "momma"
left and below: the inside of the party-bus (or was it a moving dance floor?)
as you can see (below), each person is loaned a set of
maracas, to help you lose your inhibitions...
...which takes
(roughly) about a
fraction of a second.
below: kate, janet and marsha
after sunset, you venture to the home of aruba ambassador (atan lee) for a bit of dinner.
if you dare... you get a temporary, hand-painted tattoo.
donna went with a parrot (below).
..there were several photographs of (optional) "body-paint," but no-one on our bus ventured into
topless/bottomless mode (at this juncture).
left:
momma, showing off her tattoo.
it must be said that
momma carries the evening.
..from an enthusiastic welcome, to a rousing toast/speech, to being a cheerleader and an instigator,
momma sets the tone with lines like:
"tonight, kukoo kunuku is your designated driver,
but i'm your momma!"
below: nice digs... dinner is basic, as in (
basically)
fuel for the night ahead).
..............above: tom, lynn and donna
...and
then the party (
really) gets started:
it's a bus-pub-crawl, complete with
costumes,
dancing on bars, and other forms of ritualistic bonding.
above: momma leads a busride sing-along to "sweet caroline" ("ba-ba-ba!),
which proved (once again) that the journey is just as much fun as the destination.
(truth be told, maybe more!)
neal diamond: "good times never seemed so good"
us: "so good! so good! so good! so good!"
below: the first bar:
la rumba cafe'
left:
jackie (with the head-dress) and her entourage, on the dance floor.
..they saved their best dancing for
next bar and (of course) for
the bus-ride home.
below: donna and tom play guitar
above:
myl, our sweet bartener-ess
above: dancing the night away to "tonight's gonna be a good night!"
below:
lenny, alexis, and
dean
oh, well... all good things must come to an end/beginning/end,
so it's back on the bus...
left and below: during this roving party, you "occasionally" harrass people on the street
below: the u-wanna-beer bar, which could have easily been named
the u-wanna-dance-on-the-bar
since our busload of roving partiers was the only entertainment,
we (basically) took over every venue that we entered.
.
luckily (for me), and quite honestly... my camera's memory card became full at about this point, so i have no more pictures. ..waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
to all of my kukoo kunuku bretheren, please send your pictures to me,
and i'll upload the appropriate ones.
momma (of course) had all of us gentlemen climb-up onto the bar (with her), and we had to put on crazy hats -- then take off our shirts -- and then act out the "Y-M-C-A!" song...
(donna will forward those pictures once she and tom get home, next week sometime).
the rest of the night was spent howling with new friends. ..the final bar was a disco, but that was only preparation for the greatest dance-party/bus-ride home ever experienced. ..departing guests were encouraged to honor the recent full-moon, as each said goodbye (in his/her own, unique way) at various resorts and hotels.
this kukoo event will be experienced again. ..the only questions are:
1. when?
2. will you be there, next time?
hasta luego.
