Aruba    Aruba Blessed with a climate much sunnier and drier than any other Caribbean Country with Palm Beach and Eagle Beach stretch for some seven miles. It is technically still a part of The Netherlands which is apparent in its Dutch architecture with distinctive facades that are straight from Amsterdam. The island even has a mountain, the 541-foot Hooiberg, from which you can sometimes see the South American country of Venezuela. Once the "quiet" sister to Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba has come into its own as a tourism destination. Aruba which lies just 15 miles from Venezuela is 20 miles long and 6 miles at its widest point. This 74 square miles of Palm-lined white sand beaches is a wonderful sight. The average temperature 83 degrees with average annual rainfall of 20 inches. As the many cacti attest, this is dry territory. The winds never let up. The Official language is Dutch, commonly Papiamento. English and Spanish are also widely spoken.