Capturing Aruba: At the Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort, Spa & Casino, Short Bursts of Activity Punctuate Long Stretches of Relaxation
Noubikko - Lifestyle Moderator 
It feels foolhardy to try to capture my experience in Aruba with the paintbrush I’m holding in my talentless hands.
I’m unlikely to communicate the feeling of the catamaran cruise, where I watched the ball of the sun drop into the sea while the wind ripped through my hair. Or the stretch in my muscles after a massage at the on-property ZoiA Spa. Or the way my mouth watered when the servers at Piccolo, the only kosher-certified restaurant on the island, brought out a perfectly seared ribeye.
“It’s easy,” Ana Luidens-Albornoz, a local visiting artist with a warm smile and wild hair, tells the group. “Art has no mistakes.”
The Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort, Spa & Casino is the only hotel where Luidens-Albornoz regularly teaches tourists like us to create our own souvenirs. Each of us has a tote bag in front of us, a large square framed in masking tape serving as our canvas.
It would be easy to let the entire day slip away at the spacious, adults-only Trankilo Pool, or at the even larger family activity pool with its two-story waterslide and festive atmosphere. Or to simply bury my toes in the sand and stare out at the shimmering Caribbean Sea until it’s time to savor sushi at ShinSen, the latest addition to the Hyatt’s restaurant collection. But the resort also offers a full schedule of free activities, from early-morning yoga to midday waterslide races to late-afternoon mixology classes. Yesterday, right here under the canopy of the Bushiribana Garden, I cut open an aloe leaf and mixed an oatmeal sugar scrub.
Luidens-Albornoz circles the table, squirting generous dollops of orange, yellow, black, and white paint onto our palettes. Her first instructions are simple enough: Fill the center with a solid block of orange, then sandwich the orange with yellow stripes. She keeps telling us that our work is “beautiful,” even though my tote bag currently looks like a toddler could have painted it. “Magic is going to happen in a few minutes,” Luidens-Albornoz tells us. “Just wait.”
She shows us how to use our finger to blend the yellow and the orange, and the colors begin to ever-so-slightly resemble a sunset. Then she sweeps a brushful of black paint in a wavy line across the bottom-right corner of her own canvas. She fills in the space below the line, and it becomes a tiny island in silhouette.
I’ve been to the “One Happy Island” once before, years ago, for an adventurous trip that featured four-wheelers, snorkels, and a walking tour of Aruba’s many stunning murals. But on this trip, I’m just happy to get a break from the bustle (and unpredictable weather) of Boston, grateful for the chance to slow down for a few days where my most urgent responsibility is trying to keep up as Luidens-Albornoz adds palm trees to her island.
“Do not make them super straight,” she warns. “Here in Aruba, the trees are not straight, because of the wind.” She points at the bent branches above our heads. “Make the leaves very long,” she says. “Like how you want to stay in Aruba very long.”
Luidens-Albornoz comes around the table with a clean brush, dips it in white paint, and then presses it into each of our canvases. She twirls the brush in a circle, and when she lifts it again, the white paint has transformed into a brilliant sun. It’s far too high in the sky to produce the deep orange and yellow of our sunsets, but it’s not important. This is art, and in art, there are no mistakes.
One by one, we peel the masking-tape frames from our bags, and Luidens-Albornoz holds each up as we all applaud. Our paintings lack the depth and nuance of her example, but they have all come together in their own way. A moment ago, I was unhappy with my painting, but now that it’s a perfect square, and Luidens-Albornoz is holding it up a few feet away, I fool myself into thinking it’s something that could be sold in one of the tourist shops along the beach.
“You see?” she says. “We all had the same instructions. We all used the same colors and the same brushes. But the paintings are all different. That is the beauty.”
At a Glance: Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort, Spa & Casino
- Located on 12 acres of beachfront property, with 364 guestrooms and suites, the resort was extensively renovated in advance of its 35th anniversary in 2025.
- Amenities include a fitness center, tennis courts, two pools, and the ZoiA Spa.
- The property features three full-service restaurants, including Ruinas del Mar, which serves up Caribbean and Mediterranean fare in a dramatic setting modeled after the ruins of a local 1800s gold mill.
- Rates start at $770 for a King Partial Oceanfront Deluxe Studio and $980 for a King Oceanfront Sunset Studio Deluxe.
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