Aruba Etnia Nativa

09/09/2025

08/09/2025

08/09/2025

Etnia Nativa is a living embodiment of Aruba’s blended cultures and the home of a native artist passionate about offering visitors an authentic glimpse of the island.

Take a break from the beach scene and schedule your visit today! 🌵

05/09/2025

Happy Weekend !

Malmok Site

The picture illustrates just how calm and peaceful swimming can be in the Malmok area. For those interested in learning more about this beautiful and ancient site, Malmok is also home to a remarkable Paleo-Lithic cemetery.

This Stone Age site is located approximately 200 meters south and 300 meters north of the sea, running parallel to what was once a salt lake, or Salina. The site shares its sandy subsoil with the former salt lake, which is composed of limestone from the Lower Terrace Formation—a geological layer formed during a period of rising sea levels. This type of limestone typically forms in warm, shallow marine environments and consists of accumulated shells, coral, algae, and other organic materials.

Much of the Malmok site consists of flat terrain near the Salina, though sand dunes are present in the western part. Archaeologists discovered rock markings and graves covered with turtle shells in these dunes, slightly elevated above the plain. This suggests that the dunes already existed during the time the burials took place. The location of the graves in relation to today’s surface indicates that the landscape has remained relatively unchanged since prehistoric times.

During the Neolithic period, agro-ceramic tribes inhabited this fertile and resource-rich area. The abundance of marine life likely supported their peaceful way of life. They buried their dead near their settlements, sometimes placing gifts in the graves to reflect social status. Some were buried with seeds, perhaps intended for planting in the afterlife, while others were laid to rest without any traceable offerings.

Funeral rituals included an initial burial, followed by the later exhumation and careful cleaning of the bones—sometimes after months or even years. The remains were then placed in small urns or vessels, which served as their final resting places. This process reveals the great care and devotion these early inhabitants had for their deceased.

It is humbling to imagine that for thousands of years, people have cherished this paradisiacal island—grateful for its clear waters, calm nature, and generous landscape.

Text Source Island Insight online cultural blog- episode 138 written by Etnia Nativa for Aruba Today News

True discovery begins where the guidebooks end — in the soul of a place, told by those who remember. Book your Etnia Nativa Experience today! Join us!

05/09/2025

Horcan! 👀
When European sailors anchored their ships in the Caribbean Sea, they did not know what natural phenomena threatened the region. They only knew that the meteorology of the place presented different characteristics, so much so that ignorance and lack of experience were the main causes of the shipwrecks that occurred in the first years of intercontinental voyages.

However, the civilizations that inhabited these places knew very well that, during certain times of the year and following the position of the stars, a superior natural force on their way was capable of destroying everything and menacing their survival. These Caribbean populations shared a word in common that identified the aggressive spirit behind the storms, known as huracan. Aruban Caquetian ancestors called it “horcan,” a word still used in our Papiamento language, meaning hurricane. They were animists, believing in the power of natural spirits that had a good or a bad effect on their existence in the form of rain, wind, sun, stars, and other natural forces that could do them good but also evil and so influence directly their lives: like when fears of winds show their anger, destroying their houses,*cunucos (agricultural fields), and tearing down huge trees.”

Text source: Episode 261 written by Etnia Nativa for Aruba Today News

Etnia Nativa isn’t just a place—it’s a portal into Aruba’s soul, quietly hidden near the island’s high-rises hotels, yet alive with stories, traditions, and truths shared only with those who seek more than the typical tourist trail.

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