Our journey, Chapter 18: “Way down in Kokomo.”
You remember, don’t you? “Aruba, Jamaica, ooh, I wanna’ take ya Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama. Key Largo, Montego, baby why don’t we go…” Yet, somehow they ended up in Kokomo. Since there isn’t an island in the Caribbean named Kokomo, the Beach Boys must have decided to skip the islands and opt for central Indiana, instead.
Despite Natalie’s and my first date was a football game in Kokomo, I should consider it as a possibility. Nah! Ain’t happening.
Nevertheless, we did just spend two weeks in Aruba, so the iconic song certainly came to mind.
Having previously nixed the idea of a part-time home in Aruba, after several laps around the lazy river accompanied by the appropriate libation (a requirement in the lazy river), we went through our list of “musts” again with Aruba in mind.
Pros: Incredibly beautiful beaches, wonderfully friendly people, amazing restaurants, outstanding grocery stores with reasonably priced crackers, safe, a real hospital with real doctors, relatively low cost of living, and outside of the hurricane zone.
Not a bad list, huh?
Cons: Flat and arid away from the beaches, few homes on the beach and because the beachfront property has been gobbled up by timeshares, nary a condo, unless one is willing to live inland, which we are not.
With a list dominated by the pluses, we decided to at least do an internet search of available real estate. We did find a couple of large homes situated on the beach, but with almost no competition, the prices were well above our price range. Meh.
We did learn of a new condo development that is under construction on a beautiful beach on the southwest coast. The prices are much less than comparable beachfront condos we have seen elsewhere, so that was kinda’ exciting. The downside is the southwest part of the island is very sparsely populated; thus, the infrastructure just isn’t there, yet.
We were told by locals that there are big plans for that part of Aruba. Frankly, I don’t doubt it. But the obvious question is timing. Where we stay on Palm Beach, there are countless great stores, restaurants and bars within walking distance.
I know what you’re thinking. “Y’all are looking for perfection.” Fair criticism.
We reached out to a realtor and she sent us some info. We’ll follow up with her again next week. I’m still not sure about Aruba, but it’s only a matter of time before the current-day challenges of the southern part of the island are met. When they are prices will jump and we will once again wish we had bought when we had the opportunity.
We’ll see. Who knows? We may find ourselves making another trip “way down to Kokomo” to take a closer look.
In the meantime, Natalie wants to show me a couple of places in FL and we’re scheduled to go back to St. Kitts again in May.
It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta’ do it!