Travel Information - Adventure Guide to Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao - page 36

Most major credit cards are accepted by the majority of businessess, but
many require purchases to be more than $20. Supermarkets usually
accept credit cards, but small grocery stores and mini-marts may not.
Banks are normally closed weekends and holidays. On Aruba, general
banking hours are 8 am-noon and 1:30 pm-4 pm. Some banks stay open as
late as 6 pm on Fridays, and Aruba Bank 's Mainstreet Branch, at Caya
Betico Croes #41, is open Saturdays from 9 am until 1 pm. Caribbean
Mercantile Bank 's airport location is open 8 am-4 pm, Monday-Friday,
and 10 am-6 pm, Saturday-Sunday.
On Bonaire and Curaçao, banks operate straight through the lunch hour,
usually from 8 am until 3:30 pm, Monday-Friday. The airport bank on
Curaçao stays open from 8 am until 8 pm, Monday through Saturday and 9
am until 4 pm on Sundays.

Going Metric

U S citizens continue to have trouble with temperature, distance, and

quantity measured in anything other than “American.” Commit the
following to memory and avoid the shame.
At the market, if you want a pound of fruit, ask for half a kilo. Need more or
less? You do the math.

1 kilogram 2.2046 pounds

1 pound .4536 kilograms

When you buy gas, you'll need almost four liters to make a gallon. The dis-
tance from one town to the next may be 10 kilometers, but that's only a lit-
tle over six miles. The numbers work out this way:

1 liter 1.06 quarts/.264 gallons

3.8 liters 4 quarts/one gallon

1.6 kilometers 1 mile

Temperature is converted from F by multiplying the Celsius temper-

ature by nine, dividing the result by five and adding 32.
Too hard? Here's about all you need to know in the Caribbean:

° Cto °

15 ° C 59 ° F

20 ° C 68 ° F

25 ° C 77 ° F

30 ° C 86 ° F

35 ° C 95 ° F