San Nicolas

San Nicolas exists because of oil. The Lago refinery, begun in 1928, drew workers from across the Caribbean, particularly the British West Indies, which gave the town an English-speaking, Anglican, cricket-playing character quite unlike Dutch-Papiamento Oranjestad, and made it the island's largest settlement for decades. The refinery's decline hollowed it out. Since 2016 an annual street art festival has covered the buildings with large murals by international and Aruban artists, turning the main streets into an open-air gallery, and a carnival museum and studios have followed. It is a town in the middle of reinventing itself.

History

By oral tradition the town is named after Nicolaas van der Biest, who lived from 1808 to 1873 and owned much of the land here, and whom those under him called Shon Nicolaas, master Nicolaas, which under Spanish influence became San Nicolaas. Many Afro-Arubans settled here in the 1920s for jobs at the oil refinery, followed by immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, and some residents speak a local English creole known as San Nicolaas English (Wikipedia, San Nicolaas).

What to look for

• The murals - large works covering buildings through the main streets.
• The Caribbean character - English-speaking and West Indian, unlike the capital.
• The carnival museum - the island's carnival history and costume.
• The refinery - the plant the whole town was built around.

When to go

Year-round. The street art festival adds new murals each year, usually in the autumn. Carnival season from January to Lent is when the town is liveliest. Weekdays are quiet.

Things to know

The town has struggled badly since the refinery's decline and parts of it are visibly poor and empty; the murals are painted on buildings that are often derelict behind. Air quality complaints have been raised when the refinery runs. There is not a great deal beyond the murals and the museum, and half a day covers it. The murals are not labelled, so a guided tour adds context that wandering misses; some fade or are painted over between festivals, and there is little shade, so midday walking is hot.

Nearby

Baby Beach and Rodgers Beach are ten minutes; the natural bridge is beyond.

Key facts