Mr. Rufo Croes of Taxi # 148 demonstrates Aruban honesty and integrity - finds owner of bag left in his taxi full of expensive equipment and cash.

Mr. and Mrs. Peter Conway enjoyed a fruitful morning in downtown Oranjestad shopping and planned a relaxing afternoon on stunning Eagle Beach. Loaded with shopping bags they exited their taxi upon arrival at the Bucuti Beach Resort, not realizing that their black bag full of cash and an expensive camera had lodged between the seat and the door of their taxi.

Mr. Conway is the Managing Director of The Caribbean Collection – a Tour Operator from Ireland who for the past few years has promoted Aruba in Ireland and who has sent hundreds of Irish tourists to Aruba. He is visiting now with his wife for his anniversary as a combination business/pleasure trip and spent a week here exploring all the treasures Aruba has to offer his customers….our hotels, beaches, restaurants, parks, and shops.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rufo Croes, unaware that he was carrying Mrs. Conway’s bag, continued his work and chauffeured tourists back and forth between hotels, downtown and the airport. Hours later he opened the backdoor of his car door for one of his guests and discovered the bag. Not wanting to open the bag that did not belong to him, Mr. Croes proceeded to grab his phone and begin calling hotels he had visited that day in hopes of finding the owner. None of the hotels had a report of the missing bag at that point so Mr. Croes left his cell phone number and a description of the bag so he could be called when the owner was discovered.

Not having received a call for the bag at the end of the day, Mr. Croes asked a colleague to be a witness to open the bag to find a clue of who the owner was and he found the room key of the Bucuti Beach Resort.

He proceeded directly to the hotel to find the owner. Just before the arrival of Mr. Croes, Mrs. Conway discovered her bag missing and ended up meeting Mr. Croes in the lobby of the hotel when he arrived. “I am grateful and overwhelmed by Mr. Croes honesty and integrity which has resulted in my having my bag back” said Mrs. Conway. She gave Mr. Croes a big hug and reward for returning the missing bag. “This kind of honorable behavior is to be celebrated because it doesn’t happen everyday, everywhere. Aruba is a very special place with special people and we will never forget this event.”

“We see this over and over again…” states Susan Biemans from the resort. “..When a guest reports a lost item in a taxi or elsewhere it is very rare that they don’t get the items back. Arubans are very honest people and consistently amaze our guests who would not find this happening in the places they live. For example, while cleaning the swimming pool, we had an associate of ours find a $100 bill. He brought it to the front desk and reported it found. Our Italian guest at the time who reported it missing but never expected to recover it was shocked and very grateful to learn that his $100 had been found and turned in.”