A/N: This was an entry (and the winner) for Naruto100's "Travel Challenge".
The Sand's Dutch Island Vacation:
Aruba was a small place, Gaara thought as he stepped off the plane. But there was a lot of sand, which was always a good thing. Kankuro was fuming behind him about having to check his puppet Karasu as baggage, and Temari too was a little upset about having to check her fan. Not his problem. He just carried sand in his shorts.
"How are we supposed to get around? I can't understand anything anyone is saying." Kankuro griped. Gaara shrugged.
"Baki knows Dutch." Temari and Kankuro exchanged looks.
"Why do the people here speak Dutch? It's in the Caribbean!" Temari exclaimed. Gaara put a hand to his temple and closed his eyes, exasperated.
"This island was originally claimed by Spain, but then was handed over to Holland, which is why they speak Papiamento, a medley of Dutch, Spanish, English, and Portuguese." He was getting tired of explaining thing. Baki was ignoring them, speaking to the man at baggage and laughing.
"Deze drie dwazen zijn mijn studenten." He was saying, whatever that meant. Gaara didn't really care; he just wanted to hit the beach. Kankuro was busy threatening the life of one of the boys who had thrown Karasu from the baggage cart, and Temari was making eyes at a native. What a fun family outing.
The beach, when he finally made it there, was a much better place. They had managed to find a spot without many people, and the white sand was something of a novelty to Gaara. He would have to take some home. He found a glass bottle washed up on the beach and figured it would be a good container for his pretty sand.
Throwing out the rolled up piece of parchment inside, (that wasn't important), Gaara began picking out choice, pure white sand grains and placing them in his beach bottle. Kankuro was attempting something the natives called "het surfen", which was basically trying to balance on a wooden board in the ocean, although Gaara thought Kankuro was cheating since Karasu shouldn't count as a "surfplank".
Temari was sunbathing in her bikini and Baki was sitting nearby, half his face wrapped in a wet towel. It seemed no one would ever know what was behind that stupid cloth. Though he would rather Baki stay away from him, since the annoying adult had done nothing but spout Papiamento since they had arrived.
There were a few other tourists, but they stuck to their side of the beach after Gaara had built a whole sand castle battlement between them. It was a very impressive sand castle, he had to admit, and he was very proud of the seven foot outer walls.
After gathering his precious white sand Gaara stopped to rest in his sand castle, glad of the shade. Looking down, he was a little perturbed to notice that his skin had tanned in a criss-cross pattern, caused by his mesh shirt. Baki suddenly stuck his head in the door, grinning.
"Looi nooit in netwerkkleding."
Translation Notes:
Deze Drie Dwazen Zijn Mijn Studenten These Three Idiots Are My Students
Het Surfen Surfing
Surfplank Surfboard
Looi Nooit In Netwerkkleding Never Tan In Mesh Clothing