This has been such an adventure. Its been filled with drama, suspense, action and relaxation all mixed in together.
On Saturday night we tried to go out salsa dancing. A snap right? Wrong. We went to Mayaguez because it is the biggest city on the west coast, but no one knew of any salsa clubs, or dance clubs in general. So, instead we went to the Holiday Inn and Tropical Casino and lost $17 dollars on roulette and slots (big spenders I know!), and then went to the Mayaguez mall to walk around. Later that evening we watched a movie called “Taken”. It was fun and with subtitles in Spanish. Unfortunately for me when the villain Russians would talk, the subtitles were in Spanish and I didn’t know what was going on unless I asked Cassie to translate them.
We stayed at home yesterday instead of going boating. I think since we pulled back from the deal Alwilda didn’t want to bother her daughter Lilly to take us boating. So we hung out and just slept in the hammock, read and ate a bit of food. Mid-day we started to hear some noise from across the bridge. Sounded like a party?
Cassie being the adventerous type wanted to go and check it out. So after some coaxing she talked me into it. I knew that I wouldn’t understand much of what was said, but hey…why not?
We (Cassie) talked to some of the local folks (who they call jibaros or country people). Apparently every Sunday they have this fair right at the bottom of the bridge. We were wondering what this little shack was used for…well…its for selling beer! This is where the locals come to sell their horses, cars and whatever else might be around. They kept running the horses up and down the street. It was kind of cool, I could imagine that this was most likely going on for 100 years or more? Of course without the cars; but the horses and beer were most likely present. We went for a walk out on the road and found some ‘morir y vivir’ (dying and living plants). These are so fricken cool! I didn’t know plants could do this. When you touch them they shrivel up as if they are dying, then come back a few minutes later. Its some kind of defense mechanism so they dont get eaten.
We have decided to spend the few remaining days of our vacation on the beach and eating good food. We drove into Rincon. We stopped in at the Tamboo Tavern for lunch. Cassie didn’t like her fish wrap too much, but I enjoyed mine and the rest of hers 😉 Then we went to the beach and just laid there for a few hours. It was sunny with a sprinkle of rain. It felt really good.
I do not think there are many dance clubs in Western Puerto Rico. I think the most common place for people to dance are in wedding and birthday parties. There are some places were people can dance but they are basically advertised by the people who attend them.
If you ever get to any dancing place do not be shocked if you don’t see any one dancing salsa. Salsa is older generation stuff. Because nowadays Boricuas mainly dance Merengue and Reggaeton.
Merengue is a dancing style originally from the Dominican Republic but it has been adopted and taken over by Puerto Ricans artists. Other dance style from the Dominican Republic that is growing in aceptance is Bachata since many Merenge Puerto Rican artists are incorporating Bachata in their mix.
Reggaeton is a Puerto Rican developed and monopolized genre which was developed in Puerto Rico in the 1990’s as an “underground” genre highly popular among teenagers growing up in the 1990’s. It was full of sex and violence. It is on this decade that this genre matured and became highly professional, moving from the shores of Puerto Rico to captivate the audience of US Hispanics, and Latin America. It is a highly sensual dancing style. Sometimes people call it “perreando” which refers to the way dogs have sex.
I have being surprised by the expansion of this genre because I moved to California about 3 years ago and was surprised to hear Reggaeton coming from cars and being played in the Spanish language radio stations.
that looks like fun! Hope everything is going good over there
Ivan- We did hear a lot of reggaeton, but not as much as when we were there 3 years ago. I didn’t hear too much merengue on the radio stations though. I didn’t see any reggaeton clubs or bars on the west coast either.
Hopefully salsa will be revived on the islands from which it came as much as it has been revived here in the states (there seem to be more salsa clubs in Colorado than we could find in PR!). I prefer salsa dancing to merengue dancing because merengue is just a 1-2 1-2 beat whereas salsa is a little more complex with the 123- 567 beat.
Cris- Thanks! We had a blast and can’t wait to go back. Do you visit often?
Thats a cool ivideo with morir y vivir palnt, i didnnt know there was such a plant that could do that.
I have been visiting PR for many years on a yearly basis and love it.. I don’t see many salsa clubs but know that the Mayaguez Resort and Casino has salsa night on Thursday’s.. Old San Juan is the best for salsa.. Check out a club named Rumba!! It’s old school salsa with live bands… Good luck next time!