We’ve been having fun trying to gather all the fruit on the property. The most obvious to try and collect are the coconuts…but they are also the hardest to get and to open. Here’s a video of Britton versus the coconut (and mango).
Mango snack on the roof under the huge mango tree
One of the fun parts of walking around our property is looking for tropical fruit trees. Since we are noobs (new) at everything tropical, we aren’t sure what all is out there. I’ve been able to identify citrus trees because they have spikes on the branches and the leaves smell really good when you crush them. I can also identify coconut palms and anything that already has fruit on it. So far, this is what we’ve been able to find on our property:
Starfruit (Carambola)
Avocado -a few trees
Citrus -I think lime and orange, but not certain
Coconut -Water coconut
Breadfruit
Mango -Huge mango trees
Britton’s getting good with the machete
Cracked Coconut
I hope there are more, but if not, I’m sure we’ll be planting some in the future. I’ve heard banana trees and papayas grow really quickly.
We met up with Annie and Justin from Rincon Vacations at the Rum Shack/Lazy Parrot. It’s a fun place and they let locals swim in the pool if you buy a drink or something to eat. It’s nice to know there is a pool we can use if we don’t want to go to the ocean and get all sandy/salty.
At the Lazy Parrot Pool
We also walked around the Rincon Plaza last night and saw a big deal going on at the Catholic Church. I think it was a first communion because a lot of kids were wearing white and were all dressed up taking pictures. Then we went to Tres Puertas which is an art gallery/studio. They were having a poetry reading and had some local kids playing the flute too. We’re having a lot of fun exploring everything from our very own backyard to all the cool things going on in Rincon. It’s been nice being here this long because we can really imagine living here! It’s great!
Tres Puertas in Downtown Rincon
Palms and Sunset from the 413 in Rincon
Fog rolling in over the mountains
Now that we’ve settled in somewhat, we have had a chance to take it all in and start to really realize what we’ve done. It’s exhilarating and makes us feel alive. We’ve decided not to do too much yet as far as the house goes. We usually tackle projects like our rentals very quickly so we can get them up and running and making us money. With this house, the focus is a little different, so there is not the rush. Plus we need to recharge both in terms of energy and money reserve. We feel emptied out on both counts!
Still, I can’t help but see potential and vision for the place, so it makes me start dreaming of what this could be. We still aren’t sure what to do with the larger wooden house. It’s in remarkable condition considering it’s WOOD in the tropics and it has been sitting empty for the last 10 years or so. It has gone through at least one major hurricane and I’m sure a number of tropical storms, and still it stands today with all its contents still dry and exactly as the former owner left things. But we did have a general contractor come out and look at the property and give us some quotes on fixing things up when we get to that point or tearing it down and he even gave some estimates on future cabanas. This place holds so much potential that it’s actually hard to pin down exactly what we want to do first. We’ve just been doing a few little projects like putting in screens in the windows so we don’t get chewed up by mosquitos so badly, and buying a box fan to cool us (Britton mostly) and machete for walking the jungly areas but not too much else.
Other than that, we’re going to pretty much leave things as they are. Jeff and Katrina are in the works for selling their house in San German soon, so we’ve worked out a deal where they can stay in our place in exchange for keeping it tended/occupied until they can find another house that will work for them. I think the timing couldn’t have been any better and we’re happy to know that friends will be looking after it while we’re back in Colorado.
Overall, it’s been nice to get all settled in, even if it feels a little like camping. We’ve even started something of a daily routine! We can really start to know what it will be like to live in Rincon on our jungly property. Some moments we are just ecstatic like little kids jumping around and other times we think we might have bought a money pit. In any case, we feel like we are really living and in all those moments we just have to take it all in.
I woke up today to the sweet smell of decomposing mangos. It’s a thick sweet smell.
We got up and showered (in cold cool water) and decided to check out the wood house. We went thru some books that the lady left behind. Interesting story about the house. We are beginning to pick up little bits and pieces of the story from items around the house and from things locals are telling us.
Apparently the lady that owned the house before us (Kathy) died after having a car accident. In the house. And her dog too! In a hammock in the house no less….. I wasn’t sure if it was the hammock we asked them to leave there or not, but I took it down just in case. It seemed….I dunno…Creepy!
It still looks exactly like this in 2011
Anyhow we were told that she moved down here in the late 80s and lived all thru the 90s. She was a ‘trust fund baby’ so she didn’t have to work. From what we can gather she watched movies (VCR) and read quite a few books. The books and movies are still in the house along with other 80s era items. Her dishes are still dirty in the sink and the calendar is stuck on september 2001 when she died.
It’s like the place has been lost in time. You can just imagine her hanging out, listening to Jimmy Buffet and driving her Jeep to the Calypso resturant with her dog. The dog in the picture we saw looks like a yellow lab or retriever. The locals still remember her even though she died 10 years ago. Not all of their memories are fond however and in fact it sounds like she had a drinking problem and anger issues. I suppose when you don’t have to work and have money your other issues can get magnified.
Looking toward the house from the acreage down below
I can’t help but think about that vivid dream I had. I have this strange feeling that Jack (Cassie’s dad) is helping us from the otherside. We did ask him to and it is definitely something he would do. He loved making deals and he liked to help people. I have a feeling that he met her and once he found out she was from Puerto Rico he saw an opportunity. The house feels just ‘recently’ vacated in a spiritual sense. I think he could have made a deal. She didn’t need the house anymore and she was ‘stuck’ between worlds. Jack would have offered to help her progress on the other side and ensured that his daughter could take the place.
And if that’s not what is going on, I think we have a good plot for a story (movie / book ). Puerto Rico is definitely enchanted. Sometimes it feels like we are in wonderland. We were driving down the road and saw a guy raking leaves in a Santa suit. No, seriously… A Santa suit in the middle of the tropical fricken jungle.
You can’t make this up
We’ve seen some strange stuff and decided we have to take pictures for you to believe it. Otherwise, you would never in your wildest imagination begin to understand the weird, movie-like setting of this island. It’s a cross between Lost, Alice in Wonderland, and Oz all rolled into one, except I don’t THINK we’re dreaming this.
With the book at Banana Dang in Rincon
One of the books we found in Kathy’s things was the book Jonathon Livingston Seagull. It’s the perfect book…and we read it in one sitting at the beach today.
