Monthly Archives: October 2013

The Washroom

The wood house was occupied by a lady named Katherine.  Many knew her simply as Kathy.  Kathy had left this world suddenly and as such a lot of her possessions are still here at the property.  Lots of books, a few dishes here and there, some shoes and a few appliances.

Since we are now living here rather than just visiting we have the need to wash our clothes.  We tried to wash some items in the kitchen sink, but neither of us can imagine doing that for long.  Plus we have blankets and sheets to wash.  Sure, we could locate a laundry mat, but we don’t want to be hauling our clothes and hanging out at the laundry.

Wash Sink

Luckily there is a washing machine in the entrance to the wood house. The other day I decided it was time to give it a whirl and see if we would be able to use it.  It has sat for 10-12 years, but even washing machines in constant use over that time might still be in working order I thought, so there was a good chance that it might fire right up.  Besides this would be a good first small project in getting into the wood house.

The washer is the first thing that greets you when you walk in.

I opened up the door to the house, and wiped of the years of dirt from the washer.  I went upstairs and turned on the breakers, almost all of them stayed on!  One circuit trips and none of them are labeled so I hoped that wasn’t the circuit that the washer was on.  I went back to the laundry room ready to go.  I turned on the machine and it started pouring water into the bucket as they usually do.

“Great!” I thought, “We can save some money reusing this thing.”  Then the rat ran out from underneath.  It gave me a good scare and drew my attention away from my task at hand.  It ran around my feet for a few seconds and was unable to locate a new hiding spot so it ran back under the washer.  That is when I noticed water pouring out from underneath.  I looked back at the control board to shut it off and that’s when I noticed the smoke coming from it.  I shut it down as the water and smoke continued to trickle out.

I popped open the top to see what was going on, and the washing machine was apparently the rat apartment.  There were a few of them inside.

Moving old Washer

So needless to say, yesterday we made a trip to Mayaguez and purchased a new washing machine.  Having a truck, is already paying off.  I wasn’t sure how we would have fit this into a rental car, but I am pretty sure we would have tried (Fridge in the backseat, toilet in the trunk).  I’ve never owned a truck, but they do make life easier.

We are now in the process of cleaning out the washroom.  It becomes a difficult decision as to how far we take this process.  I am thinking I will take all the wood siding off the inside of the room, check all the electric connections, paint everything with Killz and put it all back together.  Or maybe I’ll just clean it out for now and hook up the washer so we can do some laundry.  Don’t let great get in the way of good right?

We already have a collection of old appliances.  Anyone know the proper way to dispose of appliances here in Rincón?  If I don’t start getting rid of some of this stuff, I might as well open up a used appliance store!
BK Appliance Store
BK’s Appliances

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (1)
  • Awesome (2)
  • Interesting (1)
  • Useful (0)
  • Bummer (0)
  • Whoa (2)

Rincón Oktoberfest

Saturday night we went to the 3rd annual Rincón Oktoberfest held in the downtown plaza of Rincón sponsored primarily by Das Alpen restaurant. They had a variety of different beers and German food available as well as live music. There was quite a gathering in spite of the huge rainpour that afternoon and early evening.

IMG_3907

We are definitely the “new kids” here because we really didn’t know very many people yet. But we talked with a few of our acquaintances and wandered around a bit. At one point Britton went to go get us beers and I just stood on the corner and people-watched.

Oktoberfest band

That is until people started coming up to me and asking me questions, both in Spanish and in English. At first I thought it was just random until they kept coming around. I was near a speaker and so it was a bit difficult also to hear what they were saying. “¿Dónde se venden los bra-garble-garble?” “¿Cómo?” I asked. “Los bratwursts,” she replied. “Ahh, creo que están allí con las cervezas.” I answered helpfully.

Or another asked “Where are the raffle tickets?” And when I looked at her quizzically and shrugged because I had no idea that they even were doing a raffle, she mistook my expression for not understanding English and she started talking LOUDER at me and mumbled to herself but loud enough for me to hear…”Agh, what is the Spanish word for raffle?” And I answered “rifa”? And then she looked at me like I was playing with her. So I said in all earnestness, “When you find out, let me know!” Still others asked me the name of the band and how much the beers were.

When Britton returned with the beers I told him that everyone was asking me all sorts of questions and he said, “Well that’s because you look like you work here!” I suppose when you go to an Oktoberfest with braids and stand on the busiest corner alone you should sort of expect it. I suppose so -ha.

Rincon Oktoberfest

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (1)
  • Awesome (4)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (0)
  • Bummer (0)
  • Whoa (0)

The Cockroach and the Coquí

In Colorado, from about October 1 through May 1 or roughly for about six months out of the year, we hermetically seal ourselves away from the harsh winters and nature. And even in the summers we take great pains to keep ourselves comfortable if we are inside. Generally speaking, we Coloradoans love to play in the outdoors, but we live indoors. There is a very clear line between indoors and outdoors. When sealing ourselves away we literally look for leaks of air and try to close them up using various methods. And this is smart. It is expensive to heat and cool a house. There is only a brief time in spring and fall when you could just keep your doors open and feel as comfortable inside as out, but most people don’t. It is set up to be either indoor or outdoor and so that’s just how it is.

So living here in Puerto Rico now where most days it is around the ideal temperature that we try to replicate in Colorado in our cars, offices and homes, it is very tempting to just leave the windows and doors wide open. Indoors and outdoors are basically the same. The lines here are much more blurred. Sure, you can get air conditioning and attempt to seal yourself in, but there is just much less of a point to it. It is mild summer weather nearly all the time.

The weather starts out cooler in the early morning, around 75, and progresses to a peak temperature of about 90 by about 3pm. That’s when we have been heading to the beach and swimming to cool down a bit. But even the sea water is about the same nice warm temperature as outside. In  or out of the water, both feel great.

Nice beach

Then the storms have been rolling in and everything cools down again. At dusk, the jungle comes alive and you can hear all the bugs and frogs, birds and bats beginning their “day”. We have screens on our windows now to keep the mosquitoes or random bee out and we usually close the doors to the cabana at dusk. But last night it was so cool listening to the rain and all the jungle awakening that we just left the doors wide open. When the rains stopped, Britton went to sit on the top of the cabana and I laid in bed reading with the doors still open.

Kitty heard a rustling noise outside and jumped under the covers like he does. I went to pull him out and pet him when I saw this!

Crab spider

It was a huge crab looking spider on the edge of the bed. It wasn’t moving much, but it freaked me out so much that I called Britton in to help me clear off the bed and look for anything else that may just be lying in wait for us. As we were shaking everything out, we found a cockroach!…in our bed! Yuck! We tried to get Kitty to get it but he was scared of the broom.

I know there is a lot of rotting fruit around especially from the huge mango tree above the cabana and so there are probably a lot of cockroaches around. But they just have to be the creepiest creature. I can deal with most spiders (but that crab spider was really ugly) and even snakes, but the cockroaches, man they are huge here and some of them even fly! I don’t know if I will ever get used to them. I had never seen one in Colorado, ever. Talk about being “sheltered”, literally. Thankfully we don’t see them very often in the cabana but the few times we have is too many.

Roach
Creepiest creature contest winner

So after that experience I was still squirming with chills running down my back as we removed the cucaracha and started to put the bed back together when Britton says, “Whoa, what’s that?!” and I was not looking forward to what could possibly be worse than what I had already seen. When we see a little tiny frog jumping. Britton caught it with a glass and we looked at it.

A coquí! They are rarely seen because they are so small and quick, but apparently last night was the night that every creature of the jungle decided to form a welcoming committee and visit our little cabin. Coquís are the source of the whistling “Co-Key” sound at night and an emblem of Puerto Rico. Yes, Puerto Rico was welcoming us! A good omen. Don’t worry. Everything will be all right. It seemed to remind us.
Coqui frog

I was so happy to see this little guy that it ALMOST made up for the other visitors of the evening. Life in la jungla. I guess we need to remember to shut our doors at dusk or be prepared for all sorts of interesting visitors. So while the weather feels the same indoor and out, I am not quite prepared for all the creepy crawly wildlife just yet. And maybe we just need to get screen doors, too.

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (3)
  • Awesome (2)
  • Interesting (1)
  • Useful (0)
  • Bummer (1)
  • Whoa (0)

Living in the Present AKA Island Time

One thing that living here has already taught us is the lesson of living in and appreciating the present moment. Most of the time we are planners and always thinking about the next project even before the current one is finished (me especially). But here we have had to slow down (a bit) because you just can’t expect things to always be consistent or constant. And maybe any move or big change would do this, but because we are usually so stable with routines and expectations from our previous life in Colorado it has been a dramatic shift for us.

For instance, one minute we are working with the electric drill in nice cloud cover, and the next there is a huge downpour! Then because of the sudden rain, the electricity goes out and we have to change our plans. Well, how about a siesta instead? Go with the flow as they say.

Or we start getting used to the free wifi signal we could pick up on the roof of our cabana and the next day it is just completely gone.

Cassie on laptop
Free rooftop internet

And so we go to a coffee shop only for the internet to go down there and so we go to a fast food place with wifi and it just simply won’t connect. OK, universe, we get it. We are going down to the beach instead.

Cassie Swimming
Me swimming or something like it -lol

And then three days later, the rooftop internet is back. No sense in stressing about it.

Or the city has run out of trashcans (zafacones), check back in two weeks, they say. So we haul our trash to a nearby dumpster we just happened to find. Whatever works.

Or the postman says we can’t do general shipping forever so we need to get a box, but the person who sets up new accounts isn’t in, so come back tomorrow at 8:30am, and so we do, but that person didn’t come in today either, so come back tomorrow. Ok, manana. No hay problema.

Or the car lot does not have any small used trucks, so the salesman offers to sell his own personal truck to us and personally drive it to our house 30 minutes away. How great is that?! Ok…aproveche la oportunidad. Then the car buying process takes a whole day. Why not? We are on island time right?

In the truck
Checking out the truck

Or you talk about getting a little kitchen island to increase counter space and you just happen to see one in the store! We got it, universe, we are not going to think about it. Act today! Don’t delay!

Or we just start dinking around the yard removing vines because at that moment it seems like the thing to do and suddenly it is 2 hours later. Time flies.

Removing vines
Fruit trees just covered in vines

It is a very freeing feeling to live in the present and interesting to realize we normally…didn’t! (Or we were too much in our heads to realize we were.) We were so busy planning out the future or expecting our routine of everything exactly the way it was the day before running at high efficiency and productivity that we could easily forget that we, all of us, are living RIGHT NOW..in this present moment. That whatever we are doing, right now, is exactly where we should be. And if there is a block in doing something, then do something else or figure a way around it. This sparks creativity and ingenuity.

It can be somewhat frustrating to live in the ever fresh present when things are all new around you, but only if you go into anything with any preconceived notions or expectations. If you go into it with an open mind, often we have been pleasantly surprised and always feeling alive, living right now. Future planning is still important so you know where you are going and reflections on the past help to hone your skills and avoid making too many mistakes, but life happens in the NOW.

It definitely helps not having a job or anyone but ourselves to report to. If we felt rushed or impatient with somewhere to be, we would have a lot harder time adjusting. But we have already become so immersed in this time shift that we have forgotten what day it is. Saturday feels like Tuesday. There is no difference except when the sun goes down. Our rental car was due on October 4th, but I still thought it was the 2nd! So we were a little late bringing it back. Oh well. We are on island time, right?  And I think I like it!

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (2)
  • Awesome (5)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (0)
  • Bummer (0)
  • Whoa (0)