Just as we predicted at last year’s Thanksgiving, our first Thanksgiving in Puerto Rico was quite different from Thanksgivings in Colorado.

We were invited by some friends to a “Friendsgiving” which is essentially Thanksgiving with friends rather than family (thanks to our friends Naomi and Sage of Rincón Beer Company, you rock!). And since most of us at the gathering have virtually no family around, it was the perfect idea. As a potluck, each of us brought a dish and two people made turkey.

Because people come to Rincón from all over (Puerto Rico and the world!), they also bring their geographic and culinary experiences. Plus we had a few chefs who made some awesome dishes and I got to try coquito for the first time! Coquito is basically egg nog but made with coconut cream.

Some people told us that Thanksgiving is not very celebrated in Puerto Rico, but in our neighborhood, there was a pretty big party going on. The day before there were bands in the streets and the grocery stores were pretty full.

Friday we went to our friend Miri’s house/studio where she was having an after Thanksgiving sale on her handmade pottery and picked up a few items. Then we stopped by a little nursery and talked with a nice and knowledgeable woman most people call “Mother” about her plants.

We noticed that in the middle of the small “vivero” or nursery she was growing a carambola (starfruit) tree and it was just covered in starfruit. We commented to her that they looked ripe and she said they indeed were but that she just didn’t really care for starfruit and that they often go to waste (que se pierde). She encouraged us to take as many as we wanted for free! We are consistently impressed by the generosity of people here.

Our new pottery with some of our gifted starfruit and homegrown passionfruit (parcha)

She talked with Britton in Spanish and to his astonishment he answered her in a complete Spanish sentence! He said he felt surprised to hear it just come out of him. Something is sinking in!

We bought a few more plants from her (yes, more plants) and now we have to plant all of those as well as all the other ones we bought from our second expedition to Cabo Rojo’s Jardines Eneida.

We enjoyed the rest of Friday at home drinking freshly made starfruit juice and working in the garden on a perfect 80 degree November day.

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. We missed our families this year but we had a chance to talk with them and it sounds like everyone is doing well. We really have so much to be thankful for.