Monthly Archives: July 2018

Flower Power on the Finca

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Delivery of a large bouquet to Roots in Rincon during the Sunday farmer’s market

We have been dealing with some pretty heavy emotional blows lately, but one thing that always cheers me up are the beautiful plants and flowers all around our property. Some of these have taken years to bloom, but are giving us quite the show lately. I forget all of their official names, but I hope you enjoy. We have still been out to the weekly farmer’s market every Sunday selling bouquets. If you happen to be in town, stop by and say “hi.”


Me and our market neighbor Aciel who sells artisanal soaps!


Red Torch Ginger


Type of heliconia psittacorum


Shell ginger


First time this one has bloomed! Sexy pink pendant heliconia!


Early bloom on a red heliconia


These are common, but beautiful and prolific red alpinia ginger (non edible)


Pink alpinias


Common pendants (heliconia) or ‘colgantes’ in Spanish


Through the garden patch of torches


Beehive ginger AKA microfono (since it looks like a microphone)


Bromeliad inflorescence


Rare white torch ginger in our basket of flowers at the market


You wouldn’t think it’s necessary, but we run water to any area we plant because things do dry out here!

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Bench Pressing in the Jungle Gym

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Often times we say that we don’t have to go work out at a gym or own any exercise equipment because our lifestyle has it built in: our very own jungle gym (literally in the jungle). Well we recently added another piece to the gym and it was all about bench pressing!

We saw some concrete benches at a shop and we loved them because they will last much longer than the metal ones that start corroding/rusting in the rain right away. We got a backless bench for one area, and then decided we would like one with a back. Now that I am carrying more weight (lifting weights) with me everywhere I go (including on the property), I have found I need more places to sit. Plus it just makes the property even more park-like.

Small bench near the tropical gardens


The larger bench (in pieces) we put near the bridge was super heavy and we had to flatten the ground to make it work


But fits right in


Enjoying the new bench

Before we had the bench we just put a chair on the pad as you can see in this walk with Kitty through the jungle. The bench is much better!

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Los Tubos and Mar Chiquita, Manati

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Walking the beach of Los Tubos

A couple of weeks ago we had to go to Manati on the north coast of Puerto Rico to get another sonogram done at Manati Medical Center. Since we were out and about already, we decided to stop and see some of the beaches there. We stopped at Los Tubos as well as Mar Chiquita. They are gorgeous beaches, but the water is surprisingly cooler on the Atlantic side than on our Caribbean side!

Gorgeous, long stretches of beach!


Right off the road


Britton at Los Tubos


Balneario of Los Tubos


Fun, strange creatures at the balneario like this shark (can you find Britton?)


You can escape!


Turtle time!


Not exactly sure what this is? A chupacabra?


The beautiful bay of Mar Chiquita was just down the way about 5 minutes from Los Tubos

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Aibonito Festival de las Flores

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Me and a HUGE bromeliad

This week we decided to check out the Aibonito Festival de las Flores (Flower Festival) with a friend. We have wanted to check out this festival for a long time, but Aibonito is a looong way from Rincon as it turns out (about 2 1/2 hour drive). We went the south way through Ponce and then through a panoramic route through the mountains to reach it. Since we came during the week it wasn’t too crowded and we found free parking close to the festival. The entrance charge was $6 per person. We bought quite a few flowers, though I was expecting a lot more crazy and exotic plants. Maybe it’s because I am a plant person, but there wasn’t too much that I haven’t already seen. I would say it was worth it to go at least once if you haven’t seen it before!

The flowers we were most interested in: Gingers and Heliconias


We got some of these cool varieties


These carnivorous plants are so cool


Hanging out under the shade


Quite a few booths and vendors


Nice bridge and pond in the permanent Festival area


Cool Aibonito sign -Aibonito supposedly was named that when someone arrived and said “Ay, que bonito” or “Oh, wow, how pretty!”


Lots of orchids!


Live music and carnival rides. The Gran Combo is coming to play on Sunday which is a big deal! Also check out how much harder this area of the island was hit by Maria -the trees are still stripped of leaves!


Some music of El Gran Combo


The drive to Aibonito is spectacular!


On the way back we stopped at the Holiday Inn in Ponce for dinner.

Overall, it was an exhausting yet fun day and now we have a bunch of plant starts to get in the ground!

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