Tag Archives: Balneario

Random Photo Update: May 2017

Cassie and Britton
I sometimes look at my own photos and can’t believe I live in this magical place!

Life is spinning by as fast as ever. We are entering the summer season and tourism is slowing down and the plants and rains are taking off. Here are a few pictures that don’t warrant a post in themselves but are fun reminders of this time in our life.

Bird Zorzal Bird Troupial
Our makeshift bird feeder at the cabin: old bananas. Zorzal and Troupial

wallflower cassie lighter
As creatures we evolve to mimic our surroundings -haha

Roots

Britton Rob Humberto Cassie Roberto Group photo  Cassie blue and black lighter
Star Cassie 5 Roots May 11
We’re still having fun playing music and performing with our band!

Downtown plaza rincon
Rincón is so beautiful and colorful! Downtown plaza

Mummified Coqui
Check out this weird mummified/dried out coqui I found in our closet!

Riding the bull
I competed in a mechanical bull contest at a local bar and won 1st place of women and got some schwag (and a lot of bruises). Not too bad for my first time ever on one!! haha

Horses in the projects
You know this is a rural countryside kind of place when there are horses even in the projects

Iguana face
I don’t know if I will ever grow accustomed to the amazing creatures that just roam freely here

Kitchen progress Cabinet bamboo
When we’re not having fun we are still progressing on the cabin -currently in the kitchen we are going for a tiki-bar tropical cabin in the jungle feel 😉

Glen and the balneario guys
These guys live at the balnerio in Rincón and even have a TV! One of them, Glen, makes incredible tie-dye creations as seen in one of the earlier photos

Tropical Iris
I love these gorgeous tropical irises that are blooming all over our gardens

Pretty yard
And look how lush it is this time of year

Dock of the bay
Alone on a pier in Mayaguez

Lighthouse faro cassie
Fun at the lighthouse park in Rincón

Cassie frame domes
That’s all for now, folks! Hasta luego

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Saturday Congas at the Balneario

The last couple of Saturdays we have been heading down to the balneario (public swimming beach) in Rincón to jam with some local congueros. They have been meeting up for some time, but we didn’t realize it was a planned and open event! The first time we saw them we had stopped by the balneario one morning and were enjoying the beach scene of diving pelicans, funny little grackle birds, boats, swimmers and parasailers but slowly kept getting drawn closer and closer to the drummers and the trance-like beats. As I admired the beautiful congas and djembes, they encouraged us to grab some percussion instruments and join the group. Soon we were enveloped into the fold.

Drums at Balneario
I played the cajon and an interesting gourd with a mesh of seeds

As we talked and got to know each other, they said we should come back each Saturday and join them as it is open to everyone. They were convinced I had to be a Latina and specifically from Colombia because of the way I speak Spanish. Britton, they could tell was still “aprendiendo” but he has improved a lot as well! Every day we fit in more and more here! Come down to the balneario some Saturday morning and join us!

 

 

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Just a Tuesday: Hula Hooping, Pig Visit and Fiery Sky

Tuesday we had a pretty open day. We went and visited a friend and then headed down to the Rincón balneario where some other friends were playing with poi and hula hoops. I’ve always thought I was good at hula hooping, that is until I moved here and saw what real hooping can look like. I can do basic waist hooping, neck, legs, arms, but I have a hard time with any transitions between them.

hula-hooping-c
Larger hoops are good for basic moves. In the background you can see Frances playing with the staff

I practiced a few transitions and I think I got the move from waist up to arms and down back around the waist. It’s so fun! I need a hula hoop at home though so that I can practice more. My friend Frances is the guru of hooping around here. I also learned some basic poi moves. Poi is basically fire dancing and very hypnotizing if you see someone do it. Lauryn has done poi and fire dancing choreography professionally so it was really cool to hang out with them. For the poi play, we didn’t light them up yet, but rather just played with practice tools like sand socks and the staff. My arms are sore! I am not so much into “working out” but I love moving my body and dancing. This was perfect!

hula-hooping
Beachside Poi and hooping!

As we were going home, the sky lit up amazingly. Rincón is a special place because you are surrounded by water, almost like an island unto itself. Then add the special charms of beautiful sunsets, a rural small town feel and the hippie vibe (come on we were hula hooping and fire dancing on a Tuesday at 3pm with the friendly homeless people of the balneario) and you begin to see why people love it so.

palms-and-ocean
Silver lining clouds

steps
A nearly empty Steps Beach. I love September!

cool-clouds-and-palms
The clouds and sky were just amazingly lit! I felt like we were in a movie set!

When we arrived home we were greeted by a huge sow and her eleven little piglets! It was so funny!

pig-visit
Mama piggy and her babes



A perfect day in our special corner of the world!

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2nd Annual Hot Sauce Contest

Last Monday we attended and I participated in the 2nd Annual Rincón Hot Sauce Contest. It was a pretty rainy day, but cleared up quite a bit toward the evening. I competed with a mango-jalapeño sauce that was somewhat similar to my award winning sauce, Hot Kiss, from last year. I gathered and used the mangos that continue to grow and fall from the huge tree above our cabana.

Mango Jalapeno
Some mangos and jalapeños

I also made another cute label. This time the sauce was called Mango Jalapeño Tango.

Mango Jalapeno Tango
Britton says they were “salsa” dancing 🙂

Considering the rain and cooler weather there was a pretty decent turnout. We had fun trying all the different salsas. Of course there were some that were just too hot for my taste and took a whole can of beer to wash the burning sensation away!

Rincon Balneario
Set up at the Rincón Balneario

Caution Hot
¡Cuidado!

We hung out for quite a while. We even saw our neighbor and his uncle hanging out at the Balneario bar. I had him come over to the event and I think he regretted it. His face turned bright red after eating the burning peanuts. I tried to warn him to only have one peanut but he ate about 3! Pobrecito!

Neighbors
Our neighbor José on the far right turned the color of Britton’s shirt after eating the pique.

Later that evening the psychedelic/rock punk band Blacks en Tela played live and we enjoyed hanging out and hula hooping. About half-way through they tallied all the votes and announced the winners. I won 1st place for best label art and 3rd place for best flavor overall! Not too shabby! (You can find a full list of the winners at this page.)

Three winners
Jamie, Trina and I were three of the winners and we won these great tie-died shirts

It was also the evening of the summer solstice and we saw a beautiful sunset before the full moon. Overall a fun, fantastic evening. Thanks Frances and Greg for all your hard work in putting this together!

Walking at sunset
A fiery end to a fiery hot sauce contest

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