We have been staying busy exploring the great outdoors whenever we can and appreciating our daily life routine. Things aren’t quite back to ‘normal’ but it feels good to get out and see the real world instead of ‘doomscrolling’ and reading about all that’s not right.
Mountainside in Yauco
There is so much more that is not just good, but awesome! So we’ve gone out to explore them whenever we can. Here in Puerto Rico, we’ve had a couple of yo-yo policies opening up, locking down (for some reason they really didn’t want us going out on Sundays for a few weeks) and now back to opening up, so we try to just go with the flow of it as much as possible. When we can go to the beach we do, and when we can’t we go explore other places. Here’s a few adventures near and far from home we found recently!
Fun day exploring the Guajataca River by kayak and Guajataca Beach with our friends Heidi and Pedro
Fun day trip to Camuy and Hatillo
Lots of fun and improvements on the farm. New concrete pad, new plants, flowers, and even new ponds for aquatics plants and fish!
Went through Tropical Storm Isaias and Laura
Short Excursions around Rincon, Aguada, Mayaguez, Anasco areas
New Waterfall Blue lagoon we found in San Sebastian
Amazing day in Yauco exploring a coffee finca
Exploring more of Quebradillas and its amazing cliff views!
In Aguadilla we finally found the “Secret Stairs” of Survival Beach! We’d been looking for them forever!
Our little boy turned TWO! I can’t believe it! Felicidades!
A wonderful day for a swim under a rainbow in Rincon!
Our little jungle boy!
Overall, life is good! We’re staying busy trying to remember that the best way to appreciate life is to LIVE it. Hope you are all doing well! Remember if you want to see what we’re doing more regularly, follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our Youtube Channel where we make videos weekly!
After a very long lockdown, Puerto Rico is now officially back open for business. It is not quite “back to normal” but for all intents and purposes, we are finally coming out of lockdown. That is not the same as having a pandemic end, but at least the self-imposed torture of “quarantine” seems mostly over.
Masks are the newest fashion! haha Masks for Britton & my neighbor/friend Omayra
Poco a poco Puerto Rico has loosened the restrictions to the point that besides the masks and some rules in certain stores (checking temperatures, not allowing children inside) the happy island I know and love is pretty much back. We have been appreciating our newly returned freedoms by going to the beach, hiking, checking out new waterfalls and spending time with friends in small groups again. How much we have missed these simple pleasures of life. Where the hurricane days stripped away the physical comforts of electricity, communications, and even water service, during the lockdown we were fully connected to those things but lacked and very sorely missed our social and nature connections. The lockdown was like an inverse hurricane. I’m not sure which was worse, but I don’t wish either on anyone!
Beachside days
Fun in Rincon
Flamboyan season has been soo beautiful this year!
Aeden’s first school photo. Daycare will even be starting up again in July! yay!
Good times once again
Gozalandia falls and El Ultimo Brinco in Rincon
Fun trip to Adjuntas-even saw a blue flamboyan (jacaranda)!
We had a nice time in Adjuntas visitng Charco El Mango, a suspension bridge and some other sights until Britton suddenly felt ill and we had to return home. Turns out his car accident a month earlier and a genetic disposition for blood clots was not a good combination. He’s doing much better now thankfully!
Quick stop at Playa Tres Hermanos on Father’s Day
Our little boy is growing up so fast!
An easy waterfall that turned into an adventure: Salto Collazo
Just off the side of the road, but waaay down below we found the tallest waterfall we’ve ever seen. Salto Dona Carmen
Overall, we are very grateful for every day we get on this beautiful island and in this strange life of ours. Hope everyone else is doing as well.
For Valentine’s Day, we headed out to Aguadilla during the day since Aeden was in daycare to do some exploring and go out to a late lunch. We checked out the downtown plaza, saw the flag stairs and then stopped to see the inside of an abandoned airplane. It was like we were on the TV show, Lost!
Cool Flag Stairway in Aguadilla
Awesome abandoned airplane!
Inside of the plane
We enjoyed a nice meal together at Khalan Thai of a stuffed pineapple and then headed on home. Unfortunately as we were driving along, the clutch pedal broke with a loud boom like a gunshot. Britton stopped and tried to fix it with the few parts we had in the car, but it wasn’t going to happen quickly.
Broken down!
We were running out of time to get back and pick up Aeden. A nice man stopped and offered to help. First he tried to help fix the clutch, but when we saw the time, he ended up taking me all the way to Rincon in order to get him before they closed! He took his own time away from his family going out of his way in order to help a complete stranger! I couldn’t believe it!
It was a reminder that love is also found in the kindness of strangers and that we must always pay it forward whenever we can. You just never know when you’ll need help, so always put good karma into the universe! Britton, meanwhile, worked very hard on the car and managed to drive home without a clutch. It took him nearly 4 hours, but he made it! I know I couldn’t have done that. He is so talented. So it was a very exciting Valentine’s Day with a lot of good lessons. Love one another, never quit trying and help out your fellow human! Of course I love Puerto Rico with all the beautiful enticing beaches and sights, but it’s things like this and the people who make it truly special.
No, I am not talking about the stock market or the GDP, but rather the original meaning of those words. Literally growing things (including a baby) and going to markets. We have a bit of a schedule and routine now, moreso than ever with a baby. We used to go out a lot more at night with the band and just to hang out at chinchorros or downtown at the ArtWalk, but we now appreciate our quiet evenings with the kiddo sound asleep. So that means our days must be a little fuller. Fridays and Sundays mean market. Fridays we go to the San Sebastian Pulguero (Flea Market) where we do some bartering and buying. Mostly we are in the market for strange exotic plants. Actually we are ALWAYS in the market for those it seems. No matter how much plant life we throw at the property, it just eats it up.
With a new flower find at the San Sebastian Market
It’s pretty fun at the San Sebastian market because we are nearly always the only “gringos” there and so we sort of stick out like sore thumbs. But people are starting to get to know us, greet us and show us what all they have available before we even have to ask. It REALLY helps to know Spanish in these sorts of environments!
Aeden is a favorite with many people at the market including this sweet woman who even sang “Que Linda Manita” to him
Aeden and the birds back at the farm
Saturdays are usually spent back at the farm unless we have something fun planned. On Saturday afternoon we harvest the fruit and flowers for the Sunday Rincon Farmer’s Market.
Look who needs to start wearing shoes soon!
Aeden is now 11 months old! Check out his latest update video
New bromeliads in bloom at the farm
Our avocado that we accidentally cut down YEARS ago, has come back and is fruiting! I am so happy! Yay for guacamole! What’s strange about it, is only one trunk has fruit. So I think it must have been grafted long ago and we’ll probably have two types on one tree. We’ll see!
At the Farmer’s Market in Rincon. Dragonfruit! We have had our dragonfruit plant flower, but it never holds onto the fruit
The Farmer’s Market on Sunday mornings is fun. We don’t make much money, but it is worth it and it’s fairly stable for being summertime. We have made a lot of great friends there. And we use the money to go out and have brunch and drive around a bit afterward. If we make any more than that we put it into buying more plants from the nurseries or flea markets around.
Taking Aeden to Yogufruti after the Farmer’s Market one Sunday
I never knew what fashion tasted like before, but it’s pretty good! haha
During the week we mostly work on the farm: mowing, planting, improving trails. We also clean and do “turnovers” if we have guests staying in the cabana. We also like to pick a day or two to go shopping or an excursion of some sort. Sometimes we go hunting for plants on the side of the road or check out a beach. Lately it has been so hot, that we have been doing everything we can to stay cool. Since we don’t have A/C that means sitting in the baby pool, finding anywhere that has air conditioning and just milling around, eating watermelon and lots of fluids and trying to avoid the heat of the middle of the day (siesta anyone?). The beach is actually too hot for me on those sizzling days since the water and sand multiply the sun’s effect.
Staying cool in our baby pool in the shade like the hillbillies we are haha!
Fun shopping day out with friend Pauline
Stop in at an authentic chinchorro for una bien friiiia
Checking out a beach in Aguada (Tablerock) -great beach for bamboo driftwood hunters!
Fun on the farm! Dad and boy
Man and his horse swimming in Anasco
Not sure, but I believe this is a cupey flower blooming at our house
Britton had a red RX7 when he was a teenager so this made him gasp when we were driving along in Aguada one day! His 17 year-old self has multiplied! haha
He probably wasn’t listening to this type of song back then though (this is a top hit currently on the radio that we turn up when it comes on, and it’s great for Spanish vocabulary!)
Buying plants at Jardines Eneida! One of our favorite nurseries!
At Jardines Eneida. Check out the video:
I call Puerto Rico “Toon Town” and it’s not without reason…Check out this vibrant little house
And this one…who is very concerned with the modesty of its columns haha
Or this awesomely strange creation seemingly out of a sci-fi movie
Driving up the hills of Mayaguez we had a majestically different view of Rincon and Desecheo in the distance
That’s it for the update. Time flies. I can’t believe that a year ago I was hugely pregnant and just waiting for our little guy to arrive and now he’s almost walking. It’s crazy. Nothing like a kid to make time really feel warped.
Here’s a quick little video of some vignettes of our daily life in Puerto Rico. Hope you enjoy. Oh, and I am trying to do a little more with Instagram if you’d like to follow along.
