We’ve been getting much further with the cabin. We now have the drywall installed and are working on the flooring. So close to moving in! But we’ve also been taking some time to go out and have a little fun! Staying close to home we spent a nice afternoon with some friends at Steps Beach. It was a bit rainy, but the water was warmer than the air! We slid around on the slimy mossy rocks, snorkeled and dove for pebbles and just lazed in the water and on the beach.
Silly girls!
My view as I floated around
I also found a great sturdy vine and I just had to climb and swing from it. I think I am becoming more and more monkey living on this island!
Hey, hey I’m a monkey!
Before our band practice I also had a chance to have a little chat with the horse that is pastured where we park. We’ve been watching him grow from a foal to a young horse and it’s pretty cool.
We go into what we call “town” about once a week now for materials for the cabin. Usually that means Mayaguez, but sometimes it’s to Aguadilla. This time when we went to Mayaguez we stopped at the area near the water that they use for the “ferry.”
We stopped at this hole in the wall across the street from the water -Grandpa’s Lighthouse
The ferry according to some guy there in this case isn’t a lancha but rather a small cruise ship that goes to “Santo Domingo.” And I don’t mean Santo Domingo the capital city, but rather the word you may hear here more often than not for the Dominican Republic as a whole. But apparently this nice cruise ship is being repaired in Africa….The things you learn just hanging out.
View of the water in Mayaguez near the “ferry” area
The monkey strikes again: I took the opportunity to climb a sea grape tree
And check out some of the cool defunct boats
Next we went searching for a little nightlife. It was not the weekend yet, so we weren’t sure where to go. We ended up down in Boquerón! I don’t think Britton and I had been in Boquerón since our honeymoon. It’s such a fun and lively place. I loved all the live music and all the restaurants that are right on the water. We even danced a little salsa! So fun!
Dancing in the street!
In Boquerón, most of the bars and restaurants back right up to the water!
Argh! Buy me a mojito, matey! I’m hooked!
We ate at a restaurant on the water that we could feed tarpon from the table. We went to this on our honeymoon! Crazy!
Whether we stay home in Rincón or venture out a little further, I am still just so delighted with this fun-loving island!
Here’s a quick video of our time in and around Boquerón.
Let’s start with the good news. I got my Puerto Rico driver’s license and I didn’t even have to take any tests! Woohoo!
Bad news: It took three trips to two different offices and almost a full day’s wait.
Mayaguez CESCO (plus lottery tickets sold out front under the Virgin Mary)
First we went to the Mayaguez branch of Obras Publicas/DTOP/CESCO and found the line extending basically out the door. We at least got the paperwork we needed and found out that Colorado still has reciprocity with Puerto Rico so I wouldn’t have to take a practical or written driving exam as long as I had a valid (not expired like was Britton’s case). We thought the line was extremely long considering that once Britton had jumped through all the exam hoops he was able to get his ID within about 1 hour in Aguadilla and there was virtually no line. So we made plans to go to Aguadilla some time later that week rather than wait in a line about 100 people deep that did not seem to be moving at all. Mayaguez is a bigger city than Aguadilla so it would make sense to be a little busier.
Almost to the front of one of many lines in Aguadilla
When the day came to drive up to Aguadilla, we arrived around 10am to an equally long line just to the information desk. We decided to go get the doctor’s exam and stamps first so that everything would be ready to go! The doctor’s exam is just a formality. The woman had me look at the eye chart for about 2 seconds! Just a hoop, quick and easy. Just pay her $28 including the sellos too. We then waited in the information line for about 30 minutes only to be asked where our “turno” ticket was. We didn’t need to take a number last time we came with Britton 6 months ago so we had no idea about this.
We did have everything we needed for a reciprocity license though:
1) Proof of residence (water or electric bill)
2) Original Social Security Card
3) Valid current driver’s license from the state with reciprocity
4) Birth Certificate
5) Doctor’s form
6) $11 in Government stamps (can be purchased many places but we bought them along with the doctor note)
7) Complete filled out one-page information form
Ready with everything
The guy at the registration desk said that since the US is requiring PR to phase in the Real ID program in order to better track people it has caused an increase in people from all over the island to the few offices like Aguadilla that has it. I don’t want or need a Real ID since we have passports so this was a huge headache. (And as an aside, if these are so-called “Real IDs” are all of the others fake according to the government?) All I need is a regular driver’s license.
He said that whereas before (like when Britton was there not long ago) they served maybe 500 people a day, they now are processing about 1000! That is why they instituted this turno number system thing because they can’t do any more than that in a day though probably 2000 try. In addition to more work required by the US, they have fewer staff due to cutbacks from the budget crisis! He said, no joke, that we should have gotten there at 5am in order to get in a line for a number and that by 7am, before the offices even open, they are “sold out.” Then with that number you wait in this line that I had stepped into to “activate” the number so that you could sit and wait for 4-5 hours to be called. What is this locura!?
I think he could see our desperation at having now done this line thing twice and not gone anywhere, so he sort of pulled us aside and said that at 5pm most of the crowd is gone and that if they finish all the backed up cue, that we could possibly slide in. But it would be a risk because they close the doors completely at 7pm. Still, we felt like we had been given a special code to this particular game. The friendly clerk was taking pity on us. They may be overworked, but everyone there was super helpful to us.
So we drove back home to Rincón to wait and stopped in Aguada at our favorite little Pollo al Carbon spot.
At the start of Almuerzo this smoker is filled to the brim with chicken
Yum. Good food beats out the bureaucracy blues.
Here’s a quick video of the spot. I think it’s called Rancho Carbon Express and it’s right on the 115. You will see it billowing out lots of smoke with a bunch of chicken roasting. Straight up inexpensive and delicious Puerto Rican street food.
Finally the time came to once again drive back to Aguadilla. We arrived around 4:30pm. The security guard at the front desk must have been informed about us by the previous person as he was expecting us (we apparently still stand out haha!). He told us it would be a LONG wait, but that we should be served if we stuck around. So we camped out and read.
This is the waiting area AFTER most of the lines had cleared out
About 5:30 I got my photo taken and then moved into a tighter group of the remaining people. By 6:30 I was getting nervous that we would be kicked out and have to return but Britton didn’t think so since they took my photo that day they would probably process it. As each number dinged and my name didn’t appear I still had my doubts. 7:00pm rolls around and the janitorial crew starts sweeping under our feet with the remaining 10 or so people. Finally, “Siguiente” was my call to come forward. The woman asked me in Spanish, “Are you sure you want to get a Puerto Rican license after all this?” Yes it was a long wait, but it must be an even longer day for them! I thanked them for working late in order to process my paperwork. About 10 minutes later my license was printed and I was walked out the door by the security guard who had changed into his street clothes. It was by now 7:30pm. I must have just slid through thanks to these great people. Phew. Thankfully I shouldn’t have to do this again for another 6 years or so!
With my license! We were the last ones in the parking lot! Do I look a little loca? Haha. It was then time for a beer by the beach to celebrate!
At our most recent show –Rincón Continentals at Calypso (thanks Daisy for the pic)
Since moving here we have had the best night life. Britton and I enjoyed going out at night in Colorado too, but generally we only did that in the summer because nighttime in the winters of Colorado was just sooo cold that it was much smarter to stay inside and watch a movie.
One of our new Spanish surf tunes: Surfeando
So Britton and I have a pretty active nightlife nowadays. A lot of time is spent with our band either practicing or playing shows out. But we also hang out with other friends too. We enjoy going to the “gringo” bars like Calypso or Pool Bar when we have friends visiting but we also like going out to some more traditional Boricua bars.
Hanging out with friends from the neighborhood in Greeley who now live in PR- at Calypso for sunset rum punch cocktails
Mmmm sushi! At Pool Bar
The other night I went to a fun book club event in Mayaguez and then Britton and I met up with a friend at a bar to listen and dance to live merengue and bachata music and play a little pool.
Fun with friends at the book club
We saw the cutest old guy dancing alone, so I just had to go up and dance with him and tell him how much I love that he dances. ¡Hay que disfrutar! Dancing just feels so good!
¡Wepa!
This guy was so much fun!
We also enjoy Art Walk on Thursday nights and other events around town. However, sometimes we have to reign in our nights because when we get home at 2 or 3 in the morning, we basically have to completely write off the next day. But these nights are where memories are made!
A magically fun night that ended at the ritzy, charming Horned Dorset of all places! (Thanks Logan and Karin!)
In the room’s private dipping pool under the stars with the ocean just beyond
Ice skating outside…in the tropics. When we first heard about this we thought it was a joke…but nope, the municipality of Mayaguez in warm and tropical Puerto Rico decided to create an ice skating rink right in the middle of the town plaza. You never know what you might find in Puerto Rico and this was one of those crazy things that we just had to check it out.
Set amidst palm trees and ferns: an ice skating rink
We met up with our good friends Missy and Ben and their great kiddos and headed to downtown Mayaguez. It was a little chaotic and hectic getting through all the paperwork waivers and getting all set up, but it worked out in the end. It was completely free including the ice skates and we could skate for a 20 minute session at a time. They will be doing this through Christmas I believe.
Britton and me and two of our favorite little people -getting our skates on
We had to wear pants which would be understandable in normal ice skating situations, but here, we were just sweating from the heat of the mid-day sun. The refrigeration units were working hard to keep all that ice frozen, but it was still a little watery and super slick.
The beast behind the whole operation
Britton skating on the slick wet side
The sunny parts that weren’t covered with the tents were even slicker!
What a beautiful place to ice skate!
Although not very practical it was super fun! I haven’t been ice skating in a very long time. There is actually a large indoor ice skating rink in Aguadilla, but we haven’t checked it out yet. It’s so funny…if you can think it, it can and probably has been done regardless of feasibility or budget crises!
After our skate session we walked around the plaza for a little while and admired all the Christmas decorations.
Mayaguez Plaza and Alcaldia
Checking out the alcaldia Christmas display
No pretense of separation of church and state here! Nativity scene right inside of Town Hall
Afterward we ran some errands around Mayaguez on the busy Sunday afternoon. It was starting to get late and so we decided we would go back and check out the lights in the plaza. Mayaguez has one of the better displays. There may not be any snow on the ground, but Puerto Rico knows how to light up with the Christmas spirit…including this patinaje sobre hielo. It was a gorgeous end to a winter wonderland day.
We ate at a restaurant on the water that we could feed tarpon from the table. We went to this on our honeymoon! Crazy!
