Tag Archives: salsa music

Fun out and About: Rincón, Mayaguez and Boquerón

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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.

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Silly girls!

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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!

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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.

Horse talk

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.”

El Faro del Abuelo
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.

Mayaguez Sunset
View of the water in Mayaguez near the “ferry” area

Climbing trees crop
The monkey strikes again: I took the opportunity to climb a sea grape tree

Boat Cassie Boricua
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!

Britton and Cassie Dancing
Dancing in the street!

Britton and Cassie Boat
In Boquerón, most of the bars and restaurants back right up to the water!

Cassie and Pirate
Argh! Buy me a mojito, matey! I’m hooked!

Boqueron Galloways 11 years laterWe 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.

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Música Navideña de Puerto Rico: Beginning to Sound A Lot Like Christmas

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In the states right after Thanksgiving you start hearing Christmas music on the radio. Lots of old stuff like Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole. And a few newer contemporary Christmas songs too.


Chestnuts roasting on an open fire


Sleigh Rides


White, snowy Christmases

We can tell a lot about a culture and traditions through its music. Those above are just a few Traditional North American songs about Christmas traditions, weather and food. There is a feeling of festivities, but not of partying so much. It’s about family and gifts, of somber reflection, relaxation. Sometimes it’s nostalgic or a longing for the family to be together since so many people live far away from one another. Many songs tell the nativity story. There are lots of songs about Santa Claus and Christmas trees. Also enjoying the snow and being outside in the cold or inside warming up near a fire.

Bomba Dancing
In Puerto Rico there is music and dancing outside all year long!

On the radio some channels are completely dedicated to Christmas music. The same thing happens here in Puerto Rico except that Christmas music, música navideña, is much different. And if you don’t speak Spanish or know any better you might not even realize that this fun salsa music is, in fact, Christmas music.

It’s not all salsa as you’ll see, but a vast majority is. Here’s just to give a little taste of what we hear on the radio nowadays at Christmas time.


Salsa! Lechón, lechón, lechón. Yes, pork, specifically a pig roast, at Christmastime is where it’s at!


In Merengue style. Dejalo pa Enero means Leave it for January which is basically the motto for everyone at Christmastime. It’s time to party and have a good time


Bachata style from DR. Singing about the Burrito de Belen -Donkey of Bethlehem


Esta Navidad. This Christmas. From a classic Christmas album by Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe. The whole album is a Christmas must in Puerto Rico

Christmas in Puerto Rico is anything but a somber time. It’s time to party! It’s time relax and have a few drinks. It’s time to dance. It’s time to be with family and friends and eat lots and lots of traditional Christmas food and drink like lechón, pasteles, morcilla, coquito, ron and more. And these songs reflect this. There’s not much if anything about Santa Claus. Maybe the three wise men. But definitely nothing about snow. And only a few passing mentions of Jesus and the Nativity story.

Oh and don’t forget that the classic Feliz Navidad is by José Feliciano, a Puerto Rican! After you’ve listened to all of these you can kind of see how this one song makes the jump and melds both the traditional American Christmas song sound and the party Christmas sound of Puerto Rico. We love Christmastime and the fun Christmas music of Puerto Rico!

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Salsa Dancing Lessons

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We completed our 3rd salsa lesson at the FunPlex in Greeley on Tuesday night. Our final lesson will be next Tuesday, the night before we leave for Puerto Rico. Britton and I are feeling much more comfortable dancing to it, and we laugh through the whole thing. We learned a cute move called “the chase” and we did the fast right turn and the slower left turn that we call the “funky monkey” where Britton gets to do the “snake” with his arm. It’s pretty cool.  So, since we will be frantically packing for Puerto Rico after a long day of work and salsa lessons next Tuesday, we decided to go out to the Rio in Fort Collins for their salsa night last night with Pam and Shana.

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Me and Britton (ha-ha)
It was so much fun. We walked in and they were playing Aguanile (LaVoe)! We danced until about 10pm and would have gone longer were it not for having to get up early for work the next day. Some songs were much faster than our lesson songs, but we remembered most of the moves that we were taught. We also did a little merengue and bachata even though we weren’t taught those.  Bachata seems to be pretty simple – a sexy little dance with two steps to one side then lift your hip, two steps to the other and lift your hip. I think we might continue to take lessons, but at the Rio there in Fort Collins instead when we get back from Puerto Rico.

We told our instructor that we were going to the heart of salsa: Puerto Rico and she seemed worried that the real experts might think our style is completely wrong. Well, at least Britton and I have a style that we understand.

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John Denver and Hector LaVoe – Colorado and Puerto Rico

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I know, that is a weird combination -John Denver being the hippie folk singer and Hector LaVoe the rockin’ salsa singer, but there is a method to my madness. I would say that these two musicians really encapsulate what people think of when they think nostalgically about Colorado and Puerto Rico. And…I like them both.

Before my mom moved from California to Colorado to be with my dad who was from here, she would sit and listen to “Rocky Mountain High” over and over. I understand her longing because now, I sit around (or dance around) and listen to salsa music- Hector LaVoe in particular and think about Puerto Rico.


Rocky Mountain High

There are definitely plenty of other great musicians from Colorado (Big Head Todd and the Monsters, 303, Glenn Miller, Yonder Mountain String Band, India Arie etc) and from Puerto Rico (Daddy Yankee (or Yanqui-lol), Calle 13, Willie Colon, Ricky Martin, Tito Puente, Jose Feliciano), but John Denver and Hector LaVoe represent Colorado and Puerto Rico respectively, to me. -On a side note, Jose Feliciano (Feliz Navidad singer) was born in Lares, Puerto Rico!

It’s interesting that both Hector LaVoe and John Denver changed their last names. LaVoe is actually a French name that means “the voice” and he sings a song called “Soy La Voz” or “I am the voice” and of course John Denver’s last name is the capital city of Colorado. They both died untimely deaths with Denver flying and crashing his airplane while flying drunk and LaVoe from drug use that led to AIDS. I don’t know if there is a movie out about John Denver, but El Cantante starring JLo and Marc Anthony had a lot of great music in it.

Here’s a great Christmas salsa song:


Aires de Navidad

Other songs that remind me of Puerto Rico and Colorado at this time of year are: Esta Navidad by LaVoe and Colorado Christmas by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Click to hear more from Hector LaVoe with La Murga de Panama.

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