Tag Archives: tortoise

Hacienda Marak in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico


Aeden checking out the donkey Sancho at Hacienda Marak

We recently had the opportunity to visit Hacienda Marak in Mayaguez. I was very impressed with this farm as it has nearly everything I would love to do with our place only on a much larger scale. Markitto Tremblay is the owner of the property. He is the former owner of the unique boutique hotel in Rincon, the Blue Boy Inn, but has since retired to his 65 acre slice of paradise on the mountainside of Mayaguez. I have been following him on Facebook and just knew I had to meet him and check out what he has been up to. He has some exotic plants that you just don’t find in the nurseries here, a beautifully remodeled home (a former coffee plantation and hacienda), various fun animals and even the pond I have been wanting! The icing on the cake is that he is a native French speaker and I am currently taking a French class, so that was extra fun.

  


Some very cool plants including even apples!


Gorgeous orchids


I loved his eye for style


And landscape design


The columns and terrace area got me thinking of some fun ideas!


The pond was one of my favorite parts of the tour! Something I have been talking about with our property for a long time to put under the bridge



The animals were so cool! Chickens, goats, sheep, parrots, a dog (that looked remarkably like Schnoodle), donkeys, koi, and we gave him some of our turkey babies too to add to his menagerie!


Sancho the donkey was super friendly and fun


I have always wanted a tortoise too. I think this one is an African Spurred Tortoise


She may live to be 100 years old!


Thank you Markitto for opening your home to us! It is lovely and an inspiration to us to keep going on our tropical property!

Here’s a video of our time with Markitto. Aeden was kind of squirmy and whiny so it is somewhat choppy, but I hope it shows a little what a magical, magnifique place Hacienda Marak is!

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Thank-Full

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. So many changes have occurred. This time last year we were just getting the electricity working again after two months without! Things were starting to come back to life, but the shock waves were still pulsing.


Walking on a “beach” this time last year (2017)


Beach sunset with Baby Aeden this year

In the year that followed we continued to clean up from the mess of the hurricane and then I became pregnant for the first time ever after many years of trying! It was a wonderful gift but also very taxing on me, and Britton. He had to take care of the whole property and also help me. During this time, Britton’s father became sick and died and that was very hard on us because we are so far from the rest of the family. Additionally we started the flower business and continued to push forward.


My sweet baby!

When Baby Aeden was born right around the anniversary of Hurricane Maria, we experienced a sigh of relief that was short lived. Only 5 days after he was born I became very sick and was hospitalized for nearly 2 weeks out of the first 3 of his life. In a very short period of time I came to understand how precious and yet fragile life really is. I am so grateful to still be here in this realm with these two loves: Britton and Aeden.


Britton and Aeden at the beach

We spent Thanksgiving with our friends Missy and Ben and their family as well as other great friends who have helped us through this very tough year. We are so grateful to them. I don’t know how we could have managed that without them.


Thanksgiving dinner


Delicious food on fancy china!


Baby’s got to eat too!


A visit to a neighbor’s tortoise

So beautiful!


Climbing palm trees!

Baby hanging with the big kids

I love Thanksgiving because it gives us the opportunity to step back and reflect on what we are truly thankful for in our lives: our family, our friends, and our beautiful, precious and fleeting lives. Our life is full of thanks!

PS: Baby Aeden is now over 2 months old and doing great!

 

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