Category Archives: Building

Living Abroad: Our Life Recently Around Western Puerto Rico

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Having fun at Villa Montana in Isabela on Valentine’s Day

Raising a baby takes a lot of the extra time I might be writing a post and puts it onto him. So please forgive all the photos and lack of text, but I just wanted to get a flavor of the times as we have been out and about in western Puerto Rico these last few weeks.

 
Visiting La Playuela, Wilderness and Pena Blanca in Aguadilla


La Playuela was considered for a mega hotel and a lot of protesting has (thankfully) stalled/ended it. It is such a cool area


Pena Blanca is just down from it


Cliffside beaches and coves

Save La Playuela

Like a throwback to a different time


Out to lunch at Tamboo in Rincon. Tuesday is Mexican food day! My fave!


Britton and Aeden at Tamboo


Fun at the lighthouse in Rincon


Lighthouse Park, Rincon


Fun at Sandy Beach


Another turkey girl hatched out some chicks!


Steps Beach babes! 🙂


Working on building another staircase into the jungle with friend Chris


Turkey and chicken inspectors


Lots and lots of wagneriana heliconias!


We’ve had great sales at the market on Sundays! It’s been fun to share the fruits (and flowers) of our labors


We like to go out to lunch/brunch after the market – Gastropark in Rincon


Britton and Aeden at the gastropark


Another fave restaurant is Picoteo in Anasco- check out that overlook!


February is about as cold as it will get to put baby A in clothes! 🙂


February has also been especially smoky! Lots of burning going on. (Check out the hillside behind me in this pic)


More hillside fires in the distance combating pica pica generally


Since things aren’t growing as fast we can work on some projects like clearing the paths of old fallen trees from Maria


Cutting a path through the jungle of the property to the backside of the cabin


Beach break at the Marina -a social and fun playa


Having fun shopping with the bebo -haha


Happy Baby yoga pose


Taking Aeden out for strolls has been a new development since he can hold his head up now


He is such a doll and loves being outside with us

Well that’s a lot of life in a few pictures. Life has been rolling forward. With a baby we notice it a lot more! Every day is precious. Here’s Aeden’s 5 month update.

We were also featured in another news program about people from Colorado who have moved all over the globe -Puerto Rico, South Korea, Tunisia and Vietnam. It’s called “Living Abroad” and I think it does a pretty good job of capturing the essence of our life here. I am not sure I would call it “abroad” exactly, but it is hard to describe the move from the states here any other way. And like this sign says of all these choices: Rincon is the best place to live!


Rincon el mejor lugar para vivir!

Living Abroad from Jeremy Hubbard on Vimeo.

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The Hope of Spring Has Sprung Up with a Force

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Gardenias in bloom

After Maria took down a lot of our trees, it was so disheartening. It looked as though a bomb had gone off and nowhere was it more evident than in the vegetation. As “plant people” and people who live directly in the jungle with all the other forest dwelling creatures we took notice of the changes. We humans weren’t the only ones traumatized by the hurricane. Birds, bees, mongoose, iguanas, and all sorts of other creatures were displaced. There was a sadness that is hard to describe to those who haven’t been through something like that. I am still trying to wrap my mind around the complete and utter chaos that that storm brought to life and its still rippling effects.

In the plants, it was so obvious. Many were pulled from the earth, trees lost all their leaves, and others leaned so far sideways they will never be straight again. The plants that lived through it seemed to go into a shock survival mode of instant spring within about a month, trying to bring on more leaves and flowers, but they were just  trying to hold on to life while they restored themselves. Like us all.


Our ravaged tropical gardens the day after Maria

So this spring we have been even more renewed by the sight of true spring. The flowers are blooming again. The bees are pollinating. There is new growth and repair. There is hope. And this scent fills all of us with it. For us, at the farm, this means more work, but we are enjoying it. As I grow this new life form as well, we are preparing in harmony with nature.


Many of our parcha -passionfruit- vines were severely damaged but they are growing and blooming again!


Farm meadow area


Takes a lot of mowing to keep the yard looking sharp -before and after mowing about 2 acres with 2 push mowers (one each)


Lots of yard work!


New baby turkeys came out of the jungle with their mama and we put them in the coop out of harm’s way


Some of the bounty of flowers we take to the Farmer’s Market on Sundays


A new area we are cleaning up and replanting


Turkeys roaming the pineapple garden


From the farm to the Farmer’s Market-flowers, pomarrosa, guineos (bananas)


Scene from the Sunday Farmer’s Market


Another section near “Ridgeline” that we cleared of downed trees and is now being replanted


Hawk Lane and the end of the pink roble bloom


Mulberries (a favorite tree of the birds)


Pineapple that is almost ripe enough to pick


More pineapples growing


Sale and delivery of banana plants (long load!)


Pretty birds, sugar cane, palms, bougainvillea and bananas


Britton and a HUGE bunch of bananas


Even in the jungle we can clean up nice sometimes


And we still make time to go to the beach

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The Rincon Marina and the Goat House

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We have been working hard on the farm, but it was a nice break to go out to a fun little beach gathering at the Marina on a Monday afternoon. Because why not?

Cassie Sandra
Me and Sandra hanging out at the marina on a Llama float haha

Britton swimmingBritton swimming. It was cloudy and the air and sea was slightly cooler (around 80 f)

Renee in the air
Renee slack lining it

Walking the line BK
Britton walking the line about a foot off the ground

Silly cassie
Fun with the llama

Renee and JamesRenee and James jousting

Zach Cassie
Me and Zach in a bubble match. He pushed me all the way into the water!

After playing around for a couple of hours, someone had a great idea to drive up to the Goathouse to watch the sunset. The Goathouse is something of landmark for Rincon. I don’t know the whole story behind it, but it was obviously going to be an awesome rotunda house with a 180 view down to the Marina but long ago got caught in some building/legal trouble and became another abandoned property. Many surfers use it to check the waves in the morning (Dawn Patrol). And it has awesome sunsets only 1 minute from the beach so we caravanned up to it.

Goat House
Looking up to the Goathouse from the Marina

I am not totally sure where it got the name Goathouse, but I have heard that it has housed more goats than people in its current iteration though none were present when we were there.

Marina below
Looking down at the marina from the Goathouse

Markus Daisy pic
Awesome photo ops!

John Daisy Cassie
From the back balcony with John and Daisy

Path to the goathouseThe entrance to the house has been completely overtaken by the jungle

Britton cassieWhere jungle meets concrete -B and me

james hallway
Such a cool house in the making is now a graffiti haven full of vulgarities and poetry

Goat house (2)
More graffiti

Goathouse sunset
Watching the sunset over Desecheo Island

Cassie goathouse
Another cool site to see in Rincon

If you visit the Goathouse, remember that there are neighbors and they want you gone right after sunset so as to avoid too much mischief. Definitely check it out though as it is a key part of the fabric of Rincon! 

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The Landing is No More

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An iconic location in Rincon is no more. The Landing used to be a happening bar/restaurant in its heyday but since we’ve lived here it has been nothing but an abandoned property in Puntas with lots of graffiti and broken glass. It had been listed for sale in the $2 million range for quite a while and someone apparently finally bought it. It is bittersweet because it really was an eyesore, but at the same time, something of nostalgia for the community. From what we gather, a private single residence will be built in its place. Goodbye to the Landing.

LandingThe Landing from the back

The Landing
Inside of the Landing

Landing
Everyone could see the great potential of this ocean front acreage!

Cassie landing
Some cool graffiti art

Landing drive
The Landing before from the top of the hill

No Landing
The Landing after (this week) being demolished (and MANY trees removed, WOW!)

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