Category Archives: culture

Winding Down and Winding Up to the Season

The Sahara dust that the wind carries with storms over the ocean limits visibility and creates hazy days, but also spectacular sunsets and sunrises

Here in Rincón we are now in the midst of the transition to “season.” Season, as people here call it, is the tourist season. Surf’s up and it’s cold up north, so many North Americans and others come to Rincón and Puerto Rico in general during the winter.

But right now, early October, we are in the transition. A few people are trickling in, but overall the roads are still nice and unclogged, the beaches are empty and the days are slow and lazy. Britton and I have acclimated to the temperature (by NOT using air conditioning and losing some weight) and need little more than a fan and a nice cold beverage to stay comfortable.

At a beach near 3 Hermanos

It’s just as beautiful as ever. Because we really have nothing to gain by the season we have never really cared one way or another, but this year we are looking forward to it a little more because our band has been practicing all summer for it and also because our cabin should be finished soon and we can rent out our little cabana that we’ve been living in.

Britton and Chris installing the interior doors and also finishing up the bathroom

Our little cabana will be available for rent soon! contact us if interested!

Practicing on the keys at a jam

Checking out some costuming ideas too! Halloween is the official start of season and a lot of fun in Rincón! How do you like this look?

Or how about this one in a pink wig?

When we’re not working on the cabin or jamming with the band, we’ve been enjoying our days just as always.

And there’s still always some new and weird thing to see! Yes, this car has horns! Literal horns.

Palm silhouettes in a fiery sunset

Our beautiful friend Isabella at DAR’s weekly horse class near Sandy Beach

Jangueando con amigos Walter y Pedro

Enjoying a girls’ night out at Villa Cofresí (I swear I’m not that tan!)

Just playing around with some cute kiddos at the Lazy Parrot!

Sunday morning brunch at our house with our friends the VanEes

A clear tropical day at our finca

It’s a time of preparation and also relaxation. Enjoying the calm before the storm. When the tourists and part-timers (seasonal people) come everything becomes more electric and exciting, the humidity drops a bit and the days become crystalline, but it also means that the stores run out of certain things, prices tend to get a little crazy, the roads are more dangerous and people can unwittingly (or wittingly) be a little annoying and arrogant. Still, I happily accept this seasonal change over the snow, wind, gloomy dark and cold any day though.

Fireball into the sea

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Just a Tuesday: Hula Hooping, Pig Visit and Fiery Sky

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Tuesday we had a pretty open day. We went and visited a friend and then headed down to the Rincón balneario where some other friends were playing with poi and hula hoops. I’ve always thought I was good at hula hooping, that is until I moved here and saw what real hooping can look like. I can do basic waist hooping, neck, legs, arms, but I have a hard time with any transitions between them.

Larger hoops are good for basic moves. In the background you can see Frances playing with the staff

I practiced a few transitions and I think I got the move from waist up to arms and down back around the waist. It’s so fun! I need a hula hoop at home though so that I can practice more. My friend Frances is the guru of hooping around here. I also learned some basic poi moves. Poi is basically fire dancing and very hypnotizing if you see someone do it. Lauryn has done poi and fire dancing choreography professionally so it was really cool to hang out with them. For the poi play, we didn’t light them up yet, but rather just played with practice tools like sand socks and the staff. My arms are sore! I am not so much into “working out” but I love moving my body and dancing. This was perfect!

Beachside Poi and hooping!

As we were going home, the sky lit up amazingly. Rincón is a special place because you are surrounded by water, almost like an island unto itself. Then add the special charms of beautiful sunsets, a rural small town feel and the hippie vibe (come on we were hula hooping and fire dancing on a Tuesday at 3pm with the friendly homeless people of the balneario) and you begin to see why people love it so.

Silver lining clouds

A nearly empty Steps Beach. I love September!

The clouds and sky were just amazingly lit! I felt like we were in a movie set!

When we arrived home we were greeted by a huge sow and her eleven little piglets! It was so funny!

Mama piggy and her babes

A perfect day in our special corner of the world!

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Random Puerto Rico Weirdness

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Here are some random weird pictures that don’t really have a place, but I just have to share. Though we are adapting well to our environment sometimes there are still moments here where we both just look at each other and say “WTF?!”

A Quad on a pool table!?

Some sort of wild cucumber…looks like a plant from another planet!

Apparently this bar bathroom was made for visiting mermaids too…check out the conch shell showerhead and coral rocks

They really like lechon here…even when it is made from old rubber tires!

Even our chickens are a little wacky!

And you never know who or what may photo bomb you whilst hanging out in a wheelchair!

And I don’t think I will ever get used to living in Jurrasic Park with these huge lizards!

And the colors here feel like we live in a cartoon

And check out our drummer, Rob! lol

Walking around half naked is still sort of weird, but I love it!

I still just don’t understand why they put an old ceiling fan and a clock on a bamboo stick outside? So many questions!

Like, What? A mushroom house?? This is such a cartoon!

When the guys at the loza store give you guavas that look like avocados and laugh because your confusion is a sure way to tell a gringo from a Boricua

And we continue to find new fruits we have never eaten before in our lives like this pitomba we have growing on the finca… it’s a little like an apricot