Category Archives: Friends and Family

Fun out and About: Rincón, Mayaguez and Boquerón

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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Birthday Fun in Mayaguez and La Parguera

On my birthday I like to do things out of the ordinary. They don’t have to be big, but just something different. So we took a short day trip and I called it my “La Vida es un Carnaval Day” AKA Life is a Carnival. I would just play games, eat junky food, take rides and have fun all day long.

Ice Cream Cassie
I don’t eat junk food much, but on my birthday Britton surprised me by sharing an ice cream cone with me for breakfast! 🙂

To start the carnival trip, we stopped at the Mayaguez Resort and Casino. I had heard about the amazing swimming pool and wanted to see it for myself. It was definitely impressive. It had a lazy river as well as waterfalls and multiple slides. It was more like a waterpark than a pool! I want to go and spend a day there sometime.

Mayaguez Resort Pool Lazy River
Pool with cascades and lazy river area

Britton Long pants Cassie at Mayaguez Resort Pool
At the Mayaguez Resort and Casino pool area

Next we checked out the casino area and I played a little roulette. I am not much for gambling, but once in a blue moon like on my carnival birthday it can be fun.

Roulette Cassie Winnings
I actually won a little money even!

Next up, we went down to La Parguera in Lajas. We walked around the touristy area and had a couple of drinks that I rarely have like a heavy-calorie yummy piña colada! The famous drink of Puerto Rico!

Britton and Cassie La Paguera
Fun at La Parguera

La Paguera Scene
A gorgeous day after a super heavy rain!

Horsie ride Fun Chicken Pina Boat
Playtime with rides and games in La Parguera. Who says you have to grow up?

Later that night we decided to take the bioluminescent boat tour. It was $10 per ticket. We knew it probably wouldn’t be the best because of the nearly full moon, but thought what the heck, let’s try it! It was a nice boatload of people. On the lower deck there was music and a little viewing window into the water, but we decided to go to the upper deck. It was so refreshing to feel the wind blowing on us as the moon lit the way through the little mangrove islands as it reached the bio-bay. When we stopped they had a couple of divers jump in and agitate the waters. Sure enough there was a light glow surrounding them as they kicked and swirled. I couldn’t get a great picture, but it really was magical. I have heard that other bio-bay tours are a little more intense, but it was pretty cool for a spur of the moment thing.

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A little blurry, but you can see the boat that we took and the moon


Here’s a short video of our time in La Parguera

La Paguera
Overall it was a fantastic carnival day! La vida es una hermosura; hay que vivirla. 

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Chinchorreando with Tostones

One of my favorite words in Puerto Rico is chinchorreando. The verb chinchorrear could be translated as “to bar hop,” but it is much more fun and just sort of how going out simply is around here. We’ve been out chinchorreando a bit lately with some friends and having a good time.

Britton Rob and cassie
Out for rum punches on Rob’s birthday

We tried to play a show at the Landing for the 4th of July but there were some logistical/local politics that literally locked us out, so we chinchorreado back to the jam space and played the after party there instead.

Landing Beach
A quick stop at the Landing on the 4th

When we go into Mayaguez for cabin materials, sometimes we stop and visit friends. We like this little bar called Valle Hermoso. There’s a couple of pool tables and fairly decent food including grilled dorado and green salads. On the weekends they have live music too.

Billiards
Britton playing pool. He has learned the phrase- “te toca a tí” because of it

Cassie bar crew
I sometimes play pool but mostly just enjoy jangeando with the lively characters and the awesome mojitos

Cassie Mojito
Yum fresh mojito with real lime, herba buena and brown sugar -no gross 7-up

We even got to talking about Puerto Rican food and one of the guys couldn’t believe I had never cooked tostones. I told him I like making amarillos, but he insisted it was so super easy to make tostones. He went to his car and brought me some avocados and plantains and then gave me an impromptu lesson on toston-making. Then all the other guys joined in on the tips. Check out this video. Haha. Gotta love this place!

 

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2nd Annual Hot Sauce Contest

Last Monday we attended and I participated in the 2nd Annual Rincón Hot Sauce Contest. It was a pretty rainy day, but cleared up quite a bit toward the evening. I competed with a mango-jalapeño sauce that was somewhat similar to my award winning sauce, Hot Kiss, from last year. I gathered and used the mangos that continue to grow and fall from the huge tree above our cabana.

Mango Jalapeno
Some mangos and jalapeños

I also made another cute label. This time the sauce was called Mango Jalapeño Tango.

Mango Jalapeno Tango
Britton says they were “salsa” dancing 🙂

Considering the rain and cooler weather there was a pretty decent turnout. We had fun trying all the different salsas. Of course there were some that were just too hot for my taste and took a whole can of beer to wash the burning sensation away!

Rincon Balneario
Set up at the Rincón Balneario

Caution Hot
¡Cuidado!

We hung out for quite a while. We even saw our neighbor and his uncle hanging out at the Balneario bar. I had him come over to the event and I think he regretted it. His face turned bright red after eating the burning peanuts. I tried to warn him to only have one peanut but he ate about 3! Pobrecito!

Neighbors
Our neighbor José on the far right turned the color of Britton’s shirt after eating the pique.

Later that evening the psychedelic/rock punk band Blacks en Tela played live and we enjoyed hanging out and hula hooping. About half-way through they tallied all the votes and announced the winners. I won 1st place for best label art and 3rd place for best flavor overall! Not too shabby! (You can find a full list of the winners at this page.)

Three winners
Jamie, Trina and I were three of the winners and we won these great tie-died shirts

It was also the evening of the summer solstice and we saw a beautiful sunset before the full moon. Overall a fun, fantastic evening. Thanks Frances and Greg for all your hard work in putting this together!

Walking at sunset
A fiery end to a fiery hot sauce contest

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