Life just keeps trucking. Sometimes there’s more exciting things than others, but I always try to have my camera ready. Here are a few snapshots of recent moments of our life here in Puerto Rico.
A fun stop in Boquerón (notice the bicycle with coconuts!)
A beautiful beach scene in Aguadilla
A cool treehouse in Aguadilla! I need to do some more exploring of this! It’s amazing!
Because I do love to climb trees!
The finca is producing lots of food! Especially bananas and papayas right now!
And also cool stuff like turmeric (curcuma) and ginger
I did a fun photoshoot with my friend Laura at the Lighthouse Ruins in Aguadilla
And we are super proud of our chef friend Tommy’s new Poke Shack venture in Rincón!
With local caught tuna and many other fresh local ingredients!
It has been a bit rainy lately but that means gorgeous rainbows!
And still lots of fun times!
Oh and check out this cool stick bug I found on the screen door of the cabana!
Just as in the states, it is currently political season here in Puerto Rico. The politics of Puerto Rico is a bit different than in the states, but in one way it is very similar: it is nuts!
Caravanas clogging the roads
Just as a quick primer on Puerto Rico politics, here’s a few things to know.
There are two main parties: 1) Populares (also known as PPD- Partido Popular Democrático) and 2) PNP (Partido Nuevo Progresista) which they pronounce in passing in Spanish as Pay-Nay-Pay. The distant 3rd party is PIP (Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño).
Popular is Red. Popular is symbolized by “la pava” which is the old jíbaro hat.
PPD: Pan, Tierra, Libertad = Bread (food), Land and Liberty
PNP is Blue. Symbolized by “la palma” the palm tree.
PNP: Estadidad, Seguridad, Progreso =Statehood, Security and Progress
PIP Independents are green. The main platform is to become independent from the United States.
But basically it is a 2 party system. The main platform for all the parties is identity in relation to the US. They are trying to answer the question of whether or not to stay a commonwealth of the US or become a state (or in the case of PIP to become an independent country). The red populares favor commonwealth status quo and the blue PNPs want statehood. PNPs are aligned somewhat with the Republican party at the national level though overall Puerto Ricans in general are politically liberal. The PNP governor candidate (of the party aligned with the Republicans) in fact is a liberal Democrat at the national level.
So while Puerto Ricans who are all US citizens (including us transplants) have all been disenfranchised and cannot vote for president of the United States, politics is still serious business here and everyone has an opinion on the state of things. Puerto Ricans also love to party. So what better way to connect the pastimes of complaining about politics and hanging out than having huge rallies and caravans!? We’ve passed by a few rallies and they are interesting. There’s often free food like lechón, live music and the candidate making long-winded speeches promising the world.
At a political rally in Rincon. Live music, fun…and politics?
But it really is the caravanas that you will not forget if you happen to visit Puerto Rico during a major election year such as this one. They are basically long loud parades with huge speakertrucks, buses full of people waving flags, people walking and yelling, fireworks, long lines of cars honking and lights flashing. If you are part of the caravan it might be kind of fun, but if you get stuck in one unsuspectingly, it can be downright nuts and you WILL be late to wherever you were planning on going! I got stuck behind a caravan one night and it was sooo loud and wild I had to pull over just to calm down and let it pass.
Here’s a compilation (above) of a few of the caravanas we have been exposed to this year. This is not all of them, but just ones with videos…I am not sure where the tradition of caravans came from. Perhaps from a time before television or radio where the only way to get your news was from people actually going around and telling others about it. It seems a little absurd this day and age, but it’s also kind of interesting as a cultural remnant.
Thankfully political season will be over after Tuesday and we can all take a deep breath and appreciate the coquis and driving to your destination without becoming a car in a carnival parade once again.
Halloween in Rincón means the start of season and the buzz is electric.
This year Halloween day fell on a Monday which would probably usually mean a pretty mellow Halloween. But not in Rincón! Here it meant a 5 day marathon. Rincón takes on Halloween the way the rest of Puerto Rico does Christmas. The festivities are intense! The first parties started on Thursday because of Art Walk and continued on until Monday.
Mysterious masquerade ball
Our band decided to have a masquerade ball at beautiful Villa Orleans featuring some of our new songs that we’ve worked on all summer. We figured that masks are an easy, elegant and fun way to celebrate without using your Halloween costume. The party was great. The location was amazing. Our music rocked and people were dancing next to crashing waves. It was magical.
La maga, the ringmaster
What a fun night!
So fun!! Videos thanks to Jeff and Luis and some of the photos thanks to various friends
Party night!
Check out Britton AKA Aloysius busting some moves on Rapture
And we had an extra special performance by my friend Lauryn, the fire dancer!
Hypnotic flames!
After that late night we were pretty worn out and didn’t go out to the Friday or Saturday parties around town. Saturday was probably the busiest of the days with parties at The Beach House, Calypso, El Bohio and of course the big one at Tamboo. We did however recuperate our energy enough to go out on Halloween evening. We weren’t sure how it would be since it was a little rainy, but sure enough the party was in swing!
I went as “Stormy” the rain storm and Britton went as the guru Aloysius Von Funk
Party animals!
The Shipwreck party is always so much fun. People are just plain silly. There’s a DJ playing dance music while people get sweaty dancing on the white gravel. The bar is right down from the marina so the party spills out into the street and down to the beach. The best thing is that the costumes can get downright crazy!
Here I am protecting myself from an unwanted “grab” by Trump
And this guy won first place in the costume contest!!
The night ended at the relative early hour of midnight since it was a Monday. The police came and peacefully broke the party up. We talked with the friendly police for a while and I said, “Me gusta su disfraz” and he replied, “¡Pero no es un disfraz!” And we both laughed! Claro que no…jaja.
Something I find really fun about living in Rincón is that while there are often “official” events and activities, a lot of the time they are just something that someone decides to do. Like the hula hooping/poi jam, or the hot sauce contest. Someone gets an idea and then they do it! Perhaps it’s because you must be something of a free thinker and a get-er-done type of person, but it is really a fun attribute of living here. The most recent one we participated in was the 3rd annual Rincón Chinchorreo or Bar Crawl thanks to our friend Lowell. It was an opportunity to meet up with some friends and walk around Rincón meeting more and more friends along the way.
Carlos’ little bar complete with lottery and fresh coconut drinks
At our first stop we even ran into the alcalde (mayor) of Rincón whose name also happens to be Carlos, Carlos López Bonilla.
The photo’s a little tilted down, but hey!, we’re chinchorreando with the mayor!
Another stop along the route: El Patio Familiar
It was fun checking out bars that we had never visited before and whenever you go anywhere on foot or bicycle (or horse as the case of some of the crawlers) you are able to see things more slowly and in better detail. Down in Stella/Corcega at Pepe’s Pizza for instance, I was able to check out the erosion of the beach from Hurricane Matthew. Puerto Rico didn’t really experience any major direct damage but the waves that hit the southern part of the peninsula of Rincón caused some serious erosion.
Coastal erosion up close and personal
The crew continued to grow to our maximum at Villa Cofresí where they are doing some remodeling.
Group photo at Villa Cofresí
Some of the chinchorreando crew and Villa Cofresí’s famous Piratas
When we arrived to downtown Rincón, I took a little side tour of the newest downtown boutique hotel: Qué Chévere. And Qué Chévere it is! I loved the retro feel and for travelers who want to experience the cool Rincón plaza atmosphere it is a great option. The owners went out of their way to show us their pride and joy.
Qué Chévere hotel
Britton chatting with the owner in the lobby of Qué Chévere
Vintage record player
Awesome roof-top view of downtown Rincón: El Mejor Lugar Para Vivir
Checking out the newest bar in RIncón: Roots
That evening we continued the fun spending time with our friends Waldemar and Papo who have helped us build our cabin. Over these last nearly two years, we have developed quite the friendship with them and really enjoy each others’ company.
At one of the stops, Waldemar asked to take a short gallop on one of the horses of the chinchorreo
Keep the party moving! We went out to another favorite bar in town: El Bohío de Cano to shoot pool
And had a lot of fun, even getting swept up in one of the many political caravanas
They say time flies when you’re having fun and I feel like we are on a Concord. I love this place.
