Category Archives: food plants

April Update -Finca, Flowers, Friends, Fruit and Fun

Hanging with my little guy in Rincon

If it weren’t for me being a chronic photo-taker, I don’t know if I would ever blog anymore. The pictures help me to remember what we have been up to which has been a lot of fun! We have been busy with visiting friends, the flower business continues to grow (literally haha), the cabana has been booked regularly and we have seen some cool sights as well. Aeden is growing up fast and at 7 months can now sit up on his own and eats sooo much regular food! Here are quite a few pictures that tell so much more than my hands can type.

Babies grow so fast! I had no idea. Compare 1 month to 6 months

Britton and Aeden at Rompeolas in Aguadilla

We have a bunch of new varieties of flowers coming in right now

Family fun at the farm

Why is Britton usually carrying Aeden? Because he is huge in comparison to me! These pictures were taken at the same moment in time 🙂

And work -clearing out more underbrush and dead trees to plant fruit trees and flowers

One of Kitty’s last pictures 🙁

We buried him near the bridge so we can think of him every day. We miss you, Kitty. You were a good cat

I am also so saddened by the death of our former bandmate, drummer, artist, jokester and friend, Rob

We finished the concrete staircase that enters the jungle and added solar lights

Fun in Aguada

With the babe

At the pool of Casa Islena -Aeden loves kicking water

At the pool of Villa Montana too!

With his sweet little friend and our new friends

At the pool of Rincon of the Seas

With friends Tracy and Fernando

We’ve had some large orders of flowers lately!

And more and more keep growing like these gardenias

Peek-a-boo!

New variety of starfruit started growing on a tree we planted!

And our first ever Siam Rose flower bloomed! We weren’t sure about this one since it usually takes a lot more rain than Rincon gets

Grosella tree is going off!

So I brought a bag of them to Roots Bar to see what magic Sashary can make with them!

These gals are so fun!

So sad to see our good friends the Kersches move away (at Ode in Aguada)

Chicken in the bushes

We spend a lot of time outside on the farm with the munchkin

Manzano guineos as they ripen – apple flavored bananas! Not your typical store banana!

It’s a colorful time of year! Ornamental Turmeric Flower and caladium from our farm and a Reina de las flores in the market

Our little boy is growing up too fast!

Go where love grows! My two cowboys!

Yeehaw at Cowboys in Rincon

Palm Sunday procession in Rincon

Gecko visiting an ornamental banana flower

“Bienvenidos” is too cool! And a great part of Rincon

Stopped in at the Ag Fest in Mayaguez

And the ArtWalk -we don’t go out at night much anymore with the little guy

Britton, bananas and baby!

Fun seeing our friends Matt and Jamie again

Hanging at the beach

And my friend from high school/Colorado, Sarah and her family at Villa Cofresi

Pineapples are growing good!

And more bananas! These are the “Cuban reds”

More flowers! Double hibiscus and orchid

We also ate our first jaboticaba after about 4 years of waiting!

The gardens are really coming in beautifully!

Driving along in Mayaguez, this horse was standing there like “Am I not Magestic? You should take my picture!” So I did

Plantain delivery in action!

Saw these ornate Don Quixote (I assume) carved figurines in a garden store!

Check out this stinky star flower I saw walking around too!

Cool mural in Aguada

Selfie time!

Papaya grows wild here! We didn’t plant this, but we sure did eat it! Tasted like cantaloupe

Well, that’s all folks! Until the next time!

Oh and here is Aeden’s 7 month update video! Enjoy!

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Paso Finos, Pulgueros y Playas

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Britton and Aeden at the beach

We’ve been staying pretty busy with the kiddo, the cabana rental and the flower business but we also get out and about quite a bit as well. We recently went to Costa restaurant in Mayaguez for brunch (very good place!) after selling flowers at the farmer’s market and stumbled upon a Paso Fino competition. Paso Finos are a type of horse that has a very light gait (Paso Fino means Fine Step). The riders “jinetes” were judged on their posture, how their hands were in the reigns and other signs of an easy ride. The judges checked the horses for an even step on each of the four hooves as well as the general aesthetics and beauty of the beast. It sort of reminded me of rodeos in Colorado except you would never see a cowboy there in a tuxedo haha!

Paso Fino Competition Mayaguez

Me and Aeden at the competition

Paso Finos

Playa Buye

Then we drove down to Playa Buye for a quick afternoon stop. It is always a busy and popular beach.

At Buye Beach

We’ve also been checking out the local Pulgueros. Pulguero means Flea Market and is almost a direct translation since the word flea in Spanish is “pulga.” We like to go to the big market in San Sebastian on Friday mornings and we also made it just in time for the one in the Mani sector of Mayaguez Sunday mornings. We are not so much interested in all the household and random goods as the produce, plant and animal selections we can find. I am trying to talk Britton into some water features at the property and would love to have ducks, geese and koi fish for them. We found some pretty neat fruit trees, flowers and other interesting plants as well as a connection for some more heliconias and gingers. Britton says he can’t believe he is back visiting flea markets since he spent so much of his youth at them that he came to avoid them. But they are a little different here than in Colorado as you can see.

Angel Trumpets are awesome plants that smell wonderful but they are also semi-illegal/regulated in Puerto Rico because of its dangerous poisons (I still want them though!)

This variety of banana is called “Johnson” here in Puerto Rico. It’s actually a Cavendish but look how big they grow!
Flea market fried food fare: The golden brown thing is a “taco” (very different from a Mexican taco) and the darker brown one is an “alcapurria” They are both stuffed with meat, potato and seasonings

We saw this as we were leaving San Sebastian! Holy Plantains!

Mani Pulguero as it was clearing out -A seaside flea market!

At the Mani Market

Checking out all the kids stops too: at Yogufruti in Anasco (I love frozen yogurt so the fact that kids love it too is just an excuse! 🙂 )

Aeden really is a good kid and just goes along wherever we go! We need to start bringing a stroller though because he is getting big and harder to carry!

Nuestro bebe colora’o

Whenever we go out people exclaim “Colora’o!” “Colora’o!” At first I thought they knew we were from Colorado and then I realized that they were talking about Aeden’s red-colored hair! 🙂 They also LOVE, LOVE babies here. Women almost always get a super high pitched voice and say “Ayy que lindo! Dios lo bendiga” and sometimes can’t help but touch him. I will often offer him up to abuelitas (grandmothers) to hold when I see them longing for him. They love to pat him and smell his head. They also tell me about their children and grandkids and give lots of advice. It’s very sweet.

At Pepe’s Pizzeria in Stella of Rincon another seaside favorite

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Update: Limber de Teta, Demolition Derby, Flower Power, Rincón Film Fest, Etc

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Rincón Back Road

Wow, it always surprises me when I think of what to write about for the blog. I think, I don’t really have any good topics. Then I look through my pictures and I see that we have actually been out doing quite a few things. Here are a few of them:

Rincón International Film Festival
We enjoyed a beautiful and elegant evening at Rincón Beach Resort for the final night of the Rincón International Film Festival also known as “Best Of Fest.” I like to watch all the short films that have been sifted through and chosen as the top picks. As for the resort, I have never been to this one and it was really nice. I have seen it advertised on Wheel of Fortune and it definitely has that sort of all-inclusive resort vibe. It even has a swim-up pool bar that is connected directly to the beach.

Rincon Film Fest
With friends at RIFF

Fun at Rincón Beach Resort

Limber de Teta
I saw a sign for Limber de Teta and it made me laugh. What could boob limber possibly be? So we stopped and tried it out. It was a limber (like an icee) but sold in a little baggie the shape of a boob. Pretty clever!

Sucking on a parcha/piña boob

At the Limber de Teta stand just off the 115 going towards Aguada

Demolition Derby in Moca
A friend of ours invited us to a demolition derby in Moca that was a fundraiser for his friend’s adolescent daughter who has a very aggressive form of cancer. I see a lot of fundraisers around here for various causes, but this was one of the biggest. We hadn’t been to a demo derby since the Greeley Stampede many years ago. Here it was definitely not regulation size or even in a stadium. People just sort of hung out everywhere, but it somehow worked.

One of the demolition cars

Quite a crowd in the middle of a cleared out field!

As we were watching the events unfold a the derby, a young girl walked by that caught my eye. What was in her hands? Snakes! I was intrigued and began asking her about them. She could tell that I wasn’t afraid of them and said, do you want to hold them? I tentatively said yes and she put the large python on my neck and the baby in my hands. You never know what you may find in the randomest of places!

Cassie the Snake Charmer. Starting to get a little tight around the neck!

Flower Power: Playing Music
We played our most recent show at Willie’s to the theme of Flower Power/Hippie Night and it was a lot of fun.

Playing out at Willie’s

Good times! Peace, Love and Happiness!

On the Property
We have been focusing on property landscaping a little more lately and cleanup. While we’re not completely done with the house, it is functional. So now we are making it and the surroundings pretty! The finca has grown a lot in the last 3 nearly 4 years and we are starting to see the literal fruits of our labors!

Nispero Japones aka Loquat first flowers!

Amongst the flowers of our gardens

Kola Nut flowers!

In the jungle of our yard…Hey! What’s that sound?!

We have been clearing out some pretty nasty spiky and poisonous plants lately! Check them out:

Huge harmless spider (on a 2×6 to give you scale)…a huntsman

We’ll cross that bridge when we get there

As I was clearing some bromeliads and underbrush from behind the cabin, I found this old liquor bottle. We have determined based on the markings that it is from between 1932-1964! That’s a long time to be sitting out in the middle of the jungle! This old treasure says: Federal Law Forbids Sale or Reuse of this Bottle. John Walker and Sons Ltd Kilmarnock Scotland 4/5 Quart.

Before it was Johnnie Walker, it was John Walker and Sons Ltd

The chickens and turkeys are all doing pretty good. We have to protect them a little more especially now that we are at the cabin and not as close to their coops. We collect quite a few eggs and enjoy their silly antics. Here’s some voodoo magic you can do with a chicken!