This week we decided to check out the Aibonito Festival de las Flores (Flower Festival) with a friend. We have wanted to check out this festival for a long time, but Aibonito is a looong way from Rincon as it turns out (about 2 1/2 hour drive). We went the south way through Ponce and then through a panoramic route through the mountains to reach it. Since we came during the week it wasn’t too crowded and we found free parking close to the festival. The entrance charge was $6 per person. We bought quite a few flowers, though I was expecting a lot more crazy and exotic plants. Maybe it’s because I am a plant person, but there wasn’t too much that I haven’t already seen. I would say it was worth it to go at least once if you haven’t seen it before!
The flowers we were most interested in: Gingers and Heliconias
We got some of these cool varieties
These carnivorous plants are so cool
Hanging out under the shade
Quite a few booths and vendors
Nice bridge and pond in the permanent Festival area
Cool Aibonito sign -Aibonito supposedly was named that when someone arrived and said “Ay, que bonito” or “Oh, wow, how pretty!”
Lots of orchids!
Live music and carnival rides. The Gran Combo is coming to play on Sunday which is a big deal! Also check out how much harder this area of the island was hit by Maria -the trees are still stripped of leaves!
Some music of El Gran Combo
The drive to Aibonito is spectacular!
On the way back we stopped at the Holiday Inn in Ponce for dinner.
Overall, it was an exhausting yet fun day and now we have a bunch of plant starts to get in the ground!
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
We’re having a baby! Sometime in late September/early October we are going to have a baby here in Puerto Rico! We couldn’t be more thrilled (or freaked out)! It is going to be challenging to navigate the health care system and all the other steps that are different from the states in addition to learning how to go through a pregnancy, deliver and then raise a baby, but so far so good!
Yes it’s true! Pickles and ice cream are great when pregnant (just not mixed together -haha)
I am documenting the process every 2 weeks on this page including pictures of my growing belly taken at various beaches and visits to the doctor if you’d like to see how things are going and growing! Wish us luck (and that I don’t have to have a baby in another hurricane)!
Men playing dominos in the Rincon plaza after Maria
It only takes ridding yourself of all you have had to appreciate once again. In other words, you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone. But when (and if) it comes back you will feel tremendous gratitude. Our water came back on last Saturday.
Woman guarding the generator that is powering the pump for water
We had seen the women sitting in camp chairs guarding the generators near the water pumps and anticipated it might come on any day. One day passed, two, three and we began to lose hope. Then we came back one evening after being out and about to an overflowing cistern. Our cup literally overfloweth.
We no longer have to fill up our trash can with water and bring it to our cistern!
Conversations often revolved around which utility would be better to have back on if we could only choose one and nearly all would agree: water. Humans (and most forms of life for that matter) have lived without electricity for most of time, but we have always needed water. Also, we can run about 10 hours of electricity to our whole house with our little generator using only about 2 gallons of gasoline. One the other hand 2 gallons of water, while cheaper only flushes a toilet or two.
Our hard-working little generator has made our life a lot easier!
With the arrival of water to our place there has been a slight (ok, major) shift for the better. We are more energized for everything especially now that the weather is a little cooler and less humid. In the collective consciousness there is a little more joy too. Most people now have water and some even have electricity.
Navidad Boricua is upon us!
But more than that it is the festive Christmas season! Musica navidena is already being played on the radios, karaoke bars and even roadside makeshift Spanish guitar drunken sing-a-longs in the dark.
Si, se puede! We can do this!
Additionally, more and more food can be found in the stores though we have still become accustomed to the can aisle and even boxed milk instead of fresh anything, not only because of the accessibility of these items in the stores, but because we can’t run our fridge very long.
Boxed milk for the win!
Bottled water is now available in the stores as well
The packages we received from friends and family (AKA some of you!) really helped to lift our spirits as well. What we haven’t been using, we have passed on to others in need like our friend Glen who is homeless and lives at the gazebos in the balneario. He recently ran out of bug spray and had a bout of sickness.
When we heard of others losing so much more than us, it also helped to put our situation in perspective. We know at least three people who have lost nearly everything -their house and all their belongings in the storm- and yet they still get up every day and even have a smile on their face, at least when we’ve talked to them. Our other friend Hector lost his entire house and had to live on the streets for a few days after Maria. I can only imagine how scary and devastating to his life that must be.
Our friend Hector with the remains of his house
There is still a little sadness that permeates every conversation. ‘How are you?’ is answered pretty much always with ‘bien mas o menos’ or ‘good, all things considered.’ Everything is couched in the fact that we all know we have been through something traumatic, but are pulling ourselves through it.
Hector with his destroyed house
Britton and I have been trying to enjoy the down time and re-energize ourselves. We have spent some fun moments with friends and are planning some projects around the property.
At the Castillo Serralles haunted house in Ponce
Now that we have water we can do some of those concrete projects that we have put off and clear more areas of the property. We are looking forward to planting more fruit trees and ornamentals.
Britton has been throwing logs while I clear through the vine mess
I have noticed that living in Puerto Rico really is somewhat enchanted. Strange, unexplainable and life shaking moments are interspersed with a peace, beauty and happiness that is hard to compare. Being in the Bermuda Triangle they say can do that. Radio frequencies shift ever so slightly and a Katy Perry song turns into a salsa song and back again. And so it is now on la isla del encanto: a slight shift for the better. This is not to say that it is easy; it is still super hard to do anything. It is like reading a book in a dream or trying to run a marathon in 3 foot deep mud. For instance, it has taken me three trips to different places for internet on two broken laptops just to write this simple post. But seguimos pa’lante, we keep going forward! It’s the only way.
When will the electricity come back on? The future is uncertain, but one thing’s for sure: playing dress up is fun! 😉
With one of the hardworking people putting back together the power grid
The flowers we were most interested in: Gingers and Heliconias
