Category Archives: Puerto Rico Property

An Update: Clearing the Jungle, Rincón Farmer’s Market and More

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We have been staying pretty busy. Every day is another new adventure for us. Sometimes we get a little overwhelmed with everything we need to do so we decide to just hang out in the cabana or on the property all day long.

Cabana Bridge
We spend a lot of time on the cabana and this is the bridge that connects to the top

Then we remember that whatever we “need” to do is only because we think we do and we get re-energized. So really anything we need to do is actually just a want. The property has sat empty for over a decade, so there is no rush except in our heads.

I think we have a good balance of going out and staying in. We have started to meet more people which is nice and they have offered a lot of helpful advice. We love hearing all the stories of how people ended up here.

We continue to make progress on the property painting a bit more and making it more comfortable. Britton has been clearing out more and more of the jungle. He took down this big weed termite attracting tree but it took about 2 mornings and a lot of elbow grease since he just used the bow saw to take it down.

1st going Going Gone
Going, going, gone…opened up the view to a nice royal palm in the gully

We finally tried the Thai restaurant Ode to the Elephants and really liked it! And we went to the opening night of the pizza place Mi Familias that moved to the old Rum Shack spot of the Lazy Parrot. We also went to the Rincón Farmer’s Market and it has really grown since we had been there before and is now a weekly event! We drank some fresh coconut water, some freshly squeezed cane juice and ate some red bananas.

Coco y guineo
Guineos y coco fresco -with a papaya stem straw
Sipping coco
Yum!

Fresh coconut water doesn’t taste anything like a piña colada but it is really refreshing. It is slightly sweet and slightly salty too. Sugarcane juice on the other hand is very sweet. I got to taste a small amount after I asked to take a video of the juicing process.

Rincon

BK in plaza
Britton at the Farmer’s Market with our goods

We talked with a few people at the market and it sounds like it is pretty easy to get a table and sell stuff there. We are thinking of starting with chicken eggs and going from there when we are all set up. One of the venders even invited us to check out their finca in Moca which we thought was pretty cool.

We are slowly getting more and more comfortable at home, but we still don’t have a stove or burners, so we have been eating most of our food from the rice cooker and heating tortillas on the coffee pot -lol. It actually works remarkably well.

Rice and beans
Rice and beans have become a staple for us!
Food for chili
Some food from the grocery store

tortillas on coffee pot
Quesadillas/tortillas on the coffee pot!

We have been able to find just about everything we need at the local grocery store, Edward’s Family Coop. They will even special order stuff. It is a bit more expensive, though, like $7.50 for a container of Breyer’s ice cream. Hence the rice and beans which are cheap and relatively healthy too. We also have tried “sofrito” which is like Puerto Rican salsa and VERY garlicky. So we just use a little to season our rice and beans.

Our other favorite thing is finding all the beautiful beaches. Like Dome’s Beach that looks like a set on a science fiction movie because of the shut-down nuclear reactor that overlooks the beach. It is also where they had the surfing event in the 60’s that put Rincón on the surf-scene map.

Domes Beach
Domes Beach

Overall, we are having a blast. There is a lot going on so hopefully this update catches us up a bit.

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The Other Way to Recycle

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When we wrote about needing to get rid of some dead appliances and about the recycling center in Rincon, our friends had commented that we could simply leave the appliances out on the street and someone would pick them up.  We figured since we lived on a calle sin salida (cul-de-sac)  that the chances of someone randomly driving by to pick up our old fridge and washer were slim.  They might sit out for weeks we thought.

Well, as I left for the post office today I saw my neighbor had left a fridge out and low and behold, there was a scrapper already picking it up.  Their stuff sat for less than a day.

I stopped and asked him if he wanted some more stuff.  He dropped what he was working on and we came down the street to our property.  There was still an old fridge in the kitchen, which is up a flight of stairs.  I looked at him and said, “I don’t know how they got it up here”.  He replied, “But you will know how it got down!”  and we chucked it off the balcony and it landed with a thud.

The scrapper had his wife and daughter with him so Cassie brought out some guineos (bananas) and ice water for them while the man tore apart the appliances. In addition to the big fridge from the kitchen of the wood house, there was also an old fridge that had been used as a flower planter and a small stove with a rat’s nest inside.

He was nice and very hard working.  I talked to him a little and he said he does just about anything he can to earn money, and scrapping was one of those things.  He was fast and efficient.  I don’t know how much money in scrap 2 fridges and a mini gas stove are worth, but I can’t imagine much so it is a numbers game.  The more you can pick up in a day, the more you would earn.

Appliances
Can we fit another one on top?

I keep saying that if you want something, you have to make it happen, and this is again further proof of that.  If you want to earn money, you find a way.  If you want to get rid of your appliances, you find a way.  This business seems rather symbiotic as well.  I had some appliances that were trash to me.  He finds them, and recycles the metal. Benefit to me, and him.

Loading the Fridge on the truck
Yep!

So we got rid of 2 more defunct refrigerators and an old stove that was again, being used as a rat motel.  It turned out to be a productive morning in a whirlwind of tossing and tearing apart fridges with an occasional rat carcass here and there.
Rat long tail
We hope that getting rid of the rat motels will also help to get rid of the rats!

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Rincón Trash and Recycling

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Alcaldia Rincon
La Casa Alcaldía in Rincón -Town Hall Building

Something unique about Puerto Rico compared with Colorado (and other places, I presume) is that trash service here is free of charge to all residents! All you need is the correct trash container (in Rincón it is a bright orange zafacón) and they will come and pick it up and dispose of it. No bill, nothing. Free.

We thought that was pretty cool, so on our first days here we went down to the Alcaldía (literally the Mayoral House but would translate better as Town Hall) where we were told to go to set up the service. The clerk told us that they had run out of trash cans and that we would just need to wait until they got some more (about 1- 2 weeks). We waited and just hauled our trash to a local open dumpster although apparently some people just dump organic materials (and some other stuff) into the steep, dense plant covered ravines like the one by our house. But we just waited, and still they didn’t come in.

Truck dumping
Someone dumping into the gully

Then we got a tip where for a short time we could get our orange zafacón more easily and so we did. It seems that here in many matters there is the “official” way of doing things and there is the “actual” way that everyone does it. Word of mouth works wonders here. Anyway, ever since then, we have had trash pick-up of our orange can the past two Monday mornings like clock work (they are different days depending on the neighborhood).

But when we started accumulating all these old appliances – turned rat motels, we weren’t sure we could just leave them on the side of the road with the zafacón. In Colorado, trash service only picks up small things that can basically fit into a trash bag. We also weren’t sure if anyone who would like a broken appliance would even see them since we live at the end of a steep calle sin salida (dead end).

So we found out that there is also a recycling center in Rincón (thanks Rosa) that takes big appliances! It is part of the Obras Públicas (Public Works) division alongside the trash service. So we loaded up the pikóp truck with the defunct appliances and found our way across the street from the Econo (grocery store) past the fruit stand toward the High School (Escuela Superior). There on the lefthand side you will see it.

Obras publicas

Through the gates in the back there is the Centro de Reciclaje or Recycling Center. We just drove our truck right in and someone helped us take out the old washer and broken refrigerator. Easy as can be.

IMG_3960 Reciclaje
Where we dropped off our appliances -notice the orange Rincón cans

So now we have free trash service as well as recycling! They even recycle used motor oil there. Now we just need to set up a compost pile for all our gardening needs and we will be set up for our waste!

Since we are starting out from scratch and had no idea what we were doing this was a great find for us and thought it might be useful to share. When you don’t have it, (like hot water) even little things like trash service seem like big deals!

Zafacon
A zafacón at a gas station 

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The Washroom

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The wood house was occupied by a lady named Katherine.  Many knew her simply as Kathy.  Kathy had left this world suddenly and as such a lot of her possessions are still here at the property.  Lots of books, a few dishes here and there, some shoes and a few appliances.

Since we are now living here rather than just visiting we have the need to wash our clothes.  We tried to wash some items in the kitchen sink, but neither of us can imagine doing that for long.  Plus we have blankets and sheets to wash.  Sure, we could locate a laundry mat, but we don’t want to be hauling our clothes and hanging out at the laundry.

Wash Sink

Luckily there is a washing machine in the entrance to the wood house. The other day I decided it was time to give it a whirl and see if we would be able to use it.  It has sat for 10-12 years, but even washing machines in constant use over that time might still be in working order I thought, so there was a good chance that it might fire right up.  Besides this would be a good first small project in getting into the wood house.

The washer is the first thing that greets you when you walk in.

I opened up the door to the house, and wiped of the years of dirt from the washer.  I went upstairs and turned on the breakers, almost all of them stayed on!  One circuit trips and none of them are labeled so I hoped that wasn’t the circuit that the washer was on.  I went back to the laundry room ready to go.  I turned on the machine and it started pouring water into the bucket as they usually do.

“Great!” I thought, “We can save some money reusing this thing.”  Then the rat ran out from underneath.  It gave me a good scare and drew my attention away from my task at hand.  It ran around my feet for a few seconds and was unable to locate a new hiding spot so it ran back under the washer.  That is when I noticed water pouring out from underneath.  I looked back at the control board to shut it off and that’s when I noticed the smoke coming from it.  I shut it down as the water and smoke continued to trickle out.

I popped open the top to see what was going on, and the washing machine was apparently the rat apartment.  There were a few of them inside.

Moving old Washer

So needless to say, yesterday we made a trip to Mayaguez and purchased a new washing machine.  Having a truck, is already paying off.  I wasn’t sure how we would have fit this into a rental car, but I am pretty sure we would have tried (Fridge in the backseat, toilet in the trunk).  I’ve never owned a truck, but they do make life easier.

We are now in the process of cleaning out the washroom.  It becomes a difficult decision as to how far we take this process.  I am thinking I will take all the wood siding off the inside of the room, check all the electric connections, paint everything with Killz and put it all back together.  Or maybe I’ll just clean it out for now and hook up the washer so we can do some laundry.  Don’t let great get in the way of good right?

We already have a collection of old appliances.  Anyone know the proper way to dispose of appliances here in Rincón?  If I don’t start getting rid of some of this stuff, I might as well open up a used appliance store!
BK Appliance Store
BK’s Appliances

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