Category Archives: Rincon

Tumbling Down the Rabbit Hole

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Our upcoming move to la isla del encanto has been one heck of a journey, and we haven’t even moved yet! It has come to mean so many things to us that it really is difficult to explain to others without a lengthy conversation that challenges commonly held beliefs. For this reason we normally leave it to simple things that we all understand; nice weather (no snow), growing plants, playing in the ocean, and achieving a goal. When we first started down our path and looked at properties in Puerto Rico we were simply going to get a mortgage and move. That was the extent of our planning. No idea of how we were going to make money or what we would be doing.

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First Property We tried to Purchase

Through the process of discovery which unfolded in front of us on our path we found solutions to all the big ‘problems’. How are we going to buy food? How are we going to PAY OUR BILLS!? Do I need a corporate/cubicle job down there? I was obviously still thinking in the box.  A box I had forgot existed even though I am in it everyday.

I didn’t realize what actual freedom entails or that I was even in a system that doesn’t promote or teach it, which is odd because we live in the ‘land of the free’. I didn’t even realize I wasn’t free! I like to use the movie “Matrix” as an analogy to the realization of what we were actually up against.
http://youtu.be/te6qG4yn-Ps

The answers came over time.

One essential thing was to cut our bills to a manageable size (no mortgage, very little in the way of consumer goods and NO SUBSCRIPTIONS). It’s pretty easy in the U.S. and totally normal to spend $1000/mo or more on just a spot to sleep. And that seems…I dunno…Kind of ridiculous. When you are first starting out on your own, that consumes a lot of your money. That money that you traded your life’s energy for.  Then add on cable, phone, utilities and all the other modern conveniences of life I haven’t ever been without for long.

Why do I have to spend money simply to exist?
A> Because that is the way it was decided long before me.  It is that simple.

The meaning behind this became profound.  Debt is the basis of American lives and is what our economy is built upon.  We as a nation rarely if ever mention this and certainly the paid for advertising of our mainstream media isn’t going to let it be known.  It isn’t taught in public school, or discussed on the television.  The debt based consumer mindset opened my eyes to how the things I buy hold me down. Everything I purchase has associated costs.  The concept of less is more started to appeal to me and also gets me closer to our end goal.

This is a huge consideration in my life now. Want that shiny object?  Would you trade your life for it? Is it worth 2-10 years of my life to have a new Corvette Z06 that will continue to consume more of my life’s energy (in the form of money for gas, licensing, insurance, tickets, repairs and worry)? No. I have struggled with this as an American male.  I started to question it. Where does that consumerism seed get started? Is it just an exploitation of a hard-wired evolutionary biological mechanism?  Is it installed into me by society and advertising? I think it’s a mixture, but it is deeply rooted in our culture and taught to us as children.  Want.

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This poster was in MANY of my classrooms

You see. This decision to walk a different path, even if just slightly,  from the standard has spawned an introspective thought process.  This is where true freedom begins, with our choices.  Not just the choices of what to buy, but the choice of how to think.  How to operate this human machinery.  It has allowed me to see more clearly and be more aware of my surroundings, motivations and beliefs.  All of this came from a simple goal to move to an island.

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Creating the lifestyle that we envisioned is now on our doorstep. We are both looking forward to a life without the rat race. No more waking up everyday at 6am to shower, eat, commute and work towards someone else’s dream and someone else’s freedom. We get to work at our dream and our freedom.  At the age of 34 I’d say that is one hell of an accomplishment and we are only getting started.

Today marks my last day of work and entrance into wonderland.

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Flashback to Puerto Rico: August 12-14, 2005

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This is the 5th Part in the Honeymoon Flashback Series. I would like to finish sharing this whole journal that we wrote on our honeymoon in 2005 before we leave to start our new Puerto Rico life adventure this fall 2013. Go here for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

The Mofongo/Mango Mishap and Great Hunt for Chili’s

Friday we decided to stay another night in Rincon; we took a long walk down the beach barefoot and ran into some rocks that we had to walk up or swim around. It was fun, but with Britton’s sunburn he was a little sore and had to wear a shirt. After a nap we went up to a surfer bar called Calypso. It was somewhat expensive but fun -a lot of gringos apparently have bought in Rincon -some surfers, some investors, some snow birds, some retirees.


Rincon Sunset
Beautiful Sunsets in Rincon!

We slept in late Saturday and checked out of Coconut Palms -we decided since had slept so late that we would make a late night out of Saturday. We drove into Mayaguez, one of the bigger cities on this west side. We looked in a tourist magazine and saw that there was a Chili’s restaurant and since we had received a Chili’s gift card as a wedding gift, we drove around and around and around looking for that darn Chili’s!

We got caught in a huge rainstorm as we were looking. The rain looked like it was peeing from the buildings, people were putting whatever they could on their heads from boxes to plastic bags and the begging people in the middle of the street ran for shelter.

Since it was raining so bad we couldn’t find Chili’s and instead decided to go see a movie. I wanted to see The Island (since we were on an island) but it didn’t start until later so we saw Deuce Bigalow European Gigalow with Spanish subtitles which was more interesting than the movie itself.

We left and kept an eye out for Chili’s and tried to stop for gas at a gas station. I had started to feel really sick to my stomach. Maybe it was the mofongos we had eaten or maybe a mango from an Econo grocery store, but the navigator (me) was out of commission. I didn’t know whether I had nausea, diarrhea or just a weird hunger, but I felt horrible.

We continued on with me just sitting miserably in the passenger seat and Britton went to another gas station because the previous gas station had been flooded with water. At the new gas station I told Britton I had to use the bathroom one way or another or both.

So I very sickly got out of the car and looked inside the station. I asked in Spanish for the bathroom but the guy behind the glass just strangely looked at me. So I went back to the car and before we could drive away I opened the door and puked it all out -mangos, mofongos and all.

I felt a little better but I knew it wasn’t over. So we went to a nearby Baskin-Robbins and shared a banana split and I spent some time in the bathroom.

The kids that worked in Baskin Robbins said Chili’s was at a mall by Wendy’s and Church’s Chicken, but by then we were so spent driving around in circles that we just left Mayaguez and drove on to Cabo Rojo. We took a country dirt road around to an old water tower. We saw a little birthday party in progress. Since we never did find Chili’s we just stopped at a Little Caesar’s pizza place. They have no sales taxes here which is pretty cool. (Editor’s note: PR instituted a sales tax not long after we visited in 2005.)

We decided to drive back to Mayaguez and found the mall AND Chili’s! The mall, apparentely, is the place to be on a Saturday night. Everyone was out and they had some cool stores too. But it was closing so we decided to see a late movie -again! Wedding Crashers at 12:10am. It got out at 2am so we drove off to some neighborhood and just slept in the car. Well, it saved us at least $75-$100 in hotel costs! The first place we parked to sleep we were busted by a security guard, but then we found a nice quiet neighborhood. It was pretty fun as we settled in to our dreams to sounds of chirping frogs and insects.

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Deserted Beach somewhere in western PR (photo taken from top of car)

We woke up at about 6am to rooster crows and dogs barking. And so we drove down to a deserted beach. I don’t know how we found this beach but we slept some more and then went for a swim. The water was so clear. After a while we got moving and found ourselves at the Salt Bay -Bahia Salinas- and another dirt road that led to a beach right by the Cabo Rojo Lighthouse/Faro. It was really cool -we swam again for about an hour and we checked out the huge pile of salt that Morton’s Salt Co collects.

 100_1864100_1866One of the most beautiful beaches and water we saw near a salt collection site

 

We then drove to Parguera where we are now. The dock area was really neat and we ate Pinchos which are meat kabobs with bread on the end and a really good Pina Colada. We are now at a little guest house where we actually had to wake up the owner (in the middle of the day) to get a room. Well, we are up to date now. Tomorrow off to Ponce and the south of Puerto Rico.

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Flashback to Puerto Rico: August 10-11, 2005

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This is the 4th Part in the Honeymoon Flashback Series.  I would like to finish sharing this whole journal that we wrote on our honeymoon in 2005 before we leave to start our new Puerto Rico life adventure this fall 2013. Go here for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Our First Trip to Rincon

Yesterday we went to the Arecibo Observatory and saw the largest radio telescope in the world. It was very interesting to see and quite a hike to the top, but not a whole lot more to it. The small visitors’ room didn’t have a whole lot in it.

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Arecibo Radio Telecope Dish in the jungles of Puerto Rico

We traversed the winding roads back to Highway 2 and around to Rincon where we are now in a little hotel called Coconut Palms which is also owned by a mainland American. She told us her experiences traveling there, moving part time and eventually living here for good. It really does seem even more feasible to do it! We have decided to stay another night and leave Saturday morning for our next adventure.

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At Coconut Palms in Rincon on our honeymoon

It has been nice and relaxing; swimming and drinking beer. They even have a grill outside for us to cook on. We have been watching MTV in the air-conditioned room a little because it has been raining a lot. The rainy season. But it doesn’t last long and we then go swimming or walking up and down the beach. We might go out to a local bar tonight.

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Enjoying Rincon

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At the Rincon Lighthouse

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Clearing Space and Filling It

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These next few months will be all about clearing out our space in order to move into a new one (even more than we have in previous purges). And I don’t just mean physically, but also figuratively. Physically we have to sell, give away, donate, pack or toss almost all of our belongings. But as we do this, we are also figuratively making space for new things to move into it.

I think we all know the feeling of clearing off a table only for more things -keys, coins, papers, etc- to “magically” creep onto it again. We have to constantly keep a check on our space to make sure it holds what we want it to. In the same way, we must do that with our lives and what we bring in it: people, money, jobs, hobbies, our thoughts, our dreams, our purpose! Nothing stays a void very long. We are constantly filling and refilling. Creating and re-creating.

Often our physical artifacts are representations of our thought realm. When we aren’t careful and selective, it can be become cluttered -a mess. We must be careful what we bring into our lives- our home, our mind, our body – so that it will be a true reflection of what you want to see, to be.

And so in this way, it has been a real re-awakening to what is important to us, especially when we got new carpet and had to move everything that had been in every room. Most of our “stuff” really is just stuff. They are representations of things that were once important to us, and some of what still is. But most of it is not necessary in our transition to what we really want, and where we really want to be: which is 3000 miles away on four jungled acres in a tucked away surf town on a Caribbean isle.

I think we are coming close to a point where we will be looking more at what we want/need to take with us instead of what needs to be discarded. For instance, this is the list of things we will take so far:

Kumquat and Mexicola
The two plants I’d like to take

Clothing– we will need a little clothing to get us started. And most of my jewelry because it is small, easy to take and a lot have meaning (like our wedding rings for example).
Sentimental items– some physical photographs/albums, journals, small gifts, small wall decor items
Computer/lap top– for our music, files, blog, and digital photos
Paperwork-like licenses, titles, taxes, identification
Kitty- We have chosen to take Kitty. It will be a mini-adventure for sure to take our cat with us. And through his eyes we will see our reactions somewhat mirrored
A couple of houseplants– I would like to take our Mexicola avocado plant that I grew from seed and a kumquat tree.
Bikes -We are not sure on this one. I love my beach cruiser and it would be perfect in Rincon, but is it worth shipping? Same thing with Britton’s mtn bike. It is old but reliable.
Guitar/bass- We will probably be using a lot more acoustic instruments like bongo drums and acoustic guitars, but this perhaps will be a sentimental item for BK to bring. He is selling his amp, however, which will literally clear a lot of space.

Marshall Vintage
Amp for sale!

I think these are good representations for what we are bringing into this new space that we will be creating. Our knowledge, history and experiences. Responsibility. Living things. Love. Music. Hobbies and interests. Health.

In 7 short months, we will be walking into a new space and filling it with the building blocks of a new, exciting adventure. And we are thrilled!

Rincon House Fish Eye
Thanks to Linda for capturing this fish-eye picture of our place in Rincon!

 

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