One of my favorite words in Puerto Rico is chinchorreando. The verb chinchorrear could be translated as “to bar hop,” but it is much more fun and just sort of how going out simply is around here. We’ve been out chinchorreando a bit lately with some friends and having a good time.
Out for rum punches on Rob’s birthday
We tried to play a show at the Landing for the 4th of July but there were some logistical/local politics that literally locked us out, so we chinchorreado back to the jam space and played the after party there instead.
A quick stop at the Landing on the 4th
When we go into Mayaguez for cabin materials, sometimes we stop and visit friends. We like this little bar called Valle Hermoso. There’s a couple of pool tables and fairly decent food including grilled dorado and green salads. On the weekends they have live music too.
Britton playing pool. He has learned the phrase- “te toca a tí” because of it
I sometimes play pool but mostly just enjoy jangeando with the lively characters and the awesome mojitos
Yum fresh mojito with real lime, herba buena and brown sugar -no gross 7-up
We even got to talking about Puerto Rican food and one of the guys couldn’t believe I had never cooked tostones. I told him I like making amarillos, but he insisted it was so super easy to make tostones. He went to his car and brought me some avocados and plantains and then gave me an impromptu lesson on toston-making. Then all the other guys joined in on the tips. Check out this video. Haha. Gotta love this place!
I try to keep a list of new Spanish words I learn. Sometimes the way I learn them is more interesting (and funny) than the words themselves. Here are a few that may be unique to Puerto Rico or were just new to me. Many of them have false cognates or multiple meanings which confused me at first. While I consider myself to be fluent in Spanish I am constantly learning. I don’t think it will ever stop.
La mañosa changona sin postizos pero con pantallas de pluma
Mañosa – A picky or spoiled female person. When I won’t eat much of a certain food like fried foods, I sometimes get called this. But I thought at first it had something to do with my hands (manos). Changa/Changona – Prideful woman who likes things a certain way. In the same vein as mañosa, this is another term of affection when vacilando y bromeando (having fun and joking) with each other. Chango/changa can also mean monkey, so I thought they were calling me a monkey! Comelón – Glutton/pig. On the other hand, Britton eats just about anything and is called the comelón. Giving silly nicknames to each other is a fun game here. Revolú – Puerto Rican word for a big mess. This is a very handy word for a literal mess or a figurative one. I think it probably comes from revolution. Which would probably cause a big mess at first. Pantallas -Earrings. I had only heard of pantalla as a screen, but here they can also apparently be dangling earrings. Coraje – Anger. I always thought it meant courage, but here in Puerto Rico almost always when it is used it is to describe when someone gets or got mad. Botar – To throw out/throw away. When I first heard this I thought they were saying votar which means to vote. Perhaps nowadays in most elections voting is like throwing out the trash…haha Echar – to pour or fill. Like when filling up with gas. Not etch like I initially thought. Bochorno – syn: Vergüenza – Shame, guilt, embarrassment. I thought bochorno meant something about being drunk (borracho) which I supposed could happen if you get too drunk! Or buongiorno like good morning in Italy. Dale – Go on, go ahead. This is a very useful term and often used, but when I first heard it I couldn’t help but think of someone in Spanish pronouncing the name Dale.
Menudo: This is about the funniest thing ever
Menudo – Change in your pocket. All the quarters, nickels and dimes, etc. Also the name of a famous Puerto Rican boy band that launched the career of Ricky Martin. Here menudo is not the tripe soup of Mexico like I initially thought it was! You may also hear “más a menudo” which means “more often than not.” Chilla/chia – Woman on the side. Mistress. I was discussing how great semillas de chia (chia seeds) are for your health and my friend explained the alternative meaning of chia here in Puerto Rico! I assume it could also go for chio too. Though chillo is a type of common fish here -snapper to be exact. Obsequio -Gift/present. I thought of the English word obsequious which has sort of a negative connotation of being submissive and servile to an extreme degree. But here the word obsequio is virtually interchangeable with regalo. Postizo -false, fake. I had absolutely no idea what someone was talking about when they asked me in Spanish if I had fallen on my face and had to have postizos. I later learned they were asking about my teeth and saying that they looked too perfect to be real. haha.
See what I mean by how difficult learning a language like Spanish can be?! So many different meanings and cognates. Had you heard these? Did I translate and understand them correctly? Any other meanings or funny words I should be aware of? Language is yet another adventure here in Puerto Rico.
I remember when we were back in Greeley, Colorado. We tried to replicate what we imagined our life would be like in Puerto Rico. We were both so excited about all the cool things we could do when we lived there. We had indoor coffee plants, mini citrus trees, even a banana tree in our living room! I looked for anything with Puerto Rico in it. Read lots and lots of books, blogs, articles, etc. We even had chickens against all convention and with a big fight because we knew we could have as many animals as we wanted when we were outside of the rigidity, rules and conformity of the states.
Seems pretty funny now…our Colorado indoor banana tree
We also tried cooking some Puerto Rican food. And it was an absolute failure. Not only is Puerto Rican food extremely difficult to find in Colorado (the closest thing I found was a Cuban restaurant in Denver), but even the raw ingredients were horrible! We could do rice and beans but beyond that, it was a complete loss. There are no breadfruits or traditional viandas in Colorado grocery stores, coconuts were basically rotten and we had absolutely no idea how to cook plantains. A good reminder to eat local-wherever you are! I remember one plantain we tried cooking. We couldn’t even get the skin off it. We didn’t know how long to cook it and so when we finally tried it, we were like…how did anyone think that eating these was a good idea?!
Our bananas growing now (outside)
So I suppose it’s a good sign when plantains (and breadfruit and papaya and avocados and bananas and mangos) straight from your tree become part of your daily fare. I wasn’t exactly taught how to cook with these things like a parent might to a child and I definitely would like to learn some traditional techniques, but when it is all around you, you learn quickly. Here is a video of a typical breakfast. Nearly all straight from our land.
Plantains (platanos) grow and look much like bananas (guineos), but they are considered a starch or main food group rather than a snack or dessert. Here they make all sorts of things with plantains such as tostones, amarillos, mofongo, empanadillas and many others. I stick with lightly pan fried amarillos. Amarillo means yellow and so unlike most other dishes which use the green plantains, I wait until they are yellow to cook them. They cook fast and don’t need to be double fried like some of the others.
This is still very basic cooking. For one thing, we only have one single burner. And another is I don’t know exactly how to cook some of the “fancy” things like mofongo, though I love to eat it! Con tiempo, con tiempo. It was fun preparing for our move, but there is really nothing like the real thing when you fully embrace it.
Mofongo relleno y Malta -something I never ate in Colorado but can enjoy any time here!
Growing, eating and cooking with plantains means we are adapting. Evolving. Becoming more Puerto Rican. And it is cool because plantains also have a cultural significance. La mancha de plátano or the stain of the plantain is considered a symbol of pride for the jíbaro, the Puerto Rican country farmer, who when cutting down bananas and plantains would invariably get banana sap on their clothing. This stain is nearly impossible to remove, like the love for the country itself.
Plantain stain on a towel that we set plantains and bananas on after harvesting them
La Mancha de Plátano Luis Lloréns Torres (Translated by me)
Mata de platano, a tí, a tí te debo la mancha que ni el jabón, ni la plancha quitan de encima de mí desque jíbaro nací al aire llevo el tesoro de tu racimo de oro y tu hoja verde y ancha; Llevaré siempre la mancha por secula seculorum.
Plantain tree, to you, To you I owe the stain That neither soap nor the iron Can take away from me Since I was born a jíbaro To the air I bring the treasure Of your golden corm
and your green and wide leaf; With me I will always carry the stain For ever and eternity.
At our most recent show –Rincón Continentals at Calypso (thanks Daisy for the pic)
Since moving here we have had the best night life. Britton and I enjoyed going out at night in Colorado too, but generally we only did that in the summer because nighttime in the winters of Colorado was just sooo cold that it was much smarter to stay inside and watch a movie.
One of our new Spanish surf tunes: Surfeando
So Britton and I have a pretty active nightlife nowadays. A lot of time is spent with our band either practicing or playing shows out. But we also hang out with other friends too. We enjoy going to the “gringo” bars like Calypso or Pool Bar when we have friends visiting but we also like going out to some more traditional Boricua bars.
Hanging out with friends from the neighborhood in Greeley who now live in PR- at Calypso for sunset rum punch cocktails
Mmmm sushi! At Pool Bar
The other night I went to a fun book club event in Mayaguez and then Britton and I met up with a friend at a bar to listen and dance to live merengue and bachata music and play a little pool.
Fun with friends at the book club
We saw the cutest old guy dancing alone, so I just had to go up and dance with him and tell him how much I love that he dances. ¡Hay que disfrutar! Dancing just feels so good!
¡Wepa!
This guy was so much fun!
We also enjoy Art Walk on Thursday nights and other events around town. However, sometimes we have to reign in our nights because when we get home at 2 or 3 in the morning, we basically have to completely write off the next day. But these nights are where memories are made!
A magically fun night that ended at the ritzy, charming Horned Dorset of all places! (Thanks Logan and Karin!)
In the room’s private dipping pool under the stars with the ocean just beyond
