We took a day trip up to Patillas to visit our friends Richard and Mary Jane.
Pineapple fields on the drive
It was quite a drive from Rincón to Patillas, but so beautiful to watch the landscapes change. Once we go around the southwestern corner to the Caribbean side, the waters turn majestically turquoise blue, the plant life is much different and drier and it seems to be quite a bit windier than what we experience at our place.
Lake Patillas
We drove past large Lake Patillas and into his finca. It is very private and secluded up a long steep road.
Long private road
When we arrived the party was in full swing. People were eating fish soup and drinking beer in anticipation of the main event: lechón, but of course!
Roasting up the pig on a spit
Enjoying one of Puerto Rico’s pasttimes: dominoes!
We enjoyed our time and even saw our east coast friends Fran and Steve!
Group photo: Steve, Parrot, Fran, BK, me, and our gracious hosts Mary Jane and Rick
But the biggest hit of all was when someone showed up to the party with parrots. Even Richard didn’t know who this person was, but it was pretty cool to see and hold his birds. One of them caused a kerfuffle when he would crawl onto our shoulders, get tangled in our hair and then scream into our ears. So funny.
A hit with kids and adults alike! Green Amazon parrot
As I took this photo a little girl told me in Spanish: “¡Es como un paraíso!” I couldn’t agree more
Such cool creatures! Blue and gold macaw (like in Rio said another girl)
¡Hola!
It was a beautiful day. Richard said it had been raining hard every day prior so we really lucked out with a sunny warm afternoon party. We are so grateful for these magical moments in paradise.
For our last day with our friend Sean here in PR we decided to show him Gozalandia. The owner of the property has done some major work with accessibility since the last time we visited and almost all the paths are paved now!
Path through Gozalandia to each of the waterfalls
We came in January as it happens again so it was much quieter than it can be in the summer months though the water is a bit chillier too. Such a beautiful movie-perfect spot.
But the chilly water wasn’t stopping me this time. I decided I was going to swing off the rope into the water.
Getting ready
Now hang tight then swing, release… and splash!
So much fun. With a splash I was suddenly under water in the most deliciously cool freshwater ever. I climbed up the rocks and let the water from the cascade wash over me as a natural shower. The boys weren’t interested in swimming and just enjoyed the beauty of the place.
Hi from behind the waterfall!
Then we walked to the larger more well-known waterfall. It was interesting seeing it from above and looking down because of the new paths. It really made me remember just how crazy those guys are who not only jump but dive head first from that height! It was also pretty slick and mossy and Sean gave us quite the scare when he slipped on his butt up there! ¡Cuidado!
Imagine jumping (or slipping) from here!
I think it is the coolest looking rock face
Sean enjoying the view
We spent some time talking with new friends we met there at Gozalandia and I was asked again by someone else if I was Puerto Rican! I think that is the most awesome thing that with my Spanish I can “pass” as Boricua de pura cepa as he called it. The final test was for me to yell out “¡Wepa!” which I did loudly and without hesitation and so I passed -haha. Accordingly I am now officially adopted as a Puerto Rican 😉
¡Wepa!
We stopped in Lares for some lechón, but they were sold out for the day so we had chicken, pasteles and arroz con gandules instead. An employee told Britton we could come back tomorrow for the lechón. They had about 8 spits and walked Britton into the cooler where 10-15 pig carcasses were hung. He told Britton that people from the area raise the pigs and then bring them to this little restaurant to be processed. Very local and fresh pork.
When we left we drove by and then stopped to see Salto Collazo. This waterfall really isn’t much in comparison to the ones at Gozalandia except on the other side of the road is a huge cliff drop off.
Little Salto Collazo is right on the road and there is no real pond/pool
And we ended the day enjoyinga wonderful sunset over the mountains
In the states right after Thanksgiving you start hearing Christmas music on the radio. Lots of old stuff like Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole. And a few newer contemporary Christmas songs too.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Sleigh Rides
White, snowy Christmases
We can tell a lot about a culture and traditions through its music. Those above are just a few Traditional North American songs about Christmas traditions, weather and food. There is a feeling of festivities, but not of partying so much. It’s about family and gifts, of somber reflection, relaxation. Sometimes it’s nostalgic or a longing for the family to be together since so many people live far away from one another. Many songs tell the nativity story. There are lots of songs about Santa Claus and Christmas trees. Also enjoying the snow and being outside in the cold or inside warming up near a fire.
In Puerto Rico there is music and dancing outside all year long!
On the radio some channels are completely dedicated to Christmas music. The same thing happens here in Puerto Rico except that Christmas music, música navideña, is much different. And if you don’t speak Spanish or know any better you might not even realize that this fun salsa music is, in fact, Christmas music.
It’s not all salsa as you’ll see, but a vast majority is. Here’s just to give a little taste of what we hear on the radio nowadays at Christmas time.
Salsa! Lechón, lechón, lechón. Yes, pork, specifically a pig roast, at Christmastime is where it’s at!
In Merengue style. Dejalo pa Enero means Leave it for January which is basically the motto for everyone at Christmastime. It’s time to party and have a good time
Bachata style from DR. Singing about the Burrito de Belen -Donkey of Bethlehem
Esta Navidad. This Christmas. From a classic Christmas album by Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe. The whole album is a Christmas must in Puerto Rico
Christmas in Puerto Rico is anything but a somber time. It’s time to party! It’s time relax and have a few drinks. It’s time to dance. It’s time to be with family and friends and eat lots and lots of traditional Christmas food and drink like lechón, pasteles, morcilla, coquito, ron and more. And these songs reflect this. There’s not much if anything about Santa Claus. Maybe the three wise men. But definitely nothing about snow. And only a few passing mentions of Jesus and the Nativity story.
Oh and don’t forget that the classic Feliz Navidad is by José Feliciano, a Puerto Rican! After you’ve listened to all of these you can kind of see how this one song makes the jump and melds both the traditional American Christmas song sound and the party Christmas sound of Puerto Rico. We love Christmastime and the fun Christmas music of Puerto Rico!
Luz is the shorthand way of saying electricidad in Spanish. It literally means light, but in our case it will eventually mean a full size fridge (amongst other things)!! Yay!
It may not look like much, but getting this hook-up was quite the achievement!
We finally made a decision about a month ago after much deliberation and chose to go with grid-tie electricity instead of solar power. Since then, it has been a lot of work to get to that point! Even though we hired out the work, we have learned that it is important to be involved or at least present in any project.
The first step was to dig a trench about 500 feet. At first there were only two middle-aged guys doing it and it was getting done, but the going was slooow because it was hot, steep, and hard work. I have never seen a skilled 50 something-year-old electrician getting down and dirty digging a trench like Papo, but I have come to expect the unexpected in Puerto Rico!
Checking out the sanja (trench) with our friend Anthony after the guys left
After a couple of days just working with one other guy, Papo brought in a larger crew and the trench-work (literally working in the trenches) went a lot faster. It was still super hot though and everyone on the team had to change clothes at the end of the day because they were just drenched in sweat. Late summer is not the ideal time to do manual labor in the tropics because if it wasn’t super blazing hot, it was raining! Also, Tropical Storm Erika did nothing in Rincón, but in Maricao it downed a lot of lines. So Papo took about a week working there instead, helping restore people’s power which was definitely more important than our project.
Trench almost to the cabin!
When work commenced again it was time to lay cable -the thickest cable I think that is available. In order to do this, they had to unspool it and send it down the trench. And then cover it with the conduit tubes and seal them.
Unspooling the wire! Orlando, Papo, Cocolo and Ivan with the spool of wire Covering the wire in conduit and running it down the trench
Tube is laid and ready to be filled in with caution tape
The next phase was to build a junction box and run the copper wire into the cabana and chip out a space in the wall for the breaker box. Britton helped bring supplies and materials and oversaw a lot of the work. His Spanish is still a little bit Tarzan, but I think he could work on a Puerto Rican construction crew now if he wanted. These guys speak virtually no English, so necessity is the mother of invention. As I reminded Britton, immersion is the key to learning any language (though construction Spanish has a distinct dialect and vocabulary ha!)!
Junction box
Double breaker boxes in the cabana
The final steps were to hook everything up, plaster the holes, cement the lower portion where the conduit crosses the quebrada and check to make sure it all worked. Well, everything seemed finished, until the sky opened up and just dumped an aguacero on us.
Trench in the torrential downpour
Britton and Papo went through the rain and mud back to the cabin to go do a final check, but alas, it didn’t work. No sense in trying to mess with electricity during a storm like this, so they called it a day. He would need to return a final time to figure out what went wrong. We were a little nervous that the fresh cement wouldn’t hold through all that rain, but the next day we checked and that, at least, stayed solid.
The turkeys went with us to check the quebrada crossing, and everything was still intact
When Papo returned, he figured out the small issue. He connected some wires and we all walked to the cabin for one final check. Amazingly, not only did everything work, but it had hardly any voltage drop at all! Well done!
Voltage at the cabin was almost exactly the same as at the studio cabana 500 feet away
Luz! Literally!
Afterward, our friends needed a little help from Papo but since Papo speaks no English and they don’t speak Spanish, I went along as interpreter. As we were heading up, Papo honked and signaled us to stop. For a beer! Then after we left our friends’ house, he wanted to stop again for more! Since it was Friday, and we had such a huge accomplishment we went with the flow. The bar was called called El Nuevo Encuentro (The New Encounter) after all! How could you not stop at least once (if not twice) with a name like that! It was hill top with a great view and the wind blew my hair all around as we enjoyed some cervezas, billares, alitas, and amistad.
Having a new encounter and beer with Papo!
Sometimes it’s hard to put into words exactly why I love Puerto Rico, but this is part of it! I mean, come on, our electrician took us out to the bar! How much more welcoming can it get?! Rarely are things completely straightforward here and lines (like working/playing) are often blurred. And I just can’t help but love it so much. It lights up my life! 😉
