We went to Aguadilla for an appointment and ended up in Aguada (watery-land)! Literally.
View overlooking Aguadilla out to Rincón
In Aguadilla we ran our errands, stopped and had lunch and then headed back home. On the way home it began to rain a little, and then a little more. We drove through Aguada and realized we forgot something and turned around splashing through a growing overflow of water on the road. We went to the nearest Farmacia. They didn’t have what we were looking for so we returned the way we came. This time there was a police car blocking the road with cars turning around. We could see that the road was flooded out, but we had just passed through there 20 minutes earlier! It couldn’t have risen that much more that we couldn’t pass, could it?!
The police spoke through the speaker and said in Spanish we could pass at our own risk to ourselves and vehicle. Britton took that as a green light! We went through one part just fine and then it started to get deeper and deeper. There was a slight hesitation on the part of Britton and then it was over. The truck stalled out in the middle of the road that was now a river…
How stuck we were! Look at that water flowing!
Like we were in a fricken boat!
That was sinking!
Ooops…
We sat in the truck as it filled with water for about 20-30 minutes. People around us took pictures and video and yelled to us from the safety of the parking lot to make sure we were ok. Eventually the Emergency Rescue Management team showed up. The people in the military-looking Hummer first said they were going to look for a chain to tow us out and then decided to just get us out and we then would wait for a grúa (a tow truck) to get the guagua out.
It was pretty exciting to get extricated from the truck by climbing through the window barefoot. I’ve never had to be rescued before and I am so thankful these people are here! Everyone was super nice and didn’t give us a ticket or even a scolding except to tell Britton that he should be more careful since he had precious cargo on board (me)! Awww. I think they knew we had received our own punishment. They even said they were happy to make new friends with us even if it wasn’t in the best of circumstances. People here in Puerto Rico are so wonderful.
With a few of the crew that rescued us! Thank you all!
The grúa came and towed out the truck and took us home. Now we are working on the truck to see if we can get it to run again…
Checking the engine
What an adventure!
Here’s a little video I managed to take in the midst of the chaos.
Just as in the states, it is currently political season here in Puerto Rico. The politics of Puerto Rico is a bit different than in the states, but in one way it is very similar: it is nuts!
Caravanas clogging the roads
Just as a quick primer on Puerto Rico politics, here’s a few things to know.
There are two main parties: 1) Populares (also known as PPD- Partido Popular Democrático) and 2) PNP (Partido Nuevo Progresista) which they pronounce in passing in Spanish as Pay-Nay-Pay. The distant 3rd party is PIP (Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño).
Popular is Red. Popular is symbolized by “la pava” which is the old jíbaro hat.
PPD: Pan, Tierra, Libertad = Bread (food), Land and Liberty
PNP is Blue. Symbolized by “la palma” the palm tree.
PNP: Estadidad, Seguridad, Progreso =Statehood, Security and Progress
PIP Independents are green. The main platform is to become independent from the United States.
But basically it is a 2 party system. The main platform for all the parties is identity in relation to the US. They are trying to answer the question of whether or not to stay a commonwealth of the US or become a state (or in the case of PIP to become an independent country). The red populares favor commonwealth status quo and the blue PNPs want statehood. PNPs are aligned somewhat with the Republican party at the national level though overall Puerto Ricans in general are politically liberal. The PNP governor candidate (of the party aligned with the Republicans) in fact is a liberal Democrat at the national level.
So while Puerto Ricans who are all US citizens (including us transplants) have all been disenfranchised and cannot vote for president of the United States, politics is still serious business here and everyone has an opinion on the state of things. Puerto Ricans also love to party. So what better way to connect the pastimes of complaining about politics and hanging out than having huge rallies and caravans!? We’ve passed by a few rallies and they are interesting. There’s often free food like lechón, live music and the candidate making long-winded speeches promising the world.
At a political rally in Rincon. Live music, fun…and politics?
But it really is the caravanas that you will not forget if you happen to visit Puerto Rico during a major election year such as this one. They are basically long loud parades with huge speakertrucks, buses full of people waving flags, people walking and yelling, fireworks, long lines of cars honking and lights flashing. If you are part of the caravan it might be kind of fun, but if you get stuck in one unsuspectingly, it can be downright nuts and you WILL be late to wherever you were planning on going! I got stuck behind a caravan one night and it was sooo loud and wild I had to pull over just to calm down and let it pass.
Here’s a compilation (above) of a few of the caravanas we have been exposed to this year. This is not all of them, but just ones with videos…I am not sure where the tradition of caravans came from. Perhaps from a time before television or radio where the only way to get your news was from people actually going around and telling others about it. It seems a little absurd this day and age, but it’s also kind of interesting as a cultural remnant.
Thankfully political season will be over after Tuesday and we can all take a deep breath and appreciate the coquis and driving to your destination without becoming a car in a carnival parade once again.
Halloween in Rincón means the start of season and the buzz is electric.
This year Halloween day fell on a Monday which would probably usually mean a pretty mellow Halloween. But not in Rincón! Here it meant a 5 day marathon. Rincón takes on Halloween the way the rest of Puerto Rico does Christmas. The festivities are intense! The first parties started on Thursday because of Art Walk and continued on until Monday.
Mysterious masquerade ball
Our band decided to have a masquerade ball at beautiful Villa Orleans featuring some of our new songs that we’ve worked on all summer. We figured that masks are an easy, elegant and fun way to celebrate without using your Halloween costume. The party was great. The location was amazing. Our music rocked and people were dancing next to crashing waves. It was magical.
La maga, the ringmaster
What a fun night!
So fun!! Videos thanks to Jeff and Luis and some of the photos thanks to various friends
Party night!
Check out Britton AKA Aloysius busting some moves on Rapture
And we had an extra special performance by my friend Lauryn, the fire dancer!
Hypnotic flames!
After that late night we were pretty worn out and didn’t go out to the Friday or Saturday parties around town. Saturday was probably the busiest of the days with parties at The Beach House, Calypso, El Bohio and of course the big one at Tamboo. We did however recuperate our energy enough to go out on Halloween evening. We weren’t sure how it would be since it was a little rainy, but sure enough the party was in swing!
I went as “Stormy” the rain storm and Britton went as the guru Aloysius Von Funk
Party animals!
The Shipwreck party is always so much fun. People are just plain silly. There’s a DJ playing dance music while people get sweaty dancing on the white gravel. The bar is right down from the marina so the party spills out into the street and down to the beach. The best thing is that the costumes can get downright crazy!
Here I am protecting myself from an unwanted “grab” by Trump
And this guy won first place in the costume contest!!
The night ended at the relative early hour of midnight since it was a Monday. The police came and peacefully broke the party up. We talked with the friendly police for a while and I said, “Me gusta su disfraz” and he replied, “¡Pero no es un disfraz!” And we both laughed! Claro que no…jaja.
This weekend we met up with a friend and decided to take an excursion up to Arecibo. We’ve been to the Observatory and Camuy Caves, though they probably merit another trip since it’s been more than 10 years. This trip, however, the main goal was to see the Cueva del Indio (Taino Indian Cave). From what I’ve read this cave was a sacred place for the Taino Indians and unlike many other caves in Puerto Rico, it is located right on the seashore. We met up in San Sebastian and headed up through the island with a few stops along the way.
One stop was a photo opportunity at Salto Collazo which was flowing with much more water
Along the way we got stuck in a couple of political caravanas, but it wasn’t too bad. For the next three weeks or so I have a feeling it’s going to get more and more intense around here. People line the roads and hang out their cars waving flags and playing music in support of their party or politician of choice.
Parades of noisy cars with their team -er- political colors and symbols
When we arrived in Arecibo we stopped at the Lighthouse aka Faro Los Morrillos.
Lighthouse Park
We came around to where there is a Lighthouse Park. It looked like a kids’ amusement park without any real rides or anything. Parking was $3 and the entrance fee is $12! Pretty high. For $39 there are many other things I would rather do. Many people, including us, went up to the gate and then turned around. I mainly just wanted to see the lighthouse.
Beach side of the Lighthouse Park
We drove around to the other side of the Faro (which the clerk didn’t tell us we could do) and saw a better view of the lighthouse and also an awesome beach that had waves crashing and slamming into plumes of salt foam. This beach is called Pozo del Obispo.
On the playa side of the faro
Splash! At Playa Pozo del Opispo, Arecibo. The rock outcropping provides protection and creates a gentle swimming cove
View looking down at the beach area
And from there we could see one of our next stops! The huge and controversial Christopher Columbus statue that was dismissed from many other potential homes before arriving in Puerto Rico. You can see it a little in the above picture, but zoomed in you can definitely make it out. This statue is controversial because though Columbus is an important historical figure, he was also kind of a crappy human being who inflicted a lot of pain on people. Especially indigenous peoples like the Taino Indians who lived on the island before it was “discovered” by the Europeans.
Christopher Columbus Statue in the distance
Daylight was precious so we headed over to the caves. It gets dark around 6:30pm so we wanted to make sure to see the caves. When we arrived to the “official” entrance the clerk said we had missed it by 15 minutes! They close parking at 5pm!
“Official” looking entrance
We were super bummed to be turned away, especially missing it by only 15 minutes. But onward and upward. We headed down the road about 2 blocks and found the huge Christopher Columbus statue. I found it especially ironic or at least coincidental that this huge statue of the mass murderer of many indigenous people would be literally walking distance down the road from the sacred caves of the Indians.
Up close and personal with Columbus
We paid $2 to sit in the parking lot under the statue and make ourselves a drink. We were lamenting not seeing the caves when a man we had seen at the lighthouse asked us if we had seen them yet. We said no, that we just missed it. He said that all we needed to do was find a different entrance and we could go in and that the coast, where the caves are, is free and public. He said that he and his friend found a little snipped part in the fence and they just snuck right in and nobody said anything. Hey, we’re all for adventure! So we were off to see the caves after all! He said that they were charging $5 per person to enter through the official way, but that if you go yourself it’s free! Even better!
Just down from the official entrance we had seen earlier there were some houses on the road and so we parked just outside of there. We found the little hole in the fence and snuck right through. We climbed the sharp rocky rough ground for about 3 minutes and arrived to a beautiful sea scene with boulder arches and active waters.
Rock arches
Sort of horse-skull looking formation
We wandered about the rocky coast for a while and then saw a few people descending. This must be where the cave of the Indian is, we thought. There were rocky steps that seemed to be perfectly cut just for that reason. It almost felt like a den room.
Descending into the cave
Then we came upon the ladder that would take us deep into the heart of the cave where the cave touches the sea. The sacred room of the Tainos.
It’s just an old wood ladder, but appeared to be strong and sturdy
Cool old ladder has groove marks in the wood where many hands and feet pass
Cool ceiling complete with bats! Looks like a space craft!
It was really cool seeing all the Taino petroglyphs. I have read that this cave has more petroglyphs than any other site in Puerto Rico! I don’t know what they symbolized but it reminded me that this island has so many layers of history to it. Long before Columbus landed, the island was thriving.
Taino Petroglyph
Whole rock walls covered in petroglyphs
For being so open to the elements and visitors I thought it was remarkably well-maintained. I always find it so interesting that in Puerto Rico for the most part things are just left to the people to explore. A very populist notion of live and let live that I find really appealing, especially to my sense of adventure and freedom.
Since we were the last ones there we had a few minutes before dark to take a few fun shots. It would be an awesome place to do a proper photoshoot.
Then we were off! We snuck out through the same gate that we entered.
Squeezing through the gate
Later that night we went out to have shrimp pizza in Hatillo under the light of a brilliant full moon.
Another magical day in Borinken
Here’s a little video of our time at the caves and statue. Enjoy.
How stuck we were! Look at that water flowing!
