Category Archives: Tropical

Villa Montana Resort

For our anniversary this year I wanted to go out and do something nice. I had heard of Villa Montana resort in Isabela/Aguadilla, but we had yet to check it out. I really enjoyed the relaxed and elegant atmosphere. We got to dinner at the Eclipse a little early so we explored the grounds a little. It is just gorgeous! The sort of vacation people envision when visiting a tropical isle. I felt like we had won “reward” on the Survivor show it feels we’ve been playing for the last year or so. It felt good to get out and dressed up for something romantic. Totally recommended.

We hung out on the beds at the beach for a while

Britton chillin’

Looking sharp!

Checked out the pools and grounds

Nicely manicured

Cute gazebo

Nice decorations (and a strangely air conditioned bathroom)

The restaurant is beautiful and beachfront

And the food was delicious and not as expensive as we thought it might be (Here are the menus)

Afterward we checked out the “Zen pool” and cabanas

Pool lounge cabanas

We enjoyed our time at Villa Montana and hope to return!

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Flower Power on the Finca

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Delivery of a large bouquet to Roots in Rincon during the Sunday farmer’s market

We have been dealing with some pretty heavy emotional blows lately, but one thing that always cheers me up are the beautiful plants and flowers all around our property. Some of these have taken years to bloom, but are giving us quite the show lately. I forget all of their official names, but I hope you enjoy. We have still been out to the weekly farmer’s market every Sunday selling bouquets. If you happen to be in town, stop by and say “hi.”

Me and our market neighbor Aciel who sells artisanal soaps!

Red Torch Ginger

Type of heliconia psittacorum

Shell ginger

First time this one has bloomed! Sexy pink pendant heliconia!

Early bloom on a red heliconia

These are common, but beautiful and prolific red alpinia ginger (non edible)

Pink alpinias

Common pendants (heliconia) or ‘colgantes’ in Spanish

Through the garden patch of torches

Beehive ginger AKA microfono (since it looks like a microphone)

Bromeliad inflorescence

Rare white torch ginger in our basket of flowers at the market

You wouldn’t think it’s necessary, but we run water to any area we plant because things do dry out here!

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Bench Pressing in the Jungle Gym

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Often times we say that we don’t have to go work out at a gym or own any exercise equipment because our lifestyle has it built in: our very own jungle gym (literally in the jungle). Well we recently added another piece to the gym and it was all about bench pressing!

We saw some concrete benches at a shop and we loved them because they will last much longer than the metal ones that start corroding/rusting in the rain right away. We got a backless bench for one area, and then decided we would like one with a back. Now that I am carrying more weight (lifting weights) with me everywhere I go (including on the property), I have found I need more places to sit. Plus it just makes the property even more park-like.

Small bench near the tropical gardens

The larger bench (in pieces) we put near the bridge was super heavy and we had to flatten the ground to make it work

But fits right in

Enjoying the new bench

Before we had the bench we just put a chair on the pad as you can see in this walk with Kitty through the jungle. The bench is much better!

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Los Tubos and Mar Chiquita, Manati

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Walking the beach of Los Tubos

A couple of weeks ago we had to go to Manati on the north coast of Puerto Rico to get another sonogram done at Manati Medical Center. Since we were out and about already, we decided to stop and see some of the beaches there. We stopped at Los Tubos as well as Mar Chiquita. They are gorgeous beaches, but the water is surprisingly cooler on the Atlantic side than on our Caribbean side!

Gorgeous, long stretches of beach!