Category Archives: Tropical

Sea Turtles and a Beer

We generally don’t do a whole lot of tourist activities around Rincón for a few reasons. One, we are pretty frugal and two, since we live here we don’t really feel like tourists. However, there is a lot of cool stuff that happens when you are out and about in Rincón. Recently, we have been going out and seeing thing with fresh eyes again and focusing on the moment.

sandy-beach
Beautiful stretch of Sandy Beach 

One day we decided to go out to Tamboo Restaurant on Sandy Beach in Puntas which is probably one of the most quintessential tourist locations for food and drink directly on the beach. We were enjoying our meal and Blue Moon beer when we heard a bit of commotion and many people rushing to the edge of the deck and then jumping down to the sand. People from the beach looked up at the growing group of people. And then the bubbling excitement. The sea turtles hatched and were working their way to the sea! We had brought our camera, but the battery was unfortunately dead, so we just enjoyed the scene together in full awe that we had serendipitously come across.

sea-turtle-baby
After finishing our meal we ran back home for the camera and caught the VERY LAST ONE

We watched these moment old “Careys” AKA Hawksbill sea turles struggle and dart in a straight line for the water. It was interesting to think of them with an innate drive to their destination that would hold so many challenges. So fragile and so strong at the same time. The people all around cheering them on, placing bamboo poles as a border and removing any rubbish in their way but also letting them do what they needed to do without too much interference. Could that be a metaphor for life and our role for others? I look forward to seeing them soon when we are out snorkeling at Steps.

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The last of the group after the final turtle merged with the sea

There are so many magical moments to being alive that I don’t think we always fully recognize them until much later. Living in a world that is so different from the one in which we left is full of struggles that we never fully anticipated but it is also full of wonder and marvel. We all seem to be just like these turtles just working our way to the next adventure beyond.

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Snapshot Update: Boquerón, Aguadilla, Rincón and Finca

Life just keeps trucking. Sometimes there’s more exciting things than others, but I always try to have my camera ready. Here are a few snapshots of recent moments of our life here in Puerto Rico.

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A fun stop in Boquerón (notice the bicycle with coconuts!)

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A beautiful beach scene in Aguadilla

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A cool treehouse in Aguadilla! I need to do some more exploring of this! It’s amazing!

tree-climber
Because I do love to climb trees!

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The finca is producing lots of food! Especially bananas and papayas right now!

turmeric-flower ginger
And also cool stuff like turmeric (curcuma) and ginger

laura-and-cassie
I did a fun photoshoot with my friend Laura at the Lighthouse Ruins in Aguadilla

cassie-tommy-poke
And we are super proud of our chef friend Tommy’s new Poke Shack venture in Rincón!

fresh-fish-tommy poke-and-salad
With local caught tuna and many other fresh local ingredients!

rainy-day-rainbow
It has been a bit rainy lately but that means gorgeous rainbows!

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And still lots of fun times!

Oh and check out this cool stick bug I found on the screen door of the cabana!

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Flash Flood Stall Out and Rescue

We went to Aguadilla for an appointment and ended up in Aguada (watery-land)! Literally.

aguadilla
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…

poor-guaguaHow stuck we were! Look at that water flowing!

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Like we were in a fricken boat!

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That was sinking!

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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.

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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…

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Checking the engine

cassie-and-guagua
What an adventure!

Here’s a little video I managed to take in the midst of the chaos.

 

 

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Masquerade Ball and Rincón Halloween 2016

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.

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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.

ringleader
La maga, the ringmaster

party-shot

lauryn-daisy-cassie masked-people singers britton-and-tom
ricia-and-marci cynthia-troy

party-picWhat a fun night!


So fun!! Videos thanks to Jeff and Luis and some of the photos thanks to various friends 

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Party night!


Check out Britton AKA Aloysius busting some moves on Rapture

fire-lauryn-3And 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!

cassie-and-britton-halloween-crop
I went as “Stormy” the rain storm and Britton went as the guru Aloysius Von Funk

cassie-rain-costume-crop     renee-and-cassie

edward-scissorhands shipwreck-party frida-vampire-cassie fred-pedro-pica-britton
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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!

trump-and-cassie
Here I am protecting myself from an unwanted “grab” by Trump

costume-contest-weiner
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.

with-the-policia
In character!

Another great kick off to the season!

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