Author Archives: Cassie

Yauchromatic: Colorful Yauco, Puerto Rico

Yauco and its vibrancy!

We have had many missions related to creating this baby and one of our most recent ones took us to Hospital San Lucas in Ponce. From the highway whenever we drive to Ponce I have always been curious about the colorful little town of Yauco with its various shades of houses almost glowing in the distance, but I had recently seen that they have invested in even more paint! It is now Yauchromatic!

Welcome to Toon Town with a little toon cat!

We went with our friend who graciously drove us for a loong day and then checked out Yauco’s murals as well as the strange little hilly/stair access-only painted area. I have always said Puerto Rico is like going into Toon Town in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit because it is so vibrant and with such strange characters, but the little coffee town of Yauco took it to a whole new level.

Yauchromatic

The main street of Casas Coloridas

After climbing all the stairs, we looked out over the city and ocean

Even though it is very poor and run down, it just seems happier with paint!

When you’re in Toon Town, you sort of feel like a Toon yourself

Indian Statue and more paint!

Even the downtown near the church has been painted up

Brit-toon

Doggie toons

More Murals

The jibaro with his coffee and rooster

Fun in Yauco

Pulpo (Octopus) harvesting coffee of all things

Here’s a short little video we made of our time in Yauco.

Flower Power on the Finca

2 Replies

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!

Bench Pressing in the Jungle Gym

3 Replies

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!

Los Tubos and Mar Chiquita, Manati

1 Reply

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!