Random Photo Update: June 2017

It’s that time again to sort through all the photos that have no other real place but in a random photo drop. All the little moments in life add up…

Cassie Abandoned Cassie in the window
I love checking out old abandoned buildings!

Cassie abandoned 2
Front

Britton and the tree
Yard work is always humbling in its scale

Baby Hawk 2
And its rewards like seeing this young hawk up close

Bird on a banana leaf
Or this little guy

Cabin in the jungle
Back side of the cabin as it is currently

Abandoned House
At another cool abandoned house

Vikinga
Randomness of life here…Viking helmets and old nuclear reactors

Buena Vista 2 Edit
So breathtaking -Spanish wall overlooking Pools Beach in Rincóñ

Pare sign
You know it’s a surf town when…

Turkey
At the international folkloric music/dance night in Rincon -people from all over the world came like Turkey!

Jenn Cassie Culture
Slovenia! (With my funny friend Jenn! haha)

USA
I thought the fiddles, overalls and square dancing was a funny representation of the USA, but somewhat accurate I suppose for folk dancing

Junk in your Trunk
Now that’s what you call a lot of junk in your trunk!! 😉

Mushrooms
Check out these cool mushrooms growing on rotting wood

White gingers
White torch gingers at our finca

Caterpillar
Plumeria caterpillar munching away

Moth
Sphinx moth

Boqueron
Beautiful Boquerón -standing

Boqueron chillin
And laid out (thanks to Amanda for this photo)

Horny Cassie
You never know what you might see…ram horn helmet and a skeleton at a restaurant!

Crazy VanThat’s quite the paint job!

wreck 2
And that’s one heck of a wreck!

Jeff and Britton Cassie fedora
Laura and Trevor Salsa night

We went out salsa dancing with fedoras at a place called Hydra and had a lot of fun! It’s a cool, hip place and while I love salsa dancing and music it does seem to be dying off as a popular music style here on the island. Bachata, merengue and reggaeton are far more favored at most bars. Salsa is like 50’s sock-hop music would be to most people stateside.


We got some moves- haha!

Piramide Pyramid
Yah, you know there’s just a random pyramid in Aguada

Shell
Such beauty! Hermit crabs abound

Motorcycle ride
A nice guy at a bar gave me a ride on his motocicleta!

Crabby
And these guys found a land crab at this place! Apparently it is juey mating season!

Britton and Roberto
Good times with friends like Roberto

Cassie up
Fun at Spanish Wall

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San German: A Spooky Colonial City

This week we went to San German to do an “estudio” at the beautiful and modern Hospital de la Concepción. Everything went quickly and well so we had time to explore the downtown area a little more after.

Hospital de la concepcion
Clean, professional, efficient and inexpensive medical care!

As we wandered the streets on a Tuesday afternoon we wondered where everyone was! It felt like a ghost town! Downtown San German has a very old, very colonial feel to it especially with its cobblestone and brick roads and ancient buildings.

San German
Quiet streets and mountains in the distance

San German city
Old town San German

San German plaza
Where is everyone??

The one that caught my eye the most as we mosied around I found out was Porta Coeli an old church-turned-museum that was built in 1606. Unfortunately the museum wasn’t open on that Tuesday, but we took photos from the outside.

Old Church San German
Porta Coeli from the old town plaza -very mission style

Cassie off the wall

Cassie church Cassie brick wall Britton church
The stories these walls could tell!

We walked around a bit and took pictures of other buildings and the currently used church which is beautiful as well, but definitely didn’t have the kind of eerie cool feeling that Porta Coeli had in its draw to me.

San German church
Modern Church

Cobblestone streets
Modern church and historic cobblestone roads

Old bldg flowers
A beautiful city!

It was an interesting little walk around the town even if it did have a spooky feel to it. If you’ve ever visited New Orleans, you know what I mean. There is a deep and dark history that puts a sort of shadowy filter over everything it touches. There were virtually no shops open except one. And I smelled it before I saw it. Incense! We walked into the bright little shop and talked with the friendly young clerk. There was a lot of incienso, crystals and religious articles like candles with saints on them. In the glass cases, however, there were other pendants with symbols of things I didn’t recognize though I have seen them on chains worn by many people here. I asked the clerk a lot of questions about what they symbolized and most of them were to bring luck or protection. There was la mano de azabache which is supposed to help ward off the Evil Eye, various warrior Indian heads which were to bring protection, blessed dice and figurines of people who I thought were saints but I learned were Orishas like Chango Macho and Yemaya.

Dos caras
Pendant I saw with 2 caras (faces) to watch your back from bad influences

I asked what type of shop this was called and he said it is a “Botánica” and it was actually rather busy considering there was virtually no one anywhere else in town. From time to time as I looked and asked questions about various articles he would duck behind the counter and fill paper bags with some unknown things and bring them to cars waiting in the street. Other people came in and bought the saint velones (candles) and asked for things in hushed voices. I definitely felt like they knew something more than I did about all of these mystical things! I am realizing there are layers and then there are layers to this Puerto Rican world that are still somewhat mysterious as I try to unravel them in our travels around the island.

Cassie and door edit

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Isla de Ratones

Our most recent adventure was to the tiny one-acre island called Isla de Ratones or Mouse Island because at one point in time it was overrun by rodents. Since then it has been cleared of most pests and is just a nice day trip. It has an interesting history including a connection with MTV in the 80’s! As a beautiful little deserted island I think I like its original name: Piñas, which means pineapples, but if rodents make people leery of visiting, all the better for us to have this little island to ourselves!

Isla de Ratones

The day started around 10am in Joyuda where we chartered a boat for the short 4-5 minute ride out to the island. It would have been fairly easy to paddleboard or kayak to the island if one had at least an intermediate skill level. Still, it was fun to pile up our group of about 30 people into two boatloads and head on over!

Loading Boat
Loading pier

Boat Trip Boat trip 2

Boat back On the boat

Boat Ride
Our short little boat trip

I love these trips to these tiny islands off the coast of Puerto Rico. This one was a little easier because we didn’t have to drive to the east coast. It was right down the road past Mayaguez! A simple day trip. It was so funny how much stuff people bring to spend 5 hours at a beach. So we had plenty to eat and drink and there was even a bathroom on the island! We enjoyed grilling up food, hanging out in the water, jumping off the pier and even painting ourselves like Tainos with a special purple clay! Here are a few fun pictures and a video from the day. Some of these photos are from Lowell, Amanda and Daisy.

Kelp Hair LowellWe had a spa day with mud masks and kelp hair treatments haha!

Beach Daisy dock picture
We were a little concerned about a rainout but it was a nice sunny day!

Beach Chillen Cassie pose Fun in the water Water Chillin
Fun on an island in the sun

Cassie AndreaAndrea and I are painted like Tainas

Clay TattoosAnd these guys are just silly

Bright Cassie Shish kababs Patrick and daughter
Good times!

Amanda group photoCheers to Daisy for organizing this trip!

Silly photoGetting goofier!

Cassie sarongOn the other side of the island with the remains of an old pier

Base camp Long pier
Old pier Hanging

Cassie Britton pier

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Punta Ostiones

BK CK
At Ostiones

We took a little drive down the coast of Mayaguez as we have been recently and found a little hidden jewel near Joyuda. I didn’t even know what it was called as we walked down the neatly raked trails that twisted and turned throughout the mangroves. We came upon a couple of younger guys hanging out on one of the rustic little benches and I asked him where we were. “Ostiones, o la playita,” they replied. And said that the trails went pretty far down and there were other many little benches to stop and enjoy the beauty.

Path thru grove
Down long trails

Beach area
Little sitting spots

Mangroves
Twisted mangrove roots

Cassie pose
Entrance to the sea

Cool sand creatures
Beach art as made by nature

Coconut palms
Awesome coconut tree grove through the middle part of the trail

I have always been a fan of the television show Survivor and this special spot reminded me a lot of where they would have secret conversations and find hidden immunity idols! Places like these are why I often feel that my life is playing out like a tropical movie or TV show.

Upside down edit
And lots of cool places to hang out

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