...ready to go. Parting is such sweet sorrow...
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
climbing rocks & trees in PR
So I'm going through all these pictures of our awesome vacation in Puerto Rico, and putting them in unique categories. This one is entitled climbing rocks & trees in PR, because, well, that's what makes this place so fun. I can't just go to a beach and lie on the sand. ugh. I get bored. restless. I gotta either surf/boogie board, snorkel, swim, or climb stuff. And we found lots of good stuff to climb. Puerto Rican beaches are often quite rocky, we've found, and full of trees (and lizards!) as well. It's just like being a kid again..you see all these big rocks and sideways-leaning palm trees, and you just gotta climb them!!! Here we go!
up & down for mofongo & flan
Tonight I had a hankerin' for some real Puerto Rican cuisine. Love their beans and rice, seafood, their bbq chicken, deep-fried everything, and tonight I wanted to try something I haven't had before: mofongo. It's mashed plantain served with some kind of meaty soup. oh and I also just HAD to have some flan, that delicious caramel-y dessert pudding, so light and fluffy on top with that sweet coffee-like syrup on the bottom....ahhh, heaven.
ok, so where to go for such heavenly entrees? Google for typical Puerto Rican food in Rincon, PR. Found a few, chose one in an easy enough location. Still a long drive down the mountain and back up again with the take-out fare, but would be worth it. Checked the website, translated the menu, googled directions, checked maps and phone GPS, as it was on a street without a name. ("where the streets have no name...uhhhh-huhhh.." thanks, U2) Hop into the car, stomach growling, here I go!
Here are a few short clips of the road down our mountain, just to give you an idea of what the perilous but beautiful drive is like: (ignore the random narration, these are random clips from previous trips)
I get there around 6 pm and the place is empty except for a woman sitting at the bar and a couple cooks in the back room. I ask if she speaks English, she says a little, but I think the important word there is "little". So we collaborate our 2 languages and I manage to communicate that I'd like my order to go, "para llevar". My order:
Surtido pequena (an appetizer sampler of all kinds of deep-fried, heart-attack-producing yummlies...)
Arroz con Camarones (rice and shrimp)
Mofongo Relleno con Pescado (traditional dish of mashed plantains with a fish soup over it)
Flan. (that wonderful, sweet, caramel-y dessert pudding)
She puts in my order, and I wait. Enjoying the scenery of this open-air restaurant....
Finally...my order is ready and bagged up, still hot and ready to take back up the mountain. I try not to look at the price as I sign the visa slip, and I"m off. I should've checked to see if everything is there, but I"m too excited to get these goodies home!
It's starting to get dark now. Getting used to driving this route. One nice thing about Puerto Ricans, they drive really crazy, just cutting in front of you constantly, but the thing is, if you're stuck trying to make a left hand turn into traffic, they actually expect you to cut them off, too, so they slow down, and will often motion for you to go, even if it backs up the long line of traffic behind them. nice. wish they'd do that in my home town.
Back to the house, same neighbors sitting outside on their porches, playing their music, same dogs barking at me, home sweet home.
yum yum!! The kids are especially enjoying the fried stuff, the chicken wings, deep-fried mozzarella sticks, bread thingys, pork thingys, and I am love-love-LOVING how they put so much heavenly cilantro in all the rice and beans here!!!! Much tastier than the Dominican variety, though that was good too. But then I realize, quite sadly, that there is NO. FLAN!!! That wonderful dessert I've been dying to try since planning this trip. I can't tell if the price on the receipt includes the flan or not, but I grab the receipt and get back in the car, after inhaling my portion of the goodies, of course.
This is ridiculous, I'm thinking, driving all the way back down this crazy mountain on these twisting roads that take me on the edges of cliffs, sometimes while passing a huge truck or bus on the narrow road...eek! All for the sake of a dish of flan. But I've got the windows wide open, romantic salsa music bouncing out of the radio, loving every minute of this solo adventure in Puerto Rico.
Return to the restaurant, my waitress friend is seated at the bar, devouring her own little dish of mofongo. I explain my predicament, she says she forgot the flan, but that I also did not pay for it, so the guy gets me my small portion, packaged up, I pay and go. adios!
Back up those crazy winding mountain roads. I wish I had a photo of this cherished treat that I worked so hard to get my hands on, but alas, as soon as I got home with it, I lost all control and it was gone before I had a chance to snap its picture.
ok, so where to go for such heavenly entrees? Google for typical Puerto Rican food in Rincon, PR. Found a few, chose one in an easy enough location. Still a long drive down the mountain and back up again with the take-out fare, but would be worth it. Checked the website, translated the menu, googled directions, checked maps and phone GPS, as it was on a street without a name. ("where the streets have no name...uhhhh-huhhh.." thanks, U2) Hop into the car, stomach growling, here I go!
Surtido pequena (an appetizer sampler of all kinds of deep-fried, heart-attack-producing yummlies...)
Arroz con Camarones (rice and shrimp)
Mofongo Relleno con Pescado (traditional dish of mashed plantains with a fish soup over it)
Flan. (that wonderful, sweet, caramel-y dessert pudding)
She puts in my order, and I wait. Enjoying the scenery of this open-air restaurant....
It's starting to get dark now. Getting used to driving this route. One nice thing about Puerto Ricans, they drive really crazy, just cutting in front of you constantly, but the thing is, if you're stuck trying to make a left hand turn into traffic, they actually expect you to cut them off, too, so they slow down, and will often motion for you to go, even if it backs up the long line of traffic behind them. nice. wish they'd do that in my home town.
Back to the house, same neighbors sitting outside on their porches, playing their music, same dogs barking at me, home sweet home.
yum yum!! The kids are especially enjoying the fried stuff, the chicken wings, deep-fried mozzarella sticks, bread thingys, pork thingys, and I am love-love-LOVING how they put so much heavenly cilantro in all the rice and beans here!!!! Much tastier than the Dominican variety, though that was good too. But then I realize, quite sadly, that there is NO. FLAN!!! That wonderful dessert I've been dying to try since planning this trip. I can't tell if the price on the receipt includes the flan or not, but I grab the receipt and get back in the car, after inhaling my portion of the goodies, of course.
This is ridiculous, I'm thinking, driving all the way back down this crazy mountain on these twisting roads that take me on the edges of cliffs, sometimes while passing a huge truck or bus on the narrow road...eek! All for the sake of a dish of flan. But I've got the windows wide open, romantic salsa music bouncing out of the radio, loving every minute of this solo adventure in Puerto Rico.
Return to the restaurant, my waitress friend is seated at the bar, devouring her own little dish of mofongo. I explain my predicament, she says she forgot the flan, but that I also did not pay for it, so the guy gets me my small portion, packaged up, I pay and go. adios!
Back up those crazy winding mountain roads. I wish I had a photo of this cherished treat that I worked so hard to get my hands on, but alas, as soon as I got home with it, I lost all control and it was gone before I had a chance to snap its picture.
So here, below, is a non-authentic, Googled photo of a piece of flan.
mmmmmmm, so good. and worth every mile.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Sounds of Puerto Rico
Hola! Aqui esta un video... oh..hable ingles? lo siento. me gusta mucho hablando en espanol, pero....ok. ingles.
hi, here's another sampling of the wonderful sounds of Puerto Rico, taken from our back terrace early in the morning, as well as at night. Coqui frogs & roosters. Enjoy.;-)
Monday, February 24, 2014
Day 2 Puerto Rico: Playa Borneario
What wonderful sights and sounds to wake up to here in Puerto Rico!
The first sounds to awaken me were at 4 am; the sounds of the roosters next door. Here's a little sample I recorded for you:
Ok, before we get our day started, let's give you a little tour around our vacation rental here in Rincon, Puerto Rico. Rincon is on the northwest coast of PR, and the house is just a couple miles inland, on top of a steep hill or small mountain. Just high enough for a fun, spiraling climb up the curving hills, and to give us a beautiful view of the ocean from above.
We are renting a home in a typical Puerto Rican neighborhood, which we love, as it adds more culture and reality to our vacation than staying in a touristy beach resort.
Here is our living room/office, the only room where we can get decent internet, unless we're all on a device at the same time...
This is obviously our kitchen... no dishwasher, and the water runs barely lukewarm, so I had to cross a mental bridge to allow myself to eat off our sort-of clean dishes without fear of germs from improper sanitation measures... oh well, island life.
Here Colby and his sister are enjoying the storage area in the top part of "his" bedroom...
...and this is a darling little lizard that came to visit me on the window screen while I was washing dishes. So nice of him to keep me company! We've got lizards everywhere outside, so cute, and some quite large! One looked like an iguana, wouldn't be surprised.
Just a little fruit break here...a reminder of what wonderfully fresh and cheap delicacies can be found on this island..I got all these at a fruit stand for maybe six dollars. yummy!!
Another view of our view...from our back terrace. Love watching those cows on the next hill.
Just hanging out on the hammock..
So our first beach trip of our first day..to Playa Bornearia (?), the public beach in Rincon. Doesn't look too public, looks pretty empty here, which is nice. Only on the weekends do beaches really get crowded here. love it!
(oops! tilt your head!!!)
(oops again, keep tilting...)
that's all for now. We actually checked out 3 more beaches this first day, but I will have to come back later to tell you more about that. Now it is time to try to beat this 3 am insomnia & get back to sleep. Woke up to someone's blaring salsa music from a car racing down the mountain. Now I just heard the gentle clip-clop, clip-clop of someone on a horse trotting down that same dark, quiet road...now a few coqui frogs... ahhhhhhh I just love love love the sounds of this beautiful island!!!!
buenas noches!!!
Friday, February 21, 2014
PR update
buenas diaz, Puerto Rico!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and to all my fans back home..hola! hello! Sorry I have not been good at updating this blog every exciting day of this trip, but the internet connection here is very poor, unpredictable, and often non-existent. But don't worry, I am still being the ever-faithful travel journalist here, jotting down notes in my old-fashioned notebook so I can later put it all down in this electronic version. ahhh, i think i would enjoy doing this for a living, live out some adventures in a foreign place, take pictures, then write about it. publish. repeat. my dream job.
Anyway, I'm sitting on our lovely balcony or terrace writing this, listening to the cooing mourning doves and the occasional rooster, watching some hefty lizards creeping by in the garden below, and gazing out at the beautiful blue ocean behind the next set of hills where I can also watch the cows climbing up and down as they graze. Tropical breezes gently swirling around me, never too hot, never too cold. just right. perfect.
In a few minutes we'll get packed up and take a road trip to a place called Gilligans Island. Actually drive to a town where we take a ferry to the island. more about that later. yesterday i took surfing lessons and stood up! (more about that later, too...) the day before we hit some other beaches. so much to tell you...later.
gotta go!!!
Thursday, February 20, 2014
How to eat a baby banana in one bite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoZ_6OR_mas&feature=youtube_gdata_player
