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.

So here, below, is a non-authentic, Googled photo of a piece of flan.

mmmmmmm, so good. and worth every mile.

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.;-)

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's where I wake up...in this sunny room with Sam and all her stuffed animals that she brought along in her suitcase...

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!!!

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!!!

How to eat a baby banana in one bite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoZ_6OR_mas&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Photos day one PR

Day One: Puerto Rico Vacation!!!

4:20 am.  Alarm goes off.  Shake the dreams out of my head, yesterday’s song still remains.  Next thought: Puerto Rico!!!!  Shower, wake kids, brew coffee, gather luggage, call airport taxi.  hello? anybody there?  Miscommunication with airport taxi, almost no ride, then airport taxi driver needed directions to the airport.  (huh?)  arrived at rdu. so far so good.  Checking in baggage: flung my huge, bursting, had-to-sit-on-and-wrestle-to-close suitcase onto the scale, and...6 pounds overweight!!! oh dear.  airport guy made me open it up, revealing its contents to the world of waiting passengers, and I dug out the heaviest items to carry elsewhere.  Best bet= the big wad of bikinis; transfer to my carry-on.  Result? 6 pounds lighter!   tally-ho!

First flight to Charlotte, NC: non-eventful.

Second flight to San Juan, PR:  as we speak!!! Sitting between Sam (doing minecraft) and Colby on Mario Cart.  Hearing more Spanish language from passengers and of course the flight crew, but still feeling pretty American.  Need to try something more exotic next time, craving culture shock.  At least the TV’s on the backs of the seats are pretty cool on this bigger plane.  Complimentary beverage and 5-calorie snack headed our way.  can hardly wait. starvin marvin here.

Hour 3 on this flight.  Getting antsy. Tired of little kid behind me kicking my chair.  Seeing glimpses of the Caribbean out the window, but only glimpses because we’re in the middle row of the seats on this larger jet. this kid’s babbling behind me is driving me insane.  Glad Sam & Colby have always been quiet ones in public.   hmm. could visit the lavatory (sp?) again...or not.  if this kid behind me asks, “are we almost there yet, mom?” one more time i think i will….ok relax. breathe deep.  think warm rushing waves of the Caribbean.  fresh tropical fruits.  warm sand.  suntan oil.  waxed surfboards.  colorful fish dancing with me underwater.  i can do this..

Passing the time...playing with the webcam toy again...

End of the flight got interesting...as we lowered from our higher altitude, it got REAL turbulent, and we were bouncing and rocking and rolling like crazy, and at one moment i had to laugh when there arose from all corners of the jet this big collective shriek on one particularly big bump! Like a rollercoaster, i joked to Sam & Colby, trying to make light of the fear of death we were probably all feeling at the moment… But then we finally landed, and just like they used to do when I landed in the Domincan Republic, everyone applaouded and cheered at our safe arrival on the ground.  

Gotta love these Latin Americans!!!  

Waiting for everyone to get out of the plane...took for-ever-er.  Looking at the map on the big tv screen at our location in Puerto Rico, I realize how very close we are to South America!  hmm, maybe we should keep on cruising along here, visit Venezuela, maybe Brazil...

Riding along the expressway from the airport in  the capital city San Juan, on the east end, to Rincon, the little surfing village on the west end.  So pretty, reminds me so much of the Dominican Republic, which is just a hop-skip-and-jump across the ocean from here.  Beautiful. Green hills, green foliage and these trees everywhere with bright red-orange blossoms.  Then plenty of American looking places like Burger King, Krispy Kreme, T.J. Maxx, throw in lots of brightly painted cement homes with metal window slats with iron bars over the windows, laundry hangin on metal gate fences, signs in Spanish, lots of pigeons, crazy drivers in 5 lanes of busy traffic, now down to 2 lanes, Catholic churches with pointy steeples, sudden cloudbursts in the middle of a sunny day, perfect weather- balmy-humid and low 80’s...so so nice.  So far I’m in paradise.  Gang grafitti and some pretty artistic grafitti on cement walls and city tunnels, these are some of the sights so far, as we drive along in our red  Hyundai Sonata rental car.

Had our first meal at KFC.  I ordered.  First I said, “hable ingles?” to the girl at the counter, hoping she could speak English.  She immediately said no and started backing up to find someone who could speak English to me, but I assured her that I knew “un poquito espanol” ( a little Spanish) and then proceeded to place our family’s order in Spanish.  Guess I did ok, as we all got exactly what we wanted.  Then I had to take a selfie next to a Starbucks, though we didn’t have time to go inside, need to get to our house near the beach at the other end of the island before that fast tropcial sunset comes upon us, and we’re left on those crazy twisted roads out there, trying to find a strange apartment in the dark.

warm balmy breeze blowing through my hair from the open car window, lazy sunshine peeking out behind a random rain cloud,  dancey salsa rhtyms playing on the radio…re-learning Spanish by reading all the road signs....yeah, i could get used to this…. Like a dream..

Exhausted. Ready to sleep.  Twisty turning roads up and down steep heels on a narrow road sometimes only wide enough for one car at a time, mangy dogs scratching themselves on the side of the road, crazy directions, but we finally made it here, as we watched an amazing but fast tropical sunset, as the big orange ball dropped quickly behind the horizon of the ocean in the distance.  amazing.  thank you, God, that was awesome!  Then back down those twisty roads in the dark to the supermarket, used my feeble Spanish again to ask where the peanut butter was in that interesting grocery store, and got a few necessary items to wake up to. (Puerto Rican coffee, of course, fresh-picked bananas, (the tiny tropical kind), papaya, fresh juice from the island, etc.)  Now ready to sleep, if I’m not awoken by the blaring merengue and salsa music coming from the loud cars that go racing at breakneck speeds past our humble concrete abode...or by the roosters that supposedly start crowing at some ungodly hour, as well.

more photos on our trip so far tomorrow!!!  

aren't i just lovely? i should just call this blog my jennerosity selfie, unplugged, unphotoshopped or something..