I’ve had to spend my evening here working on my corporate taxes. (My fiscal year ends 12/31, so they need to get filed by mid-March.) It hasn’t been much fun trying to remember all the forms I need to fill out, considering that all my files are up in a storage locker in Arlington Heights. Even less fun because there was no income last year, but I still have to file the forms. That’s the price for being legit, I guess.

On the bright side, it’s currently 70 degrees warmer here than in Chicago. Unless you count the wind chill–then it’s 77 degrees warmer! )

Some have wondered if the little weather notice on the site actually works. Yep, it sure does. Here’s the five day outlook (high/low) for the mountains: 79/67, 80/68, 81/68, 81/69, 82/69. And those are winter readings. On the bright side, for you northerners, we’ll get a couple months of rainy season to deal with. That should be a real treat.  Because when it rains, it really rains.

Now I feel bad for posting this–I just checked the Chicago weather. At 8 AM AST (6 AM CST) on Saturday it’s a delightful -6 degrees, with windchills close to -20. Ouch! That’s really awful, especially considering the mildness of January. I like Chicago, but I hate that cold weather.

During our last road trip, to Jayuya, we passed near a big lake. We didn’t have time to visit then, so we decided to take a look today. The lake is called Caonillas (and I have no idea what that means) and is bigger than Dos Bocas, and probably a bit smaller than Guajataca. Like most (all?) of the lakes in PR, this one is man-made. A dam was completed in 1948 that created the lake.

By the way, this lake feeds Dos Bocas, which then feeds rivers north into Arecibo. In PR the rivers and lakes I’ve seen flow from South to North. That may be because most of the lakes/rivers I’ve seen are north of the big line of mountains toward the south-central part of the island (called the Cordillera). We’ll need to investigate! Anyway, this is a little strange to midwestern guy, who is used to rivers going from North to South. Heck, they even re-routed the Chicago river to flow southward!

Anyhow, we took a look at the lake (which is very nice) and stopped at the dam that holds it. When the dam was constructed there was a town in the area. That town is now at the bottom of the lake, main church square and all. On the bright side, this series of lakes does supply some electricity and is the main source of fresh water reserves on the island. I just posted a bunch of pictures of the area. Dam lovers will note that I’ve got about a half-dozen dam pictures posted. It’s really cool to be able to walk on a structure that has been holding millions of gallons of water for nearly 60 years–and that’s with the rain we get down here!

After visiting the lake, we headed east and went through Ciales (sounds like a sex-drug to me) then to Morovis. North of Morovis we stopped at a pincho stand and had lunch. These stands, scattered along most every major road, serve stuff like grilled-meat-on-a-stick (no veggies–just meat–usually chicken, pork, and [rarely] beef) and fried goodies. It’s usually a cheap and tasty way to eat down here.

(You know it’s a safe/good stand if there are a bunch of semis parked on the side of the road nearby. People back-up the wrong way on expressways to get to the stands. I’ve seen crazy head-on turns and neck-whipping U-turns. All in pursuit of a grilled stick of chicken.)

At the pincho stand we started talking with the people (“where are you from”; the usual stuff). We mentioned that we’re looking for some land down here, and they immediately knew a good contact who is looking to sell (getting on in age and wants to liquidate his land). So, we’re probably gonna meet with him this weekend and see what’s there, and get some advice on buying land on the island (he has a lot of legal contacts). I tell you, it pays to talk to people. We’ve found out more info just taking chances and talking with strangers. Many people down here really want to help (a whole ’nother bunch are useless theives, but that’s everywhere, I guess).

It was quite funny when Ev told the pincho people that I was American (at this point my arms are darker than most Puerto Rican’s, and I usually wear a baseball cap, which seems to be an offical uniform of Puerto Rican men).  Anyhow, they wanted to quiz me on how I pronounced stuff. (They were being helpful and friendly, not jerks.) Ah, ha! What did they give me to say? Food words! Well, all I hear are food words down here, and around the farm, so I passed the quiz with great success. The only problem is that I can say “salt cod” and “friend/boiled whatever” really well, but I can’t say “good morning”. Okay, it’s not that bad, but it’s close. My stock phrase is “I don’t speak spanish, but I understand a little”. Most of the time I just act like a deaf mute. That seems to work well for me.

From there, we headed back home, this time taking the more major Route 2 / I-22 back to the Arecibo area. Near the town of Manati we stopped at the Super Walmart and the Office Max (see, it doesn’t take much to keep us excited down here) then headed home. All in all, it was a good day of exploring new areas and routes.

For those interested in learning more about Puerto Rican cooking, try finding “Rice and Beans and Tasty Things” by Dora Romano. There is an English edition that is pretty good (400+ pages). There are used copies on Amazon (might be worth checking Abe Books). If someone is interested in a new copy, there’s a bookstore down here that has copies for $23.

If there are specific recipies you are looking for, let me know and I’ll write them up. Most of the ingredients are available in Chicago, since there is such as large Puerto Rican population up there.

Today we went down to the Anasco area to check out a farm that’s for sale. It has 12 acres and is in a nice area (between Mayaguez and Aguadilla, east of Rincon). The land has been well maintained, and there are lots of different plantings (ex. fruit trees, bananas, tons of coffee, pineapples, etc). You could pretty much live off the land. Only problem is we can’t think about buying until we get the job situation locked down (ex. if we got a place here, and worked in Mayaguez, it would be great. However, if we worked in Arecibo it would be an awful 2 hour drive every day). We’ll see what happens.

A question came up regarding food: “What is an Alcapurria?” Well, it’s best described as a fritter. You make a dough out of yautia (a root) and plantain (like a banana, except not sweet, but very starchy). You make an oval out of the dough and stuff it with some ground meat stuffing. You seal the meat inside the dough and deep fry until golden brown. They are kinda like Pepe’s mini-tacos.

I’ve uploaded the pics we took of the Palacete los Moreau (Castillo Labadie). Be sure to check out the “Before Restoration” pics and then compare to the current photos. They really did a great job restoring the house (it’s just a shame that it was left to ruin for so long).

Today we went to the Isabela/Moca area and visited the Palacete Los Moreau / Castillo Labadie house. It’s a big two story house built in 1905 on 1,300 acres of farmland (now down to about 100 acres, I believe). It is one of the first completely concrete houses on the island. (Older houses were made of wood, or other plant materials, since it’s cheaper/easier. Only in the last couple of decades did cement come down enough in price. Currently, nearly all the houses down here are concrete block.) The floors, however, are wood (very beautiful). It also has a basement, which is very very rare down here.
Unfortunately, the house was neglected and fell into ruin. In the early 1990′s the municipality of Moca purchaed the house and remodeled it. There are a number of before-and-after pics that really show how bad things had gotten. They did a really great job and, more recently, there have been donations of furniture and other artifacts to populate the house. In addition, they cleaned up the grounds, planted flowers, added paths and benches, etc. It’s a nice bit of history and worth checking out if you’re in the area.

I’ll post pictures of the house and its grounds shortly.

After visiting the house, we headed over the Crashboat beach again. Unlike the first two times (which were very very calm), today the surf was quite rough. The whole beach was running 2 to 3 foot waves, with some rare ones up in the 5 foot range. I went in there for a while, and went out far enough to avoid most of the breaking waves.

After a while things seemed to calm down, then I looked back and saw a big wave coming in (with a surfer, no-less). It broke right on top of me (in about 4 feet of water) and smashed my face, and the rest of me, right into the bottom. Nothing like having your face ground into wet sand!

Lucky (?) for me, I was in very shallow water, so I was able to pop right up. (I probably would have been safer farther out…at least I wouldn’t have hit the bottom so hard.) Anyway, I came out pretty dazed (hit my head pretty hard) with a bloody lip and abrasions on my face (felt like my face was getting rubbed by coarse sandpaper). Good thing this is a sandy beach. I’m okay now, but I’ve still got a headache, and I really can’t eat anything solid because of my cut up lip.

Needless to say, we’re going to be paying closer attention to the surf conditions before going out.

I’ve added the pictures we took during out trip to Jayuya. There are about 40 of them up there. Enjoy! Either access them via the link at the right, or from here.

We plan on carrying our camera more often (sorry we’ve been so lax), so we’ll hopefully have a lot more to add. It takes a lot of time to get them up there, with comments and all.

P.S. The TSG people “in the know” should search for the passport picture. I think you’ll get a laugh out of it. I sure did.

I’m pooped (it’s almost 3 AM here). I think I’ve got a tough day at the beach tomorrow, so I need to rest up. I’ll take pics.

P.P.S. I modified the image gallery settings slightly. You no longer have to be registered to add a comment or to download an image. Also, because I don’t have that fast of a connection, I have greatly reduced the size of the images (to 640×480). If anyone wants a higher res pic (2272×1704), let me know. The high-res ones are about 2 MB each.

Today we took a road trip down to the town of Jayuya, right in the center of the island. For those following along with decent maps, here’s the route– ready?

455 East to 134 South to 111 East to 140 East to 144 North.

See? Wasn’t that easy? The 140 East stretch is a killer. I felt like barfing for a while (shouldn’t have had those hash browns and bacon for breakfast)…lots of narrow twists and turns.

Anyhow, we went to Jayuya to check it out and see the small museums out there. It’s kinda nice, because, to the east of the (very nice looking) town is an old farm. On that farm there is a Taino museum, an old house museum, and a (sadly shabby) coffee museum, plus some little shops.

The Taino indian museum is small, and has a few artifacts. Sadly (or rightly, I guess), there used to be human remains on display, but they are now buried. I guess that’s good for the ancestors, but a loss for those who appreciate such things. (I’m torn: I’d love to look at the remains, along with the burial stuff, but also respect the dead. Though, frankly, I’d prefer to see the bones and stuff.) The museum is about a 10 minute visit–but the building its in is really cool. It’s a domed concrete structure shaped like a 3D petroglyph. Very cool. We took pics, which I’ll post shortly.

Next is the Museo Casa Canales. This is a restored turn of the 20th century farmhouse. They filled it up with lots of fun stuff. Old pictures, antique kitchen, etc. It’s really cool, since you can walk right up to the stuff (no touching!). It really gives you a feel for how people lived at the time. The house was originally owned by one of the town’s founding fathers, and its first mayor (1911). This little house museum is kept up very well and worth a look.

Next we looked for the coffee museum. Boy, that was a sad letdown. It’s not open anymore (though it’s about 100 feet from the above two museums)…the exhibits are there, but locked behind chain-link. It seemed to have some old equipment, along with some pictures–all stuffed in a 15×15 area! This is really sad, because coffee was (and is) such a huge deal for the island. It’s a shame that its history is not properly saved. (I recall there being another coffee museum down on the island; I’ll need to check on it.)

After the visit (spent about 45 minutes altogether) we grabbed some frozen drinks and hit the road. From Jayaja we took 114 East to 149 South to 143 East (the panoramic route) to the Toro Negro forest reserve. There are a couple of hiking trails, waterfalls, etc here. We spent about an hour and a half hiking (fruitlessly searching for a lookout tower) then headed back. We got a couple of really nice pics which will show you the area (a picture is worth a thousand words).

We took a slightly different route back: 143 all the way to 140, basically skipping the town of Jayuja. This is all along the panoramic route, which is very beautiful around here. Toward the south you can see all the way to the ocean. (In fact, the banner graphic of this site is a picture taken from around this area.) As you are driving, you can actually see Jayuya down in the valley (to the north). Kinda cool–you drive though it in the morning, and drive “over” it in the afternoon.

You also pass Cerro Punta, which is the highest point in Puerto Rico (1338 meters–about 4400 feet). It’s actually a very pleasant ride, even more so after a long hike. It’s very cool, and you follow the ridgeline from mountain to mountain, so it’s remarkably flat and easy to drive. Just about every turn has sweeping vistas…to your left the mountains roll off to the ocean, to your right are some amazing farmlands hidden in the hills. It’s a very pretty section to drive through.

Okay, enough talking for now. I’ll go work on the pictures and get them posted ASAP.

For better or for worse, you really need a car to get around in PR. (The only exception is if you live right in the middle of one of the cities/towns…but even then….) It seems like everyone down here has at least two, and maybe a horse on the side.

(As an aside: We see so many horses on the roads that I don’t even notice them any more–”There goes another 4 legged car”…”Look, more horse poop.” It goes with the territory.)

(A second aside: Puerto Rican’s seem to hate American cars, just like the rest of America, I guess. Ev and I did an experiment once and 95% of the cars that passed us were foreign, with Toyota being far, far in the lead. The only thing American we see down here are the pickup trucks…lots of Fords. And a lot of International trucks. I must say, the Coca Cola International trucks are weird to see on the road. They are so well kept that they appear to be right out of the factory!)

Anyhow, a lot of the roads down here are in bad shape (especially in the more interesting areas that we want to explore). Unfortunately, our little Toyota Echo doesn’t exactly have much ground clearance. So, we’re thinking of a second car–or, should I say, truck.

Basically, we need something with a lot of ground clearance. It doesn’t have to be super-comfy or super-gas efficient, since it will be more of “exploring” and “get around mudslides during a hurricane” transport. For going to the grocery store, we’ll use the Echo.

I’m thinking of stuff like Jeep Wranglers (I’ve always wanted a Jeep–even with their negative aspects), Toyota Tacoma’s (4WD), Ford F150′s, etc. I’m really not into the SUV idea, unless it’s something like a Range Rover. I like the idea of a Jeep, but a mid or full size pickup is probably more generally useful, especially if we plan on building a house down here.

Anyone out there have recommendations? Please post a comment.