Category Archives: Bridge

Cueva Ventana and Much More in Utuado and Arecibo


At the famous spot! Cueva Ventana

It’s hard to believe that we had never been to Cueva Ventana! It is one of the most famous landmarks in all of Puerto Rico and the famous window scene is used in many tourism campaigns and even things like bank website pan screens. But, I suppose there is a first time for everything. Apparently since 2013 it has become a truly “tourist” destination that is only accessible with a paid tour. This isn’t usually our style of adventure, but since it was the only way to see it and we really DID want to see it, we didn’t hesitate when a friend mentioned they were heading up and if we would like to join. We had to make sure it would work out with Aeden’s daycare, but once that was settled, we made arrangements with our friends who are visiting, Petra and Brian to take the trek up there and meet the larger group.

 
Ancient Taino petroglyphs in the cave are said to protect the entrances


Fun in the cave. It was light enough throughout most of it to take pretty good photos without flash


We had to wear safety helmets and the group was huge! Things we’re not used to!

The tour was fun and the caves were super neat, but I yearned for the days before the paid tour. It didn’t cost too much ($11 for PR residents with ID, $22 for non-residents), but it was just so slow and lumbering and very basic. The guide was pointing out things like snails on the trees and tarantula holes in the ground. Things that might be interesting to a visitor, but are daily sightings for us jungle dwellers. So we tried to make the most of the slow moving train taking pictures and looking for cool plants along the way. We found mamey, corazon, seeds that are often used in jewelry and other neat plants.


Lago Dos Bocas

I had researched the area before and found that Lago Dos Bocas is just a hop skip and a jump away. I wasn’t sure how it would be since it had been over a decade since we’d been there! When we arrived, it was obvious that it had not been fully repaired since Hurricane Maria and the ferry boats weren’t running. Apparently on the weekends there are private boats that will take you to a couple of restaurants on the lake, but they weren’t going. It was intermittently rainy, so we just enjoyed the lakeview for a bit and then headed down the road.


Pretty spot, the Lake of Two Mouths


Wouldn’t you stop if you saw this??!

While were were driving along, I spotted a mural that said “La Hamaca”. I had heard of La Hamaca Bridge in Adjuntas, but I didn’t think we were quite that far inland. Still, I encouraged us all to stop and check it out. Sure enough, it was another Hammock or suspension bridge crossing a river in Utuado!


Suspension Bridge La Hamaca Salto Abajo, Utuado


A fun little stop!


Shortly after this picture was taken my hat took sail and Britton had to wade out to get it haha

We had a nice meal of comida criolla by the river and then checked out downtown Utuado. It was an old colonial plaza with some cool architectureand a quiet vibe. There were still some areas cordoned off because of earthquake damage which surprised me this deep in the island’s interior.


Colorful Utuado

Finally as we were driving back down the curving back roads we passed the Caguana Ceremonial Park and stopped. My vague memory of this on our honeymoon is so different than what it looks like now. They didn’t even have the little grass replica huts, but they did have the large ceremonial roads and fields and some very impressive huge ceiba trees as well as achiote/annato trees which was used, among other things, as a skin paint for the Tainos. It was beautiful and vast, but the museum was closed, so there wasn’t much else to see. But for $3 it was worth a stop to support them in hopefully fully opening up again.  .


We made it back just in the nick of time to pick up Aeden. It was a wonderful day trip exploration of the interior of the island.

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New Flowers and Friends


Newest bloom: Evita’s Rose

We are constantly on the lookout for new plants, trees and flowers. It seems that most of the viveros have all the same common plants: trinitarias, hibiscus, bromelias, orchids, citrus, avocados. What they don’t have are heliconias, gingers, plumerias and all the exotic fruit trees. We are currently on the lookout for durian, Australian finger lime, and reina de las flores (this is a common tree, but for some reason we have a hard time finding it for sale).


Also looking for Rainbow Eucalyptus like this one seen on the side of the road

At the last pulguero in San Sebastian we had a good score! We found another Ylang Ylang tree (the fragrance is so divine, it is used in Chanel No 5), an achiote tree (a natural food dye for the color red and very cool looking fruit), a huge Tibochino espiga and a Raffy palm (that’s what the vendor called it). At Jardines Eneida we also found some new trees like a Cordia, Saman and mamayito (lemon drop mangosteen).


The meadow area after a good mow -we need to mow about every 2 weeks now that it’s raining so much


I also found this nepenthes pitcher plant that reminded me of well…you know


All the rain has brought out the mushrooms


And so we bought some garden art to commemorate them


Rainy days at the cabin. Notice the new railings!


Still not sure if we want to put rails on the bridge though


The mosquitos come out a lot more in the rain, so we put a mosquito net on Aeden’s play pen outside, that he promptly pulled down 🙂


He’s our little farmer so we did an impromtu photo shoot with him


Our little red is getting so big! 9 months now


Aeden’s 9 month video update

In order to find the heliconias and ginger varieties we want, we have to find direct vendors. The rhizomes don’t do super well in pots for long periods of time, so they have to be directly transplanted as soon as possible into the ground. They also need a lot of space and water, that the average home gardener can’t often provide (hence why they are not commonly found in the stores around here). Well, I found someone online who specializes in them! Not only did Carlos sell us some amazing rhizomes, he also delivered them from San German and helped us identify many of our wild species. We hung out for quite a while and got to know him pretty well. We scored some plants, but even more importantly a new friend who is as geeked out about botanicals as we are! He is a student at the University in Mayaguez and knows a TON about plants.


With Carlos and the new plants


We’ve also been busy delivering flowers to friends/businesses like these that are on the way to Karibe Kombucha and Ocean State of Mind

Other than that we have been going out and having fun enjoying the scenes around the island.


In Aguada, Puerto Rico


Cool building in Aguadilla


Selling fresh chopped coconuts in Isabela


A nice Sunday brunch at the Copa Lllena in Rincon


This guy was buying sugarcane from a neighbor


At the Sunday Farmer’s market a basket maker made me a crown. I was the reina de las flores for a day! 🙂


Man on a bicycle at the airfield in Aguadilla

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Random Update: July 2017

Once again it is time for the slices of life that don’t necessarily deserve a post of their own but have been fun and/or interesting.

We recently went to a beautiful celebration of life at a boutique resort in Añasco called Yukayeke. It was very touching.

Sunset
Amazing sunset

Beach Memorial
Gathering of friends

Yukayeke pool Playing music at Yukayeke
And a pool party

Crab cage
It’s still crab (Juey) season here and a few people are out on the street offering them for sale

Abandoned
I love to stop and see the abandoned buildings and the fantastic graffiti art

Cassie mural

Doorway

Flamingo
Even a flamingo!

Closet
We finally hung the closet pole and shelf!!

The cars on this island are almost as fun to watch as the people! So many questions…

One car
From this… a custom car that could never clear most of the potholes here

Two car
To this…a makeshift moving van?

Car balneario
To this…an abandoned and stripped out car. Why are there so many jugs of water?

Harvest
Back at the farm, we’ve had quite the abundance of food and beauty!

Breadfruit
Breadfruit – Pana in Spanish is also an expression here that means pal or friend

Peace Lily
Peace Lily is blooming

Limes
Our first limes from a tree we planted!

Bridge
The cabin side of the property is filling in nicely with plants and the afternoon rains cause the quebrada to flow beneath the bridge

Ms Puerto Rico
The clothing selection in some stores is pretty fun -I had to try this one on: Ms Puerto Rico!

Broken Piraguas
Even the piragua cart breaks down sometimes!

Cassie and Britton
And the beach is always awaiting us

 

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Update: Limber de Teta, Demolition Derby, Flower Power, Rincón Film Fest, Etc

Rincon beach road
Rincón Back Road

Wow, it always surprises me when I think of what to write about for the blog. I think, I don’t really have any good topics. Then I look through my pictures and I see that we have actually been out doing quite a few things. Here are a few of them:

Rincón International Film Festival
We enjoyed a beautiful and elegant evening at Rincón Beach Resort for the final night of the Rincón International Film Festival also known as “Best Of Fest.”  I like to watch all the short films that have been sifted through and chosen as the top picks. As for the resort, I have never been to this one and it was really nice. I have seen it advertised on Wheel of Fortune and it definitely has that sort of all-inclusive resort vibe. It even has a swim-up pool bar that is connected directly to the beach.

Rincon Film Fest
With friends at RIFF 

Cassie Rincon Beach Resort RIFF with Markus and Daisy
Fun at Rincón Beach Resort

Limber de Teta
I saw a sign for Limber de Teta and it made me laugh. What could boob limber possibly be? So we stopped and tried it out. It was a limber (like an icee) but sold in a little baggie the shape of a boob. Pretty clever!

Britton sucking teta
Sucking on a parcha/piña boob

Limber de teta Artesan Boobs
At the Limber de Teta stand just off the 115 going towards Aguada

Demolition Derby in Moca
A friend of ours invited us to a demolition derby in Moca that was a fundraiser for his friend’s adolescent daughter who has a very aggressive form of cancer. I see a lot of fundraisers around here for various causes, but this was one of the biggest. We hadn’t been to a demo derby since the Greeley Stampede many years ago. Here it was definitely not regulation size or even in a stadium. People just sort of hung out everywhere, but it somehow worked.

F Cancer Demo car
One of the demolition cars

Demolition crowd Demolition Derby from above
Quite a crowd in the middle of a cleared out field!

As we were watching the events unfold a the derby, a young girl walked by that caught my eye. What was in her hands? Snakes! I was intrigued and began asking her about them. She could tell that I wasn’t afraid of them and said, do you want to hold them? I tentatively said yes and she put the large python on my neck and the baby in my hands. You never know what you may find in the randomest of places!

Snake Cassie edit
Cassie the Snake Charmer. Starting to get a little tight around the neck!

Flower Power: Playing Music
We played our most recent show at Willie’s to the theme of Flower Power/Hippie Night and it was a lot of fun.

Willies Hippie Night
Playing out at Willie’s

Hippies Kenny Markus Cassie Hippie Night
Good times! Peace, Love and Happiness!

On the Property
We have been focusing on property landscaping a little more lately and cleanup. While we’re not completely done with the house, it is functional. So now we are making it and the surroundings pretty! The finca has grown a lot in the last 3 nearly 4 years and we are starting to see the literal fruits of our labors!

Japanese Nispero Flowers
Nispero Japones aka Loquat first flowers!

Cassie Jungle 2 two
Amongst the flowers of our gardens

Kola cola nut flowers
Kola Nut flowers!

I hear something BK
In the jungle of our yard…Hey! What’s that sound?!

We have been clearing out some pretty nasty spiky and poisonous plants lately! Check them out:

Huge Spider Huntsman
Huge harmless spider (on a 2×6 to give you scale)…a huntsman

Cross that bridge
We’ll cross that bridge when we get there

As I was clearing some bromeliads and underbrush from behind the cabin, I found this old liquor bottle. We have determined based on the markings that it is from between 1932-1964! That’s a long time to be sitting out in the middle of the jungle! This old treasure says: Federal Law Forbids Sale or Reuse of this Bottle. John Walker and Sons Ltd Kilmarnock Scotland 4/5 Quart.

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Before it was Johnnie Walker, it was John Walker and Sons Ltd

The chickens and turkeys are all doing pretty good. We have to protect them a little more especially now that we are at the cabin and not as close to their coops. We collect quite a few eggs and enjoy their silly antics. Here’s some voodoo magic you can do with a chicken!

Out and about
And then of course there is the randomness of being out and about around the island. You just never know what you might see.

Whole lotta cans
Like a HUGE can of cans!

Muscovie duck
Beautiful duck, I think a Muscovy in a lagoon

Surfrider crewHanging out with Surfrider and a high school science club doing water quality testing 

Mural
Cool new mural on a derelict building

Cassie derelict house
And nature reclaiming this one

Not even for one second
This sign made me laugh…No! You can’t park here, not even for one second

Sana
One of our favorite little food stands, Sana, moved across the street by the Post Office

Socato fruit
And at the Pulguero in San Sebastian I spotted these huge fruits. They call them Socato

Chilling cassie
Hanging out at one of our favorite bars, Olajas in Aguada

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