Tag Archives: Aguadilla

Aguadilla Treehouse and Parque Colon

Living in little rural Rincon it is nice to have two fairly large-sized cities to both sides of us: Aguadilla to the north and Mayaguez to the south. Both of them serve different purposes and have different vibes to them. Aguadilla has the military base and a bit more hipster/surfer feel whereas Mayaguez has the major university of the area and has a more family/career feel to it. When we go to Aguadilla we often stop at the mall on top of the ridge that overlooks the ocean and go shopping at the Pueblo grocery store. Get your food with a view!

Shopping with a view
Grocery shopping with a view in Aguadilla

Another nice stop in Aguadilla is the malecon area near the ice skating rink and we often stop there to have a drink, meal or picadera (finger food). One day we drove near the Parque Colon and I saw that the huge Aguadilla Treehouse was open. (Not that it can really be closed right now since the fence around it was completely destroyed by Hurricane Maria.)

Plaza Colon
Parque Colon -Aguadilla is one of many cities that claim to be Columbus’ first stop in Puerto Rico

This treehouse is amazing, mainly because of the tree. I was so happy to see that the tree hadn’t suffered too much damage from the hurricane. That couldn’t be said for the rest of the area however.

Cassie tree
In the roots/trunk of the tree

Britton in treehouse
Britton climbing around the fort/treehouse

I’ve always thought it would be fun to build a treehouse of some sort on our finca. We have some massive trees on the property, but nothing like this monster one that is actually kind of like a few trees that have merged together as it sends down roots from its branches.

Hola como estas tree
The tree is a 200 year old Laurel!

Cassie Treehouse
Under one of the arching branches. Watch your head!

Cassie climbing tree
This tree is incredible!

Treehouse wide view
Here is a wider view angle. It’s hard to really capture the magnitude of this tree and structure around it!

We hung out a while in the area and noticed an old playground of sorts. It looked as though there had been some sort of small child’s train system and a very sad, dilapidated and almost haunted and spooky looking section of children’s rides. Nearby around Parque Colon there are also ball courts, gazebos and other areas to make a picnic or hang out. And of course, the beach is right there!

Toy story apocalypseDestroyed playground equipment and look how many coconut palms had to be cut!

Skateboarding car
And of course there is always some sort of shenanigan going on -skateboarder catching a ride

If you are in the Aguadilla area, I highly recommend checking out Parque Colon and the awesome treehouse!

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Beachy Days

Cassie at steps
Enjoying Steps Beach

Most things on the island revolve around the beach at least to some extent. We don’t always go swimming or into the water, but we are often near it in one way or another. Here are a few fun random pictures near the sea.

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Britton climbing a coconut palm

Ismael and Angel
Meeting new friends in Aguadilla- Ismael and Angel at bar called El Varadero

Madeline and the tree
Behind the bar that is built around a huge Maria tree

Fish face
And this guy with his fish that he just caught

Boats in Aguadilla
Right across the street on the malecón of Aguadilla

Cassie beer 2
Enjoying a cold one on Sandy Beach, Rincón

anniversary
Celebrating our anniversary at Carbón de Palo, Mayaguez right on the water

Maureen Michelle BK
Meeting up with friends Maureen and Michelle at Villa Cofresí to watch the sunset

Cassie snorkel
Fun snorkeling at Steps

Long tree down
Exploring new and strange sights
With Omar
With friends Omar and Christopher at our favorite bar, Olajas right on the water in Aguada

Cassie cool pic 2
Relishing in the beauty of the beach

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Snapshot Update: Boquerón, Aguadilla, Rincón and Finca

Life just keeps trucking. Sometimes there’s more exciting things than others, but I always try to have my camera ready. Here are a few snapshots of recent moments of our life here in Puerto Rico.

seahorses-bk-ck-cropped
A fun stop in Boquerón (notice the bicycle with coconuts!)

aguadilla-water-beach
A beautiful beach scene in Aguadilla

aguadilla-treehouse
A cool treehouse in Aguadilla! I need to do some more exploring of this! It’s amazing!

tree-climber
Because I do love to climb trees!

banana-bunches
The finca is producing lots of food! Especially bananas and papayas right now!

turmeric-flower ginger
And also cool stuff like turmeric (curcuma) and ginger

laura-and-cassie
I did a fun photoshoot with my friend Laura at the Lighthouse Ruins in Aguadilla

cassie-tommy-poke
And we are super proud of our chef friend Tommy’s new Poke Shack venture in Rincón!

fresh-fish-tommy poke-and-salad
With local caught tuna and many other fresh local ingredients!

rainy-day-rainbow
It has been a bit rainy lately but that means gorgeous rainbows!

silly-britton-and-cassie
And still lots of fun times!

Oh and check out this cool stick bug I found on the screen door of the cabana!

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Flash Flood Stall Out and Rescue

We went to Aguadilla for an appointment and ended up in Aguada (watery-land)! Literally.

aguadilla
View overlooking Aguadilla out to Rincón

In Aguadilla we ran our errands, stopped and had lunch and then headed back home. On the way home it began to rain a little, and then a little more. We drove through Aguada and realized we forgot something and turned around splashing through a growing overflow of water on the road. We went to the nearest Farmacia. They didn’t have what we were looking for so we returned the way we came. This time there was a police car blocking the road with cars turning around. We could see that the road was flooded out, but we had just passed through there 20 minutes earlier! It couldn’t have risen that much more that we couldn’t pass, could it?!

The police spoke through the speaker and said in Spanish we could pass at our own risk to ourselves and vehicle. Britton took that as a green light! We went through one part just fine and then it started to get deeper and deeper. There was a slight hesitation on the part of Britton and then it was over. The truck stalled out in the middle of the road that was now a river…

poor-guaguaHow stuck we were! Look at that water flowing!

water-out-the-window-2
Like we were in a fricken boat!

water-in-the-truck
That was sinking!

britton-oops
Ooops…

We sat in the truck as it filled with water for about 20-30 minutes. People around us took pictures and video and yelled to us from the safety of the parking lot to make sure we were ok. Eventually the Emergency Rescue Management team showed up. The people in the military-looking Hummer first said they were going to look for a chain to tow us out and then decided to just get us out and we then would wait for a grúa (a tow truck) to get the guagua out.

It was pretty exciting to get extricated from the truck by climbing through the window barefoot. I’ve never had to be rescued before and I am so thankful these people are here! Everyone was super nice and didn’t give us a ticket or even a scolding except to tell Britton that he should be more careful since he had precious cargo on board (me)! Awww. I think they knew we had received our own punishment. They even said they were happy to make new friends with us even if it wasn’t in the best of circumstances. People here in Puerto Rico are so wonderful.

with-emergency-crew
With a few of the crew that rescued us! Thank you all!

The grúa came and towed out the truck and took us home. Now we are working on the truck to see if we can get it to run again…

checking-engine
Checking the engine

cassie-and-guagua
What an adventure!

Here’s a little video I managed to take in the midst of the chaos.

 

 

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