Category Archives: food plants

Paso Finos, Pulgueros y Playas


Britton and Aeden at the beach

We’ve been staying pretty busy with the kiddo, the cabana rental and the flower business but we also get out and about quite a bit as well. We recently went to Costa restaurant in Mayaguez for brunch (very good place!) after selling flowers at the farmer’s market and stumbled upon a Paso Fino competition. Paso Finos are a type of horse that has a very light gait (Paso Fino means Fine Step). The riders “jinetes” were judged on their posture, how their hands were in the reigns and other signs of an easy ride. The judges checked the horses for an even step on each of the four hooves as well as the general aesthetics and beauty of the beast. It sort of reminded me of rodeos in Colorado except you would never see a cowboy there in a tuxedo haha!


Paso Fino Competition Mayaguez


Me and Aeden at the competition


Paso Finos


Playa Buye

Then we drove down to Playa Buye for a quick afternoon stop. It is always a busy and popular beach.


At Buye Beach

We’ve also been checking out the local Pulgueros. Pulguero means Flea Market and is almost a direct translation since the word flea in Spanish is “pulga.” We like to go to the big market in San Sebastian on Friday mornings and we also made it just in time for the one in the Mani sector of Mayaguez Sunday mornings. We are not so much interested in all the household and random goods as the produce, plant and animal selections we can find. I am trying to talk Britton into some water features at the property and would love to have ducks, geese and koi fish for them. We found some pretty neat fruit trees, flowers and other interesting plants as well as a connection for some more heliconias and gingers. Britton says he can’t believe he is back visiting flea markets since he spent so much of his youth at them that he came to avoid them. But they are a little different here than in Colorado as you can see.


Angel Trumpets are awesome plants that smell wonderful but they are also semi-illegal/regulated in Puerto Rico because of its dangerous poisons (I still want them though!)


This variety of banana is called “Johnson” here in Puerto Rico. It’s actually a Cavendish but look how big they grow!
Flea market fried food fare: The golden brown thing is a “taco” (very different from a Mexican taco) and the darker brown one is an “alcapurria” They are both stuffed with meat, potato and seasonings


We saw this as we were leaving San Sebastian! Holy Plantains!


Mani Pulguero as it was clearing out -A seaside flea market!


At the Mani Market


Checking out all the kids stops too: at Yogufruti in Anasco (I love frozen yogurt so the fact that kids love it too is just an excuse! 馃檪 )


Aeden really is a good kid and just goes along wherever we go! We need to start bringing a stroller though because he is getting big and harder to carry!


Nuestro bebe colora’o

Whenever we go out people exclaim “Colora’o!” “Colora’o!” At first I thought they knew we were from Colorado and then I realized that they were talking about Aeden’s red-colored hair! 馃檪 They also LOVE, LOVE babies here. Women almost always get a super high pitched voice and say “Ayy que lindo! Dios lo bendiga” and sometimes can’t help but touch him. I will often offer him up to abuelitas (grandmothers) to hold when I see them longing for him. They love to pat him and smell his head. They also tell me about their children and grandkids and give lots of advice. It’s very sweet.


At Pepe’s Pizzeria in Stella of Rincon another seaside favorite

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Update: Limber de Teta, Demolition Derby, Flower Power, Rinc贸n Film Fest, Etc

Rincon beach road
Rinc贸n 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聽a few of them:

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

Rincon Film Fest
With friends at RIFF聽

Cassie Rincon Beach Resort RIFF with Markus and Daisy
Fun at Rinc贸n 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.聽Pretty clever!

Britton sucking teta
Sucking on a parcha/pi帽a boob

Limber de teta Artesan Boobs
At the Limber de Teta stand just off聽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 crowdDemolition 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 CassieHippie Night
Good times! Peace, Love and Happiness!

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

17637010_10208953235290316_7484647352082477681_o
Before it was Johnnie Walker, it was John Walker and Sons Ltd

The chickens and turkeys聽are all doing pretty聽good. We have to protect them a little more聽especially now that we are at the cabin and聽not as close to their coops.聽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聽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聽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聽

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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Random Photo Update: Life in Toon Town

Here are a few photos that don’t probably deserve a post on their own but are just a part of the slice of life living in Puerto Rico. Sometimes the scenes and places we end up just seem so surreal, like we are living in a dream or some sort of cartoon. Sometimes it’s very strange, sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s just strikingly beautiful. But whatever it is, we’re living it up!

Palm Tree Cassie
The beach is always right around the corner

Ardilla Mongoose crop
I finally聽got a photo of the mongoose! The little egg bandit!

Turkey bridgeTurkeys need to cross bridges too! This particular guy聽is the hope for the future of our turkeys. The last surviving male.

Corazon
We are harvesting more and more of our own fruit from the finca聽like this coraz贸n, a fruit that looks like a heart

Bilimbe
And these interesting bilimbes that are juicy and so sour but leave a cool聽buttery taste in your mouth

More plants
And we went out and got some more plants too!

Kitty
I forgot to mention that Kitty is adapting well to the move over to the cabin too

Cassie Aquario
Out and about there is always something cool to see and do

Barrita Los cocos
Like this little Coconut Barrita

Hibiscus Flor
Or this amazing hibiscus flower right in the plaza that took my breath away

Britton and beer
Check out the view from this roadside liquor store

Mannequin house
And there is nothing like the bottom half of a naked mannequin to draw attention to your store! 馃檪

Britton congas
One of the conga players from the balneario came down and practiced with us in the jam space!

Sunset
There’s never a shortage of spectacular sunsets here!

Sunset
Marina Sunset

Sangria Cassie
And new spots to check out like Pal Monte

Cassie Ultimo Brinco stand
Which is just up the road from El Ultimo Brinco, Rincon’s little waterfall spot

Cassie wantedAnthony Loops and Cassie
Or at the restaurant Cowboys which is like a little slice of Colorado in Rinc贸n (with friend and musician, Anthony Lee). They even have rodeos here!

Cowboys Rubberneckers
And we got to see our friends play some country music – the Rubberneckers

Viking B
And if Puerto Rico聽is like Toon Town, we are now part of the loony聽fabric too! Here’s Viking man at the beach!

Cassie contemplating coco
Or聽the contemplation of聽a coconut in an abandoned聽house without a roof

Colorful downtown
And everything is so colorful!

Bienvenidos a rincon
Rinc贸n even has the cartoon-like welcome signs!

Cassie rock
And did I mention the beach is around every corner?

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2nd Annual Hot Sauce Contest

Last Monday we attended and I participated in the 2nd Annual Rinc贸n Hot Sauce Contest. It was a pretty rainy day, but cleared up quite a bit toward the evening. I聽competed with聽a mango-jalape帽o sauce that was somewhat similar to my award winning sauce, Hot Kiss, from last year. I gathered and used the mangos that continue to grow and fall from the huge tree above our cabana.

Mango Jalapeno
Some mangos and jalape帽os

I also made another cute label. This time the sauce was called Mango Jalape帽o Tango.

Mango Jalapeno Tango
Britton says they were聽“salsa” dancing聽馃檪

Considering the rain and cooler weather there was a pretty decent turnout. We had fun trying all the different salsas. Of course there were some that were just too hot for my taste and took a whole can of beer to wash the burning sensation away!

Rincon Balneario
Set up at the Rinc贸n聽Balneario

Caution Hot
隆Cuidado!

We hung out for quite a while. We even saw our neighbor and his uncle hanging out at the Balneario bar. I had him come over to the event and I think he regretted it. His face turned bright red after eating the burning peanuts. I tried to warn him to only have one peanut but he ate about 3! Pobrecito!

Neighbors
Our neighbor Jos茅 on the far right turned the color of Britton’s shirt after eating the聽pique.

Later that evening the psychedelic/rock聽punk band Blacks en Tela played live and we enjoyed hanging out and hula hooping. About half-way through they tallied all the votes and announced the winners. I won聽1st place for best label art and 3rd place for best flavor overall! Not too shabby! (You can find a full list of the winners at this page.)

Three winners
Jamie, Trina and I were three of the winners and we won these great tie-died shirts

It was also the evening of the summer solstice and we saw a beautiful sunset before the full moon. Overall a fun, fantastic evening. Thanks Frances and Greg for all your hard work in putting this together!

Walking at sunset
A fiery end to a fiery hot sauce contest

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