Category Archives: Tropical

Flashback to Puerto Rico: August 8, 2005 – Continued

This is the continuation of the first Flashback post I started a while back. I would like to finish sharing this whole journal that we wrote on our honeymoon in 2005 before we leave to start our new Puerto Rico life adventure this fall.

Day 2: August, 8 2005, Continued

We left Old San Juan and a couple of American girls on the bus said they had just returned from the Bacardi rum tour, so we decided to go there. We got directions and were off to Cataño, the city it is in. This was our first experience with (Puerto Rican) freeway traffic -and it’s not really free. Crazier than before with everyone merging and driving in the emergency lane-  think I-25 rush hour times 2.

Bacardi

The Barcardi tour was ok, and they gave us free drinks. I tried the coconut rum and really liked it so I bought some. It was really a pretty short tour, so we were off on the road to our next destination by about 4:30.

We saw the the signs for the Arecibo Observatory and decided to take a detour from our way to check it out. It was like one lane traffic through the forest but with a line of cars that speed much faster than we would in the curvy mountains of Colorado. It was that curvy, but overgrown with vines hanging from the electric wires and tree branches that we try to grow as house plants hitting the cars.

100_1827
Driving through the interior jungles of Puerto Rico that make tunnels out of trees

Finally we got to the top where the observatory was and it was closed at about 6pm so we are planning to check it out Wednesday when it opens again. We drove back down the way we came and got a little lost and had to retrace our path. Finally after ever more curves, trees, chirping frogs and people standing in the doorways, we made it here to Casa Grande. We are just resting because we know tomorrow will be another busy day. We are going to try and avoid those toll roads if we can and see the Camuy Caves and Indian Ceremonial Park.

Relaxing in a hammock
Relaxed hanging out in a hammock at Casa Grande in Utuado, PR

…To be continued

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Clearing Space and Filling It

These next few months will be all about clearing out our space in order to move into a new one (even more than we have in previous purges). And I don’t just mean physically, but also figuratively. Physically we have to sell, give away, donate, pack or toss almost all of our belongings. But as we do this, we are also figuratively making space for new things to move into it.

I think we all know the feeling of clearing off a table only for more things -keys, coins, papers, etc- to “magically” creep onto it again. We have to constantly keep a check on our space to make sure it holds what we want it to. In the same way, we must do that with our lives and what we bring in it: people, money, jobs, hobbies, our thoughts, our dreams, our purpose! Nothing stays a void very long. We are constantly filling and refilling. Creating and re-creating.

Often our physical artifacts are representations of our thought realm. When we aren’t careful and selective, it can be become cluttered -a mess. We must be careful what we bring into our lives- our home, our mind, our body – so that it will be a true reflection of what you want to see, to be.

And so in this way, it has been a real re-awakening to what is important to us, especially when we got new carpet and had to move everything that had been in every room. Most of our “stuff” really is just stuff. They are representations of things that were once important to us, and some of what still is. But most of it is not necessary in our transition to what we really want, and where we really want to be: which is 3000 miles away on four jungled acres in a tucked away surf town on a Caribbean isle.

I think we are coming close to a point where we will be looking more at what we want/need to take with us instead of what needs to be discarded. For instance, this is the list of things we will take so far:

Kumquat and Mexicola
The two plants I’d like to take

Clothing– we will need a little clothing to get us started. And most of my jewelry because it is small, easy to take and a lot have meaning (like our wedding rings for example).
Sentimental items– some physical photographs/albums, journals, small gifts, small wall decor items
Computer/lap top– for our music, files, blog, and digital photos
Paperwork-like licenses, titles, taxes, identification
Kitty- We have chosen to take Kitty. It will be a mini-adventure for sure to take our cat with us. And through his eyes we will see our reactions somewhat mirrored
A couple of houseplants– I would like to take our Mexicola avocado plant that I grew from seed and a kumquat tree.
Bikes -We are not sure on this one. I love my beach cruiser and it would be perfect in Rincon, but is it worth shipping? Same thing with Britton’s mtn bike. It is old but reliable.
Guitar/bass- We will probably be using a lot more acoustic instruments like bongo drums and acoustic guitars, but this perhaps will be a sentimental item for BK to bring. He is selling his amp, however, which will literally clear a lot of space.

Marshall Vintage
Amp for sale!

I think these are good representations for what we are bringing into this new space that we will be creating. Our knowledge, history and experiences. Responsibility. Living things. Love. Music. Hobbies and interests. Health.

In 7 short months, we will be walking into a new space and filling it with the building blocks of a new, exciting adventure. And we are thrilled!

Rincon House Fish Eye
Thanks to Linda for capturing this fish-eye picture of our place in Rincon!

 

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Drywall Free Interior Walls

I was driving into work today while day dreaming about the house in Rincon.  I was thinking about what to do with the wood house and specifically about what to do about the interior walls.

The wall cavity between the outer siding and the inner panels/drywall seems to make a great place for bees, rats and bats to live.  This is a problem, because while I don’t have anything against any of those things in general, I don’t want them to live with me.

We know we are going to paint the inside of the house white to brighten it up.  The inside has never been painted and is all a natural wood color so it tends to be pretty dark.  I thought…”well who the hell needs drywall?  Or wood paneling?”.  Here in Colorado we need that space to insulate us from the outside which gets pretty darn cold.  The only purpose it really serves in our Rincon house is to cover up the studs and apparently make nice nests for  pests.

It is fairly hard to locate pictures of what I have in mind but I did find a few.  no drywall
Here is the idea

Basically remove the existing panels and drywall, clean everything out and paint.  Done.   It also provides shelf space.

Now, I am not sure we would do this in every room, but we don’t have to.  Some of the wood paneling can just be painted white and some can removed and the empty cavity painted.

Wall 2
Another example grabbed from Google images.

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Back to Work -A Comparison

Work
Building Where I Work

Well it has been close to 2 weeks now since I’ve been back to work.  I surprisingly picked right up where I had left off 2 months before.  Not much, if anything had changed.  It was kind of unexpected but at the same time not surprising.

In this building I work in a similarly drab cubicle. I think that is one of the descriptions of a cube dweller.  A lot of your life takes place in a well….a cube.  The cubes are almost exactly the same with very little variation as with the inhabitants of the cubicles…. And the roads leading to and fro.

As you can probably guess by the way the building looks, we don’t do art.  Nope, just data.  Lots of computers.  It isn’t too terribly exciting, but it is complicated and sometimes challenging. And almost always the same.

Having some time off has given me a lot of perspective.

Tall Yard 2
The building where I want to be…and even there I will be mostly outside

I am glad I have employment and I did realize by coming back that I have learned my System Administration job fairly well.  I put a lot of effort into it and it shows.  Being able to just pick up and sail freely along is cool just due to the sheer amount of information that I have to know in order to do it.  I like to learn and grow and I feel that I have accomplished my goal of being an Application System Administrator.  I knew I could do it; and I have.

I want to be a tropical farmer, innkeeper and a surfer too.  I am sure I’ll look back at some point and be able to say that I’ve also accomplished those goals. I am ready to live where there is more green every day than grey. More plants than computer screens. More sensations to experience than sitting on my behind.

In the mean time, I will go back to the stark, dull building that shields me from the harshness of the outdoor world of Colorado… and plan my escape.

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