L.A.B. Unleashed

Finally got a "best of PR" album up on picassa web albums.  While I was doing this I realized picassa web albums offers a Mac plugin for iPhoto … good to know! 

Quick notes on the villa …. it was called Martineau Belle Playa Villa.  I would definitely go back to this specific house, and would recommend it to others.  It would be great for families with children too!  The location was perfect on the island, close to the airport and the ferry terminal.  Private beach, gorgeous pool, full outdoor grilling area and bar, there was really no reason to leave the house!  We were able to eat all of our meals there, so that was a good way to save a little $$.  It was fun going to local stores and fish markets to get things to make for dinner.  The local fish market was actually this guy Roberto’s house, in a small part of the barrio Martineau.  We were tipped off to this fisherman named Roberto who sold his daily catch right from his house every day!  We got there and he had a nice little shop set up out back.  Two freezers – One for fish and the other for octopus, conch, shrimp, and lobsters!  The fish freezer had probably 30 different types of fish in it … all kinds of crazy looking tropicals!  We were able to get 3 huge Red Snappers for $20!!  You can not beat that deal!  Andy, our cook for the week did a superb job of stuffing them will all kinds of spices and cooking them up on the grill!  Paired with my nana’s rice and bean recipe it was an extravagant meal that we all enjoyed!! 

We booked through a company called villascaribe.com, which I was happy with.  You first go through a booking agent, and then are transfered to the concierge staff who handles the details of your arrival and plans for the week.  The only problem I had was there seemed to be a disconnect between the villascarbe concierge and the on-island concierge that the villa’s owner has hired to provide services to the house.  The problem started with minor things, like not knowing how we were going to get from the ferry terminal to the villa.  One party says there will be a taxi waiting, but the other side says they don’t know about any of these arrangements.  That part was worked out after a couple of weeks of emails … fine.  The real problem I had with the on-island concierge is you felt like they were really trying to scam you.  They would tell us one price for a tour, and then we’d get there and ask them how much they were charging and it was less than what we were quoted.  It was a little shady.  The main concierge lady just had a really awful attitude, but her assistant Kim was wonderful!  Just something to consider for next time I suppose. 

Another great thing about the villa is it came with full maid service every day.  Our lady Wanda, spent at least 3 to 4 hours at the house every day scrubbing down everything!  You would think we were pigs, but we really weren’t that bad.  She just did a really thorough job.  She spent a lot of time on the grill outside, and washed all the windows and floors every single day!  Like I said before, with such a gorgeous place to live for a week, it was tough to complain, and I would love to go back!

How do you get to this little island 8 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico?  Well, you have two options, and we tried both.  One is the ferry from Fajardo to Vieques.  It is a 1.5 hour ride and the ferry leaves multiple times per day.  If you are staying in San Juan as we did, you will have to arrange transportation from San Juan to Fajardo.  We hired Padin Transportation, and the women Ilca who handles all the plans is really great via email and phone!  The van that was sent for us was large, clean, smoke free, and the driver Jose Padin did a great job of getting us to Fajardo.  It is about an hour drive.  The ferry is a whole different story.  Ryan said he was expecting a nice little terminal … maybe something like the Hyannis to Martha’s Vineyard route …. not so much.  I think the dog with fleas that peed on the floor in front of us, killed that idea!  It was not completely awful though … and for $2.00 each way, it is a deal that can not be matched!  The actual boat is a two decker, with an enclosed area downstairs and an open air area upstairs.  It was a stormy, slightly rough sea day, so the downstairs people at least stayed dry on the way over, but man were they packed in like sardines!  Not to mention they were sharing their seats with chickens and boxes of cats!  We were upstairs which would be lovely on a calm, warm day.  Unfortunately, the ride was pretty rough, and we were all soaked with sea spray by the time the trip was over.  An hour and a half of rough seas and spraying water can really do a number on you! 

 

In hindsight, I would not recommend the ferry!  Especially, if you are coming from San Juan and you are just minutes away from the airport.  On the way back we flew Cape Air from Vieques directly to San Juan and it was magical!  We were on a 9 person Cessna plane with two propellers.  I even got to be the co-pilot sitting right next to el capp-ee-tan!   The take off was thrilling and the view was incredible because you could see St. Thomas, Culebra, Vieques, and the main land of Puerto Rico!  We were only 2,000 feet in the air, and the highest peeks in Puerto Rico are 3,000 feet, so you were flying so close to the mountains and could see everything on the ground really well. 

 

Even if flying makes you a little uneasy, it is only a 20 minute flight!  Just the time you are saving compared to a 1 hour drive and a 1.5 hour ferry ride, is worth it when you are on vacation!  Our cousin is actually a pilot for Cape Air and these guys that fly the little planes are such talented pilots!  I have never experienced such a gentle landing!  Flying back and getting to be the copilot was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip … it was an amazing memory!!!  Fly don’t float!!!

Back from Puerto Rico, and man did we have a GREAT time!  If I was a real blogger, I would have done some "live blogging from PR" … but I didn’t even open the laptop once while I was there!  It was a true vacation!  I am working on getting a "best of" photo album up on Google … it will be a few more days for that action.  The trip started with two nights in San Juan, then a "voyage" with details I will save for another day, to the island of Vieques where the six of us spent 5 nights in an incredible private villa!  The villa was called Martineau Belle Playa Villa, and I should write more details about it at some point.  I high recommend the house, but the on island coordinators were slightly difficult.  With a villa that looks like this … those minor problems were easy to forget.

The first topic I MUST write about is our night time tour of the Bio-luminescent Bay.  Bio Bay on Vieques has the highest concentration of glowing plankton in the world, and this was apparent as soon as our kayaks entered the water.  As the paddles touched the water everything just lit up, and you could see the kayaks gliding through the water leaving a glowing path behind them.  There were three two person kayaks, so each couple had their own.   Our tour guide was Abe Jr., or Abbie as some people called him.  Cool guy … very chill … imagine a smaller, scrawnier, version of Bob Marley with a giant dread-locked pony tail on top of his head.  The group of us paddled out to the middle of the bay and swam around a bit, which was very cool.  It was kind of like swimming in a pool at night with the underwater light turned on.  The water was really warm … maybe 85 degrees … like bath water!  When you held your arm out of the water, it looked like glitter rolling down your arms …. trippy!!!  After the brief swim, we all hopped back into the kayaks and Abbie said we’d paddle out a little further, to where you can see schools of fish darting under the water … like little comets or ghosts.  Sounded cool, so we followed along.  Sure enough, after a few minutes you could see little ghosts darting under the boats, this way and that … their glittery paths crossing each other and then disappearing into the water.  The stars were so bright in the sky … one of the prettiest sky’s I’ve ever witnessed.  We were all stopped at this point enjoying the water comets and stars, when all the sudden Kevin and I see a long slender glow coming directly toward our kayak at an increasing speed.  It was as if jaws was coming at our boat and all you could see was the fin poking out of the water, except in this case, all you could see was a sparkly glow quickly approaching growing larger the closer it got.  At a high speed it darted right to the front of our kayak, where I was sitting, and we thought it had just gone under the boat.  It was thrilling …. UNTIL …. I felt something slimy slopping around in the front of the boat.  I FREAKED OUT!!!  Remember it is dark, so I couldn’t see how large or what shape this fish was.  I exclaimed

Oh my God, it’s in the boat

and everyone started laughing.  They didn’t believe me.  The stupid thing was splashing around underneath me … so I screamed

Seriously, it’s in the F**K-ING boat!!!!

This violent shriek that cut through the peaceful night got every one’s attention.  Abe Jr. slowly paddled over all chill-like, but I manged to fling the bio-fish out of from underneath me before he got there.  Thanks for nothing, Abbie!!  At this point, I’ve had enough.  I start to frantically paddle back to shore and I’m convinced all the little ghost fish darting under me are now going to jump right into my boat again … a panic attack ensued.  Half way back to shore, we’ve left everyone else in the dust, but I hear them say … "look, there’s a nurse shark!!!"  I think  … "cool, maybe the nurse shark would like to jump in for a little ride as well!"  I’ve completely checked out!!

Later that evening, Ryan asks,

Leah, have you spent any time in prison?

because the words that came out of my mouth so violently cut through the tranquility of the night.  Andy said he’d never forget his star gazing, when the deadly shrieks ended his peaceful night.  I am not proud of my reaction, but it was definitely all instinct at that point.  It doesn’t get anymore unleashed than that. I’m not a big fan of fish, or snorkeling, or swimming in water at night, so this Bio-Bay experience only added to these fears!  Good times!

As Kevin loves to joke! Last June we had a fabulous family vacation to Puerto Rico.  We are just nailing down the final details of another trip to Puerto Rico, this time with a group of friends.  The itinerary will include two nights in Old San Juan and 5 nights on the island of Vieques, where we have all chipped in together to rent a 5,000 square foot villa overlooking a private beach, with views to the main land of Puerto Rico.  Sounds pretty sweet, right?  I am getting really excited about it!  We knew we wanted to rent some sort of villa, and once we decided on the location of Vieques, there were really only 2 or 3 options to choose from.  We ended up renting through a company called Villas Caribe, and I’ve been pretty happy with them so far.

In Old San Juan I am thinking of getting us dinner reservations at The Parrot Club.  We just had a drink there last time, and I remember the place being very cool and funky.  I’m looking forward to wandering the old cobble stone streets and getting some shopping in … maybe checking out the old fort, El Morro, which I didn’t get to see last time. 

I really don’t know very much about Vieques though.  Getting there will be a 1 hour drive from San Juan, to Fajardo, and then a ferry boat ride to Vieques.  Once on the island, one thing I am really looking forward to is the Bio-luminescent Bay!  It is suppose to be one of the brightest in the world.  If you think about all those little microorganisms surrounding you in the water, it is pretty creepy …. I’m going to have to come with a pretty good story to convince myself that what’s in the water can not eat me ALIVE.  I’m thinking any story that includes fairy dust, or an excessive amount of glitter might work for me.  Suggestions welcome!

I had heard about this research a few months ago, but when a friend from work sent me a forward this morning I found it really interesting.  Try and read this:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty  uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

So now I am wondering if english is your second language, would you still be able to read the paragraph above?  Of course, I think it would depend on how well you read English in the first place, but I’m curious … if a speaker of another language can read this, does that mean they are fluent?  I myself am familiar with trying to learn a second language, and am always wondering when do you get to a point that you can say you are fluent ?  Since I don’t speak Spanish everyday, I’ve lost some of the skills I had about a year ago, but even at the height of my studies I was always too afraid to say "I’m fluent".  My Dad always says when you dream in another language that is a sign of a new skill level.  Of course, I’m not sure my dreams of lying on a beach and saying "una cerveza mas, por favor" count!

As I posted this, I did a quick google search and found some interesting additional reading on the research: http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/~mattd/Cmabrigde/
In that article they have a version of the paragraph in Spanish (other languages too), and guess what?!  I could read it!!  I am still too afraid to say I’m fluent, so I’m going to consider my fluency indicator theory above disproved!

I know I said I had had my fill of rice and beans, but I got a strange, very strong craving today.  I think my body is probably going through withdrawal (screaming I NEED RICE AND BEANS), so I had to dig out my Nana’s old recipe for Arroz con Pollo.  It had never been documented until recently.  You can download it here, or check it out in the Junior League of Boston’s cookbook due out this Fall.  Yum!

Two hours slaving over a hot stove will yield 6 servings of the above picture.  Believe me, 2 hours is SO worth it! 

Luckily, I can fulfill my other leftover vacation craving much faster, by hitting that bottle of Bacardi I have tucked away in the cabinet.

I’m back, and what an amazing week I had!  Puerto Rico was absolutely beautiful.  The people were friendly, the food was great, and there is so much to see there!  I have to say, I think I’ve had my fill of rice & beans for the next few weeks.  Every lunch and dinner was served with Arroz con Habichuelas!  So tasty, but SO filling!  I’ve got a little album up on Shutterfly.  I usually use Flickr, but because Kevin is the King of Technology in the house, we put ALL 170 photos on his laptop and uploaded them to Flickr for family to see.  I took a subset of those, just 28 photos, and made a little public album with Shutterfly.

For me, the highlight of the trip was definitely visiting Cayey – the town were my Dad was born.  He lived in this house with his brother, sister, two parents, and Grandmother.  He is always telling us hilarious stories about smoking out tarantulas, sneaking away from school mid-day, and other ways he used to cause trouble.  So, it is nice to finally know what the backdrop of these stories looked like.  He and his sister are pictured below:

Cayey was such a beautiful, lush,  mountain town.  It was much cooler there, and misty on the day we visited.  Actually, it started out as a refreshing mist, but quickly turned into a heavy downpour, leaving me to regret my choice in wearing white shorts.

The signature Spanish plaza in the center of town was gorgeous and a perfect opportunity to get some shots of the entire family:

 Apparently we missed some popular market place in Cayey where you can buy traditional puertorican roasted pig.  Luckily, my cousin had already bought 2 pounds of it off the back of a pick-up truck earlier in the week, so we still got our little taste of heaven.  I know I know … it sounds like it would make you sick, but it was yummy!  I need to find out where I can buy the Cuban bread that goes so well with it. The loaf of bread is so soft and luscious in the middle, it just melts in your mouth.

Other highlights included a trip to Arecibo to see the largest Radio Telescope in the world!  Also a shopping trip to Old San Juan was a nice way to wrap up the week.  All and all, it was a trip of a life time.  What other time will all 11 of us be able to travel to Puerto Rico together?  And, even if we did, we could never recreate this same experience.  It was one of those experiences that will always be unique and the most memorable, because there were no preconceptions or expectations.  It was one of my favorite trips ever.

En Junio, mi familia y yo vamos a ir a Puerto Rico para las vacaciones.  Hay doce personas están viajando a Puerto Rico y nos estamos quedando a Palmas del Mar en Humacao, en dos villas.  Las villas están entre una playa y una cancha de golf – mucho divertido!

Ayer, nosotros tenemos una fiesta de cumpleaños para mi primo Sean, quien tiene dos años ahora.  Después unos vasos de sangría (hecho en casa) empecemos hablar sobre que vamos a hacer mientras en las vacaciones.  Mi otro primo, Mike, quiero ir al radiotelescopio de Arecibo, de la película Contacto.  El también quiero buscar la chupacabra en El Yunque – Bosque Nacional Del Caribe, pero yo creo que este loco!  Un chistoso, Mike …  (mas o menos)!

Me gustaría algunos recomendaciones de que hacer en Puerto Rico.  Quizás, de alguien quien ha estado a Puerto Rico, o quizás alguien quien ha vivido alli.  Nosotros queremos relajarnos, pero también queremos ir en algunas aventuras y ver la isla total.  Nostoros agradásemos todas las recomendaciones que recibamos!

In June, my family and I are going to Puerto Rico on vacation.  There are 12 people going on the trip, and we are staying at Palmas del Mar, in Humacao, in 2 condos.  The condos are between a beach and a golf course – lots of fun! 

Yesterday, we had a birthday party for my cousin, Sean, who is now 2 years old.  After a few glasses of sangria (homemade) we started to talk about  what we are going to do while on vacation.  My other cousin, Mike, wants to go see the Radio Telescope in Arecibo, featured in the movie Contact.  He also wants to look for the chupacabra (goat sucker) in the rainforest, but I think he is crazy.  Just kidding, Mike … (sort of)!

I’d love some recommendations of what to do in Puerto Rico.  Maybe from someone who has been there before, or maybe from someone who has lived there.  We want to relax, but also do some adventurous stuff and see all of the island.  Any and all recommendations welcome!