Thank You

Many thanks to Kam, Nihat, Shirley, and Aysel for all their help, without which I could never go away and relax.

Thank you all for the many comments and emails throughout this adventure. I really did look forward to them and got great joy from your messages.

Thank you Annie and Tommy for being wonderful hosts and giving me full access to your life in Culebra.

Thank you Ali in San Juan for your generosity in taking me to two of the most memorable venues I have ever been to and for sharing an all too short time three months later on my de^arture.

I am a lot slower now than I was a few years ago, but as another said, "...it doesn't matter how slow we get as long as we don't stop". And, I am already thinking about my next two adventures.

It's still cold here.....minus 13C!!!!!!!!!

Much love from me.

Home again

From this
to this!!!!!!!
Arrived home safe and sound about 11:30 last night. It was a long day and I was extremely tired.

Now I am back to looking at my real front yard........shot taken five minutes ago. There are light snow flurries and it is as cold as when I left on December 10th!!!!

No seat on Air Flamenco

There was no seat on the ^lane so I am taking the 6:00 am ferry ( 2 hrs) and will then need to get a taxi in Fajardo to drive me the two hours, more or less, to San Juan.

I am meeting my friend Ali at noon in SJ for lunch (remember I stayed three days with him in Old San Juan when I arrived). Then it is check in for my flight by 2:05 for a 4:05 de^arture.

Arrival in Toronto 7:50

Today is cleaning and ^acking. I need to get my stuff together. For me, when in a tro^ical country, I take my suitcase outside in the sun and air it out, s^ray with bug juice, shake out all clothing items, and then ^ack it. I have done this for at least thirty years. I can handle critters when I am away, but do not want them hitching a ride home with me. I do not need a house lizard.

What is all that noise outside? Oh my, more changes to my front yard. There is a backhoe out there doing a little levelling. I was just told they are going to ^ut in a flower garden there and I will not be here to see it! Surely it will be filled with brilliant bougainvillea and other lush shrubs.

My oh my, I am going to buy a smaller suitcase when I get home. This one is much heavier than it was other years!

Dinner

Just got in from another delicious dinner at Annie's. There were eight of us this time. Two young fellows who are staying here caught this 35 lb Kingfish, Mahi Mahi, and some others.

The Kingfish was cut into steaks and Annie and Tommy cooked. Everything was amazing and a good time was had by all.

Chris and Patrick, the fishermen.

Travel Alert

What is going on back in good old KW. Just got a travel alert from WestJet saying flights may be cancelled to T.O. and KW. Then I hear that hydro has been off for hours, freezing rain this morning, people stuck in an elevator etc. AND I AM GOING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's ho^e it is all just a bad memory by Saturday.

Stay safe.

Four Days

Yes, that is right only four days left here. I am flying out of San Juan at 4:30 Saturday afternoon.

How I will get to SJ is another issue.

I always said I wanted to take the ferry from Culebra to Fajardo and then taxi to SJ, but the ferry leaves here at 6:00 am and it is just sooooo early. I am going to try to get a seat on the little Air Flamenco ^lane. Don't need a ferry; have been on lots of ferries, right? Gee, have I become even more lazy than at home!!!!!!

I definitely need to go into training for my next (tentative) adventure which will be ^hysically demanding. Yeah, I already have a ^lan.

If there is anything, ^hoto, that you wished I would have shown, let me know and I will try to get it for you.

Bring sunshine and at least 10 C for my return!!!!!!!

Cheers

Life is GOOD

Samm just emailed me that there is a snowstorm where they are today, near Cornwall, Ontario.

The devil in me could not resist going outside to take this shot from my balcony.

Only in Culebra

This came in the morning island email news and I just had to share. FYI, in Culebra one may not ^ark along a yellow curb.

"Today a large Taxi van came grill to grill with a Culebrense woman's jeep. The taxi that was on the wrong side of the road refused to back up! The woman with three cars behind her refused to pull up on the curb as her "tires are bad" For almost 10 minutes these cars stood nose to nose refusing to yield. Finally a police officer pulled up to make sense of the scene and promptly wrote tickets for all the cars parked across the street from the Post Office!!!!

I originally was told by an officer to park there 6 years ago... The other side of the curb was not yellow so I parked in front of the green house, only to return from the post office to find an officer writing me a ticket. I asked where should I park? and he pointed at the No Estacione sign! I said. "That say's no parking!!!" He said. "Yes but this is Culebra... Everybody knows to park over there."

Good luck! Park out of town I guess!"

Will that be a Don Q, Medalla, or a Pina Colada?

We sit inside.
The view from inside and for Tommy (how nice).
This is Quique, the owner.
Tommy
This is the little take out bar directly opposite the ferry dock where Tommy works a few days a week. It is beside the lovely sitting area. That's right, a take out bar......beer, rum, and frozen drinks. There is a small area inside where we sit to get out of the sun.( I have learned the art of mixing these delicious frozen drinks while si^^ing on rum ansd coke). Others would rather sit under an umbrella outside. I am beginning to think that alcohol is the new water here on Culebra. It seems as if almost everyone has a beer or other drink in hand both while walking and driving!!!!! I rarely (no, never) see a bottle of water.

Don Q is the rum of choice here and Medalla the beer of choice and legend has it that the Pina Colada was invented in San Juan.

Sitting Area

A lovely sitting area, with tons of seating, to your right as you come down main street to the ferry area and the view is wonderful (lots of shade, too).

The middle shot is where the ferry comes in and you drive your car right on. It gets very congested at ferry time.

In Town

Yes, I cross the bridge often, but this time I had my camera!!!!!!!
Cross the bridge, veer to the left (you do not need to go u^ the hill), and you will be on Main Street leading down to the ferry dock area. About the second building in is Mamacita's (remember the iguanas).

The following are several posts from this short walk from the bridge down the main street, almost to the sea (you can see it in the distance in one shot).

Oh, dear!

And, right beside a lovely house.

More of Main Street in Dewey

Flowers, flowers everywhere

Methodist Church

My favourite house in town.

I really love this house. The colours are beautiful in the bright sun. If I ever have a home in the sun, these will be my colours.

Houses here on the main street are built right close to the walkway (not wide enough, most ^laces, to be a sidewalk). There is no front yard at all.

Sunset

I just came home and have some lovely shots of the sunset tonight taken from the ^laza at the ferry dock.

Birds

There are so many beautiful birds here, but I never get a ^hoto because I am just too slow. For over two months I have been watching the graceful, white as new snow, Egrets in my front yard. Overhead, the ^elicans do their dance before the sudden dive into the sea. There are many doves and also a tiny yellow bird that I don't know. Hummingbirds are very common. So many others, but I have no idea of the names.

Because I am not a birder, but do enjoy watching them I decided to google birds of Culebra and now I am getting interested, a little late in the game.

This site has hundreds of ^hotos.

http://www.culebraonline.com/Birds_Of_Spring/Archives.html

Enlarge

Don't forget you may click on any ^hoto to enlarge.

TV film crew here

Morning coffee break on Culebra. Not just Annie , some of the crew,too (Medalla light).
The director watching on the monitor with her headset.
Camera ready.
The kitchen is ready com^ete with staging of greenery from the living room. Yes, this is the SAME kitchen you have seen several times before, but staged.
The director, cameraman, and audio man.
The crew getting ready.
This morning a tv film crew arrived from the big island to film a segment for a cooking show series that will air all over the U.S. around the middle of March (I forget the date). If you understand S^anish you will find it on this site americacv.com. It will feature this segment with Annie Loving in Culebra.

Annie and Tommy only arrived home on the cargo ferry last night.

I took some ^hotos. It was fun to watch the shoot.

Life does indeed get busier and busier by the day on this side of the bridge.

Warning to read labels

I woke u^ about 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 15 with a strange feeling. My u^^er li^ felt a little numb so I went into the bathroom to take a look in the mirror. Sure enough it was very swollen. There didn't seem to be any bite or other issue. I was concerned and could not get back to slee^. I turned on the com^uter to take my mind off the situation. Over the next two or three hours the li^ got more and more swollen and com^ltely numb. I was getting scared. Annie and Tommy were on the big island and I was here. No ferry and no air service until morning. Of course, the little clinic was closed. Dr. Gail decided to monitor the situation . If it didn't get any worse, that was a good sign. If it started getting better, even more so.

I didn't even think to take a ^hoto. It was just so shocking to look in the mirror. I remember thinking that I looked as if I had gone in for a ^rocedure to have my li^s filled with whatever, so they looked fuller and that I had the misfortune to get a doctor who had finished at the bottom of his class. It was full, right u^ to my nose.

About seven or eight hours later some of the numbness was going and I though OK it will continue until I am back to normal. It felt the same way as when the dentist freezes you, only this was the whole u^^er li^.

Sure enough by about 2:00 in the afternoon all but a minor swelling was gone. Now I had time to concern myself about what had caused it. For sure it was an allergic reaction, but to what. What had I eaten that was different. I googled and finally found many articles about as^artame and reactions. OH!!! I had some yogurt the evening before. Yes, I check the label and it did contain that nasty ingredient. I never buy "light or diet" anything, but that was all Milka's had. My decision was that it most likely was a reaction to that.

An hour or two later, I started to have a few tears roll down my cheeks. They were tears of joy. How lucky I was that only my li^ reacted. What if my tongue and throat had (I ate the stuff) swollen shut!!!!!!!!

I am sure I have had as^artame before and have never reacted, but you can be very sure I will never buy anything unless I make sure there is no artificial sweetener of any kind in it (regardless of name, they are all as^artame).

A Job

Well, it's not really a job because if you have a job, you get $$$$, right? Just joking.

Annie needed to go to San Juan and wanted Tommy with her, so they asked me to man the fort here to which I gladly said yes. They were going to take the 6:00 am ferry, but at 1:00 this afternoon they set out on the cargo ferry (their car) along with Rene from Germany who has been my neighbour for several days and Monique and her friend from New York. Tommy will drive them all to San Juan from Farjardo.

My job is to look after things here and rent out the only other unit available (next to me). Oh, and Jerry who is in another unit is charged with making sure the cats that Annie and Tommy have ado^ted have food and water.

Annie and Tommy will be back sometime tomorrow?????

Annie has a contact in Old San Juan who refers guests here. Several hours ago I got a message that there was a fellow (from South America) who was heading my way and not to rent to him because he deals in drugs. OK , got his first name and nationality and he will meet with ME when he arrives. Yeah, right. I am a little intimidated by this, but if I don't see him by 7:00 this evening, he didn't come. Ahhh, sigh, relief!

I am almost a resident here, I guess. Earlier when I went to Milka's I didn't have quite enough money in THAT wallet and the owner extended me credit for the balance!!!!!!

Our new gas station (next door) is now self serve. You go into the mini mart and ^ay u^front then get your gas. Can you believe a mini mart literally ten ste^s from me. Oh my, one could get REALLY lazy here.

Things sure are a changin on my side of the bridge.

Valentine's Day Fantasy

At the gas station.


Going.......

Gone!!!!!!!

At 7:30 this morning I went out on the balcony to breathe in the fresh morning air. Today is Valentine's Day, I thought to myself. Wouldn't it be nice to be celebrating it with someone!!!!!!!!!

Just then I see an absolutely gorgeous looking male homo sa^ien, at the gas station, wearing khaki shorts, white canvas shoes, white golf shirt, and a white hat. I am so taken by this image that I forget to grab the camera. When I finally regain my equilibrium, I realize that there is no car at the gas station and my eyes move to the canal.

A beautiful boat is tied there. Is it his boat? Now my mind is acting really crazy. Remember it is 7:30 a.m. I just woke u^ and have not had even one coffee yet. And, most of all it is Valentine's Day.

This was fun so I indulged in a little Valentine fantasy as a gift to myself...........

This handsome stranger sees me u^ on my balcony and waves hello. I smile my best smile and wave back. He strolls closer and we chat. After finding out that I am going to be s^ending this Valentine's Day alone he suggests that we go in his boat over to St. Thomas, St. John, and Tortolla..........

Abru^tly the fantasy is over when a noisy beater of a car drives in to the station.

I wish you all a very REAL Valentine's Day with loved ones.

Gratitude

......safe and sound on Culebra enjoying the incredibly blue sky, brilliant sunshine, crystal clear sea, quiet, and safety.

Thank God Nothing Much is Going On

It's true, not much goes on here of much consequence to those off island and that is a good thing. Life goes on much the same day after day and that is why I have had so little to write about. That is also why I chose this island. There are so many destinations in the Caribbean to chose from, but finding one that a solo woman renting her own little "home" can feel absolutely safe is not easy. I certainly chose the right island.

There are three islands here, as you know. ^uerto ^rico is called the bid island and then there are the two little sister islands of Vieques and Culebra, also known as the last S^anish virgins.

I chose Culebra because I had been forewarned that there was some crime on Vieques and I listened. Today's island email news is very disturbing.

Sent: Tuesday, February 7, 2012 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: New Protest on Vieques

Please be aware that the majority of the victims of violent crime in Vieques were born here. Newcomers and tourists are certainly effected as well. I hope that we can unite our efforts to provide safe communities for all.

Last week a 70 year old man was murdered in his home in Vieques. Marcos Antonio Felix Santiago was 70 years old. He was found dead in his home in Santa Maria due to multiple injuries to his head. The police are investigating this as a robbery-turned to murder. "Toño" was the father of Rosita who works as the only female employee/sailor on the ferry boat. May Toño rest in peace (he was buried on Saturday, February 4).

AND

Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 10:48 AM,

I wanted to make you aware of a protest that will be taking place today on Vieques, at 12 Noon on the plaza in Isabel II. It is an impromptu protest resulting from events that have taken place here over the past week. It does not involve the poor ferry service here, but something that is much more dire. It is about something that could potentially cause harm to the reputation of Puerto Rico Tourism.

Last night a popular bar was robbed by 3 men with masks, guns and a harpoon. They stole over $1200. The worst part is that they shot an employee, who thankfully is recovering.

Last week one of the top restaurants on Vieques was robbed at the end of the night. Same situation, 3 men, masked with guns. Fortunately no one was hurt, and they did catch the robbers.

These two incidences are in addition to the many thefts and assaults that have been taking place on our beaches this past month. It is only a matter of time before a tourist dies at the hands of a thief. There was plenty of bad press when someone got bit by a shark in our Bio-Bay. imagine the coverage our piece of paradise will receive when someone dies at the hands of another?!

For that reason, there will be a protest at the mayor’s office today, and I thought you should know. It is time for our Alcadesa to make sure our police force is doing everything it can to protect the citizens and tourists of Vieques. The reputation of Puerto Rico as a tourist destination is at stake.

Dinghy Dock

Yes, that is the daily rate! Bring your own umbrella and chair. Don't forget the $60.00+ a day Jee^ you will need to cart them to the beaches.
Looking down from street level.
Do you see the Canadian flag there?
My waiter.
Flags from many countries.
Before I left the moon was clearly visible even in daylight.

I went to the Dinghy Dock for a bite to eat this evening and took a few shots (no, not rum). I took a few shots of the many fish waiting for their dinner, but I am not good enough and when I loaded them I couldn't even see one fish.

As I was leaving and taking a few shots u^stairs outside a woman came out and we started talking. She is Wanda, the wife of the owner. After a few minutes she invited me into their home area. We sat on the covered ^orch and talked for about an hour. She s^eaks English quite well and is a lovely lady. After she found out I was a retired English teacher she was so delighted and we had a very informal "class" right then and there. I did not get a shot of her, but will tomorrow when I go back to get her reci^e for clearing mucos from the lungs (an old family secret handed down through the generations).

I left before any of the action started. I really do not stay out late anymore!!!!!!!! It does have a lot to do with age, you know. Babies and toddlers slee^ the most, don't they? The younger you are the earlier you go to bed (home). Then later in life, after a certain age, something unusual ha^^ens and many say that they find it difficult to get to slee^ and even wake u^ several times during the night. I guess I just need a lot more slee^ than those old folks down at the bar.