Mi Borinquen

Well, here we are once again in Puerto Rico. We have longed to come back after being here last spring break for 2 weeks. A year later, we find ourselves back in the house with Titi Carmen and Uncle Chici (pronounced "Cheeky"). This year we have brought Sam's 87 year-old father with us so he can visit his sister for a couple days and see his brother, neices, and nephews. He couldn't have been more thrilled. In fact, before he left Texas, he got very dizzy every time he contemplated coming. It could have been his heart medications, but I have a hunch that he was so excited that it just leaked out of him in that way. His plane touched down 10 minutes after ours did, here in San Juan. Off we went to the car rental, him talking all the way about how the language has changed and how different his country looks now. He is quick to add however, that he dislikes many things about life here including "la hora Latina" (Latin time--about an hour late to everything), and the way the language is spoken. These comments did not stand him in good stead with family members still living here!

So we have been rattling around the house here, trying to get our legs under us. I slept a total of 6 hours in three days, so was utterly spent when I arrived. The A/C didn't work in our room so we woke up the first morning in a bad mood and with swollen faces from the heat. However, we were so exhausted that we slept in that room for over 12 hours that night. We are now in another room with the A/C rattling and roaring over our heads. The little coqui (yellow frogs) are shrilly singing outside and we just enjoyed a rainburst while the sun shone brightly. There is nothing so enchanting as this. We are staying in a gated community that has a mountain rising straight up behind it. It is really more like a tall hill, actually, but it is covered with so much lush foilage that it looks bigger than it is. I'm told that there are a few snakes on this island but none of them are poisonous. Neither are there any wild animals that present any kind of danger. So it is the perfect place to go camping. It's just that it's too hot down here. The mountains in the central part of the island are about 15 degrees cooler than it is here.

We are being fed to death. Today we had bacalao for lunch along with rice and beans, potato salad, avocado, and yam root. The bacalao was briny and served with onions on top. It is some sort of cod fish that is dry and awful. The locals pour olive oil over it. I just puckered up and passed it along to Sam. Notice that aside from the avocado, no vegetables are served here. The yam root is a vegetable, I suppose, but it is grey-white, lifeless and fibrous. I need a salad and plate of carrots and broccoli pretty soon.

Tomorrow we are going over to the East Coast to a village called Fajardo (Fah-hardo) where we will spend some time in the ocean and then have Mofongo: a delectable mixture of plantain, garlic,onion, and shredded chicken and tomatoes. I think it should be good.
If I can get my salad.