It's Not All About the Beaches

As I previously stated, we do not go to Boquerón on the weekends. I guess we could drive over there sometime just to see how busy it is, but it is really enough for us to see the traffic on the main highway into the town and beach. Our favorite source for Pollo al Carbón (basically rotisserie chicken cooked over charcoal) is located on that highway to Boquerón. They are one of several vendors of comida de calle or street food that pop up along the highway on weekends. They show up on Friday with their small trailers and large home-made rotisserie things and don't leave until Sunday afternoon. Three of these sell chicken and we have tried two. The one that is our favorite is the second one we tried, and we have not been inclined to move on from there. The chicken is fresh tasting, tender, juicy and wonderfully seasoned. They also sell a yucca dish that is made with lots of onions and seasoning and is cooked and simmered in liquid. Yucca is the main substitute for potatoes here. We usually get just one chicken ($7.50) and a container of the yucca and make a couple meals with it. On Saturday, we went to the location after deciding we would get a couple chickens and make our own Arroz con Gandules to go with it. So back to the condo we came with the chicken making our mouths water and stomachs growl the whole way. We tested it and pronounced it as good as ever. We then set about making our own version of Arroz con Gandules. That is supposedly the national dish in Puerto Rico, and it is pretty generally available anywhere you go outside of the tourist areas. It's not complicated: Rice with gandules (pigeon peas), chopped up onion and green pepper, Goya seasoning and either capers or chopped olives for a little bit of saltiness. It's the seasoning that really gives it the flavor. The recipe we use says it serves eight which is enough for four meals for us. So, that was our Saturday. We were debating whether to go out to our favorite local restaurant or stay home and have chicken and the rice for dinner, when one of us fell asleep (that would be me) and we decided to just stay home and have a salad for dinner. It actually was better that way. I think I was still suffering from jet lag or something.

Sunday, we decided to go to San Germán to do some shopping and look around the town. San Germán is a small but very old town that was founded in the early 1500s and was the most important city in the western part of the island. It is second only to San Juan in age. We had never gone into the town and we wanted to look around a bit. As it turned out, there was something of a fiesta taking place in the main plaza of the town. We never did see any signs announcing what it was, but it seemed to be a gathering of fat tire bicyclists (and their bicycles) and model collectors. The models were primarily cars and trucks, and ranged from Hot Wheels to big hand made trucks that were made of wood. Of course, there was music and food, too, as well as a few restored old cars from the 1950s and 60s.

After a run through all the exhibits and some shaved ice to cool us down we checked out the remains of the original capilla (chapel) that was built in 1606. Those are adjacent to the Porta Coeli church that sits high above one end of the plaza. Port Coeli church is very similar to the missions that are located along the coast of California with a peaked front that contains a small bell in an opening near the peak. It is the main landmark (along with the remains of the original chapel) in the city. As we climbed the steps to the front of the church, I thought that you would really have to want to go to church to go up those steps. I suspect most the parishioners of the 17th century were a bit more nimble of foot than I am, however.

It seems that every town has some sort of fiesta in its town square every weekend, but we haven't been able to confirm that. It's just that every town we have visited on the weekend has had some sort of a party going on. Each town does have festivals, but those occur more often in the middle of the year and celebrate the town's patron saint, famous event, or something they just made up as a reason to celebrate. Hopefully, we will get around to some of the other local towns during our stay.

Oh, yeah. Sunday night we had salad, chicken and rice for dinner along with one of our favorite Argentine chardonnays. I actually think Medalla may be the drink of choice for Pollo al Carbón, but the wine went very well with it, too. Sitting on the balcony, enjoying local food, watching the sunset and listening to the waves... it doesn't get much better.

A Day at the Beaches

Today was a typical day here. We had breakfast on the balcony overlooking one beach and then went to the other beach for a few hours of swimming, walking and just sitting and reading. Then back on the balcony again for dinner while we watched the sunset.

The condo we are staying in is located in an area called Joyuda Beach. Joyuda is kind of a small community populated by condos, restaurants, bars and a few locals. The beach itself is not very large (from ocean to lawns) but it is fairly long. The beach is OK for sitting on, but is not conducive to swimming as the water is very shallow and there is vegetation along most of it and reef just a few dozen feet out. The reason we like this condo is that it sits right on the beach and we can sit on our third-floor balcony and watch the wild life and listen to the waves break on the reef and (at high tide) on the beach itself. There is not a lot of motorized vessel traffic here so we don't have to put up with the noise of jet skis and so forth.

However, if we want to "go to the beach" we always go to Boquerón. The beach there is a major local and island wide attraction. The beach is actually located on a large bay with the reef way out at the mouth of the bay. The word boquerón means "wide mouth" and is very descriptive of the bay. From mouth to beach is about two miles and the mouth itself is also about two miles wide. As a result, the waters are very calm at the beach. The beach has a lot of parking available and has some resort style villas at one end. We have never visited the beach on the weekend, but it is clear that it becomes very, very busy. Many people who live in the San Juan area rent or own places in the Cabo Rojo area and spend the weekend over here. However, during the week there are very few people at the beach or on the roads. Parking is wide open and we consider it to be crowded if there are more than a half dozen cars in the lot we use. That is when we go to the beach. We even have our favorite tree to sit under with a picnic table next to it that we can put our stuff on. Generally we won't see more than 20 or so people on the beach and many of those are in family groups perfuming the air with their cooking. I cannot imagine what it is like on the weekends when it is likely wall to wall people.

We do enjoy both beaches: Joyuda Beach for sitting on our balcony and enjoying the view and Boquerón Beach for sitting on the beach and swimming in the water.

Why We Love Puerto Rico

Things to like about Puerto Rico: Los Amigos Lechónera, beautiful vistas driving down PR-52 from San Juan, unobstructed view of sunsets, empanadillas from our favorite road side stand and being recognized by the owner, the sound of waves breaking outside the apartment, pelicans diving on the reef for food, ocean breezes, coquis, boat tailed black birds, Medalla beer, the weather. Things to dislike: Drivers on the autopista (4-lane highway) must have been trained in NYC. Things that are interesting and / or strange: San Juan, being touristy, is bi-lingual and all signs and billboards are in both Spanish and English and the people mostly speak both languages. Once you get away from San Juan, it's all Spanish from the road signs and advertisements to the people. Like going to a different country. Highway markers and distances are always given in kilometers, but speed limits are posted in MPH. Like any other place, people in the big city are always in a hurry and sometimes a bit detached, but when you get out in the country, people take life a little slower and are always friendly. We passed a funeral procession today in which the hearse was like a Cadillac pick up truck with the coffin in the open bed on the back and surrounded by flowers. The family car was followed by a "music" car with huge speakers on the roof blasting out music (the deceased's favorite?). Kind of a variation on a New Orleans Jazz funeral? Driving here is totally different from driving around the San Juan area. Here, on the small two lane roads, stop signs are mere suggestions, driving on the right is only required when you are meeting another vehicle otherwise you drive on the best side of the road. When a person pulls out of a side road or driveway and you slow down because they are practically in your lane, that is an implicit agreement that they may proceed. Narrow roads sometimes require drivers to get out and negotiate which one has the right of way and will proceed where two cars cannot meet.