La playa—When are you coming to visit!? We have some seriously
amazing beaches, friends. Growing up, we went to Boqueron all of the time. The
Alvarez family even has a specific tree we try to claim each visit. Boqueron is
good for families and it has a lot of natural shade for folks that like that. The
only downfall is that you have to pay to park. That’s never any good. It just
plain old doesn’t make sense. Eh, it’s only $4, I guess.
John and I have since discovered Combate. It’s relatively the same
distance from our house and it’s free to park! Combate beach is right next to a
town, so there are great places close with fun food and drinks. It has become
our favorite!
Then, of course, there’s the Cabo Rojo lighthouse. I actually had no
idea there was a beach there until I came to Puerto Rico in February with my
dad and brother. It’s one of our favorites, but it’s the furthest away. We’re
ready for visitors. We’re willing to make the trek each time someone new comes.
Barrington’s in NOVEMBER!!
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| February 2012 |
Last Sunday, we visited the lighthouse in Rincon for the first time!
BEAUTIFUL. Ridiculously beautiful. Rincon is where the surfers in Puerto Rico
go, so we’re told. We’re not exactly in the surfer crowd.
Pancakes—Everyone has a sweet tooth. My grandfather happens to
have an exceptionally strong one that usually beats all of his other teeth
(when he has wears them…J). A month or so after we moved here, he discovered
that El Meson, a local chain, serves pancakes in the mornings. Each pancake
meal comes with two pancakes, so we would get two meals and everyone would eat
one pancake. Typically, that’s how they do things. Everything is bigger in
Texas; everything is smaller in this Puerto Rican house. One morning, Grandpa
asked John to take him to El Meson. He came back with FOUR pancake meals! I
know that sounds normal in most families, but there was no way all of that was
going to be eaten here. When I asked him about it, he said that he bought a lot
so there would be some leftover! Leftover fast food pancakes. Ok, Grandpa. He
consistently makes us laugh out loud.
El Gatito—Before February, my grandparents were very active and social. They went out to eat at a sit-down restaurant every Sunday, and if they didn’t do that, they went to the mall. The older people in Cabo Rojo and Mayaguez love that mall. And they love to sit outside one of the local grocery stores. Random. Anyway, Grandma has been talking about El Gatito, a restaurant she missed, for at least a month. Every time we offered to take her, even pick up one of her friends and take them, she’d never let us. She didn’t want to leave Grandpa alone if she went to eat with us, and she didn’t want to go with a friend because her friends are married. ??? Yes, she’s married. We don’t know. She uses that argument a lot. Finally, we said that one of us could take her and the other would stay home with Grandpa, and she agreed! It was a pretty good experience. The décor was interesting, and there were roosters outside of our glassless window, but all in all, the food was good. Actually, the best flan de queso I may have ever had. Too bad there’s no picture of that. Oh well.
The Razor—Grandpa goes to the barbershop every two weeks or so.
One particular day, he decided he would shave at home, but he really wanted the
razors that the barber uses. So, he gave the barber some money, the barber went
and bought the blades, and gave them
to Grandpa the next day. Blades. No razor, just blades. Thus began the hunt for
the razor that goes with the blades. Walgreens. No. Walmart. No. Mr. Special.
No. Pitusa. No. Cabo Rojo flea market? Almost promising, but…no (although it
made an interesting family outing one Saturday—Grandma bought a burned bachata
cd—good times). We can’t find this stupid razor anyone. And the internet says
it’s not safe for the general public to use without training. Grandpa gave up
and bought a Bic.
Diva, Anyone?—Grandma loves to go out to eat, out to the grocery store, out to down town because all of those include the word “out”. That means she gets a field trip and she’s going to be seen! I cannot even tell you how often we are walking down the street downtown and someone says, “Gloria! Tan bonita!” or “Gloria, linda!” She does not leave the house without her hair bow, lipstick, matching purse to shoes (this week it’s yellow”), and blue eye shadow. It would be a travesty to do such a thing. She loves telling the same story, too. Conversations typically go (pre-translated):
Other person: “How are you? “
El Gatito—Before February, my grandparents were very active and social. They went out to eat at a sit-down restaurant every Sunday, and if they didn’t do that, they went to the mall. The older people in Cabo Rojo and Mayaguez love that mall. And they love to sit outside one of the local grocery stores. Random. Anyway, Grandma has been talking about El Gatito, a restaurant she missed, for at least a month. Every time we offered to take her, even pick up one of her friends and take them, she’d never let us. She didn’t want to leave Grandpa alone if she went to eat with us, and she didn’t want to go with a friend because her friends are married. ??? Yes, she’s married. We don’t know. She uses that argument a lot. Finally, we said that one of us could take her and the other would stay home with Grandpa, and she agreed! It was a pretty good experience. The décor was interesting, and there were roosters outside of our glassless window, but all in all, the food was good. Actually, the best flan de queso I may have ever had. Too bad there’s no picture of that. Oh well.
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| The table. I'm going to need you to look to the left of the purple flower. There is a Ken doll head...No reason. |
 |
| Roosters. Totally normal. Seriously, they're totally normal. I'm really not being sarcastic right now. |
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| Mofongo con sopa. Really, really good. It doesn't look good, but it is! |
Diva, Anyone?—Grandma loves to go out to eat, out to the grocery store, out to down town because all of those include the word “out”. That means she gets a field trip and she’s going to be seen! I cannot even tell you how often we are walking down the street downtown and someone says, “Gloria! Tan bonita!” or “Gloria, linda!” She does not leave the house without her hair bow, lipstick, matching purse to shoes (this week it’s yellow”), and blue eye shadow. It would be a travesty to do such a thing. She loves telling the same story, too. Conversations typically go (pre-translated):
Other person: “How are you? “
Grandma: “Oh…I’m
all right.”
“What’s going on?”
“Well, I was in a
car wreck in February.”
-GASP!-
“Yes, and my
husband’s in the bed all of the time.”
“Oh no!”
“Yes. This is my
granddaughter, and she doesn’t speak Spanish.”
--smile—
“She’s here with
her husband. He’s a chiropractor, but he doesn’t work yet.”
“Oh…”
And it continues. The other day in the hospital’s office waiting room,
everyone in the room knew how long she’d been waiting, that she was in a car
wreck in February, I was learning Spanish (which is an improvement…), she
thought waiting so long was ridiculous, she was going to have tacos for lunch,
she’s diabetic, and I was a teacher, but I’m not teaching right now. Plus
whatever parts I didn’t understand. We waited for four hours. Oh goodness. It’s
too much. I just read my Kindle. Karen Hancock’s The Guardian King Series. Highly recommended. It’s a beautiful
picture of God’s faithfulness and our helplessness without Him.
Well, that was fun. Apologies for the careless grammar, lack of
organization, and missing creative diction. I felt like having a morning of
stream of consciousness mode. Kind of. You should come visit because no life is
complete without beaches, Ken doll heads under restaurant table glass, and 80-year-olds
going on 16.
 |
| Don't worry, Grandpa just forgot to put his teeth in this day. :) |
Roger that. Up and out.
Oh, and Happy Birthday, Grandpa!
May the next 80 years be a pleasure!
Oh, and Happy Birthday, Grandpa!
 |
| Home made lemon meringue pie! |
 |
| The birthday boy! |
