Island Hopping to Vieques

Hubby and I took this little plane to Vieques for the weekend and left the kids at home with visiting family. The twenty-minute flight took us to another world. 

Roads: Unlike St. Croix, on Vieques you drive on the right-hand side of the road although distances are measured in kilometers and traffic signs are all in Spanish. 

W Hotel: Modern architecture and signature W decor, air conditioning and cable TV... At one point while watching Anderson Cooper, I actually forgot that we weren't in the states. 

Beach: For the first time in seven-plus years we are kid-free for the weekend, and we actually got to relax on the adult only beach. The sand was softer and the surf was rougher. Maybe Vieques doesn't have the same protective reefs that we have in St. Croix? We didn't waste too much time analyzing why.

People: They speak Spanish and English and Spanglish here. At the same time that I'm wondering what they're saying about me, I'm thinking how self-centered and uneducated we unilingual Americans are. As in St. Croix we are the minority, but on Vieques we are outnumbered by colorful, demonstrative and bootylucious Puerto Ricans.

Food and beverage: Drinks flow generously all day long and are dominated by Puerto Rican rum and red and white sangria. We indulged in the local fare including huevos rancheros (twice), local lobster, mofongo, ceviche, PR paella and churasco. 

Family: Surprisingly there were quite a few young families staying at the W. Across the board it appears that mom is the caretaker and dad is not. And breast-feeding uncovered in a bikini poolside is totally acceptable.

The sun is out, and I'm grabbing another drink and working on my tan before I have to grab the 4:40 flight back to STX and my reality. 

Turtle Watch

Last night we went on a turtle hatchling watch with the St. Croix Environmental Association at Sandy Pointe. It was Awe-mazing. Even my spirited child was calm watching the tiny leatherback turtles emerge from the beach. We got to hold them and feel their amazing little flippers stroke. I learned a lot about them, but the  most interesting was that the mamas have sperm storage to stagger fertilization of five to six batches of eggs. Is that stored sperm all from one male? Apparently that depends on the female and how promiscuous she is. 

Beer Drinking Pig

This is a beer drinking pig. I don't really get the hype. Maybe I didn't have enough Mama Wanna?

Apparently one of, if not the, biggest tourist attractions on-island is the Domino Club and their beer drinking pigs.  With family visiting for two weeks, we spent today driving through the rainforest with the pigs as our ultimate destination.  Maybe you have to be drunk to appreciate it?  I'm sure you can find tons of fabulous reviews and videos (which, by the way, will cost you $3.00 if you want to video tape it yourself), but my advice is to skip it.

Free Roadside Mangoes

Free Roadside Mangoes

Where's The Beef?

One of my biggest challenges since moving to St. Croix has been grocery shopping. It's hard to find things that were easily accessible just blocks away at Central Market or Whole Paycheck.  I'm not talking about obscure items like whey isolate protein powder, but just plain old organic chicken and lean ground beef.

But today I did a happy dance right there at the butcher case at Cost-U-Less when I found Lean Ground Beef - Midwest Fed Angus Beef, No Antibiotics or Added Hormones and a Vegetarian Corn-Fed Diet.  And it wasn't in a tube! The butcher asked me if everything was OK, and I asked him, "Is this fresh/frozen/thawed?" And he told me it wasn't!  Seriously?!?!  It's fresh packed, too!  It's the little things in life that make me happy.

I have yet to find "fresh" chicken breasts, but about a month ago I had a similarly religious experience when I spotted the frozen organic chicken breasts at Plaza East.  Between these two recent meat finds and fresh produce from Seja Farms, I think we might just make it here.

Now I'm off to search for those free roadside mangoes everyone's been talking about...

Isaac's Beach Field Trip

My spirited child is two hours in to his first nap of summer break after our morning field trip to Isaac's Beach.  We met up with friends at Point Udall at the eastern end of St. Croix, and as advised, we removed all valuables and left the cars unlocked so that the thiefs would leave our windows intact when scrounging for change.  Once out of the car the kids took off down the path in their typical Lord of the Flies demeanor with only the youngest staying behind to check back for moms on their tails.  

The twenty minute downhill hike led us to a beautiful secluded beach with soft white sand and rolling waves.  I thought...

This is so beautiful and secluded. The six kids we brought along won't bother anyone. How long would it take me to hike back to the car carrying a screaming child?  A hurt and screaming child? Those waves are rough. Can he hear me yelling at him over the waves? Does my cell phone work here? Did I remember my pepper spray?

We made our way to a point that was protected by a reef about 30 feet out and set up camp for the morning.  Since moving here in January the kids have adapted really well to playing at the beach with nothing but what they find there.  Water, sand and other kids can keep my kids occupied for hours on end, and that's exactly what happened this morning.  But to keep me busy there was a pretty strong current that kept pulling the kids down the beach.  About every ten minutes I would gather up the four compadres in the water and get them to walk back up the beach about 50 feet only to repeat it again, and again, and again.  

The beach was amazing.  But I found it a little creepy, too.  I thought...

We're at the eastern end of the island; the farthest eastern point in the US.  There's nothing out there but ocean.  There are a lot of reefs and rocks and large pieces of wood. That wood is creepy the way it's sticking out from the rocks.  Are those trees?  A ship wreck? An old ship wreck, or a new one? Time to move the kids back up the beach again.  

We ate and moved the kids back along the beach about ten more times and then headed back for the ascending hike.  

My youngest doesn't like sand, and unfortunately for him we live on an island in the Caribbean.  Every beach trip concludes with sand drama and the cleaning of his feet with my handy Sand Off! Powder Infused Mitt.  Today he was especially sensitive as he insisted (meaning whined while clinging to Teddy) that I remove every grain of sand from every crack and crevice.  In the interest of not having to carry a screaming child up a 20-minute hike because of inadequate sand-removal, I found myself cleaning my son's boy-bits with my powdered mitt.  Sand crisis averted.

Without much whining from anyone we made it back to the cars which didn't seem to be missing anything, and the windows were all intact.  That's a good day at Jack and Isaac's Bay.   

Six months, Cruzan time...

Everyone told us it would take six months to settle in to life in St. Croix.  We proved them wrong and are now right at home at 5 months and 8 days.  Thanks to hubby's job and the St. Croix Economic Development Corp, we are on an open-ended assignment here in paradise.

I'm sure y'all think I'm burying my toes in the sand sipping on rum drinks...That's what I envisioned while packing boxes last December.  Just the opposite actually...I've become a domestic work-horse that rarely showers to conserve the rainwater we collect in cisterns lest we have to buy our fourth truckload of water for $300.

My most useful lessons so far...
1.  Wearing yoga pants will get you many offers for assistance from the local men - especially at the gas station at not-so Sunny Isle.
2.  Compliment the cashier's earrings or whatever enormous medallion she is wearing that is made of 24 karat gold.  She will stop sucking her teeth and smile at you.
3.  When you find something you like at the grocery store buy as much as you can.  You never know if you will see it again.  Ever.
4. The US Mail is my life-line.  If it weren't for free shipping from Nordstrom, I'd be reliant on Kmart for all my department store items.  If only Target would join the movement!
5.  Oh, and I just learned Saturday that when the water is rough and the jelly fish are broken up the pieces still sting.  And they still hurt. And they're named "sea lice".

Now you know.