In-fern-o

Looking for an unique - an environmentally friendly - Valentine's Day present?

Then perhaps one of those one-of-a-kind vases made from fallen fern tree branches by 3T Vakil could fit the bill?

Or any other of the Puerto Rico rainforest crafts?

I (almost) caught my dinner tonight!

It was cloudy this afternoon, but I had a headache when I got home and decided to walk on the beach for a while to cure it.

And I was doubly rewarded. The sun got through the clouds promising yet another glorious sunset. The beach was almost deserted, but there was a solitaty fisherman. He just caught a fish when I approached him and was reeling it in, so I stopped to watch. A red snapper!

'Nice catch' I said.

The fisherman smiled. 'Do you like fish?' he asked.

'Very much so' I smiled back.

'Wait a moment, then' he said 'and I shall clean this fish for you'!

And so he did. Just like that.


Ah, the kindness of Puertoricans!

And that's how I caught my dinner tonight.

We chatted while he cleaned the fish and he told me where to find the mussles, whose colorfull shells I found on the beach. They are apparently every bit as tasty as the black ones. I am looking forward to swimming with a mussles bag next time I go for a swim.

And then may be I really catch my next dinner myself.

More bingo

AMPI has bingo fundraisers three times a year: in January, May and September. Here are some pictures from the first bingo I ever attended.

It's early, about four hours before the official bingo starts, but already there is a group of volunteers busy : ...assembling and placing tables and chairs...
...filling ice chests with water and soft drinks...
... brewing the first pot of coffee...
... arranging snacks...
... while kitchen volunteers start cooking...

... bacalaitos... ... and sorulitos... which, of course, require tasting...

...a chore undertaken with enthusiasm by Eunice, needing refreshments after assembling tables...
a crew selling food vouchers is getting ready...
... as is the crew selling and validating bingo cards...
and the first players are greeted enthusiastically by Zenaida.
The most eager players start gathering around 10 am, ... preparaing their cards and their tokens...
socializing...
introducing themselves...
... snacking... having a good time...
... or concentrating on an informal pre-game.
... while the kitchen crew keeps busy...
as does the food serving crew, serving lunch...
and this fabulous Tres Leches cake for dessert....

while THE game finally BEGINS...

Affordable Puerto Rico

Today New York Times in an article on affordable Caribbean lists Puerto Rico's northwest coast, between Aguadilla and Isabela as the most affordable for surf oriented vacationers. Check it out ... together with 10 other affordable spots on Caribbean islands.

Medicare advantage in Puerto Rico

Yes, at my last birthday a month ago I reached official retirement age and became entitled to Medicare.
Thus, I had to do my due diligence and research both Medicare advantage and Medigap policies in Puerto Rico ( since I am still here) and in the USA and compare them.

I am happy I finally can say something really positive about Puerto Rico: the benefits of the best medicare advantage here are far greater than benefits offered by the best in the USA.

So for retirees on a limited income, especially ones that either require hospitalization or serious dental work, it would be financially beneficial to live in Puerto Rico and enroll in one of the best medicare advantage plans here. They could save thousands of dollars per year... at the cost of dealing with local bureaucracy and with Spanish as a prevalent language, but yes, some things are so far better here ... though these benefits are likely to end once PR becomes a regular state ... if it becomes a regular state.

I am dirty... :-(((

.... I was looking forward to making a trip to my favorite beach today... but I can't go anywhere, for the simple reason that there is NO WATER in my apartment complex today and thus I could neither take a shower or wash my hair... and I am not going to go anywhere dirty!

Nobody knows why there is no water, nobody knows if and when it will be back... not even the maintenance people. Oh, Puerto Rico is hell more often than not!

OK, I brushed my teeth and washed my face and hands - using water sparingly. I have only one galon of it and carrying enough water to the third flor to wash up is not a doable task for a woman my age.

So I am sitting on my balcony - sweating (it's hot!) and fuming that I HATE Puerto Rico! With a vengeance! I want to leave, NOW, no matter if I had to give away all the stuff I acquired here. I am - personally - sooooo sick and tired of this hellish "paradise"!

But one of my coworkers quit her position during the holidays, I got a couple of grants for a project I designed. It needs to start in February, or the organization risks loosing its credibility as a grantee, not to mention the disadvantaged Puerto Ricans we work for, who'd lose a chance at employment, income, improving their living standard and their quality of life....so for THEIR sake I should stay - another six, seven months??? Until a suitable replacement for me could be found?? If there would ever be another skilled one willing to work for peanuts....

And I am doing best I can to try to stay, despite the fact, that I am uncomfortable and thus unhappy here, that I can't stand all those inconveniences: heat, lack of water, general shabbiness and shoddiness of dwellings plus a bysantine bureaucracy everywhere!

The repairs in my current apartment finally were done last saturday.

But... not only had I to cut short a brunch with club friends, witch I greatly enjoyed, to hurry back home to meet the plumber.... one of the newly installed faucets - the one in the bathroom, stopped working already the next day - lasting barely long enough for me to pay my January rent!

So I am thinking HOW, on earth, could I be able to stay here any longer???
Where???

There is NO supply of decent, even halfway decent rentals in this part of the island. And there is no service. None. Zero!

Cabo Rojo has a plethora of houses and appartments for rent on clasificicados. So does Mayaguez. But that's a theory.
Many of them are the same places listed in duplicate, triplicate etc.
Many of the reasonably priced ones have already been rented and are no longer available, but are on the list.

I keep calling real estate agents, yet few of them even have a decency to return a call, once they know you want to rent, not to buy.

So how am I going to be able to do any job without even a halfway decent place to live??? With water, internet, working appliances?
You tell me!

I want my bailout money!

Let me share with you a morning laugh, which I enjoyed courtesy of Broad in Costa Rica:
I want my bail out money is hillarious... perhaps because it is, sadly, so true?