Been so busy these last two days. Spent the day at La Plata (yeah I know..we need to get to another beach...we listen to that about as much as people telling us we need to visit other islands) yesterday. Went over to Peter and Ricks place for drinks and pizza later that evening. Got to see the upstairs renovation of their house in progress. To say that their place is gorgeous is an understatement. Everything is right with it and we love it. They are just great people to be around and we thank you for being so nice to us Peter and Rick. We spent the evening getting caught up on what's been happening on the island and talked at length about the nuances of living on Vieques.
This morning we had to run into Isabel to get more supplies for our meal we're cooking this evening for Judy and Andre. While we were in town we made a slight detour to look at a house in La Praa. Great price and it's titled, but no views. Lorrie and I are of the opinion that IF your going to move/live in Vieques why not have a view? Anyway...provisions secured and cached back at Los Cocos, we headed out to (go ahead...take a guess) Escondida, ha fooled ya. But as it turned out Escondida was full! 4 jeeps parked down there, what's happening to our Vieques? With Escondida literally wall to wall or palm to palm people, we headed to where we should have be pointed in the first place, La Plata. To our surprise there was only about 14 people, which is about 1/2 of that it has been running. We had a great day at La Plata. Clear blue skies and just enough breeze to make things nice. We noticed the mother and daughter (the ones we had met last year on Garcia and then again this year at the restaurant opening in Isabel) down toward the eastern end of the beach, topless. Wonder how ranger Zach is going to deal with two topless European ladies (they're from Barcelona).
We left the beach a little earlier than we normally do (Lorrie informed me that the next two days we are GETTING TO THE BEACH EARLY AND STAYING LATE) so that we could get back to the house and begin preparing for our dinner guests. While we were working in the kitchen we could hear quite a lot of activity on La Chata. We I went out on the veranda I saw some of the locals with their horses in the water, swimming! And if that wasn't enough there were 3 surfers in the background trying their best to catch a wave. It was great fun to watch. I got some video of it:
Judy and Andre made in time to see some of the surfing action. We sat outside with rum/coconut cocktails (thanks Jenni) and watched the show. Afterword our Green Curry chicken was a big hit, for desert there was mango pudding made from fresh mango's from Davids property (thanks Dave).
One other thing I have to report is that we saw the cotton tree was in bloom. We've been looking for it on our way into La Plata each day. This was the first day we've seen the cotton opened up on the trees.
I did hike up to the top of the cliff between La Plata and Escondida. I took a picture of all the cacti on that ridge. This is looking towards Escondida:
Tomorrow it's back to La Plata, early.
:-)
This morning we had to run into Isabel to get more supplies for our meal we're cooking this evening for Judy and Andre. While we were in town we made a slight detour to look at a house in La Praa. Great price and it's titled, but no views. Lorrie and I are of the opinion that IF your going to move/live in Vieques why not have a view? Anyway...provisions secured and cached back at Los Cocos, we headed out to (go ahead...take a guess) Escondida, ha fooled ya. But as it turned out Escondida was full! 4 jeeps parked down there, what's happening to our Vieques? With Escondida literally wall to wall or palm to palm people, we headed to where we should have be pointed in the first place, La Plata. To our surprise there was only about 14 people, which is about 1/2 of that it has been running. We had a great day at La Plata. Clear blue skies and just enough breeze to make things nice. We noticed the mother and daughter (the ones we had met last year on Garcia and then again this year at the restaurant opening in Isabel) down toward the eastern end of the beach, topless. Wonder how ranger Zach is going to deal with two topless European ladies (they're from Barcelona).
We left the beach a little earlier than we normally do (Lorrie informed me that the next two days we are GETTING TO THE BEACH EARLY AND STAYING LATE) so that we could get back to the house and begin preparing for our dinner guests. While we were working in the kitchen we could hear quite a lot of activity on La Chata. We I went out on the veranda I saw some of the locals with their horses in the water, swimming! And if that wasn't enough there were 3 surfers in the background trying their best to catch a wave. It was great fun to watch. I got some video of it:
Judy and Andre made in time to see some of the surfing action. We sat outside with rum/coconut cocktails (thanks Jenni) and watched the show. Afterword our Green Curry chicken was a big hit, for desert there was mango pudding made from fresh mango's from Davids property (thanks Dave).
One other thing I have to report is that we saw the cotton tree was in bloom. We've been looking for it on our way into La Plata each day. This was the first day we've seen the cotton opened up on the trees.
I did hike up to the top of the cliff between La Plata and Escondida. I took a picture of all the cacti on that ridge. This is looking towards Escondida:
Tomorrow it's back to La Plata, early.
:-)
Hey Curt,
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of asking you, and when you brought it up, I decided to give it a shot....what do you think/hear about buying untitled?! I am having a hard time understanding how there can be so much untitled, and at the same time attorneys advising not to buy untitled land. Won't all that land be sold at some point? Didn't know if you had maybe some inside/local, non realtor or attorney based info? Enjoy the last few days!
Ok...here's the deal with untitled, at least the way I understand it. Even though it's untitled you still get paperwork that declares ownership. The problem with untitled is twofold. First, no bank will lend any monies against it. Secondly should you decide to sell it, even moreso if you make improvements, your gonna have to do owner financing because, like I already said, no bank is going to lend against it. Titles are becoming available (slowly) and then there's always the adverse possession route. If your buying untitled you better plan on doing everything with cash and you had better plan on keeping it.
Delete:-)
That all sounds similar to what I have heard, thanks! I guess the big question for all us interested buyers now is.....how soon/slowly will the titles keep becoming available! I would be buying just land cash, but come the time to build on it, I would need to have it titled in order to obtain financing. You haven't heard about issues where families can come forward saying... so and so never had to right to sell the land in the first place and therefor it's not actually yours....?
ReplyDeleteWhat you want with untitled land is a history of ownership, utilities many times afford that. Some also have letters from the Mayor saying that the seller does indeed have ownership rights to the parcel. Untitled undeveloped land is the most risky to buy. Buying an untitled house or a piece of land with a partial house is more advisable, imo.
Delete:-)
I can't wait to share your picture of the cotton tree with Jason. He will be excited to see it!
ReplyDeleteWe thought of you two when we saw that cotton. I was hoping you would read the post, that's why I put that picture out there.
Delete:-)
Hey Curt & Lorrie,
ReplyDeleteGood to see you both this trip. Sorry you couldn't come by our place to check it out, but next time we'll get it together earlier. Care to share the mango pudding recipie? Be well, and keep up the posts; they are always enjoyable reading.
David