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Indiana, United States
Empty nesters...ready to stretch our wings. Life is good and we plan on making it even better. This blog is mostly about our trips to Vieques Puerto Rico, with a few odds and ends thrown in about our life after the mortgage.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Wind Horses....


Tomorrow will usher in frigid cold across the midwest where we live. 2 degrees, that's the high for tomorrow. Miserable weather. Weather that I truly hate and the older I get it seems the more I dislike it. 

 So you wonder why we spend a month in  on Vieques?

 Ah, but the irony of it all. That on the eve of our first arctic blast, which some are  already calling a polar vortex, a sunset, so awe inspiring that one has to venture outside to see it up close and personal. Beautiful it was. Lorrie and I stood out on the porch, freezing, but drinking up the evening sky like some Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit ~ Emerson

At the time we had Santana playing in the house and as we stood there, freezing, but in awe of the beauty, Carlos was cranking out Europa. The pairing was perfect other than I wish it was all under a caribbean sunset. 

Now would that be kickass or what!




But I digress.  This is suppose to be about wind horses.  The big metal wind horses are doing their damn best to disrupt our plans to get to Vieques  to  catch those caribbean sunsets.



 United Airlines,  what was once Continental. Oh, how we long for Continental.    United is notorious for changing flights  and has changed ours twice now. This is usually the case with them. We try to buy any United flight  with miles, so yeah I don't pay much for it, $10 to be exact. (Hey, I have their card and build miles.) I like the feel of getting paid to use someone elses money.  But in the end  I believe that's why they target us. This last change  they made has caused us to have to stay over in San Juan and then fly to Vieques the next day, something we've only had to do one other time. We're staying at the SJU hotel airport?  I'm not expecting much from the hotel.  I just thank gawd Cape Air is so accommodating.



But if that wasn't enough Delta (yes I'm using different carriers for each leg) got us on the back end and we'll be leaving Fri eve from Vieques instead of Sat morn. Once again Cape Air worked with us.   I  guess that's the price you pay for being frugal. The way down cost us, like I already said $10,  and we found business class on Delta on the way back for $10 cheaper than coach, so it's a give and take. I paid basically $800 for two business class round trip tickets from Ind to SJU. That's a great price, but they yank your chain A LOT.

 In other news, Judy and Andre have already contacted us and are heading down on island 1/15.  They'll be there for at least 2 months. Bill and Joy will be on island the same time we are and have confirmed the big "lobster cookout!" We can't wait! David and Andrea are going to be on island, as usual.  Just recently I  was contacted, via private message on trip advisor, about a photo show the historical trust is having. It's from a lady, who's since past, that took thousands of pictures while snorkeling on Vieques. The show is suppose to be on Feb 18th. Her widowed husband Larry contacted me about the show. I urge all to go check it out.

The menu is still developing for our Feb trip. Things like red curry spinach/chicken are making the list, as are many more. I'm telling Lorrie that some sort of mango salsa sounds really good.

Lastly, with the new year I hung up some of our own wind horses, back near the cabin. They join many ragged ones, from years past, in hopes that we enjoy more of the same good fortune we've had thus far.


Just a fuzz over 4 weeks and we'll be back on island and I can't frigg'n wait!!!!!

:-)

5 comments:

  1. Sheesh. Can't believe they got you coming and going. I hope you'll at least get a chance to poke around San Juan on either end. We are heading down next week and are looking forward to the longer days, warmer winds and rainbow of blues from sky and water. Also looking forward to catching up with you and Lorrie over a cold one (or two). We too had a little trouble getting over same day too, but like you said, Cape Air is great to work with and they set us up. Safe travels.

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  2. Looking forward to leaving for Vieques on Wednesday! We are from Iowa. My husband just called to tell me we need to bring some firewood in as the forecast calls for a storm with 3-5 inches of snow. I looked it up and there is a 100% chance of snow for tonight! Glad to be getting out of here soon! This will be our first visit to the island and I already want to plan for next year. Maybe we will see you. I am bringing supplies for a cabana. Thanks for posting pics and all the info. Very helpful!

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    1. Welcome, Nichi from Iowa. You'll belong to an elite club after your trip to Vieques. You'll get those cockeyed looks from friends when they ask where you went and you say "Vieques." Huh?, is the usual reply, making the perfect segue into all that is Vieques.

      We're forecast to get up to 9 inches of snow tonight and into tomorrow. YUK!!

      One caveat with Vieques. Vieques wouldn't be Vieques if you don't run into some sort of snafu. It's what makes the place real.

      Well be on La Plata, a lot this trip. Look for our tie dyed cabana. Maybe you can set up near us and we can start a new trend.

      Would love to meet you.

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    2. How do you pronounce Vieques..like the locals? We aren't packing paint sticks as we are not checking bags, but hope to find some sticks for poles! We are a family of six fair- skinned, sun-deprived, Midwesterners. Should be easy to spot us. Do you pack your noodles or is there a place to buy some?




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    3. V is pronounced like a B, but it's so soft it's hard to notice. Emphasis is on the middle portion of the word.

      B A K is the phonetic spelling for Vieques., just add s at the end

      i.e. Bee-AH-kays

      Here's a link to a youtube pronunciation of Vieques. You'll have to copy and past it cause I can't hyperlink in my comments section:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AQKHRQAc8s

      Regarding finding sticks, make sure you Don't use anything on the refuge. If you've read my blog you already are aware of all the problems I ran into with that. If you haven't read that section search my blog for Zach Kincaid and you'll see what I mean. I used to build palm frond cabanas, I now understand why that's a bad idea.

      Regarding the noodles, we usually just use what the house we stay at has. Most all of them have noodles. If not we'll buy some and donate to the house, they're so cheap. In Isabel check out Blackbeards on the main drag. In Esperanza check out the green store (hit or miss on this one) and check out the little store on the Malecon they'll have them for sure.

      The sun in the Caribbean can be brutal, so take a very high sunscreen if you haven't already been tanning in preparation. I would even suggest rash guards, especially for younger kids.

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