In all the trips to Vieques, Lorrie and I had never been to the fish market or any "fish market" for that matter. Is was near 10:30 a.m. when we arrived.
There's not a lot of room to park down close to the dock, something to remember. It would probably be better to park out nearer the road and walk into it because once you pull in your probably going to have to back out of the place like I did when we left.
The market is like a little oasis tucked away just steps from the ferry dock and if you've ever drove by the ferry when it's unloading you know what I'm talking about. On our first trip to Vieques it was a baptism by fire, because on our very first day I managed to get in the middle of that snarl of traffic. I was in my shiny new jeep from Maritzas and having to squeeze within inches of other cars and people going in every direction, except what seems proper, put me in a white knuckled state. I remembered telling Lorrie and Jessica "we've got to get the hell out of this." I've since seasoned to the point that it doesn't really faze me, it is just part of Vieques. A place where every nuance and minutia of traffic etiquette has not been pre-determined, marked with signs and traffic lights.
As I got close to the market I was taken back by just how tranquil and picturesque it is with all the blue colors. The building has a beautiful mural painted on it's exterior in a monotone palette.
Blue is the color of the mind and is essentially soothing; it affects us mentally, rather than the physical reaction we have to red. Strong blues will stimulate clear thought and lighter, soft blues will calm the mind and aid concentration. Consequently it is serene and mentally calming. It is the color of clear communication. Time and again in research, blue is the world's favorite color.
The atmosphere reminded me of many scenes from the Movie "Big Blue", specifically Jean Marc Barr swimming with the dolphins, not to mentioned the eye candy that Rosanna Arquette provides. It's one of my old time favorite movies, for reasons I can't really quantify.
As I approached the market there was a scene before me that made me think of what Daniel Klein wrote about in Travels with Epicurus, a book worth reading, especially if your over 50 years. It's an old tale supposedly told by Aegean islanders, mostly rural.
As the story goes, there's an affluent Greek American out on a walk. He comes upon an old Greek man, sitting on a rock, sipping ouzo, lazily starring out into the ocean watching the sunset. The American notices there are olive trees growing on the hills behind the old man but they are unintended, with olives here and there dropping onto the ground. He asks the old man who the trees belong to?
"They're mine," the Greek replies.
"Don't you gather the olives," the American asks?
"I just pick one when I want one," the old man says.
"But don't you realize that if you pruned the trees and picked the olives at their prime, you could sell them? In America people are crazy about olive oil, and they pay a damned good price for it. Why you could build a big house and hire servants to do everything for you."
"What would I do with the money?" the old man asks.
"You could do anything you want!"
"You mean like sip ouzo and watch the sunset?
And that's what I was thinking about as I came upon these three old gentlemen, and the sleeping dog. Just starring out into the ocean, swapping stories, waiting for the fishing boats to come in.
We took up residence and enjoyed the morning, waiting for the boats to come in.
From right to left - myself, Bill, Teresa, and Carol. Linus and Brad were out near the dock edge.
Wasn't too long before they showed up. We were waiting on the lobster. That's Bill helping one of the fishermen with a large tub full of Lobsters.
Not going to get much more fresher than that.
Linus was first to claim his "langosta perfecto."
Bill was developing an affinity for this fellow.
We gave Bill and Joy our lobsters since we were all meeting up later that night for the big cookout.
Lorrie and I headed out to Playa Chiva for the rest of the day.
Forecast was calling for a 30% chance of rain. Looks about right, maybe a touch too many clouds for 30%.
Matt was really wanting to snorkel and tried a couple times, but the surf has been up too much the last couple of days. Playa Chiva was nearly void of people. We were only one of 3 couples at turnout 10. I could only see one or two other couples looking back west. Did some beach clean up towards the east. Got one bag of mostly plastic liter bottles. We found a couple of old T-posts sticking up almost right at the waters edge. I would guess this are left from when that part of Chiva was closed for beach clean up. They were broke off with about 3 inches or jagged metal sticking out of the sand. I could see this really doing some harm to a person's foot. We stuck a big Styrofoam buoy we found over the top of them, only a temporary solution to a potentially dangerous hazard.
I have to interrupt this post to point out how darn quiet it is here at Beso Del Caribe. Super quiet, this is the place to come to if you want to only hear the waves, which I can while I sit here typing.
Anyway......
Left the beach about 5 pm, changed and headed over to "Cookies Paradise," where Bill and Joy are staying.
That's Brad preparing the fish for the grill.
We were fortunate enough to have a very large lobster pot at Beso, which we brought with us.
Couple of the lobsters ready for the table which Linus was already preparing with salads for the crew.
After a great meal we spent the evening out on the veranda, joking, laughing, singing and just having a great time.
Thank you Bill and Joy. To our new friends Linus, Carol, Brad and Teresa with hope we can all do this again sometime soon.
:-)
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