The Scurvy Dog's Puerto Rican Blog -

Hurricane Maria 100 Day Disaster Recap

Everyone has heard about how bad Puerto Rico was hit by hurricane Maria and how slow the recovery has been. As reported by the press, about 45% of the island is still without electricity and without that, you have no running water. The press has also reported that about 400,000 Puerto Ricans have left the island since September 20th.

THAT’S ALL TRUE.

To add insult to injury, the Feds suspended issuing reports on the recovery ‘progress’ being made. No news is better than bad news, right?

Before I launch into the post, I need to say we are fine, The dogs are fine. Our concrete house suffered only very minor cosmetic damage. However the trees I’ve been working on for the last 6 years did not fair so well. Vegetation was decimated. We lost many trees, many more were badly damaged.

We were most fortunate… many more still need our help.

What follows are my own observations, some photos, how we dealt with it and a timeline which got us to where we are now. I’ll conclude with my observations about the exodus from the island and the FEMA response.

A short, crude video taken during the hurricane is also in the works. I’ll drop a link on this page when it’s done.

The Issue of Hard News or Lack of It

We would not see any national news until we were back on the Net on November 30th. Nothing until then. Nada. No emergency broadcasting capability at the local or national level. It was like a military invasion blackout. We had no clue as to whether Maria had done more damage elsewhere or if we might see anymore hurricanes in the near term. We had no idea, hurricane Lee followed Maria. We did get a lot of wind and rain, days after Maria passed by. It was never mentioned on the AM stations we were monitoring.

Local news, what there was of it, came from 3 or 4 AM radio stations that had a hard time staying on the air. Issues with electricity and the lack of functional generators. Especially on the south side of the island where we are. San Juan on the north side has ready access to news we could not get. Of course all of it is in Spanish with the exception of the 2 or 3 announcements made by US Government officials. The only English announcement made by a Puerto Rican authority was delivered by the Governor of PR on the day the President came for his infamous photo-op.

MAKE NO MISTAKE, 100 DAYS IN, THERE ARE STILL MILLIONS WITHOUT CITY WATER OR SEWER, ELECTRICITY OR CELL SERVICE AND LITTLE TO NO BASIC HEALTH SERVICES.

THAT’S ALSO TRUE OF THE US VIRGIN ISLANDS TOO.

Ironically, Coamo has it’s own little independent radio station, WCPR 1450AM (Radio Free Coamo?). We would listen to Tony’s morning show, hoping to learn something from it. This was almost always an exercise in frustration as he would often redirect the conversation away from the topic of the moment. We love him, but he’s [Read more…] about Hurricane Maria 100 Day Disaster Recap

Bodega y Viñedo Andreu Solé of Guanica

The Winery is an absolute oasis of charm and service.

A ‘must see’ when touring the west side of Puerto Rico.

We had been wanting to come check out Puerto Rico’s only winery, ever since we found out about it. Some friends of me First Mate were here on vacation so we set a date to meet there. We also did the tour of the vineyard.

I only wish we lived closer, I would be coming back here more often. It’s about a 1 hour, 10 minute run from our place so that makes for a pretty good jog each way. Definitely worth it, though.

Bodega Andreu Solé is on the road leading to Guanica so it’s easy to find. Plus there are lots of signs too. Specifically, they are located on PR-3116, at km 2.6 in Barrio Ensenada, Guanica, PR. It is a short run off Highway 2 via highway 116, to get there. Stay on 116 until you see 3116 splitting to the right where it curves downhill to pass under 116. A look-up on GoogleMaps will put you right there, though some maps show the older designation of PR-325. The signs you will see are marked as 3116.

Though Guanica is notoriously hot, we were there in early March so it’s still pretty reasonable. It was slightly overcast the Sunday we were there. In fact, we got a very light bit of rain, but it was nothing to fret about. It was over before it ever got going.

The Grounds

The winery is right on the bay with their own wooden dock. [Read more…] about Bodega y Viñedo Andreu Solé of Guanica

Our Slice of Paradise: The Projects (3/3)

I will admit, most of my other projects have taken a back seat to getting the fruit and nut trees in the ground. In retrospect, that is probably THE big project, though I never thought of it that way. As with almost anything you do in PR, it has taken longer than I thought it would to get to this point.
I covered most of that in the first 2 parts.

Outside the ‘planting of the trees’, there are several other projects I’m working on. They can be grouped into ‘minor’ and ‘major’ efforts.

I’ll cover the smaller projects first, the bigger ones last.

Minor Projects:

A few of my early projects or experiments were related to growing new stuff. Those included growing peanuts in raised beds (I would do that again), testing tropical birdseed for potential growth (I would do that again, too), growing Kenaf (a pulpy, fibrous Hibiscus similar to Hemp, but not illegal) to assess it’s ability to prosper and even a little cotton too. Most of these have been covered in previous posts.

Way back when, Cotton was a minor cash crop here on the island.

It grows wild along the side of the road. The plant resembles a big bush with fluffs of white on it. I picked enough roadside cotton to start a dozen plants, just to see how it grows. I figure these could be considered ‘heirloom seeds’.

Well, cotton needs a lot of water. More than I currently have available. Another issue is removing the seeds. It took me 2 hours to pull all the seeds from about 6 ounces of ‘fluff’. Yeah, yeah, Eli invented the Cotton Gin. [Read more…] about Our Slice of Paradise: The Projects (3/3)

Our Slice of Paradise: The Trees (2/3)

This post is for all you gardeners. It will cover the progress made with getting things planted as well as what new trees have started to produce fruit over the last year.

Before I get going I need to make clear, we do not operate a commercial nursery. This is strictly for our personal enjoyment. Occasionally, I will put a few of my surplus plants up for sale, over on Craigslist Puerto Rico. You can also email me via the Contact Page, if interested. These are ‘one-time’ only sales. At some point, I hope to put the planting of new trees behind me.

But first a few words about grabbing photos around the property

When I’m out doing ‘dirt-work’, it’s been hard to keep up with shooting images of the progress. I don’t like dragging my good camera gear around or risk getting it dirty in the process. Plus there is a need to travel light while working. If I don’t keep it on me, I miss key shots. I had an old Canon S-80 ‘point and shoot’ in a waterproof housing, but it was quite bulky. Plus, I accidentally destroyed it a while back so I needed to replace it.

The new category of waterproof (or really, water-resistant) cameras have come a long way over the last 5 years. So I thought it was time to pick one up. I scored a 16MP, auto-focus Olympus Stylus Tough 860. Most of these point and shoots don’t have a very wide lens… I like wide. This one goes from 21mm to 105mm (35mm equivalent). The widest in the waterproof camera category. It also has a ‘macro’ mode for getting in close. The little 860 will also shoot video though I don’t really care about that. I have seen this model sell for well below $200 on eBay. Pretty cheap for what it will do.

All that sounds good on paper. But how does it perform?

Only so-so. Overall image quality is only ‘fair’, sorry to say. Since I’m using it for the Blog and sizing them down in Photoshop, I can do a lot to improve the final image. It will NEVER replace my Sony NEX-7. Auto-focus [Read more…] about Our Slice of Paradise: The Trees (2/3)

Our Slice of Paradise: Stuff and Things (1/3)

Internet… sometimes… maybe, maybe not

Yeah, yeah. I know it’s been too long since I did a real post. This update is part 1 of 3. To say I’ve become distressed with our poor internet service out where we live, would be an understatement. Writing and posting images to the Web is a very time consuming, check and recheck process. Doubly so when your connection cuts out, drops off or goes away for hours or days at a time.

Obviously, we do not rely on our cellphones or tablets to access the net or get work done. We are power users. We maintain a hardline through Claro/PRT, but the DSL can hardly deliver dependable rates over ‘dial-up’ speeds. To qualify that- the faster the data-rate, the more prone it is to major ‘packet data loss’ and that’s a real issue when you live so far from the main trunkline like we do. We laugh when Claro marketing calls, asking if we want to upgrade our ‘speed’ or heaven forbid, sign up for cable TV. What a joke. And I’m being polite. It’s out for so long, they provide us with a temporary cable modem to hold us over until the hardline is fixed again (If we want to make the run into Ponce to pick it up). That’s happened at least 3 times in the last 6 years.

So, we opted for a no data-cap wireless connection via VelocityNet. A dedicated mini-dish with ethernet to a desktop modem. I’ve mentioned them before. It’s the only practical way to get internet in a rural setting.

It is relatively reliable, but like any cell based service data speeds during the day suck. In the evening, we can stream Netflix or Hulu… most of the time. Me first mate stays up late, just so she can get her work done. Unfortunately, it seems to drop-out like clock-work, around the 1st of each month. Not sure why, but I can speculate. We think they are busy running through their client list, turning back on those who have paid their bill for the next month. It’s a small, local outfit. Another point- they often pass off their connection to the web to other, 3rd party internet service providers. It’s something we track. Sometimes we ‘originate’ from Florida, sometimes from San Juan, sometimes from Cincinnati. Go figure. Yes, there have been a few times when both have been out at the same time, but it’s rare.

Posting content to the Net from our rural location is a major act of frustration. I’m retired and tired… I don’t need this crap. Sorry, but I need to make a point here. It just all sucks so bad, so much of the time.

If we lived closer to town, we could get stable DSL. Something to consider if you plan on moving to PR, but need fast Internet to maintain a web site or generate income.

A HughesDish is ok, if you don’t want to stream TV or movies. And it’s expensive. We had one when I first got here, but the old set will not work on the updated service. It’s probably more dependable than any local solution, though it’s not bullet-proof. Bad weather like heavy clouds or hurricanes will disrupt service. Then there is the daily data-caps which will put you off-line for 24 hours, if you go over. From 2AM to 6AM there’s no limit. Big deal.

I’m done venting. Thanx.

Gardening: The Evolution of No Real Plan

I’ve done a lot of posts since I got here, about my ‘little’ gardening effort. Gardening was a big part of the reason I wanted to check out Puerto Rico in the beginning. It’s the only place in the USA where you can have a veggie garden year round. Not to mention, the potential to grow fruit and nut trees and other ‘interesting’ stuff. [Read more…] about Our Slice of Paradise: Stuff and Things (1/3)