The Scurvy Dog's Puerto Rican Blog

A Vertical Aquaponic Eco Farming Project in PR

Or as I’ve nick-named it- “The Tryon Project”,
after it’s creator, Mr. Richard Tryon.

I had the great privilege of meeting Mr. Tryon and his wife where he gave me (and me 1st Mate) the big tour and back-story of his Santa Isabel pilot project.

We got there just as a van full of college students were leaving. That’s not Recao, but Cilantro he’s holding up. Very polite dude, BTW.

This article is somewhat of a departure from my usual travel material, but I like it because it shows off some of the more interesting projects being done in Puerto Rico. Especially any effort to help create self-suffecient, self-relient individuals like me-self… ARRG! I also thought Puerto Ricans on the mainland would be interested in this as well. So here’s what I got. [Read more…] about A Vertical Aquaponic Eco Farming Project in PR

Surf’n Season on the West Shore

A Beautiful Day in Aguadilla

Though Rincon is known as the ‘Surfing Capital’ of PR, surfing takes place all along the west coast. It simply depends on where the best waves are. It’s a 2 hour drive from Coamo to the little town of Aguadilla. Once you pass Ponce, Hwy 2 is peppered with about 2 dozen stop lights. We breezed through most of them, but coming to a complete stop really extends your travel time.

The plan was to meet the San Juan Photo and Social Club at Crash Boat Beach. I thought it was IN Aguadilla, but it’s actually north of Aguadilla by a couple miles. I never made it TO Crash Boat Beach. We did hook up in Aguadilla for some surfing shots and then on into the Plaza. So Crash Boat Beach is still on my ‘hit list’ I found its location on Google Earth, after the fact. Crash Boat Beach gets it’s name from the military maintaining a rescue boat launch to go retrieve pilots who crashed in the sea while doing exercises. There is a converted military air base up above Aguadilla on the Northwest corner of the island. What was the Ramey Air Force Base is now called the Rafael Hernandez Airport.

A lot of retired US military live in this area of Puerto Rico.

A Little Side Trip on the South Side

Or, Shopping in Ponce & the Slow Road Home

The area along the south coast between Ponce and Salinas is very relaxed. Not many tourists make it out this way. Highway 1 meanders near the coast, sometimes right up by the beach. If you have the time, I really recommend it. It stretches from Guayama in the southeast, all the way to Ponce. I’ve done it several times now. The area is primarily agriculture. Papaya, banana and palm groves are spread out all over this region.

Remnants of the old sugar mills are everywhere. [Read more…] about A Little Side Trip on the South Side

Maps, Maps and More Maps

The ‘Maps Page’ update is finally done.. Whew!

I knew the day I posted my first PR map to the Web that it would eventually need corrections. All of that work was done before ever leaving Alaska. It was a ‘best guess’ based on what I could find on the Internet. ‘Boots on the ground’ make all the difference. This new map is not perfect either. It’s as much ‘a work of art’ as it is topographically accurate. It reflects what I know today. At some point it will ‘evolve’ again.

The software and hardware I used to create it has evolved as well. I spend an awful lot of time at the computer. This map update took a good 40 hours.
I retired my old dual processor G4 Mac (running Adobe’s original Creative Suite) and moved entirely to my 17″ Intel MacBook Pro with CS 4 to do this last round of updates. It’s hooked up to a 2nd display and a small ‘zero raid array’ (used to speed-up Photoshop and FinalCut Express).

A Good Puerto Rican Road Map:

I’ve looked at a lot of maps along the way and the freebee from the PR Dept. of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP) is the best one yet. After downloading, I prepared it as a ‘split’ to print front and back on 13″ x 19″ for laminating.

Download links are on the ‘Maps Page’.

The Library of Congress Resource:

In addition to my own map update and PR road map, I’ve added several unique antique maps I found on the Library of Congress Web site. Most were huge files, some over 200MB! I tweaked them, resampled them, selectively sharpened them and then created the smaller ‘compact’ files on the ‘Maps Page’.

The ‘Maps Page’ will also be the depository of any new maps I make to support stories like the one I did for the Tren Urbano transit system. I will be posting up a custom map of Coamo’s San Blas Half Marathon as an update to that event in early February.

Bottom line… all my site updates are behind me, for now.

Special Note: I’ll be moving this site to a new server over the next few days so if I temporarily disappear, don’t fret.

Now I’ll take a much deserved break before heading off in search of my next story. The Scurvy Dog of Puerto Rico.. ARRG!

Corozal Plantain Festival 2010

.. And a civilized cock fight too!

Ever since I discovered they still ran cock fights in Puerto Rico, I’ve been wanting to go see one. It’s legal here. In fact, its evidently the 10th largest industry on the island. It is regulated by Puerto Rico and there is an established set of rules participants must abide by. Betting at games is also legal. That’s not to say there or no private games, but I’ve not been invited to any yet. The ones staged in Corozal were like ‘prelims’ with trophies handed out to the top winners. A classic looking bird was on display with is lower breast and leg feathers removed. This is typical of most fighting cocks. The birds in this fight were devoid of the rear leg spurs. They had soft covers instead, issued by the authorities so as to minimize the birds hurting each other. The fights run for 3 minutes each. The 2 gray haired gentlemen in the foreground were doing the timing and keeping track of which bird was doing what damage.

The cock fights seemed to be the main attraction of the day.
We had come to check out the ‘plantain scene’. I had no clue there would be any cock fighting. [Read more…] about Corozal Plantain Festival 2010