The Scurvy Dog's Puerto Rican Blog

2013 Year End Wrap Up

I’m sure a few of you are wondering what’s happening with me Scurvy Dog’s Blog. Let me explain…

First, the Blog has grown so big, its database has become extremely bloated. So much so that I run the high risk of losing some content to data corruption. All these posts with tons of photos takes its toll on data management. If and when the database becomes corrupted, I will not be able to restore it completely, if at all. Yes, I do database back-ups, but even that is not a perfect solution. Nor does it protect the thousands of images on the site. The ‘back-up files’ exceed my allowed limit for my hosting service account. Taking older posts off-line and archiving the content is one solution, but it would make searches take longer than they do now. Some images would no longer be available. Me Internet savvy First Mate has setup our own private hosting account so as to have more control over website hosting issues. Now, all our assorted sites reside in one convenient place.

That’s a good thing.

Second, I have a degenerative congenital condition of both ankles that until recently, was only ever a minor inconvenience. Back in the day, I used to backpack and cross-country ski so it never got in the way. Fast forward to my late 40’s, I got to where I could not stand on my feet all day to work. Simple solution- stop standing all day. [Read more…] about 2013 Year End Wrap Up

Montoso Gardens in the Mountains of Maricao

In my quest to track down other sources of tropical plants from within Puerto Rico, I stumbled onto the Montoso Gardens Website. The site has many photos and details about their effort. They also feature guided and unguided tours of the grounds.

Sounds like a fun afternoon to me so I had to check it out.

After trading emails and meshing schedules, we set a date in late July. Though this part of the island at this time of year gets lots and lots of rain, we lucked out and had a wonderful day.

Montoso Gardens is owned and operated by Bryan Brunner and his brother Dave. Bryan is a horticulturist who works at the Agricultural Experimental Station of the University of Puerto Rico in Lajas. He moved to PR in 1987 to the mountains of Maricao and started with 9 acres. Over the years, he’s been able to expand the ‘little patch’ to 70 acres. Dave joined the effort in 2001 and runs the day to day operations. A couple of great guys.

Their farm was originally part of the 137 acre coffee Hacienda el Cerro, and was owned by another horticulturist, Dr. Frank Martin of the Tropical Agriculture Experimental Station (TARS) in Mayaguez.

Getting there

Finding the place was not hard. It’s the same route we had covered to take in the Coffee Festival of Maricao which also took us past the observation overlook of la Torre de Piedra. The turnoff to Montoso Gardens was a few miles after that. If you plan to visit, their website has details about how to set up an appointment and how to find the place.

Basically, we exited Highway 2 at Sabana Grande and headed to town via Highway 121, then took Highway 120 out of town, into the mountains. We still managed to make the same wrong turn in town, but at least I knew where I needed to be. [Read more…] about Montoso Gardens in the Mountains of Maricao

Paradise Tax and the Costs of Living in PR

I’ve mentioned ‘Paradise Tax’ in past posts, but for those Gringos who don’t know what it is- It’s the real costs of living plus the many little and ‘not so little’ hassles everyone puts up with to live in an absolutely wonderful place.

Just to be clear, it IS wonderful living here and I have NO regrets about making Puerto Rico my retirement home. NONE! No place is perfect, but this is pretty close.

That said, I thought a ‘Reality Check’ might be in order since
I sometimes gloss over stuff.

Writing about issues is not what I want to be doing, but here goes-

Internet Issues- Claro/PRT (Puerto Rico Telephone)

First and foremost is our continuing Internet provider issues.

We rely heavily on PRT’s hardline A/DSL service to maintain our many websites (18 at last count), keep 2 computers, a laptop and tablet updated and the rest of the software we use on a regular basis updated. I also ‘like’ to stream the PBS NewsHour in the afternoons since it’s only shown on tape-delay at 11:30 at night here in PR, about my usual bedtime. This is the first thing to go when we start having issues with our ISP service. Dish Network removed PBS from our station line-up two years ago when the local station stopped supporting it. [Read more…] about Paradise Tax and the Costs of Living in PR

Manatí on the North Coast- Wake of the Cross

We found ourselves in Manatí, ‘the Athens of Puerto Rico’ on a scouting trip, the weekend before the reenactment of the British Landing in Cangrejos, staged on the grounds of Hacienda La Esperanza. I’m glad we did because finding the Hacienda was quite the little trip. Once we nailed that down, we went back into town to check out the plaza.

Though we visited Manatí before the reenactment, I’m presenting it last as ‘icing on the cake’.

We were there on a beautiful, but overcast Friday afternoon with large fluffy clouds floating by. Some of my shots are a little flat because of the overcast. This required a little more Photoshopping than I usually do, but no biggie. It was worth it.

‘Photo Ops’ were everywhere since Manatí is one of the older towns of Puerto Rico. Our effort was limited to the plaza and places just off the plaza.

The plaza is unique in that a large municipal parking garage is tucked underneath it. I had walked 3 sides of the expansive plaza before I discovered this fact. A great idea since parking is always hard to find when approaching almost any plaza in PR.

The Mayor’s Office or Alcaldia and the Catholic church sit just off the plaza. The only structure ‘on’ the plaza was a beautifully restored Mercado built in 1925. Centro De Las Artes is an excellent example of the period. [Read more…] about Manatí on the North Coast- Wake of the Cross

The Ruins of Hacienda La Esperanza

A year ago, I stumbled onto info about Hacienda La Esperanza.

Part of a large archive over on a US Department of Interior FTP server. The info is open to the public and it is vast. The old drawings, maps and B&W photos were from their original studies done in the 1970’s and ’80’s of Puerto Rico’s many ruins.

This location had caught my eye because I later discovered it was in the process of being restored and it still is.
I commend the effort and wish they had more funding to go after more sites.

Once you lose a place to the vagaries of time, it’s gone for good.

Living history inspires the soul. It drives people to do great things. No, you can’t put a dollar figure on it other than actual cost. There is little monetary return, but it gives the next generation a grounding in the past. Something to learn from. So that we repeat less of the old mistakes.

History is important and should be held tight.

We were there on an absolutely gorgeous Friday to shoot the Commemoration of the 1797 Spanish Harassment of the British Landing in Cangrejos.
A contingent of British had tried to land in Cangrejos to march on to San Juan. That did not work out so well. Cangrejos is a small natural harbor very similar to the area on the coast of Hacienda La Esperanza in Manati. Today, Cangrejos is a Marina on the coast of what is now Carolina.

The Manati location was an excellent choice to replicate the original Cangrejos battle.

This particular reenactment enlisted the aid of a Polish contingent and a few North Americans from Massachusetts. There was even a San Juan TV crew here to do a story about it.

I wrote about the reenactment in a previous post. It’s full of great pictures from the day’s activities. Because of the remote nature of the site, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Driving directions to Hacienda La Esperanza can also be found in that post. [Read more…] about The Ruins of Hacienda La Esperanza