We've found a new treasure! (Sol Creation)

Bill went out for his 3rd consecutive run (YES!!) and took Juana with him, on a leash. When he returned about a half hour later, he complained about how she was zig zagging in front of him, how frustrating that was, and when he got to the field he let her off the leash, and she disappeared for a few short moments and suddenly reappeared with a hen in her mouth. He scolded her so she put it down, but it was dead. At this point, Juana came over to show me how much she loves me and I immediately pushed her away, not wanting chicken guts to be licked onto me, but he told me she apparently was only interested in the chase, she had no interest in mangling the poor bird. He figures it's the retriever in her (she's apparently half pincher, half retriever, is the guess). So now our Juana Come Iguanas (iguana-eater) is Juana Mata Pollos (chicken killer). I just hope she didn't affect some poor family's ability to feed their children.

I headed out for my run. I went alone, wanting a fast, hard run without worrying about Juana or uneven ground, and I decided to head toward town (Isabel II) instead of the peaceful meadow. It was pretty busy on the road, as it was approaching 8am and people were heading to school and work. There was a sidewalk for most of it, and I noticed that unlike back home, not a single driver was texting or checking email, and also unlike in Southbury, there wasn't a large population of elderly drivers. Kids were walking to school and at one point I passed a group of what appeared to be kindergarten-aged boys. Walking without adults. For some reason I remembered what several people have told me about Vieques schools - that there are no substitute teachers. If the teacher is out, the kids get sent home. One person told me last year that her kids were home more often than they were at school, teacher absenteeism was so prevalent. This obviously makes it hard for parents to work, since they must pick up their children and then stay home with them.

Today in school Jackie read her Nancy Drew book from the moment she woke up, until about 1.5 hours later when I told her it was time to do some writing. Willo had done some work in his workbook (reading & math), we read a book on frogs, and then he did a frog art project. When Jackie had finished her writing assignment, the kids finished their 300 piece puzzle, and Jackie had updated her blog, we had lunch (Bill came home for a quick lunch for the first time), then I told them about the Taino Indians. I told them about how when Cristobal Colon first arrived in Puerto Rico, he found it inhabited by some very peaceful, cheerful Indians who were all naked (except the married women, who wore loin cloths), who slept in hammocks, lived in bohios (sticks, grass & mud huts), snacked on parrots, played guiros and maracas, bathed several times a day, and invented the BBQ. Willo asked me where the Tainos are now, and I told him dead. He asked how they died and I explained that the Conquistadores wanted to expand their empire by greedily taking all the land and riches they could, and between outright slaughter, the diseases they brought here to which the indigenous peoples had no immunity, the fact many succumbed to the hardships of being in slavery, etc - well, they didn't last long. But I told them that the local Spanish fort has all kinds of great information about them, with lots of Taino relics. They asked where the relics came from and I told them that a few archaeologists unearthed them, some of them even came from under what is now the W hotel. Willo said that next time we go to the beach, he will dig for hours, so maybe he can find some relics.

Originally I was planning to take them to the fort today, but instead we decided to go into town to buy Jackie a sunhat at Black Beard's, where I could also get specific directions for how to get to Glass Beach. As we were driving around, looking for parking, I spotted a store I hadn't seen before, and Jackie agreed we should definitely check it out. We ended up first checking out another store, which had the most random stuff (this seems to be the case with shops here). I found a plastic cutting board and a largish frying pan (finally!!!!), but still no cheese grater. The same store also had an interesting collection of tacky souvenirs, window treatments, sewing items, flip flops, and sex toys. Very odd. From there we got Jackie's hat and I got directions to Glass Beach (as usual here, no street names or anything: take a left out of the store, then a left at the next block, a right at the bar with the blue walls, go down and turn left at the white house on the square, and go down the road that looks like a driveway...)

We then went to check out the new shop, Sol Creation. It's in a cute little building I've photographed each time I've visited. Soleil and her mom Destiny own it; Destiny has been here a few years, having moved here from West Virginia, and Soleil came here more recently, from Hawaii. Extremely friendly, very child-friendly (there's water & grapes for you to enjoy as you shop), really just lovely women. And the clothes! Jackie watched me trying on stuff and asked, "if you could afford it, would you buy the whole shop?" To which I answered with an unequivocal "YES!" Beautiful, soft fabrics, flowing designs, gorgeous colors - there were sundresses, skirts, tops, tanks, wraps, shorts... They also had beautiful stuff for the home - bed linens, throw pillows. The prices were certainly reasonable, but they aren't going to have the capacity to accept credit cards until next week, so bring cash or checkbook. They support the local Humane Society by giving 50% of each sale of their Wish Necklaces to the HS. I'm pretty sure I'm going to wear the top I bought to tomorrow's dinner party. Jackie is stylin' in her wrap :)