from heaven to bliss and back again

check out the iguana on the edge of our pool

W pool

with her new Russian friends

living it up: lunch in the cabana

Tomorrow marks one week from the hotel's opening day, and they'll already be sold out. Semana Santa, or Easter week, is the biggest holiday in Puerto Rico, certainly in Vieques. Nobody works on Good Friday, not even the airline that operates between Vieques and the Big Island. At Monday's Girls Night Out I heard that this week is pandemonium in Vieques as people flock over here, pitch up camp (literally), and make a run on beer and other necessities (I went to the store this morning and stocked up). Gas stations already have lines round the block, and a lot of the island has had intermittent water stoppages as (word has it) the Water Gods are hoarding it for the influx of visitors. Suddenly remembering the whole Easter thing, I looked for marshmallows, chocolate chips & rainbow sprinkles at the store, as I wanted to try out an Easter egg rice crispies treat recipe I'd seen on my friend Melanie's Facebook page, but alas, no marshmallows or sprinkles to be found. I did pounce on some semi-sweet chocolate chips though so I may finally get my 2 month dark chocolate craving satisfied, to some extent.

Okay, so as a few of you know, we stayed at the W for 2 nights, and I will now give you my completely biased review. IT WAS PHENOMENAL. We had connecting rooms right on the pool, one with a king size bed, the other with 2 doubles. Not a suite, just regular rooms. Gosh, the luxury of it all! The W beds really are just outstanding. The bathroom also passed my high standards. Usually I berate Bill for focusing so much on design and aesthetic that practicality flies out the window, and this is always most obvious in the bathroom. For example, most hip hotels and the like have zero counter space in the bathroom, and although I'm a Low Maintenance Girl my toiletries usually have to sit on the floor, which is horrifying. But not here. Plenty of counter space and even a below-the-sink cabinet. So go ahead and bring all your MAC beauty products and straightening irons and the like. The bedside alarm clock has a dock for your iPhone or iPod, so I didn't need the charger I'd brought, and we could listen to my music. Though honestly, because the W standard places a huge emphasis on music in all the public areas, it was kind of nice to retreat to a music-free place (never thought I'd say that, music fanatic that I am!). The bedside radio doesn't have a "noisemaker" which was a bit disappointing, and there was no coffee maker (I don't know if that's in the plan?). The shower is huge, as is the walk-in closet, and there are plenty of outlets for people who simply cannot unplug even in paradise (yes, I'm admittedly one of them). Wireless internet, flat screen TV with DVD/CD player.

The pool is, as I think I've said before, just beautiful. On the second day I knew to go grab a cabana early, for the sake of my quality review, of course. The cabanas will be rented for a daily fee starting this weekend, but while we were there they were free. They have a flat screen TV (which if you know me, was certainly never used), and you're lying on this big bed. As I spread out there with my Sunday New York Times and a couple of magazines, while the kids played in the pool just feet away from me, I felt completely peaceful, pampered, & a tad guilty as I tend to do when I think of our good fortune. I met several people who are here for several days from DC, Chicago, NY, San Juan, Russia. I wondered if any of them were going to rent a car and explore Vieques, but I could understand if they chose not to do so. While the beaches on the other side of Vieques, the Caribbean side, are indisputably more breath-taking than the W beaches, the ease and comfort of staying in this beautiful, idyllic slice of heaven, with Pablo's Passion (bartender Pablo's genius margarita concoction of ginger & passion fruit, which is up to now unnamed but a Facebook friend suggested this name and that's what I'm calling it for now) available in minutes, thanks to the great poolside service, our room bathroom just steps away, a large pitcher of iced water with slices of lime & orange (FREE!) at the corner of the pool... Well, I'd completely understand if people would hesitate to rent a car, figure out where they're going, find out that there are no bathrooms or snack stands at the Wild Refuge beaches, be nervous about their valuables when they go swimming... I love the fact that this W is somewhere that easily pleases you whether you're looking for an insulated retreat or an adventurous cultural & eco experience, or a combination of both. Even the decor, in the rooms as well as the public spaces, reflects this diversity of experience. Patricia Urquiola's talent is not just in the beauty she creates, with the vibrant color schemes and brilliant ways of using mixed media that results in an aesthetically-pleasing AND comfortable lounging area, for example. But she also weaves local and hip elements together to create something very unique and, I think, that unites different cultures and generations. In other words, my 69-year-old Republican dad loves the results as much as a 35-year-old homosexual restaurant owner does, but for different reasons. If that makes any sense (hey, it's not like I write for Vogue or anything).

I tried out the gym. It's free to guests, part of their resort fee. The equipment is top notch (Technodyne). There are 4 treadmills, 3 excites & 2 waves (these are sort of like ellipticals, I gather), 3 stationary bikes. There's a bunch of weight lifting machines, dumbbells, exercise balls, jump ropes, yoga mats, a punching bag. Out back there's a sun deck and that's where I've been conducting the 8am yoga class. Except for the one I did by the pool on Monday afternoon, which was really a great place for it as we were between the pool and the ocean - beautiful! Of course, if you're embarrassed about your lack of flexibility (which I should be) then poolside is not the place to practice, as I think we created quite a spectacle. The Russians didn't seem to mind though, and we had quite a few laughs when they came to yoga the next morning (at the gym) in bikinis, and the landscapers who were working in the yard beside us all but stopped work to gawk at them. I'm hoping that delayed our return to CT by at least a day.

While we stayed at the W, our friend Gillian was kind enough to care for the 2 remaining puppies (Honey & Negrita) at her house. It hit me the first morning I woke up without having to deal with runaway puppies (remember, we don't have a fenced in yard) how much work it really has been for me. When we returned to our house yesterday, I took them to the Humane Society (because that's where the island's vet is) to get their 2nd round of shots and to have Honey checked out, since Gillian pointed out she'd been dragging her butt on the ground and she suspected the poor thing had inflated anal glands (lovely) which would need expressing (no thanks). So I dragged the kids there, because my yoga class (I didn't expect to teach, but as soon as I returned from my run, I was summoned to the gym) had meant the kids would be terribly late to school so I decided to just homeschool again. We had to wait a long time, as they were doing me a favor and squeezing me in, since the next available appointment wasn't until April 8th. During that wait time, Jackie began to feel ill. By the time it was our turn, we walked into the consultation room and I put one puppy on the table and Jackie whimpered "I don't feel well." Within 30 seconds I'd handed both puppies to the unperturbed vet and Jackie was leaning over a toilet. When we returned, the vet was finishing up with his gland expression, both pups were vaccinated, and I had somehow never lost that blissful feeling of tranquility I felt while basking in the W glory. Must be all that yoga. And pampering... Lynn, a volunteer there, and I got to talking (well, I was telling her, that is) about how the Vieques Humane Society needs to let future visitors know, before their visit here, how they can help, simply by bringing an animal back with them. I explained that many people when seeing my puppies offer to take one home to the US, but unfortunately are unable to because of the 10 day law. I suggested we put one of my photos of the puppies on a Vieques Travel website, with the text "help me" or something like that, and a link to the VHS's info on how you can adopt one or be a puppy mule. She loved it so I emailed Enchanted Isle, one of the top sources of travel info to Vieques, and Jim, the owner, agreed to help me. So make sure you visit his site!!!!

Everyone's asking us when we're coming home, and the answer is still "Not sure, probably 2-3 weeks." It's a weird thing for me to contemplate because quite honestly, this feels like home to me. I've made many friends, as have the kids, I've figured out several areas in which I could be a pain in the ass I mean catalyst to change, and I've embraced the Viequense way of floating around in 2nd gear (tops), dressed only in a bikini, cover-up & flip flops. The thought of all the competitiveness back home - as subtle as it may be, since it's not like we live in Greenwich or Manhattan, thankfully - is a tad daunting and upsets my chi to some extent. You either think of Vieques as just another Caribbean island, with its very rich people and a much larger majority of poor people, 3rd world infrastructure, and 3rd world mentality that says "this is good enough for me, why should I bother to try?". Or you see it the way that I and others who love Vieques see it, as a place that is not only beautiful, but also because of the lack of infrastructure forces you to slow down, simplify, and be content with less in terms of materialism but much richer in terms of your relationships to others, to nature, to yourself. I wouldn't say that I'm anxious about reassimilating into the Northeast rat race, partly because I don't think I was ever part of it (eg I eschew soccermania & all other kid-centric endeavors that would cut into My Time or Our Time) and partly because I have some really great friends and projects waiting for me back home. I hope that the way of life here is one I can sort of replicate back home to some extent, without becoming an eccentric, bohemian recluse.

"An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth"

-Bonnie Friedman