moving towards an empty nest (puppy-speaking)

Today the kids went back to Oasis Educational Center for the first time in over a week, now that their paternal grandparents have left and things are back to normal. Well, as normal as they can be with 4 puppies + Juana Mata Iguanas/Mata Pollos (Juana Iguana/Chicken Killer) in our custody, and Bill working every day, till all hours, on getting the W ready for its March 25th opening date. The puppies have been with us since Thursday, so that's 5 days now, and as expected, their cheerful, cuddly little souls have taken up residence in my formerly dog-apathetic little heart. For the past 4 nights I have awakened without an alarm clock at 2am and have taken them out to relieve themselves; the first 2 nights I took them out one-by-one, the last 2 nights two-by-two. I did it this way as I didn't want them to get it in their heads that 2am is Frolick on the Horse-Poop-fertilized lawn. Generally, they've been really good at then settling back down to sleep, in their cardboard box in the laundry room. They don't cry at night and I don't know if it's because of my calm, assertive energy (unlikely) or because of the fact they're all together (most likely).

So yes, it's been more work than I had before, of course, but honestly, I never thought caring for 4 puppies would be so easy. I have the almost ideal set up here, since I can be home most of the day, so the puppies are free to roam around the house (which is one story, and has no rugs) and the yard. The biggest hassle has been the fact our yard isn't fenced in, so not only do we have to make sure the puppies aren't eating the horse poop (horses mow our lawn on a daily basis), but we have to make sure they neither go too far, nor fall in the pool. Negrita fell in the pool on day 2, and Bill fortunately realized it immediately and went to her rescue; she could swim, but probably would not have been able to climb out. They have hardly had any accidents, and I'm thinking that they could almost be considered housebroken at this point. Stephanie, Bill's colleague who will be the Puppy Mule next week and take Feisty (now renamed Jess by her new owner, Lily, a 6 yr old girl in CT), was kind enough to bring flea collars for all the puppies, and I check them for ticks several times a day.

Today I decided to bring Daisy (the blonde dog with the cut on her face) into town, and after dropping off the kids at Oasis I would walk around town and hopefully find her a new master. I walked into Black Beard's, the local dive/bike shop, where they fixed my awful bike for $8. I figured that would be a great place to hook Daisy up with a gringo who would be an animal-lover, and would have enough discretionary income to take on an extra pet. As I was chatting with Glady's, the owner, about Vieques' first official triathlon (late June), a girl (late teens) came over and said something like "omigosh I want one like that" referring to Daisy. We chatted for a bit as I told her how I came upon the puppies, why I can't keep them, etc., and she said "I'll take them all." Turns out she's been her for a month now, moved here from Morristown, NJ ("you're kidding!!!!!" I exclaimed, "I graduated from Madison High School!!" - the adjacent town), and was hoping to get a puppy. She works at Black Beard's, which btw is very dog-friendly as the other employees bring their dogs to work. Anyway she and Daisy were soon fast friends, as Emily sat on the floor and Daisy fell asleep next to her. Emily assured me she has a fenced-in yard, and has grown up with dogs so knows what to do with them - and I told her she was welcome to keep her from that moment on. And that was that. I admit that while I was relieved I now only had 2 puppies to farm out, I was very sad. I loved Daisy for being a trouble maker and was sad to separate the 2 blonde sisters. Alas, she and Emily will be very happy.

I then went, empty-handed :( to the local grocery store, the one downtown. The parking situation there is difficult but I managed to score the spot right in front of the store. I saw a gringo in his 50s or so standing in front with a full shopping cart and a perplexed look on his face. So I went over and asked if he needed help getting his groceries to his car? I figured he hadn't realized that he wouldn't be able to take the cart to his car, thanks to the narrow sidewalk and lack of ramps. He told me he was parked 2 blocks away, hadn't planned on buying so much, and was going to leave his stuff while he got his car. I said BAD IDEA and told him to go get his car, I'd watch his stuff. He returned about 5 minutes later and then we chatted for a bit (he and his wife are visiting from Texas for a week). After I picked up some stuff, I went home and then got a call that Bill's colleague Jorge (Juana's owner) has a friend in San Juan, a chef, who wants to adopt Honey. So that leaves just Negrita, and sssshhhhhhh I have to admit I may want to keep her. She's the smallest, the most reserved, and just so freakin cute. I wonder what she would be like with Penny?

After doing some work, and making some calls, I went to get the kids from school. They are preparing for a show they're putting on on Thursday, about Puerto Rican history. I watched the last 15 minutes of their rehearsal, amused that Jackie and Willo were playing Spanish plantation owners, mistreating their slaves, while their classmates were either slaves or Taino Indians. After school we went straight to Blue Beach to meet up with 3 of our friends and their kids. It was beautiful and I couldn't help but think, this sure beats doing homework and then driving to Jackie's acting/singing lesson and running errands with an annoyed/annoying Willo for 1.5 hours.

OK, I've gotta get to bed. All of these photos are from the weekend (not today) - I'm too tired after yesterday's bout of dehydration, and must go to bed now. It's 9:40 pm and Bill just got home from work. Hasta pronto!

Mommy Dearest & the beach

When you spend Valentine’s Day on the beach, after a great bike/run/bike workout with a new friend, you really don’t need any bling bling or fancy chocolates. Well, I always need chocolate but I’m not one for bling. We met a few work colleagues of Bill’s on the beach after lunch. This time we went further down Blue Beach. The part we’d been hanging out on had sizeable waves which were great for boogie-boarding but required a constant watchful parent. Where we went to, just past the point that juts out in front of the little island, was like one big swimming pool. Jackie could walk out rather far and the water still only came to her chest. No boogie boarding but I was relieved to be able to relax, and the kids loved the tranquility and the possibility of actually swimming as opposed to dodging waves. We had a great time playing Frisbee with Bill on the beach, watching him and Ali play paddle ball, playing with the kids in the water & the sand, drinking Medallas, swimming a few laps, eating Ali’s scrumptious picnic (pears, grapes, Manchego cheese, crackers…). Josie, one of Ali’s teammates has a fantastic set of tattoos all over her body, and her girlfriend, Yari, is the sweetest thing and is actually a well-known recording artist here. Check out her album Mima, it’s awesome, Latin Jazz with a pinch of chipotle. She’s now working on a new album.

Yesterday (Monday) was the worst day yet in terms of homeschooling. Or rather, the actual school part was great, but when the kids weren’t engaged in an academic activity of some sort, they were a flipping nightmare. In my homeschooling book it warns that you’ll have good days and bad days. I’d assumed the bad days were when you couldn’t think of creative activities, or your printer didn’t work so you couldn’t bang out some worksheets, or the teacher (you) didn’t feel well and the lack of substitute teachers meant school was shot. But yesterday I learned that a bad day of homeschooling is (for me, at least, so far) when the now-idle children decide to torture each other because their classes are over, Mami is trying to send out some photography orders, and anything involving a screen or a remote is off-limits (my own masochistic rule).

As the situation was seriously starting to resemble a scene from Mommy Dearest, I packed the kids in the car and we went off to find treasure. As in, the kind of treasure you find at Cofí Beach, AKA Glass Beach. Because of a landfill that used to be somewhere off shore around there, sea glass still washes up on the beach. We found it and quickly got to work. It was really fun. We found green, blue, white, brown, and one little red piece. When we return from tomorrow’s trip to Mexico City, I plan to get the kids working on some really cool art projects with the hundreds of shells & sea glass we’ve accumulated.

At this point we’re all hot and sweaty and Jackie begs for Blue Beach, so we head across to the other side of Vieques and back to the quiet waters of Blue Beach 2 (as I call it). By the time we've lugged all our crap to the water's edge it’s 3:45, there are maybe 2-3 groups of people other than us, and we all jump happily into the water. I guess even a bad day of homeschooling in Vieques is still better than a good day in February in the Northeast.

Today (Tuesday), after a successful morning of school (we’re now doing a whole thing on the solar system), we headed over to Rona & baby Dagan’s house. She had invited us and our friends Bronwen and her 2 kids, for lunch and swimming (they have a pool). It was a really good time, as always, with them. Rona was telling us about some black millipede here that if it bites you, you have to go immediately to the ER because it’s lethal. Definitely going to find out about that one.

From there, the kids and I traipsed off to the grocery store (Morales), after a quick stop at the weekly fruit/veggie stand. Well, apparently Morales gets its weekly deliveries on Tuesdays. And the whole island knows this. If you are going to buy Kleenex (a commodity here) or Heineken Light, you want to shop on Tuesdays. Fortunately the kids opted to hang out in the air-conditioned car, as Jackie hates putting down her St. Clare’s series (by Enid Blyton, the same series I was obsessed with around her age), and Willo was happily playing on his Leapster (the only video games I will allow). Also fortunately, I don’t think kids being left in a cool car are an issue with local law enforcement. In fact, I don’t really know what is an issue with local law enforcement, as I’ve seen people speeding, tossing trash freely, and having sex on the beach. Anyway I navigated the aisles that are narrow to begin with, but then you’ve got towers of boxes that need unpacking, blocking the aisle, and just past that the local woman who is in no rush and is deep in some cell phone conversation, oblivious that I am a woman on a mission. I must find decent food to serve to Bill and 3 of his colleagues for tonight’s dinner (which was then to be canceled as I headed home).

Tomorrow we leave for San Juan as we have a flight early Thursday morning to Mexico City. Bill’s sister Gretchen is getting married on Saturday. Jackie is the bridesmaid and William is a ringbearer along with Gretchen’s son, Matías. I’m the photographer. We get back here next Tuesday. So not sure if I’ll be able to blog while there, between all the family stuff and the fact that I’ll be somewhere that actually has decent shopping so I suspect all my free time will be spent looking for stuff like miraculous eye cream, craft supplies and a bikini bottom that stays up while I run.

slavery, US Navy & my bimbo shot

After almost 2 weeks of being in the nonstop company of my delightful but nevertheless periodically patience-trying children, I was thrilled at the opportunity to leave them with their dad in order to take what I knew would be a fascinating class. The Spanish fort the kids and I had visited on Thursday is part of the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture, and the museum fort’s director, Robert Rabin, was to teach a class on Vieques in the 19^th century, as well as its 20^th century struggle for peace and justice. Robert arrived in Vieques in 1980 to study here for 3 weeks as he worked on his thesis and as he puts it, he “overextended” his stay. He is a leading expert on the matters of Vieques history and culture, and if he doesn’t know the answer to your question he knows the person who does. A charismatic, feisty man with a wild mop of grey hair and a twinkle in his eye, he makes no apology for his strong opinions (against Navy occupation; against the local government’s complete inertia when it comes to appreciating, improving or maintaining the island’s rich historical and cultural offerings...).

In a nutshell, Robert gave us a 1.5 hour summary of the 4000 years of Vieques history. In the late 90’s human remains were found in Esperanza that anthropologists dated back to 2000 BC (!!). These were of an indigenous people that most likely had migrated up from Venezuela, island-hopping until reaching Vieques (some anthropologists believe indigenous peoples also migrated south from Florida). An amulet was found with the carving of an Andean condor, dated c. 10 A.C., proving that indigenous peoples here were a melting pot of Latin American cultures, since the condor was Peruvian and the jadeite used was a material not found in these parts.

By the time the Spaniards arrived here, the Taínos were the inhabitants. They were a peaceful group of hunters and gatherers and they called their island “Bieké,” which is Taíno for “small island.” The Spaniards began sending military expeditions here in 1514 and the Spanish government created “encomiendas” – groups of Indian slaves, which they organized to work in the sugar cane plantations among other agricultural development. The Taínos rebelled against the oppression they suffered, with some important rebellions just outside San Juan. They actually succeeded to some extent, took some Spanish POW’s and brought them back to Vieques. The Spanish military retaliated by attacking the Taínos in Vieques and all but decimated them (1514).

From the late 1500s-1800s Vieques was occupied by British and Danish plantation owners, especially since slavery was outlawed in the other Caribbean islands many years before it was abolished in Puerto Rico (1873). In 1718 the Spaniards decided to stake their “rightful” claim over the island and they commissioned a mulatto pirate to get rid of the British. Around 1845 the Spanish built the fort (where I took the class) in order to establish Spanish control, and to spy on enemies (other colonists and independistas).

One of the most important people in Vieques history was Le Guillou. The governor here at the time, Roselló, was a useless, drunken mess and Le Guillou, a savvy, charismatic businessman gained the favors of the Puerto Rican governor and convinced him to install Le Guillou as Vieques’ military and political governor (mid 1800s). Le Guillou had dozens of sugar haciendas and hundreds of slaves. He in fact had an affair with one of his slaves, Adele, and had 2 children with her. In a written document he actually ordered his 2 legitimate children to recognize their half siblings, love them and protect them. Their descendants (Adele’s) still live here today, but apparently aren’t too interested in their history.

In 1864 the Dominican Republic had its War of Restoration (independence) and 25 POW’s were brought to the fort (which often served as a prison). To this day it is not known how they died, just that they all died in the fort. Their remains have yet to be found. Each year, on the day DR celebrates its independence, there is a celebration at the fort and a ceremony to honor those 25 POW’s, attended by the DR’s consul to PR.

Jump forward to the 1940s and hello US Navy. (Spain has lost PR to the US in the 1898 Spanish-American War). Land expropriations occur under the auspices of Congressional documents and the Navy takes over the eastern third and the western third, to use the land, beaches and turquoise waters for military training. Vieques was basically used as a training ground for World War II, the Cold War, the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam War, the CIA’s coup in DR to oust democratically-elected Pres Bosch, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile (to oust Pres. Allende), Grenada, Panama (to oust Noriega), the 1^st Gulf War, the Balkans... In 1964 the Navy decided it should take over the whole inner corridor of the island too, in order to connect the western and eastern sides they were occupying, but the Vieques governor at the time went to DC and staged a one-man protest on the steps of the US Capitol and met with the Under Secretary of the Navy and fortunately the plan was thwarted.

So, jump forward to the present and what all of you back home get glimpses of on CNN. As you know, there is a high incidence of cancer on the island. When the Navy was doing all its training exercises (ie bombing), people stayed here because, well, they were from here, and had no desire to pick up and leave, and I suspect they didn’t know the effects that all this crap could have on their health, further down the road. In spite of what the various media outlets like to imply, you won’t get cancer or grow an extra limb just from coming here for vacation. The potential risk would be from long-term exposure. The Navy is right now engaged in an intensive clean-up effort (much of the island is still off-limits), which is also controversial as they are openly burning certain areas in order to clear the brush and have a clearer view of mines, etc, in the ground. Those who oppose this burning are concerned about the environmental destruction, but a better option has not been proposed. Hundreds of tons of metals have already been removed. A couple from Maryland who attended the class with me, Johanna & Tom, and I struck up a conversation as we waited to head out for the second part of the class. Johanna works in Public Health and she was saying that the problem with all these studies hyped up in the media is that the data collected isn’t exactly accurate. The incidence of cancer (40% of the Vieques population is what’s cited) is going by the National Cancer Registry. People who register on this list tend to be the very advanced cases; plus, registration is optional and individuals register themselves. So the whole motivation factor comes into play. Somebody in Vieques, who is poor, whose family has suffered many real and perceived injustices, will be more motivated to make a stink about a cancer that perhaps would have occurred anyway, and register on this list – than perhaps someone in some little town in Indiana. Therefore, when comparing incidences of cancer between Vieques and some other geographical location, you’ve got to be really careful (which, of course, the media tend not to be).

After the lecture we headed out to our cars and caravanned to the first of 2 sites on our tour. We drove maybe 10 minutes, parked, and then walked through what felt like someone’s overgrown back yard, to the Le Guillou’s private family cemetery (c. 1843). There were a few tombs, one of which is believed to have been that of Le Guillou’s white wife. At some point the plan is to exhume the remains and conduct genetic testing to find out the exact identities. The sad thing is that this cemetery is completely unkept. The next spot was the same. We drove to Esperanza and a few minutes from our favorite beaches, you turn off the main road, drive a little ways on a dirt road and there you see these huge boulders with a tree growing through them. As I said earlier, in the late 1990s human remains were discovered. A skeleton was found under a sort of opening under one of the boulders. The skeleton was only about 2 inches from the surface! The rocks had at one point been underground, but because of erosion etc, they were now sitting above ground. So here we have an archaeological site that dates back to 2000 B.C. – and there is no protection, no control. There were beer cans strewn throughout the rocks, someone had drawn an alien face on the rock under which the skeleton had been found, someone else had written her and her boyfriend’s names on another rock... Robert said that the municipal government throws its hands up, claiming lack of funds (but clearly it’s a lack of priority, as is the state of education on this island but don’t get me started on that...). Apparently the Puerto Rican Anthropological Studies Society (or whatever it’s called) has a total of 2 archaeologists so they’re not hopping over here to find more, which is a shame since this is most likely the tip of the iceberg. Anyway, something really interesting about the remains found is that it was laid in a deliberate position – fetal position – which implies that contrary to what had been previously believed, even 2000 BC the people believed in some sort of after-life (otherwise the body would have been left to unceremoniously decompose).

So, after my 3.5 hours of kid-free time, I headed home to the bar-b-q Bill was hosting at our house, for the workers he had asked to sacrifice a Saturday in order to get the hotel closer to opening. When that was over, we headed over to Blue Beach to meet up with Rona and baby Dagan. The waves were really rough so I only swam laps for about 10 minutes, figuring I’d better help Bill with the kids. Willo has become surprisingly comfortable in the water and no longer has a breakdown when he’s thrashed by a wave. We’re thrilled that he’s not wimpy when it comes to water but yesterday I talked to him about respecting the power of the ocean and not getting too cocky. I doubt he understood, that’s the sort of lesson that must come through experience, so in the meantime we stay vigilant as he throws himself into the big waves. I took Juana for a jog up and down the beach and ended up meeting a couple from Atlanta, the owners of what sounds like a really hip home furnishing store, Heliotrope. Anyway back to our perch on the beach (umbrellas, chairs, 18 sand toys, all the holes that Juana had dug, cooler filled with water, grapes and a few beers), Bill asking me if I could please sit down and chill for once? Bruce the Ranger comes by on his ATV and I take a picture so he stops to say hi. I decide to climb on behind him and Bill takes a picture (I know, BIMBO!). He’s from Ft. Lauderdale and the kids and I met him last year. He basically patrols the area to make sure dogs are on leashes, nobody’s doing drugs, nobody’s been robbed and no one’s engaged in any other inappropriate activity. He flies home often, says he’s got it down to a science – apparently you can fly San Juan-Orlando for $175 round trip.

We went home and showered and then went to the local, newish restaurant in Isabel II, Cantina La Reina. Mexican, really well decorated. First floor is dining area, 2^nd floor is a bar with a pool table, and the rooftop is lounge-y with sofa seating. Bill says it’s the place to be for happy hour on Fridays – so I guess if we ever get a sitter here that’ll be where we go. I had lobster enchiladas (YUM!!!) and the margaritas were really good too.

This morning Tessa and I went for our first bike ride together. Bill got me a mountain bike that was apparently for the use of guests at Martineau Bay (the hotel that is now the W). I hadn’t tried it out yet but I made plans with Tessa to meet at my place, ride out to Mosquito Pier, leave our bikes at the end of the pier, run the pier, then bike back. Well, it turns out my bike only works in one gear. And it’s too small for me. So basically I got a great workout, looked like a total idiot, and had a blast. Tessa and I are seriously thinking of doing a triathlon on March 7 in San Juan, but first I need to figure out the bike situation. This bike won’t do it for me. The pedals don’t even have stirrups. I’m hoping that someone in San Juan can either loan or rent us bikes. Tessa just did a marathon on New Year’s Eve and now wants to do her first triathlon – the San Juan one would be awesome! So if you have any leads for us we’d greatly appreciate it...