3 parties in 1 day, no more puppies, 5 ft yellowtail sighting

Honey & her new mommy, Gillian, who has renamed her: meet Evangeline

Honey chillin at W pool

baby Paso Fino at side of road

Green Beach near sundown

snorkeling at Green Beach

this sea urchin was GINORMOUS

The rainbow I spotted (look in middle of frame) just before beginning poolside yoga

Saturday we held a little get-together with Alison & Nicholas and their 3 daughters, and Jessica & David and their son Sebastian. Jessica & David had moved to Vieques the day before, and this was the first time we'd met in person. Jessica had found me on Facebook, through a Vieques group, and we'd been corresponding for a couple of months as they tied things up back in Philadelphia, to start their new spontaneous life in Vieques. I suppose most people would be a tad apprehensive about a first personal meeting with an online friend, but I had a feeling these people were awesome - and my hunch proved correct.

Me & Jessica & little Sebastian

The best the Vieques Easter Bunny could do

This was to be our Final Big Chill - the puppies were adopted out the next day

In spite of my not being a Dog Person, this rottweiler was rather fond of me

Getting ready for the Easter Egg Hunt, at Lori & Pat's

The 2nd party on Easter Sunday - at Ji Hyun's and Jonathan's magnificent digs

From today's snorkeling adventure

Ji Huhn's and Jonathan's

Adela & her abuela, visiting from Olympia, WA

Red Beach (Caracas) on Easter Sunday - party #3 (Dagan's 1st birthday!!)

Alison

Sarah

Alison

Sarah

Birthday Boy Dagan!!

Tuesday I taught a photography workshop at Oasis Educational Center.

View of Sunset from our yard

hanging at the W

Quickie here, I'm beat. Easter was great in spite of fact that Viequense Easter Bunny has no peeps, Easter baskets or chocolate bunnies to his avail. Thank goodness Jandad put in a word during their visit.... That day we had 3 parties. An egg hunt, a bar b q, and a beach-side First Birthday Party. A tad hectic but overall, very fun. And very filling.

Tuesday I taught photography to the kids at Oasis Educational Center. Gave them a little talk, with some pointers, then we hit the streets with an assortment of digital point-&-shoots, disposable film cameras, and cell phones. The kids really got into it and I hope they continue exploring their creativity.

Today I homeschooled, using the kids I mean involving them in a project I've embarked on, and then after a game of Life we hit the road to meet Rona, her mom & baby Dagan at the newly opened Green Beach. At first we thought it'd be a letdown since by now we're totally spoiled and anything less than sublimity is unacceptable re: beaches. Green Beach is lonesome, no waves, small. But Willo and I went for a fun exploratory walk, during which we found several interesting shells & the like, and then I decided to explore the coral reefs just a few feet from the beach, in my goggles, with Willo trailing me for his first lesson in snorkeling, when suddenly a ginormous silver-colored fish crossed my path, I freaked out, but calmly told him to get the heck out of the water, and then later I figured out after an internet search it had been a yellowtail. It was about 5 ft long. We did go back in (of course), now I was on the search for this huge fish, and we found some enormous sea urchins, plus I found some empty conch shells.

passionate about Vieques

Friday morning Bill, having the day off, had the great idea to rent a kayak and go exploring the Tres Palmitas area of the Wildlife Refuge. It's a lagoon, surrounded by mangroves, with different inlets you can paddle through. Bill and I paddled for about 2 hours, mostly upwind, with the kids trailing behind us on their boogie boards. This was particularly humorous as we plodded along laboriously, while the yacht owners we'd imposed on the previous day swung by in their 3rd boat, a smaller motor boat, a few of the kids gleefully bouncing on the doughnut behind them. When we passed by the people remaining on the yachts, we called out our greetings and I pointed out we'd brought our own yacht today. Our procession (kayak & tethered boogie boards) was basically the Poor Man's waterskiing method.

You don't want this to happen to you.

Very good food!

Girls Night Out

Crashing the neighbors' party

Friday afternoon, thanks to our runaway puppies (who're now joined by Juana as we're taking care of her for Jorge), we ended up crashing our new neighbors' pool party. They've rented the house next door for a few days. It was tempting to just hang out with them and enjoy their characteristically Puerto Rican (ie superb) hospitality, but I really wanted to get to Esperanza to meet up with some friends and watch the traditional reenactment of the Passion of Christ. I knew it would be quite a spectacle, plus I thought it would be significant for the kids to witness.

We were not disappointed. When we got there we found our friends in front of Lazy Jack's, eating pizza & drinking beer/wine. Throngs of people were out, locals as well as tourists, and there was a festive atmosphere. I did feel a tad guilty when a priest walked by as I stood there with a Heineken. Eventually the show started. Jesus (played by a guy who works at the Cape Air counter at the airport, according to Bill) was being flogged by Romans, and behind him 2 more prisoners were being subjected to the same torture. They followed a truck that had a huge speaker mounted on it, playing Passion music as they walked. They stopped 10 times, during which the recording over the loudspeaker recounted what was going on (Pontius Pilate, Virgin Mary, shroud, etc), with not-so-subtle political and social undertones (just as Mary was devastated by what was being done to her son, the Viequense mothers are devastated by their children who go off and leave Vieques, or who suffer illnesses due to all the military activities here, or who disrespect their bodies with sex & drugs...). The acting was great and as I photographed it all, I became increasingly drawn into the drama. When Mary came over to bid her farewells to Jesus I started crying (she was sobbing), and I thought, I don't care what religion you are or aren't, how can you not be horrified by how atrocious human behavior can be? The children were riveted by it all and Willo asked several times, why did no one help Jesus?

We followed the procession to the end, which was a stage, where the 3 men were hoisted up on crosses. We stayed for a bit, but once Jesus died and they carried him over to the cave where he was to be buried, we left. I found out afterwards that we missed a spectacular grand finale when Jesus is raised from the dead and basically flies up through the sky, amidst colorful lights etc. If we'd known that was going to happen we may have stayed, but the kids were tired, Mary's monologue was boring them, and we didn't want to deal with traffic.

The Passion of Christ reenactment

A very convincing Mary

Once again I taught poolside yoga Saturday morning. As we flowed through the poses, focusing on our breathing, listening to the waves just behind me (in front of the students), I once again was grateful I had stopped to talk to Dave Grasshopper (his island name), who was at the W last week, visiting from Chicago. Dave had taken my class the previous day but had missed that day's class due to a late late night, and was now feeling rather slothful. We looked at the patch of grass between the pool & the beach and thought, what a great place for yoga, and a couple of hours later we, along with a few others, are helping him sweat out his excesses from the night before, by stretching, bending, twisting in the 3pm sun, between 2 bodies of water. Alas, Dave had to return to his Very Important Job the next day, but he left with the resolution to return in 2 years - for good. Bill is going to build his house for him, by the way, and I'm going to hold both of them to that.

Good Thursday in Vieques

Bill took yesterday and today (Good Friday) off and after teaching poolside bikini yoga yesterday, I spent the rest of the morning at the Humane Society because I decided (and you don't want to know how, trust me) that Honey has worms. Going to the vet here is nothing like back home, where you easily get an appointment and you're in and out, a few hundred dollars poorer (a fraction of which is reimbursed by ASPCA pet insurance) and you still have time to carpe diem. There is no vet here, you have to go to the Humane Society and the vet is there Tuesday-Thursday, and appointment times mean zilch. If you're a high-strung New Yorker, forget it, don't even consider bringing or adopting a pet here, at least not without first swallowing a handful of valium. Anyway this time since Bill was home I was able to do the HS thing kid-free, a welcome change especially since our last visit 2 days beforehand has resulted in Jackie's vomit episode (she's much better now, just has some fluid in her ears so I'm keeping her off dairy). Turns out Honey has ringworm and tapeworm, and I now have her on 2 types of medication, a 3rd one to come as they didn't have it in stock so I need to order it online. Negrita is apparently fine. It's getting increasingly difficult having these puppies as they're growing and with all that I do, not the least of which is tending to my own darling children, it's an enormous challenge not having a fenced-in yard for the pups to roam in and do their business. And like children, they have a love-hate relationship with each other, so if I'm not refereeing my own children I'm stopping one of the puppies from strangling her sister. I have to get rid of them in the next few days since they can no longer stay in this house, which is pet-free, so I just hope that one of the "maybe's" turns into a "yes, I'll take her!"

We went to Red Beach yesterday afternoon, as did, apparently, half of Vieques. I'd never seen it that crowded! But it's still paradise. Originally the Russians (Alla, Oleg & girls) were going to squeeze into our jeep with us but then they decided against it as the reality of having to pack & be home in time for their Bio Bay tour set in. It's a shame, as we really enjoyed all of them, and they're heading home today. But just then Cordelia, the massage therapist from Spa Chakra (the W spa here), walked by, and in my yoga lesson she had expressed interest in tagging along with us to the beach, so now that the Russians weren't coming she happily agreed to take their place in our car.

There were 2 large yachts moored at Red Beach, an unusual occurrence. As we swam, the kids were asking me about the insides (what's in there? Are there really beds? I don't believe you, there's no room!...). So I told them to swim over and ask if they could take a peek onboard. Willo was incredulous that I would allow that, so I said sure - I'll swim over with you, but YOU have to ask if you can check it out. Now it was my turn to be surprised as he said, OK. So he and I swam out to the yachts, and within 20 seconds he's climbing on board, toweling off (the Admiral, AKA the owner's wife, handed it to him) and getting a full tour, while I stayed in the water chatting with the dads. When he'd satisfied his curiosity, he jumped back in and we thanked them for indulging his curiosity, I urged them to check out the W, and we swam away. But now Jackie wanted to check them out. By then I was happily back on land, having played an enthusiastic game of paddle ball with Bill, now enjoying a Heineken with Cordelia, who by the way is an incredibly cheerful, sweet soul of a girl, here temporarily from Chicago, and I really didn't feel like ingratiating myself again on the yachtsmen. So Bill (much to my surprise, since he's normally more reserved than that) offered to swim out with the kids. Sure enough, Bill had a long chat with Pepe (yacht owner, Caribbean Data company owner) while the kids went on board, and generally made themselves at home. So basically, this whole experience was my homeschooling lesson of the day, which I pointed out afterwards to the kids: 1) if you're shy, timid, or fearful to go after what you want, you don't get it. The worse that can happen when you ask for something is you may be told "no." A small price to pay when the "yes" is so rewarding. 2) If you want to own a yacht some day, you need to work very hard, and doing well in school is a big part of that.

Bill and Willo just got back with a kayak hitched to the roof of the car, so it looks like more adventures await us today. He also just handed me the latest edition of Vieques Events (the official magazine here) with my cover photos, and pointed out an article I'd written, along with photos I'd taken, which I'd totally forgotten I'd submitted. I feel so at home here, like there was never any period of assimilation into life or society here. I suppose that's what it means to be "in your element"? We decided, or rather Bill decided, that we will head home around April 17th, and I won't lie and say I'm jumping for joy. But I won't let the thought of all the packing and discarding of stuff, and all the "keep in touch, I'll miss you, but at least there's Facebook" to come, dampen my last couple of weeks here. I know we'll be back.