Day Trip to Old San Juan

Took the day off from writing today and headed toward Viejo San Juan to meet up with a friend from Kansas. Our first visitor! 

Well, not exactly. Our friend was coming to PR for a conference and knew that we'd moved here, so we had lunch together at Raíces, an authentic Puerto Rican restaurant that serves fantastic mofongo! (pictured here)

Another friend and family is heading to the island in late August, so we'll have fun making another day trip to catch up. When we finally move into our condo, we expect friends to come visit us, not just Puerto Rico! lol

Before meeting up for lunch, Julie and I went to an English speaking church called Arise! They have two services, the first in English and the second in Spanish, but they often do ministry and socials together as a combined congregation.

While renting our house in Orocovis, we've been attending Primera Iglesia Bautista and we have wonderful friends there. But at this point in my Spanish language journey, I can only catch about ten percent of what's going on, and that's mainly because of context! Still, I'm committed to learning Spanish, but it may be nice, once we move, to attend that dual language church in Dorado (about 25 minutes from where we'll be in Vega Baja).

So after church and after lunch with a friend, we walked around Old San Juan a bit. We've been there a number of times and there's a lot to see. Strolling the streets is always a delight. 

We love walking in and out of stores (because they have air conditioning!) and seeing what's for sale. Though we don't need any more touristy stuff now that we are residents.

Plus, there are beautiful old buildings that you just want to buy and renovate and turn into a 5 Star Hotel. Well, if I had a few million dollars, maybe that's what I'd do! Here's one with a tree growing up on the inside. Anyone want to lend me some money? (grin)

Since this is our 5th time on the island (we've been here a month now), we have a pretty good handle on what to see if you come visit. Although there is always more for us to explore as well. Give us a call if you are heading our way and we'll meet up or if you stay at our condo, we'll go exploring together.

Interlude for Tropical Fruit

We're renting a house in the mountains, right in the center of Puerto Rico. We're here until the middle of August, that's when we'll move into our condo by the beach. 

Now we've wanted an ocean view for quite some time, but we love the cooler mountains and scenery where we're staying now. I know we'll mis this place when we move.

One thing we'll miss is the banana trees on the property. Just along the front and back fence are some bananas ready to harvest. Some bunches are just getting started. 

Check out the flowering ones where baby bananas come from! (last pic below)

Our neighbors are great here as well. One let me borrow his machete so that I could cut a huge bunch from the tree. He then told me I have to cut back the leaves on that tree so that it will die and let another banans shoot come up. Wild.

Another neighbor gave us some parcha - passion fruit.  (see pic below) You're supposed to cut it and scoop out the seeds and eat them or drink the juice. Now without sugar, that's almost impossible! Very tart. But very tasty once its sweetened.

Fruit is everywhere here. It's a Caribbean island, after all. When we went to Ponce this past weekend and met some fellow travelers, we saw a bunch mango trees with the fruit just falling off the tree laying by the side of the road. So on our way home we snagged some.

I called our pastor to make sure it was okay to eat and yes, once it turns yellow you can go for it. Mangoes are super messy so I basically just stripped the skin off of them and sucked at the juice. I won't show a picture of that!

There are a few coconut trees here, I've seen. But nothing close by to grab. I think they also grow pineapple here. There are also some fairly exotic fruits that I have yet to try. You'll have to use a search engine to discover the details, but the following are on my list to eat one day: Guanabana, Starfruit, Breadfruit, Rose Apple, and Quenépa.

Anyway, fun times in store on a tropical island. Any favorite tropical fruit for you?

Met Some New Friends Today

In person, that is. We'd already met them online.

After church this morning, Julie and I headed to Ponce on the south central coast of Puerto Rico where we met up with Lisa and Beto of The Messy Suitcase Blog. Their story has some similarities to ours!

Lyn, Julie, Lisa, Beto in Ponce.

A few years ago, they decided to spend their early retirement traveling. But they needed an anchor, a place to call home. They settled on Puerto Rico and just recently purchased a home in Cabo Rojo.

We came across their blog when we were researching what it took to bring our cat Charlie to PR. They'd just posted an update about the hoops they'd had to jump through to bring their cat, Kaylee.

After some comments back and forth on our blog, Boom Travel and Wellness, and theirs, we set a zoom Happy Hour to meet online. When we both made it to PR, we'd try to get together.

Librería El Candil in Ponce.

Well, that happened today when we "met in the middle" in Ponce - about an hour drive for each of us. In the old town section of the city, there's a wonderful plaza with a number of shops and one of the best ice cream places on the island. There's also a cute little cafe and bookstore nearby.

After a bit of street food (pinchos de pollo from a street vendor) and some fabulous ice cream from King's Cream, we walked around and caught up on each other's stories. It was a fun afternoon. Definitely visit their blog, they have a lot of adventures to share!

Us at the Fox Hotel in Ponce.

And soon, we'll be sharing some new adventures together.

  

House Hunting Interlude

Day 4 in Puerto Rico and we’re ready to buy a home!

That’s why we moved from Kansas, to actually reside in PR for a chunk of years. Where I could write full time by the sea. Although we love our rental here in the mountains, we want to be near the beach.

Ocean view from the condo community we like.

Near the beach? Not just that, we want an ocean view! We didn’t travel 2,300 miles to settle for ‘just a short drive’ to the water. We want to walk out our condo and dig our toes in the sand within minutes.

So today we went house hunting. (Vacation day!) I should have recorded it and submitted it to HGTV Beachfront Bargain Hunters. We’d connected with a reputable realtor here in PR before we left Wichita. Julie is also a research fiend and loves to scope out properties online. She’s toured the island a hundred times, I’m sure. Virtually, that is.

Where we're staying now and where we hope to live.

Last year, we stayed in an AirBnB in a condo community near Vega Baja on the northern coast, about an hour west of San Juan. We loved it. I think we were there only one night but in the back of our minds, we knew it would definitely be a place we could land if we ever moved to PR. We also stayed at different regions around the island just to be sure, but Vega Baja kept calling to us.

Well, as I mentioned in a previous entry, we pulled the trigger last fall and started making plans to move here. We arrived to our new life on Saturday, June 18. Today is Wednesday, June 22, and we think we found our dream condo. Out of the three condos the realtor showed us (they call them apartamentos here), we chose Door #2. Was that too fast? Well, we haven’t bought it yet, but we’ve started the process! So we’ll see.

However, it does check off a lot of our boxes (is that the right metaphor?). It’s in our price range; has at least 2 bedrooms (with AC units!); includes kitchen appliances (actually, this one is fully furnished – a bonus!); is just over 1,380 square feet (on two levels); and most importantly: has a rooftop, balcony, and bedroom view of the ocean. Yes!

We spent most of the day thinking, praying, looking, and talking about this potential condo. Needless to say, I didn’t do any writing on A Cauldron of Cats today. So sue me. We were just too jazzed up. Plus, we had some paperwork to look through which consumed a lot of mental energy. I don’t want to speak prematurely, but it looks good so far. We may soon be condo owners!

Now one change since last year – the HOA no longer allows AirBnB rentals. We’re ambivalent about that. In the back of our minds we were thinking we’d make some part time income that way. But on the other hand, this means that 90% of the condos are owned by people who live there. Which is great. Makes for a stable, safe, family-friendly environment.

Besides, as a professional full-time writer, I plan to make a living at this thing before too long. (grin). And I already have my writing nook picked out. One with an ocean view.

~*~

Follow along each day as I post my progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!