Free Range Friday ~ Chew On This

Yesterday's trip to Fajardo had some surprises and for the most part, they were not happiness makers, if history being erased is one of the things that lowers your happiness quotient. It does mine. The bar across from the hospital has undergone what I'm sure the owners think of as sprucing up. With a roller of paint some great murals were erased. 

Sad. I thought something was going on the last time I was there, a few buildings down I'd seen some cleaning up, which is a good thing. But I wasn't expecting this. Of course, if it can happen all over New York City, it certainly can happen here. So I kept on capturing places that will all be gone sooner than later. I never went to any of these places and to me, this part of Fajardo is a pretty sad place anyway...even though it's very nice to see homes being painted and yards tended to, there is some tearing down and tearing up of places that will never be built like that again, replaced by more sterile and I'm sure less expensive in craftsmanship dwellings and businesses. But even though I didn't frequent them, it was (and still is in some instances) nice to see a little bit of once upon a time.

This place is high on a hill. It might be around longer.

I don't know if online betting is replacing these old hipica places or not, but I see most of them closed now.

Caribbean doors...soon so long

I don't know what this place was, but if I could have put this fountain? in my backpack, I would have

These men were clearing out the side yard of this place, and demo'ing from the back to front

And that's how they did that

Soon to come

I saw a shop open that had escaped my notice. First I thought it was full of dolls. Then I realized, it WAS full of dolls but not your ordinary dolls. I went inside and realized this was a santeria place. A young woman was behind the counter and an older woman was working in the back. I asked if I could take a photo and the older woman gave a very sharp No. She called to the younger woman to speak with me. She told me that was her Grandma and that the place had been open 25 years. That is was a santeria/wicca place. White magic only. She said she'd worked there since she was a baby and even she wasn't allowed to take any photos. "Superstitious, you know." I'd pick up a figurine and she'd tell me the saint, or doctor, or god and what they represented.

We talked about the combinations of Santeria and Wicca and Catholicism, about regional differences in these practices which of course brought us to talking about New Orleans. She said there were a lot of black magic practitioners there, and not so many here. "But we have to sell to both..."

I'm glad I stopped. Asking if there was any card so I could remember the name of it, her Grandma pointed and this is what she brought to me.

It was time for lunch at my new favorite place to eat in Fajardo. Ok, eat and have a drink. This place draws students, cops, mommy dates, and what I'm sure is the cast of usual daytime suspects. It's across from the old theater if you're in Fajardo and looking for a quick, friendly lunch.

Chicken burrito - it was a hard choice as there was a food case full of delicious, but the pique I'd been staring at demanded the burrito.

Waiting for the slightly late ferry, we got to talk awhile with two of the wonderful older women of Culebra.

93 and 85 respectively. "She's my auntie and used to change my...no Pampers then! diapers." I love these women!

Have a feel the fragility Friday. Feast on it.