Oh yeah...it's August

Scanning around my morning online ritual, this popped up as something to keep watch on ...and another strong nudge for you procrastinators out there who have been lulled by our so far so good quiet season. Whatcha waitin' for? A sign with wonders? Here you go!



(from the NWS)
LATEST SATELLITE IMAGERY IS INDICATING AN ACTIVE TROPICAL WAVE
NEAR 30 WEST THIS MORNING IS SHOWING SOME SIGNS OF
ORGANIZATION...WITH MID LEVEL ROTATION AND BANDS OF MOISTURE
FEEDING INTO THE BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE. GLOBAL MODELS PRESENT
VERY DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS WITH THIS TROUGH...WITH THE GFS TAKING A
CLOSED LOW WELL TO THE NORTH OF THE LOCAL ISLANDS...THE ECMWF
TAKING A CLOSED LOW A BIT FURTHER SOUTH AND THE UKMET MOVING AN
OPEN WAVE ACROSS THE LOCAL AREA EARLY NEXT WEEK. WITH LOTS OF
UNCERTAINTY PRESENT...WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THIS AREA OF THE
ATLANTIC FOR POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT...BUT PER TPC/NHC TROPICAL
CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED WITHIN THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

Right now our local radar is down but it seems as if our weather is looking shiny for today, with the rain expected to be west of us...and north of us too. That means, do your laundry and it will rain.

We continue in slo-mo around here. The visitors we get now tend to really want the peace and tranquility of Culebra and are very interested in what Save What's Left means. Folks from European countries to California, from New York to Mayaquez, all line up in being against any large developments, without any encouragement from me. Almost all bring up the ugliness of Costa Bonita. Almost all have driven out there from curiousity and most compare it to the movie The Shining. If it were up to the voice of the people who love Culebra for what it is, these projects, Terruno chief among them, would wither under the anger and disgust with which they are talked about. Too bad it doesn't work that way.

But when we're NOT talking about that, it's fun to talk to people who come from very busy lives in city and country alike, around the world. It really is a certain type of person visiting here this time of year and I enjoy them a lot, almost every one!

While wandering my yard this morning...(and the edges of my yard)

Things I forgot to post this morning

Yesterday, unlike today, was so full of a number of things, I'm sure we would all be happy...with wings. Sorry, RLS, I had to do that. But I forgot a few things I wanted to post and here they are. The hibiscus above and below are the first sights to greet me as I get out of my dinghy and head to the cart. Because S & T aren't home to see them I thought they should get a glimpse of what makes mornings extra good around this time of year. There ya go, sweetie! Enjoy.


Another thing was unexpectedly going to see goats with Susie. She was told where to find them and there they were, cute as could be. Well, except for handsome and stubborn Mr. Billy Goat, who was tangled up in a hibiscus bush and seemed VERY determined to stay stuck. But he was finally freed after we took out the majority of the bush. No doubt if we'd left him alone he'd have figured it out...maybe. We left with grins and very goaty smelling hands, each headed in the direction of our showers, which left the grins intact. There is something really wonderful about goats if you ever want one for a pet. Just take a female though...the boys do have a serious issue with strong odor!




And the last thing is that we finally have some new photos of Culebra on Google Earth! These were probably taken a few months ago, but lots more recently than the last ones which were from years ago.

If you check it out, be sure to look and see what the Coronal project (follow the road until you would get to Colmado Genesis: see the HUGE brown bare ugly spot? That's where one development kept going on, despite no permits until finally they've been shut down. For now. Then, swing back to the other side of the island, down the road from Dinghy Dock. See the road twisting all over that one hill, from Fulladoza to the other side of the bay? That is the Terruno project molestation. Another developer with no concern for either permits, the law or the environment. The roads have led to serious erosion problems, but hey! Call it green and see who cares? Go down by Flamenco, see what Victor Gonzalas has done...If you don't have Google Earth, it's a simple download but you DO need a fast connection or you'll end up pulling your hair out long before you get it loaded up. It's worth it!

Why our world is in trouble and a couple of corrections

Of course I'm in love with Williams-Sonoma - the catalog, that is. Lots of good eye candy (sort of like guys might look at skin mags, I look at kitchen gadget catalogs...lust in my racing heart). At least I get recipes out of the catalog. N...no, I'm not going any farther with this analogy, as I sense that way lies madness. Seriously.

But, I must say, even if I had all the dollars in China, and god knows they've got a handle on our dollars, I'd never order this 'avocado masher', on sale for 15 bucks! And I tremble to think about who does order this. And to carry that to the nth degree, if YOU ordered this, you just wasted perfectly good money. You DO know that that is why god made forks, to mush avocados into guacomole. Comprende? If you have money like that to waste, send it to Feeding America (old name: Second Harvest). Really. You'll still be doing a foodie thing, but in the right place for the righter reasons.

Next. In my post on the Terruno meeting I put up their slide on Fish and Wildlife, which included the, to me, offensive word, collaboration. They used that to imply that F & W was sanctioning what they were doing. Well, I found it pretty revolting to believe and asked a bit and found they do NOT sanction anyone.

These are parts of the very qualified response I got:

"What they are doing is responding to a request for biological consult, like they do to any person who asks for it regardless of their economic status or development/non-development plans. They can't discriminate when someone asks for services which they are mandated to provide."

"...called the office in Boquerón to ask about this "contract" [the one that the Terruno lawyer made sound like it was an exclusive with them and their project] which is really a loose plan to grow more cactus and plant it in other places, just like they would do with anyone in the world."

Point is, facts are like statistics, they can be twisted any way the user wants. The facts of FWS *supporting* the Terruno project are a twisted version of the truth (and why am I not truly surprised?). So I gladly submit a correction for the erroneous impression I made.

The other error could be my assuming (and in this case, it's just too obvious to pun out on this one, so I won't) that the big guy is a Dubon. Not the fat guy who is a "very serious" person, he IS a Dubon. No, I'm talking about the big guy holding his nose. I don't know where I got that impression or if it is wrong or right, but I am hearing I might be wrong, so sorry about that! Maybe it was the birds of a feather thing. I will try to find out who is who and make it known here.

Quantifier: I rarely have a problem with being corrected but in this case, truthfully, I could maybe care less, but I'm not sure how. I feel this is a group steeped in slimy greed - and after yesterday, I'll go so far as to use the words disrespectfully evil - and the same brush colors all of them, related or not. Shame is not a word these people give a toss about, so I'm just making myself feel better here... But facts are facts and I try to adhere to them, so...I shall.

Dealing with a certain sort of people

I got this in my email today from a friend over on Vieques. I don't normally do things this blatantly, but because of the source and the message, I'm going to do it today. I have a few local people who ask me to turn them on to Americans looking for a place to rent for just the reasons mentioned here, so I'm leaving that line in as well. Certainly I can't reach everyone, but you as a reader can pass along the message. Please.

"I wanted to warn you and anyone you know about a sleaze bag , Charly Cherrier and his wife/girl friend Kara Miller. They finally moved out of a house I had for sale where they had moved in and NEVER paid rent, finally after a court battle they have gone to Culebra. They trashed this nice little house and stole all the appliances and furniture.They even had a bonfire in the drive way, what a mess. This is the second or third house here he has done this too. He set up a hamburger stand called Charly burgers, ripped people off, never paid debts and finally somebody burned him out. He and the wife can be very charming (cutting nasty bit here, just assume charming doesn't go home with them). ...he is crack head, and they are both thieves. I just don't want anyone else burned. Puerto Ricans tend to think American are all good [renters] and will rent to them."

On to the Terruno meeting, what turns out to be the last meeting on this project. We had a fair turnout and some great speakers and law types on *our* side, making hash of a number of assertions from *their* side. There is still time to send a letter with comments. I didn't get all of the info - addresses, dates etc. - but will add it sooner than later.

Crowd of the day

The home team

There were a few interesting moments. One for me was passing through the doors to the room during the lunch break, practically getting belly bumped by one of the Dubon brothers. That close, ok, I had to say something! And what I said was, "I can't believe you can say what you said up there with a straight face." I repeated that in my little bit of time to talk at the end of the meeting.

What I did NOT include was his response to me, which was "We are VERY serious people and I don't need to take this bullshit!" I was, needless to say, ready for a lot of responses, but that wasn't one of them. So I smilingly and gently replied, "But you can dish the bullshit out there, it appears."

A very serious person (dresses better).
I didn't take this photo, but thanks to the person who used my camera!

My Dad warned me what would happen if I kept this look on my face...

Another moment was when a woman with a few zillion credentials from the Planning Board (I'm not sure what it's called in Spanish, sorry) was grilled by the TP lawyer like a chicken. Except, oops, she was Queen of the Roost and had an answer for every single question he bullet shot to her. I have to say, I felt very strongly at that moment that I wished he were on our side. I've been told he was once more of an environmental sort, a kick butt lawyer who has made his bones doing some good things on the big island. Maybe he's just a great lawyer who follows the money, but he is good and I'll give him that.

Sorry I don't know her name, but this woman was very cool under fire...
and I like and respect that

Kick butt lawyer serving his master's pointer bidding

We watched and listened like we were following a tennis match, while a couple of people either side of me (me being pathetically Spanish deficient) kindly summed up the gist of the moments in English. Thanks, y'all!

One of the hardest lines I listened to was from the same Dubon whom I met more than I wanted to in the doorway. He said, and this must be given as a paraphrase, but this was basically it, 'Culebra is an area of tourists and second home owners.' Well, a ground swell of chatter grew off of that one, which then subsided. It's a sad thing when the man claiming to do so much for Culebra doesn't give any more of a damn than the Navy about those who call this home. But then, that's what he's about...getting the bucks out of tourists and second home owners. I made it quite clear that NONE of either the former or latter expresses an interest in such a place as they envision.

Would you buy a used car from this man? How about an abused island?

But of course, this is the same brother who came back to where I was sitting with a journalist friend and blantantly tried to buy him off, right there!, his belly a few inches from my face...this is, rather than a serious person, an arrogant, nasty person, who needs to have himself on a leash next to his lawyer. I don't know anything about his brother, but he did at least seem to behave more civilly than his sibling.

Even a big player on the wrong team seems to be able to tell (listening to his brother)
something smells seriously wrong here - hey, I just take the pictures

Facts schmacts! Hey, is my lawyer ignoring me?

Ok, I'm not sure I understand this...but if what I gathered is true,
F&W should be sued...but what do I know?

Did you know Culebra needed a saviour? And hey! here's one now! Jobs! Education! And of course, suffer the littel children to come unto Terruno...

Huh...a couple of months ago, the photo didn't have that road in it...

Now the only thing marring this is a road built without permits dumping mud into the bay

If Terruno is built, that second bay will be the beach of the people staying in units
covering the entire hillside, front and back, to Fulladoza -
Say good bye to Culebra being Culebra if this fight is not won

Just a final note here. I do not believe there is anything good about what this would do to Culebra. In my mind there is no FOR Culebra in the equation. Please realize I say that as a person with a business that relies on tourism. Im not anti-tourist. I'm anti tourism that is not acclimated to Culebra. To what we have to offer on about every level there is, from street space to refuse space to gasoline, to beach space to restaurant space (ok, they'd have their own but they have to come out SOMETIME and watch out then).

A very knowledgeable man made a point about the sewer system. One problem with that and I meant to mention it to him, is what Rocky and Carlos told me months ago. The sewer system is designed on a small scale, as a domestic system. It is not meant to serve a Costa Bonita, Bahia Marina, Terruno, or Coranal mega bathroom. To hook up to it, the existing pipes could NOT be used, which means they would have to put in their own pipes at their own expense and just so you know, this system is very, VERY expensive. Which is why the Feds paid for it...

And on and on. Point being...write your letters and sign them. I'll get the address from the powers that know and post it. Or, don't whine about Culebra changing...maybe we won't prevail, but at least we'll have given the devil's tail a damn good tweaking! Join in - and if we do win, you can say, "And ah halped!"

Just another happy day in Paradox!

Some thoughts from the Corner about Saving What's Left (rather than just Enjoying What's Left For Now)

There are two articles in this month's Culebra Calendar that I really wasn't going to respond to because this stuff makes me crazier than I am already. But then I thought, hey, I can do it here, not in the Calendar...so I am. Here are the two articles, which should be read first, so if you are interested and not familiar with the context, you can be informed. If you have trouble reading these (don't forget you can click to make any photo larger), please click on the link.






Here is what has been roiling around in me for a couple of days...see you at the meeting on the 23rd, in person or in spirit.

In response to Juan Romero and Luz Rivera Cantwell, I would only say the first thing that comes into my head from my heart, along with a little thought into the order.

But first, a 'why did I decide to come to Culebra' story. One night, maybe my second, the taxi guy who was so great to me (along with Henry, the campground guy so great and a bunch of other great moments that should have taken months and took two days), was driving me back to the campground. Suddenly he was slowing down and stopping and said, or indicated, as his English was about as good as my Spanish, that I should get out of the van. I was, to put it mildly, a little...stunned. But I got out, and he got out. Then he came over to my side of the van and smiled and pointed to the sky, where the full moon was so bright...it was that point in the drive at the top of the hill that lets you see the water, a sight that after seven years still makes me grin and be filled with joy. The moon light lit up the sea and even from where we stood in the road, it felt like it was inches away. And then he said..."Culebra. Tranquillo." We stood a few more moments and then got back in the van. It was probably at that moment I truly decided I wanted to make this my home, that St. Croix, with its growing street crazy factor, despite some of the most wonderful people who I still love, was getting to be more than I bargained for. This is how I come to believe the following:

Having lived in the Virgin Islands (St. Croix and St. Thomas) quite a while before I came here, and getting along with locals well, I saw what I call the 'behind the bar' view quite clearly. By that I mean...when you sit in a theater, or a bar, or a doctor's office as a visitor, you are only there for what you need or want. When you are the worker behind the bar, behind the curtains, behind the desk, you see what a culture and a society are really like, what is being said behind the smiles. So while I've been told many, many times by some Culebrense that they consider me an adopted daughter of Culebra, which are words & emotions I treasure, and while I know that were I in trouble, I could turn to a few who would help me, I know I don't have the inside knowledge of someone born and raised here. Of someone even fluent in the language (spoken, not the language of the heart). Yes, I'm told things by those who speak English and know of my caring - and my gratefulness - maybe things I shouldn't be told. But it isn't the same. Point being, I KNOW that. I know I am not Culebrense, I am not a local daughter. I am a transplant. Gardeners, take note!

So what I am saying is from the position of someone who has been to islands AFTER what is wanted here by some comes to pass. It is simple, it is not pretty and it is common across many, many islands in the world.

1. Wealthy people see the chance to develop property on an island. They know the ins and outs and how to exploit them for not just a home or a job, but for huge financial gain, beyond any measure of taking care of one's self in a fair manner but rather, an abuse of what we all know is an admittedly loose system.

They promise jobs and increased prosperity. Perhaps that island was once small and remote, though still attracting a certain sort of tourist and/or land/home buyer. With this sort of developer, and wanting to see the potential for higher wages and more jobs, the island population majority (or maybe the minority who gets paid off for it), the development starts. First, the tourist who came for the small town ways, the lack of sophisticated entertainment, stops coming. Oh, tourists will still come but it will be a different sort of tourist, one looking for more big city accommodations, dining (which we have by the way), and a very big thing, entertainment, which if you know the entertainment business, has its own strange ways. Local music and customs become *quaint* like watching animals in a zoo, while the wealthier resort owners bring in music and entertainment more *suitable* to the new type of tourists.

Next, or 2. Those promised jobs? Well the top ones, management, go to non-islanders immediately, because locals don't have the experience to run businesses on such a big scale.Period. And that is how it will remain...trust me on this. The locals get the dirt jobs and get paid dirt, for the most part, if they end up working for that developer who promised jobs...that no one else wants. Example? A woman I know (and love) in the VI's has cleaned at a certain very successful hotel for 23 years (at the time, about 10 years later now). Her pay was still in the single digits after all of that time. And would she quit? No. She had no time to pursue an education as she worked all day and took care of her children and husband and older relatives. Was she angry? Yes. Inside this beautiful woman was a deep simmering anger at the Continentals who had come in and taken over her home and her dignity...tricking those whose home it was with promises never kept. She didn't seem angry on the outside, but inside, she reflected what many felt...and rightly so (by the way, Disney did the same thing in Florida, this isn't ALL about islands, it's about business on a scale we don't deal with around here, and the potential for deception is huge..and hey, it works, so it keeps on happening, just like a scam of any kind).

As far as I'm concerned, any Puerto Rican who is from any place but a life LIVED here on Culebra is about the same as a Continental, as we are called in the VI's, or North Americans here. What is the difference when someone doesn't care about the precious land and water and peace that Culebra offers? So you own land here...but do you live here? Do you really know what is going on here? Do you care what your impact will mean to those who don't fly back to a city at the end of the day?

As to two quotes...one that Juan Romero made as to people trying to keep Culebra held back from progress and keep it nice just for retiring North Americans...please! I wanted to throw up when I read that. It is the older Culebrense who were born and raised here who have told me, in English, that the ruining of Culebra has come from rules and regulations that have had to be enforced because of the building and boating and fishing from whom??????????? So far, except in a few instances, the North Americans I know here wish nothing more than to keep Culebra from being a crime-filled hell hole that they know about because they lived in them before. Where does our crime, little though it is today, come from? The very place that the same people come from who want to 'improve' Culebra. If they want to do that, why don't they build a good basketball court? A tennis court? Rebuild the lighthouse? Ask Waleska what they can contribute to the schools? You want to *help* Culebra? Then do it! Not by tearing her apart, but by building her up. Why don't you clean up what could be a lovely little island for locals and visitors, Isla Pirata (spelling wrong, but I can't find the right spelling).

For myself, the only difference between us is that I'm jealous in the very good way of wishing I HAD been born here and wanting Culebra to grow and prosper for what she has best to give: peace and tranquility and beauty.

Some islands have done this!!! Dominica is one of them, even though it is slowly slipping. Bermuda, for all of its sophistication, has rules that have kept it very special and one of the most expensive places in the world to visit, and it has a waiting list. No rental cars! Each family may only own one car. Weight limits on vehicles to spare the roads. And clean. Clean Clean Clean. Much like Spain, where I spent some time. Where a person in the service industry is respected and considered to have a career, is paid a decent wage and is not looked down on.

So. Choose. Embrace the 'have it now' philosophy and watch this place turn into a crime infested cesspool or stand up, stand UP for the values of your forefathers and mothers who fought so hard to keep Culebra a home place, for the people I know who are now in the winter of their years and not being replaced by a younger and a younger generation speaking out against the destruction of their culture, but rather a 'give it to me now, I want this to be more like San Juan' generation. Where quiet moonlit nights will continually be replaced with pounding sounds including gunshots. No...saying no to rampant, inconsistent-to-this-place development that will not bring wealth to anyone but the developers. Sustainable (truly sustainable, that takes into consideration the needs of a gently growing population) development can be good, good for the island, the sea, the people. Ecological tourism is huge, it should be embraced and enhanced. But this? This is not good. Read the plans, the REAL plans behind the brochure. Yes, the brochure for a place that hasn't even been approved yet...

Who wants what we have been dealing with this last year to be never ending? The disruption, the noise, the dirt? How long do you want to go to the doctor with breathing problems? Say yes, that's what you'll have, along with drugs and homeless and jobless who come to find 'paradise' and instead find the edge of whatever city jungle they crawled out of before they got here. Say no and then, don't JUST say no! Do something. Take a young man to play basketball (oh, wait, you can't until that project gets finished. Ok, then call the Mayor and make it get finished!), take a young girl and teach her some of the old dances, the old skills. Hold classes for those of us who don't know the old ways but want to learn. Get the young people together and make a play of the story of getting the Navy out of here. That ought to be a play as famous as any in the world!!! Young people should be anxiously waiting until they are old enough to play the parts of our brave elders.

And, as to the quote from Luz, that the people should get over the truama of Costa Bonito, I say, is that like getting over murder? No. The abomination of Costa Bonita should never be gotten over, Luz. It stands as a hugely ugly reminder of what happens when the people don't rise up to right a horrendous wrong. And you want us to 'get over' it so it can happen again and again, blighting this island? Costa Bonita, where bankruptcy has become a business? Where it pays to not pay those you owe money to and then continue on in the same 'black foot beach' practices? No. I don't think so. But thanks for letting everyone know what you truly believe.

And that...would be what I have to say about that. Peace and love!

Oh, there is this as I was heading home this afternoon...Juls posing for us on the bridge, always happy to lend a bit of style to any situation. I only wish s/he'd had an Easter bonnet, but the hair works.

Tads and dabs

For a day that started out in glorious fashion, it turned grey and cold early on and never really got back up to par. If I didn't believe in global warming before, I'd have to now as my always counted on formula of 'close the cart due to rain, make the sun come out again' isn't working. I could swear by it for years! It did get sunny nice for a bit but soon it was grey once more and down came the much needed though little wanted during the day time rain. Yes, the gardens are wildly happy.

The birds were acting insanely happy. I wondered if I'd wandered into a Hitchcock movie. Pelicans were doing their normal ballet, but there were also a lot of gulls and frigate birds. Even little sandpipers and ruddy turnstones were zipping around like frenzied pinballs. This one frigate bird actually got a little bit scary. It must have flown DIRECTLY over my head 25 times...and that might be a low number. I kept expecting to get a little plop of poop and kept my mouth shut just in case, but that didn't happen. It was so close (how close was it, MJ?) that it filled up my viewfinder many times, completely blacking it out.

Slightly scary frigate bird...

Gull in mid-dive (they skim the water rather than entering head first)

Three guys were in a flats boat casting their nets for bait on a shallow edge down the bay. Between them and the birds I was entertained for about an hour until the wind came up cold and filled with rain mist, moving me inside. A nice warm bowl of spaghetti and sauteed chicken with a still sun warm sliced tomato was perfect (ok, I'm lying...the tomato was room temp, which made it SEEM sun warmed). The cast net boys didn't look like the weather was phasing them at all.

One net blue net

Two net white net

Bing! I love the circle splash of a well thrown cast net

From Coralations, the word has come in that the March 18/19 Terruno meeting is officially cancelled with a signed and stamped order. "They will re apply with proper commercial and adjacent property notifications to all." and that is the story as of now. Yes, you may do a cartwheel for now!

I read a great list today. Some of it is not applicable to Culebra of course, but enough is and it's a good enough list that I thought I'd share it. It comes from ecosalon.com which looks to be a fun and interesting blog to peruse. Sometime. But for now, check out the list...

Broke? 20 Fun Things to Do Without Spending a Dime

You don't even have to be broke for it to do you good. So turn off the computer and go do something!

A bit of follow up in Paradox

Running life backward pictorally and amendment wise...this morning's dawn is brought to you by the color Pink.


Next. I was telling a fellow popcorn lover (though I must say, I pale in comparison to her passion for popcorn) that I am going to tell people coming from the states who ask if they can bring me anything to bring along plain old popcorn. It cannot be bought on Culebra and isn't easy to find on the big island either. I guess manually shaking a pan back and forth has just become too big an effort for the mainstream consumer. But nothing is as good as freshly popped popcorn that you do yourself, melting the butter in the still hot pan, mixinig it with salt and then pouring it over the popcorn...yum! So, this friend says, oh...I have some I can share with you, I got a rather huge bag of it recently (had to be recently or it would all be gone). So she did share it with me and it is worth a picture and another thank you! It's the little things, dear hearts.


And now to a bit more serious. When I wrote yesterday (actually, the day before yesterday now) about the company that doesn't care about Culebra, I should have made something much more clear. There are layers of companies working on the sewer project. There is the company who makes the sewer system itself (pretty interesting, really, but don't worry, I'll keep it to myself...sort of). There is the environmental guy, overseeing the installation. There is the engineer, applying engineering concepts in the installation, such as degree of slant needed for the vacuum process to work properly, testing along the way, etc.

And then...there is the construction company, that is supposed to have an overseer making sure all of the above is implemented by communication with the environmental and engineering side.

Of course, that is where things break down. There is a reason we've had so many leaks, re-digs, shoddy road repairs and more, and that can be laid directly at the construction company's feet. They have consistently ignored the instructions of both the environmental and engineering side, resulting in the mess we have now. They have been fined, repeatedly, because of this. A project that should have been finished last fall, BEFORE season started is still plodding along, making our island filthy and difficult to negotiate with the end in sight somewhere but no where obvious to most of us.

I'm explaining this because it's the fair thing to do and I know some on this project that, despite appearances, are fighting as hard as they can for it to be done right. An example was yesterday. I was walking home and looking at the mess still in front of Casa Ensenada when looking a few feet further on I saw this. It's not easy to tell in the photo, but the concrete is still wet and already cracking... I stopped to take a photo and then walked on...a few more feet. I was in front of the trailer office of the project (one office, they have more) and out came the engineer (bad timing on his part, sorry, amigo). Truthfully, he looks like hell. He came here an upbeat, good looking young guy eager to do a good job on an interesting project for the betterment of Culebra. I think he's lost about 15 pounds that he couldn't afford to lose and I haven't seen him smile in a long time. So what do I do? I add to his burden. He shook my hand and asked "What?" to the look on my face. I took him the few feet over and showed him this mess while asking..."Is this a joke?" He looked down, immediately started pressing in a phone number as he turned back to the office. I walked on. What more was there to say?

Down the road, from one end of the airport to the other (on the water side), the same sort of 'concrete work' had been done. All wet, all cracked, all put on like a five year old having a blast with mud pies. It was too discouraging to photograph; no doubt it will be seen today.

Next, in relation to the Terruno project meeting yesterday. Designed to be a community forum so people could express how they felt about the project, it turned into (this is second hand, but I'd guess pretty accurate) a verbal sparring match with the project owners seemingly utterly bewildered at why residents do not want a 223 unit, mountain covering monstrosity in their neighborhoods or on their island. This is 223 units on 15 acres in an area that is (was? whose pocket is more full now?) designated as one unit per acre. Hmm.

Apparently one of the most outrageous comments of the meeting was made by the owners stating "We're doing this for Culebra!" I wonder if that line was used by the Costa Bonita group too. Let's see, for Culebra? Multiply the units times people, cars, utilities, trash pick up, police and fire protection, clinic capacity, road usage, gas consumption, etc...and tell me what is good for Culebra about this? Six units, I'd buy it. Not 223.

And now, to get the taste of all of that out of your mental mouth and eyes, here are two of the most beautiful things I saw yesterday. This cactus in town blooms every year, getting bigger and more lovely. It's easy to forget the bright vividness of its blossoms when the slightly dull grayish green plant itself is what is seen most of the year... but then comes magic time!


Which brings us to the second most beautiful thing but not necessarily in that order. Anyone who tries to fix something around here can relate to a day spent on the big island frustratedly searching for that elusive part that no one has. Such was the day for Sean and Paul, traipsing around all day and no joy for an engine part.

Yesterday, with more tinkering, reading schematics, making do and appealing to the god of engines, I was, on my arrival at the dock, treated to the sweet sound of Sean's engine putt putt putting along, with he and Bobby grinning like boys that just won a go-cart race. Good work, well done! Now it's time to go sailing!

Why we are fighting this

Nothing makes an issue as real as a visual. Well, here it is, the Terruno project we were told was just a small little project, well fit in to Culebra, eco friendly, la & la & la. This is the same Terruno project which wants to now add TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY THREE units, The above shows what this 'little project' will look like. This big. This huge. This destructive to so many facets of Culebra, all to satisfy the greed of a few who don't seem to know the meaning of the word enough. Enough for sorrow bigger than this project.

NOW are you ready to join us in saving what's left?

It may be too late...the wheels are not just turning, they are spinning faster than belief. But there are good people working diligently, according to law and respect, for this to be halted according to the laws of the land. I am only a supporter, and I thank them for doing such hard work.

I will add the letter sent out later today. I seem to be tech challenged here and need to head out.

We can only continue to put the truth out there and work and hope sanity prevails rather than money lust.