Culebra Town Walks ~ Out and About

Last week was a good week for walkabouts. So good that if the mozzies don't decide to bleed me to death, I might keep on going. Seeing the familiar closer, with a chance to stop at will keeps my eyes a little bit more open, my brain a little bit more tranquil. What's not to like?

There are a lot of intriguing doors on Culebra. Here are just a few, but I'm collecting them now. Even the word portal is intriguing, with its potential for imagination of what lies behind it. A few of Sue Kinkoski's paintings involve portals, and they are some of the ones that draw me in the most (you can find out more about Sue's work by giving her a call).

Maybe my favorite doors on Culebra. Maybe.

The bumper sticker says, in Spanish, Save What's Left

For some reason, the gates to Arte Fango (now) and the other incarnations of this spot, have always been so interesting to me. Maybe because of the openness of the rest of the area, maybe because I slipped things through the bars any number of times, dropping things off with Kim. Barely there, yet so effective! If you've been to New Orleans, or walked around Old San Juan or a hundred other places with wrought iron gates and teasing views, you know exactly what I mean.

A few more of my favorite things. If you've seen them here before, oh boy! Here's another chance to enjoy!

A wind generator, solar panels, windows, what more do you need? This is seriously ador-able.

Head into the wind

The idea of ever getting tired of 'looking down the bridge' is beyond even my imagination

Because I'm in town now I decided, on a night sleep was keeping its wary distance from me, to go walkabout at night. Late at night. Very late, for me. Maybe I do this once a year, aside from New Year's Eve, and if nothing else, it's worth seeing the looks on a few young faces, like seeing your 4th grade teacher at the movies.

Juanita Bananas and El Batey, cooking up some fine eats

Inside, Tinglao was playing.

Dress code: Casual.

One of the rare times I'm up late enough to see this loves to start late in the evening band!

Down at the ferry dock it was quiet. I think Culebra was in a post-4th hangover mode, a crazy for fun kid whose batteries had run down. Finally.

That's how fast Fede is.

These people thought I was amused at the fact that they had 12 (they told me, so I know) people on this golf cart. I wasn't.

As beautiful on the inside!

Hannah looking quite the 30's girl.

Jorge in the zone

Dinghy Dock was the most awake of anyplace at midnight. I haven't heard the congas in a long time and they set my feet moving, which was just enough, very shortly thereafter, to draw Mr. Sandman close enough for a snuggle.

Have a matchless Monday. Do something miscellaneously maverick.

Blowing Things Up and Eating Well

Serendipity. My favorite word and yesterday was full of events that let me use it. My company, pretty sick most of the time here on Culebra (it wasn't us! he was sick before he got here, really), was finally feeling up to a good beach walk. Since Flamenco was closed for a detonation, a big one that could be heard over a lot of the island, we chose Tamarindo.

The tide was high but it's still a good walk and hopefully a swim would be on the event page as well. Then, Serendipity raised her head. Ahead of us we saw three guys heading to the point and after talking with Lorraine, who had her dogs there, we realized they were bomb squad guys. Finally at the point itself, there they were, setting up for one more detonation of ordinance, a smaller one. Of course we got to talking and one guy said I could press the buttons if I wanted to. Of course I wanted to! Of course, I also wanted to move the site of the detonation, but that wasn't going to happen...

Island Flyer, doing a quick turnaround. Oops.

After a wait to make sure everyone was where they should be, and others weren't where they shouldn't be, after three call outs of "Fire in the hole!" I pressed the buttons. And nothing happened. Apparently I didn't press hard enough, but the second time rewarded us with a nice loud BOOM! and then smoke came up and then I was told that if someone flubs the first time, they owe the crew a case of beer. I suddenly didn't understand English. It happens.
Great guys, great fun. Just your typical walk on the beach...

 The yellow boom box

Waiting for the go signal

 Bravely steadying the box...somehow it felt like it could blow up too

 First attempt (how embarrassing!)

 Ok, I'll get it right this time!

 Success! If this were video, here's where you'd hear the boom!

 And there's the proof!

 Thanks, guys! They all leave today, and we don't know if or when they will be back. 

You may come back to the beach now...

Blowing things up is tough work. We decided it must be lunch time and since we'd not hit El Batey, a burger sounded like a good idea. But wow!  Two weeks ago Tomas and crew put in a food bar! There were ribs and pork loin stuffed with plantains and rice and garbanzos and more. Forget the burger this time (thanks, Liz, for pointing us in the right direction).

I had the ribs with salad and plantain, Chuck had the stuffed pork loin with some sides. The servings were extremely generous, the food perfectly prepared and the price more than fair at 8 $ a plate. Good work, El Batey crew!

Amazingly, later that night, we were hungry and hit Zaco's Taco's, where there were excellent mojitos to pass some time while waiting for to-go battered fish and seared tuna tacos. No photos because - I was tired and forgot them. Next time! I can say, we cleaned our plates. Totally. I didn't quite lick the little guacamole container, but close enough. And from one hot sauce maker to another, Zach, yours rock!

And now, back to my unregularly scheduled Culebra life. With company heading out, with one of Don Jose Perez's wonderful sailboats in hand (the ferry showed up and on time!) the cat thinks everything is calm and bright. But it's up to Housesitting Hill for the next little while, so her schedule will still be flukey and the guilt treats aren't going to improve her figure, but we don't care.

Life is good. Let the games continue, with Serendipity calling the shots.

Have a wonder full Wednesday! Do something wide-eyed.