John Hathaway

As we turned up the hill toward home, we saw that the helicopter was landing in a nearby field and was clearly marked “FBI”. And then saw the caravan we’d seen earlier parked just down the hill on our street. (All the photos are from right in front of our house.) We stood out  with our neighbors to watch the excitement.

         

Several other cars and motorcycles came over the next half hour to bring the total to about 20 people, some marked FBI, some Police, some in plain clothes. They had all the doors and hood of a gray SUV opened and were examining it for a while, but nothing else seemed to happen. At that point everything broke up and everyone gradually drove away. Now I’m dying to know what was going on! Can’t wait to hear what the rumor mill will have on this one.

The pescaderia (fish market) in Vieques can be rather hit or miss. They’re open on random days for somewhat random hours: whenever the fishermen get back (usually 11ish) until they have everything processed and feel like leaving (early afternoon). And what they have to sell can vary widely as well.

Chris went in to Isabel II to the post office yesterday and decided to pop over to the pescaderia on the way home. He got there just as they were bringing in a bunch of lobster and conch. He passed on the conch (we like it, but haven’t braved cooking it ourselves yet) but bought the smallest 2 lobsters (totaling 3 pounds at $8 per pound).

Caribbean spiny lobster (http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=155) are a bit different from their Maine cousins. They don’t have any claws, but are larger and have more meat through the body and head. They are quite spiny, with hard short spines all over their shell.  The meat is not quite as sweet as a Maine lobster, but is quite rich and particularly delicious when grilled. They can get up to a couple pounds, but I think the smaller ones are more tender.

We’ve grilled lobsters at home a couple times with great results. Here’s our technique:

1.       Steam the lobsters for about 12 minutes. (Steam, not boil. The lobsters should not be in the water. We just put a strainer upside down in a large pot.)

2.       The lobsters should be bright red and fully cooked.  We let the lobsters cool during cocktail hour at this point so that they’re easier to handle for the next step.

3.       Cut each lobster in half lengthwise. I think  it’s easiest to make a first pass to get through the back of the shell, then a second pass to cut completely.

4.       The lobsters will be full of bright orange and muddy green stuff. Remove all of that and rinse them out. Nothing should be left inside that isn’t white.

5.       Melt some butter. I use a half stick per person, which may sound like a lot, but we always wish for a bit more by the end. I like to let the butter just barely start to brown and then toss in a couple splashes of aged dark rum and a squeeze of lemon. (Aged rum turns dark from 5+ years in charred oak barrels. We like Barrilito, but it’s not available outside PR. Cheap “dark rum” is white rum with caramel color. Don’t be fooled.)

6.       Brush the lobsters with a bit of the butter sauce.

7.       Put the lobsters on the hot grill meat side down. Grill on medium heat for about 4 minutes.

8.       Serve with the rum butter sauce on the side.

Yummm!!! The slightly smoky taste from the grill and the deep flavors of the aged rum really complement the sweetness of the lobster. It makes for a  more complex, richer flavor than steamed Maine lobster. Since most of the meat is in the body and there’s no claws to crack, Caribbean lobster are also easier to eat.

The only downside for many of you is that Caribbean lobster are not very available most places outside the Caribbean and Florida. I guess you’ll just have to come down this way for a visit!

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=18.107065,-65.384123&spn=0.01705,0.019312&t=h&z=16

                               

The refrigerator we got with the house was disgusting. The previous owner had slathered on white paint in a desperate attempt to disguise its nastiness. But I think the paint just made a better home for mildew to grow on. So when we were talking about a shopping trip to the main island, a new fridge topped the list.

Most people (or at least most gringos) on Vieques seem to buy their appliances at Sears. The local mueblería has a very limited selection and Sears delivers to Vieques for only $10 additional. We could have gone to the Sears in Fajardo, but we decided to make the pilgrimage to the Caribbean’s cathedral of consumerism:  Plaza Las Américas.

We almost aborted the trip because of a whopper thunder storm at 5:00 am, but it had stopped by the time we made it to the ferry dock. In Fajardo, I managed our luggage while Chris ran ahead to be first in line at the rental car agency, which saved us about 45 minutes over our last trip, and we made it over to the other side of San Juan and Plaza Las Américas with no problem.

It really is quite a nice mall and is large without being totally overwhelming. Sears and many of the cheaper stores are at one end, the world’s largest JC Penney in the middle, and Macy’s and the high-end stores at the other end. I was a bit surprised to see the likes of Brooks Brothers, Hugo Boss, Coach, and Tiffany.

This was Chris’ first trip to the mall, but I’ve been there a couple times before. The parking lot is always packed and there’s always something going on. When we were there they seemed to be doing a live broadcast of a local TV talk show. Later there was some guy doing a stand-up act dressed like an old woman.

There are lots of kiosks and promotional areas set up throughout the mall. I was pleased to see that a couple of them were selling solar water heaters and PV panels for electricity. It seems to be catching on here, which only makes sense given the abundance of sun coupled with rising fuel prices.

So the folks at Sears were very friendly and helpful. We ended up buying both the new fridge and a new stove too. (I think our current one was never converted properly for propane. It’s a serious challenge to get a pot of water to boil.) This was Friday, so we were very pleasantly surprised to hear them say they’d deliver them on Monday. (We later found out that they ONLY deliver to Vieques on Mondays.)

And our shiny new fridge did arrive this morning at 7:30. It looks great! The stove, however, didn’t make it. Apparently the guy who’s certified to hook up the gas hasn’t been showing up for work. Well, I guess there’s always next Monday.

I would have to quibble with the  food advice to “avoid the carb-tastic leaden plaintain mash that’s omnipresent in local cusine”. It suggests sushi and Mexican instead. That’s like telling someone going to Memphis to avoid the fatty BBQ and eat at an Italian place. Especially on vacation, you need to put both the diet and your normal food preferences aside and sample the local cuisine!

As a child I growing up in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, “mango” is what we called a green bell pepper. Little did I know at the time, mangoes are actually the number one selling fruit in the world.  Approximately 50% of all tropical fruits produced worldwide are mangoes.

Now we have two big, beautiful mango trees in our yard. Ours are the alcanfor variety (as in camphor, and they do have a hint of piney/turpentine flavor.) This seems to be a popular variety with the locals and we’ve given many away. And still we have WAY more than we could ever hope to eat. It’s really nice to be able to partake of nature’s bounty in this way...

...but...

...¡Basta Ya! Enough already!!

The downside to all this is that there are LOTS and LOTS of mangoes. And because most of them are high out of reach, we can’t get at them until they fall naturally. At which point they’ve often been partially eaten by a bird or iguana, are at least partly rotten, covered in a million fruit flies, and smelly. Mangoes are quite dense and make a loud “thud” when they hit, usually breaking open and oozing sticky sap all over that stains the concrete black.

Of course, often they make a splash instead. Because our trees overhang our pool. This was NOT a wise landscaping decision. It seems that the trees are dropping something in the pool most of the year: millions of tiny flowers in the spring, rotten fruit now, and leaves in the winter.

The final joy is that some people are allergic to the skins which make them break out in a rash. (But they can still eat the fruit.) Unfortunately, it’s looking like Chris is one of these people. Which makes the clean-up effort all the more fun. At this time of year it’s a daily (or more often) task. The last pic is the pile I picked up from the pool deck this morning.

Vieques has trucks with large speakers mounted on them that drive around to make announcements about events, funerals, new businesses, sales, whatever. Most feature very loud salsa music. (The funerals usually go for a more reserved sound track.) Elections are coming up in November and the race for alcade (mayor) is really heating up. The incumbent  Dámaso  Serrano López and the young challenger Evelyn Delerme each have their own (possibly fleets of) announcement trucks plastered with their faces and slogans.

So when we were sitting out enjoying our evening cocktail, we didn’t really think anything of it when we heard the Dámaso truck coming up the hill. But started to know something up when heard “Barrio Lujan” (our neighborhood)  in the announcement. And then started seeing people walking down the street behind us.

A few minutes later about 20 people came walking up our street, now decked out in Dámaso  T-shirts and hats. One of them peeked in the gate and told us in English that the mayor was here and asked if we wanted to talk with him. So we got to say “mucho gusto” and chat for a couple minutes (again in English) about where we’re moving from, the fact that he’s visited San Francisco, and the recent Travel and Leisure award.  He left a 16 page booklet, all of which directly answers the question “What have you done for me lately?” (Images below)

I’m not sure that I’m very aligned with Dámaso’s politics, but it is kinda nice to be somewhere where the mayor does stroll up the street to talk to people. I wonder when Evelyn is going to drop by?