PR part 3 - Isla del Encanto

Comida


Junior is showing off his roadside purchase of bacalaitos and alcapurrias.  Bacalaitos are a cod fritter made from a pancake like batter of flour, codfish, and seasoning.  Alcapurrias are typically made from plantain, green banana, or squash filled with ground meat and deep fried in oil.

Luis also got a bacalaito.  You don't have to drive further than a mile or two to find a stand selling either of these items.

Yaya gives it a try.  She wasn't too impressed.

There are many tasty bakeries in Puerto Rico.  We stopped by this one right next to Yoli and Vitito's house for some treats.

Mason approved.

Luis and Yaya took theirs very seriously.  This may be one of the few local Puerto Rican foods that Yaya actually liked.  Don't ask her about mofongo.

Siena also loved the baked goods.

Mason tries his first coconut milk straight from the coconut.  It is said that coconut milk has more electrolytes and is a better post workout drink than gatorade.  I don't much like coconut but this wasn't bad at all.

Luis is a big fan of raw tamarindo's.  Mason gives one a try.

Gross.  I don't like them either.  They are very sour and bitter.

Arroz con habichuelas (rice and beans) is the staple of the Puerto Rican diet.

Siena is enjoying a typical PR snack - juice frozen in a cup.  To eat you pop it out of the cup, flip it upside down, and eat popsicle style.

Joel is picking some peas off a plant in his old yard.

Mason by a banana tree.  Bananas and plantains are also a staple of the PR diet.  Common foods found in PR from plantains are mofongo, jibarito, tostones, and amarillos.

Luisio's wife grows sugar cane.  Here she is slicing it so we can try some raw sugar.

Luis and Yaya suck on some raw sugar cane.

Mason is eating a bread local to PR bakeries.  It's a bright yellow and red colored.  I'm not sure where the color comes from but it tastes really good.

Rice and beans again.

Rice and beans again.  This time with lasagna made by Kuchy and an amarillo to the bottom right of the plate.

Siena enjoying a empanadilla.  Empanadillas are breaded and can include meat, cheese, or guava.  This one was cheese and meat.

At the Cruz family reunion, we got to experience lechon (aka pig roast).  Lechon is enjoyed on special occasions and holidays in Puerto Rico.

Luis' uncles and dad carve the lechon with a machete and hammer.

The foot.

The head.  And a machete.

The rest of the spread, of course with some rice and beans.  I should mention that the lechon was soooo good!

This is a pincho - pork on a stick - also commonly found at roadside stands.  This is some tasty meat.

Check out the video below from Andrew Zimmerman's Bizarre Foods from Puerto Rico (4 minute mark) for an overview of what we're eating here.  And yes, the place is packed!  You should also watch the Lares portion of the video (7 minute mark) for his visit to the ice cream shop in Lares which I included on Part 1.

Cooking on the stove.

The ceti in the pot.

Me eating.  It was really good!

The finished product.  The little whitish squiggles are the ceti fish.

Lunch in Ponce - empanadas (aka breaded meat).  I love this crunchy shell, though being deep fried, probably not the healthiest food ever.

Critters

There's more than a few common animals you'll see if you spend more than a day in Puerto Rico.  These little geckos are everywhere.  Walk down the street and you'll see them streaking from one spot to another.  This little guy was hiding out by a pool stick at Vitito's house.

Coqui are little frogs that, with the exception of one species in Hawaii, live only in Puerto Rico.  They are so named because of the sound they make at night - a loud "coqui, coqui".

This little guy has a permanent residence in the pool bathroom at Yoli and Vitito's house.

There are also some HUGE snails.  This guy is next to Mason's hand for some perspective.

And some colorful caterpillars at Gladys' house.

Luis' aunt Kuchy has a small zoo at her house with 5 or 6 cats and at least as many chickens roaming around the yard.

Mason found this guy walking around on the side of a trail in Arecibo.  There are so many iguana's in Puerto Rico currently that they are actually taking measures to decrease the population.

Getting around

I couldn't find a map that showed all of the roads but the small squiggles here give you an idea.  These roads are crazy.  Curvy doesn't begin to describe it.  Think of the road to Hana on steroids - everywhere.  We had to give Siena Dramamine every single day and Mason regularly as well.  Both Yaya and I also experienced car sickness when sitting in the backseat with the kids.

Each municipality in PR (there are 78 in all) have their own flag and colors.  In addition, they paint the guardrails and light posts in their town colors so you can always tell where you are and when you've entered a different municipality.  These are the colors of Luis' hometown of Naranjito.

I'm convinced this is what happens when you get too close to the edge of a typical PR road.

Sights from around the island


Gorgeous tropical beaches are everywhere!

The majority of the middle of the island is rainforest like this.

We couldn't help but take this picture in Old San Juan.

Unfortunately crime and poverty are rampant in PR.  The median income here is $18k as compared to the lowest median income of $36k in the 50 U.S. states (Mississippi).  Additionally, due to it's geographic location between South America and the U.S., it is a prime location from drug trade resulting in an annual murder rate double that of New York City (which has twice the population of the island of PR).  PR is perfectly safe for tourist travel though as long as you don't decide to take a tour through any of the projects.  Also keep your valuables well locked up and out of sight.

Due to the poverty, sights like this are common.  This used to be a shack shop outside Luis' grade school.  Now it's just an abandoned building and home to graffiti.

This is the cemetery in Naranjito.  There are many gravesites and crypts above ground which we don't often see in the states.

While we were by the cemetery, a service was occurring.  Only in PR would the funeral procession be lead by a pickup with a monster speaker system (see left) followed by the hearse and mourners.

The tropical flowers are beautiful.

If you've made it this far, you've made it to the end of our trip!  It was a pretty amazing 2 weeks to be sure.  Now to recover from 2 weeks of fried food and lack of exercise...