LA PARGUERA JOURNAL

LA PARGUERA PUERTO RICO !
MON 3-­‐30…Cameron dropped me off at 6:30AM at the Redmond airport for the one way flight to San Juan Puerto, Rico. Quick layovero in LA, then on to Miami. Arrive around 8PM and have an 10 Hr. plus or minus lay over in Miami, will not leave the airport to get a room, just not enough Ume, so will spend the night in the airport. TUES 3-­‐31…Very long night in the airport. Very cold, the air condiUoners were really pumping out very cold air. I slept on the floor. There were very few people in the airport. Flight leX on Ume. Arrived in San Juan approximately 9:10AM. Chrissie has a friend from Hermiston named Lindsay who married into a Puerto Rican family and they just moved back to the Island. Carlos, her husband I believe works for Ricky MarUn the singer. He made arrangements for a guy named ChrisUan to pick me up and take me to La Parguera. He was there waiUng for me. Unfortunately ChrisUan did not speak any English nor did his wife who was with him. I have him $100 for gas and another $100 when we got there. He took me to Gina and John’s Boats. Gina had the key for the place that I “thought” I would be staying in. AXer a couple of minutes of conversaUon with her, she informed me, that I was not going to like the place and this Maa and his two sons were pubng out false informaUon about the place. She took me to the place and she was right. It was completely the opposite of what he/they represented. We didn’t stay there 10 minutes. It was filthy. It was in a very bad locaUon. No beach within miles. The van was shot, hadn’t been started in 9 years. The boats were old and falling apart. There was garbage all around the enUre house. Gina took me to a friend of hers who has a liale Guest House/Hotel and fortunately, in spite of the fact the Easter Weekend is the busiest weekend in La Parguera, she had one room available for $50 a night and I took it. It was easily within walking distance to down town. WENS 4-­‐1…I got fairly good night’s sleep. Here there are liale eaUng places and bars all over the place. There is a bar right next door to the hotel and it closes at 11PM on weeknights and 2AM on weekends. Not the quietest place. Lots of dogs and of course there are chickens and roosters all over the place. One is not going to have trouble gebng up early in the mornings. I walked all over the town and met a few people. One in parUcularly named Freddie, speaks good English and worked on the liale Island here that has the Research Center on it. He was the Maintenance Foreman for 28 years and reUred from there. THURS 4-­‐2…..I went back to Freddie early Thurs AM and asked Freddie if he would drive me around, to help me get familiar with the layout of the town and surrounding area and look for a place to rent. He said he would and would pick me up at 10 that morning up at the Hotel. Freddie took me all around and even took me over to a place called Combate, which is another small beach/fishing community. With it being Easter Weekend both La Parguera and Combate were packed with people, so I am not gebng the beaer of first impressions. However, he also took me up to on the side hill, looking out over La Parguera and showed me a very nice 8 unit apartment building that was surprising apppealing. I called the owner, a Doc Pedro Ruiz and he made plans to meet me there Friday about 9AM. I have obviously been going out for dinner and to eat, not cheap by any means, but if one will stay out of town and hit the liale food places that are all over, it is not that spendy to eat. Linda who owns the hotel gave me a Fish Lausanne and fresh bread for dinner tonight and it was delicious. FRI 4-­‐3….I was at the apartment/the Doc’s at 9:00AM. He showed me the place. He does not rent the apartments out long term, because he doesn’t want to be bothered. He lives in one of them on the 3rd floor. He does have the other one on the 3rd floor rented out for 6 months, but he says the people never come, he has seen them 1 Ume. He does however rent them out on the weekends. Only one was rented out for the Easter Weekend. Once we met and spent some Ume together it turns out: He is divorced. He lives here because he likes the peace and quiet, hence the reason for not renUng the apartments out. It has a great view of the bay. It has a swimming pool and a gym with equipment under the Gazebo next to the pool. Units are completely furnished. The place is very quiet, very clean and even though I was against living in an apartment we agreed for me to rent the place for $700 per month for 6 months. The uUliUes will be about $100 per month. Since I was alone he figured I wouldn’t be a bother to him, so I took the unit right under his. The building is all concrete, so there is no transmission of noise. It is 2 bedroom, 1 bath, nice size kitchen and living room with a very nice balcony that has a roll up and down shade cover. As you can see, the view is stupendous. Doc Ruiz took me down to the liale grocery store in town and introduced me around and I was able to get a few things for the refrigerator and food. SAT 4-­‐4…. Doc Ruiz, Tito is his nickname has turned out to be like a mother hen. He is going the extra miles to see that I am comfortable and sealing in. He has offered to take me to town today, to get groceries and get a few things for the apartment. He has a nice house on 5 acres in Lajas, which La Parguera is part of. He obviously has some money, he has a brand new $150,000 Porsche sibng in a garage and another one with only 13,000 miles on it also in the garage. He says he doesn’t drive them at all, just likes having them. I bought a few things at Sam’s Club and then some things at K Mart. !
SUN 5-­‐5….Unfortunately, I have goaen sick, felt it coming on last night. It is this upper respitory infecUon I have never been able to 100% get rid of. Not good. This is the 3rd Ume. MON 4-­‐6…SICK TUES 4-­‐7….SICK WENS 4-­‐8….SICK but Tito and I had made plans to go to Lajas to get the contract signed at his Lawyers. Which by the way the aaorney was not available. I am gebng on to the fact, that one does not get in a hurry here nor can you really make definiUve plans. Everything has to be done by an aaorney down here. While we were in town I got a PO Box and also got a bank account opened at the main bank in the country. Also loaded up on groceries again, which now has been the 4th Ume on going to the grocery store. I am adequately stocked up on food now. Tito also bought me a new set of King Sheets; the bedroom has 2 single beds, pushed them together and have been sleeping well. He also bought me a fan for the apartment. I do sleep with a wall air condiUoner on low at night, not so much to have it cool, but to drown out the dogs barking at night, there are way too many dogs barking, constantly it seems. But I am sensiUve to that sort of background noise anyway. The apartment has a TV/Dish but I have turned it on only twice to watch the news, same old thing, I just might unhook it and put it in the closet in the 2nd bedroom. I have spent some Ume at the pool, which has always been one of my favorite past Umes. !
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THURS 4-­‐9……I feel beaer this morning, finally. I bought some Nighbme Nyquil at the store yesterday and I think along with the anUbioUcs I got the last Ume I was sick has helped kick this thing. I will take it easy today one more day, then hopefully I can get back on a schedule tomorrow of gebng up early, go for a walk, use the gym, then there is the trading and try to find a kayak tomorrow. I am not going to rent one, by the Ume I rent one for 4 Umes, I can buy one. Gina and her Dad John own the boat rental place here, not the only one, but the main one, she will know of a kayak I can borrow for now. Gina is very nice, she has helped me a lot. Her dad is dying of cancer, so she moved back from San Juan to take over the business that has been here in La Parguera for a long Ume. If she doesn’t know of a kayak available, a guy named Anthony and his Dad Gino owns a bar/restaurant here, they are from New York I think and Anthony should also know somebody with a kayak they are not using. I think they have been here 28 years. He has told me he will do whatever he can to help me. I am fast gebng the impression I am a bit of abnormality here, not because of being an American by any means, but it is my age and my health, the shape I am in. Most guys my age don’t make this kind of life style change. Also, the Puerto Rican’s don’t age well. Hard life for most of them. This country is in a huge recession, the economy is in a very steep decline, things are just falling apart. There is an abundance of things that can keep me busy. I will just have to have the paUence to get things together and let it all just happen. There will be kayaking, paddle boarding, boaUng and fishing, going to the beach, uUlizing the pool, walks, working out in the gym, biking (the doc bikes 3 days a week) golfing down the road, obviously sightseeing around the island to include the interior/the rain forest areas. On top of just plain relaxing and reading. Reading is going to be an issue unUl I can find an outlet for books in English. Wished I would have thought ahead and brought some with me. UnUl I can accumulate some more cash, I will not need to buy a rig. I can go to Lajas with the Doc numerous Umes a week, and can walk to town easily, there is a small Pharmacy and the grocery store is more than adequate. There is a Wal-­‐Mart, K-­‐Mart and Sam’s and everything else imaginable in Lajas or the major town just another 15 miles away.