One-day reprieve

The past month or so has been kind of an odd transition from snorkel/dive season to surf season, It's been odd because until the last week, it really hasn't been very good for either. It's been too rough and churned up for any good snorkeling or diving but the waves haven't been really good for surfing either. Last week we got some good waves - you can see lots of photos on our website, www.puertoricosurfphoto.com and some on Flickr. Then yesterday we got a one-day reprieve to go snorkeling for the first time in weeks. And it's the first time Elaine has been in the water since she fell and fractured her cheekbone weeks ago. Darryl actually went diving. Going in the ocean is like going to a spa. It is relaxing, soothing for mind, body and soul. When I'm away from it for too long (and this has bee WAY too long), I get crazy. But I'm better now. An hour soak in the ocean yesterday helped.

Today the swell is back so I'm headed out to see if I can find any surfers to photograph. Those photos (if I find any) will be up tomorrow.

Meet Sahara

Sahara is our new rescue horse. She's a two-year-old Paso Fino who desperately needs care and lots of TLC. (She's come to the right place! Finally...)

Sahara was originally owned by a man named Pete. Peter is a pretty gentle soul who owned a number of horses. He helped out around the Ramey Riding Club. And then he lost his job. He had to give up his horses. He gave Sahara to a guy, thinking he'd found her a good home. When he went to check on her, he found her in this sad state. Even though he really couldn't take care of her properly, Pete figured Sahara was better off with him than at the "new" place so he took her back. Our friend Lisa approached us about taking her. One look was all it took.

Lisa knew Sahara before things got bad; in fact Lisa has known her since birth. Lisa says she's a really sweet horse who can become a great horse. Right now she's scared, out of shape, skinny and a little skittish (who wouldn't be?). We were going to take her several weeks ago but when the fence on the property where we keep Chocolate got run over in the middle of the night (by a guy who says he wasn't drinking), we had no safe place to keep her. We've been keeping Chocolate tied on a rope since the accident but Sahara isn't rope-trained yet.

Yesterday Peter brought Sahara down to us. We kept her in our yard yesterday and last night. Today the guys repaired the fence. It's not done yet but it's safe enought to let Chocolate and Sahara loose in the pasture.

This is the first time (I think) Sahara has been allowed to roam loose. She's mostly been kept in a stall with a small yard around it. As I said, she needs lots of attention, lots of work, before much training starts.

We're not sure about the long term, whether we will keep her. For now, our job is to take care of her, get her heathy and strong and begin training her to get some muscle-tone on her. After that, we'll see. Stay tuned here for updates.

Far far behind

I don't know how I got so far behind in writing this blog. I think this is the longest I've ever gone without a post. Way too long! To those who check this regularly - and who have just about given up! - I apologize. I confess that now that we're on Facebook, I wind up using that as a kind of shorthand. It's easy to post something quick and dirty and let it go at that. But I really will try to get back to posting some longer thoughts/news here on a much more regular basis.

It's not that there is nothing to write about - there is still lots to write about. Although after three years (almost) living here some things have become routine, living here is still a great adventure! We continue to meet new people every week. For example, this week we met two families from North Dakota. Both of the young women were born here, in Isabela, but now they live in ND. Talk about culture shock! I hope I get to talk with them a little more to find out what their story is. Last night a couple from Boston came back to Ola Lola's for their second time. Sunday night they came for drinks; last night they came back for dinner. Hannah was the first one to order Elaine's famous (infamous?) peanut butter-and-sweet-relish burger. It sounds like a strange combination, but she loved it!

And we get to reconnect with our extended Ola Lola family. Our friends David and Stanley (from Royal Isabela Golf Club) have been here this weekend. It's always great to see them. Brian and Alfred and Larry are here to kite surf take advantage of the trade winds and the first big surf swell of the season. Since the waves are big but pretty disorganized, I suspect Charlie will be out with his kite today as well. We do miss Eric and Poppy though. I could pretty much count on Eric being out any time there was wind. Oh yeah, we miss their company and friendship too.

Much more to come - people, places, updates from Lola's Corner and beyond. Stay tuned.

A week into and out of the darkness

It's been kind of a weird wild week here on Lola's Corner. Monday afternoon the power went off - for the fourth or fifth time in a week - and this time it stayed off for more than 24 hours. In a lot of ways, we wouldn't mind. As long as we can keep the beer and drinks cold at Ola Lola's, hanging out with candles and lanterns is kinda fun. But the kitchen closes and that's a drag for guests and the business alike. And then there is the 'fridge - and what's in it. We managed to save most stuff by putting refrigerated stuff in coolers on ice and taking frozen stuff to a friend's house. But we still lost some food. The electric company will hear about that!

The other problem is my dependency/addiction to my computer. There is access to the Internet of course but there is also all the photography work I do on the computer. And now here I am - power is back on but two of our computers, including our 6-week-old one, are in the shop. Our BIG desktop won't start up at all and our new one keeps crashing. I'm writing this on our new little laptop, not much more than a netbook, really. But it does keep me connected.

Tomorrow night is the Ola Lola's Halloween Party. We have a special food menu with Graveyard Ghoul-losh, Swamp Monster Slaw, and Sweet Crispy Brain Cell Balls. It you are in the neighborhood drop by. Costumes optional but preferred,

Fuel storage fire in San Juan

Most of you probably have heard by now about the huge fuel storage fire near San Juan. An explosion caused 15 of 40 fuel storage tanks at the depot to burn. This happened late Thursday night into Friday morning. Authorities don't know yet what caused the initial explosion. There have been the usual wild rumors - nuclear attack, terrorists, an escalation of the protests over government layoffs - but so far no one seems to know.

Traffic was halted in and around San Juan for a while. As far as we have heard, there were no deaths or injuries.

The explosion and fire were about 50 miles east of us and posed no danger to us. There are questions about the fallout from the smoke in the atmosphere, especially when it rains. And of course everyone expects gasoline prices - which have been going up the past week anyway - to skyrocket. We'll see.

For now, we'll just be grateful no one was injured and that we are so far away from it and don't have go near it.

Congratulaltions Jim and Chandra

Congratulations to our friends Jim and Chandra who got married yesterday. This picture is from the pre-wedding party they had at the pool/clubhouse of their condo complex. Congrautlations you two. Have a long and wonderful life together!

Yola on the beach

Early Sunday morning another yola came ashore at Shacks Beach. This one is small, not much bigger than a rowboat. Apparently it made the crossing from the Dominican Republic with people in it, but we don't know how many. Small boats like this are more frequently used for drug drops than people-running. But we know there was at least one refugee: he turned up at one of our friend's homes in the middle of the night, hungry, thirsty, and scared enough to want to go back. He asked our friends to call the police so they could pick him up and send him back. Two Customs and Border Protection officers were happy to oblige.

The boat, a single layer of fiberglass already fractured where the side wall meets the bottom, is still on our beach. We and others have made several unsuccesful attempts to contact the DRNA (Natural Resources Department) about getting it off the beach before high tides and waves wash it back into the pool inside the reef and it breaks up, either on the reef or on the rocks at the edge of the beach. Someone managed to flip it over so it's now upside down with the stern toward the water. At least it is less likely to wash off the beach that way.