Honeymoon - Day 4 - 1 June 2017

View out the window at breakfast at Hacienda Don José.

See the wave line??

A BIG bowl of BACON!

Proof that he'll eat it.

Breakfast should ALWAYS be followed by ice cream.

Chillin' on the balcony.  I'd never do this with actual kids, Michael Jackson.

"Respect the cycle of life.  Keep your distance."

More chillin'.

Watch the magic.

I can turn into a Guatemalan!

POOF!!

One of the many pools.  And the "concha."

More flora.  They try to make it so nice that you don't want to leave the confines of the hotel, but the WHOLE island is soooo beautiful, one has to see as much as possible.

He's so spoiled.

Only now do I realize how much the Bird of Paradise flower looks like a GIRAFFE!

Ponce.  I guess we were just magically transported there, because I have NO photos of the trip itself.

Grandma's Kitchen.

I guess this is Grandma.

Sangria!

Family helps one another | Always tell the truth | Share your best efforts | Pay with hugs and kisses | Listen to your parents | Laugh at yourself | Say I love you | Try new things | Give thanks.

I'm not sure why there's a Mexican sombrero with the Puerto Rican maracas.  But . . . maracas were created and first used by the Tainos of Puerto Rico as a percussion instrument. 

Maracas are made from the fruit of the higuera tree, common throughout Puerto Rico. The fruit must be round and small to work best. After taking out the pulp of the fruit through two holes that are bored through the dried shell, small pebbles are introduced into it. Then a handle is fitted to the dry fruit shell. Unequal amount of pebbles are used in a pair that make up the maracas, to produce their distinctive sound.

In salsa music the maracas have become one of the most important percussion instruments because they add a driving pulse in the high frequency spectrum. Perhaps their importance to salsa is like the role of hihat and snare drum in pop and rock music.

And you thought they originated in Mexico!

Arroz con Pollo!

Mofongo.

View from the hotel's swimming pool.  Holiday Inn Ponce and El Tropical Casino.

Tiny slice of moon over the palm trees.

More Gilligan's Island fodder.

Gilligan.

Honeymoon - Day 3 - 31 May 2017

Breakfast AGAIN!

And Rafa had plantains AGAIN.

And I had pancakes AGAIN.  And BACON AGAIN.

Have you ever seen anyone so happy for breakfast?

 \

A restaurant under a banyan tree.

Very cool signage at a local veterinary hospital.

The Banyan Tree

Rabindranath Tagore

O you shaggy-headed banyan tree standing on the bank of the pond,

have you forgotten the little chile, like the birds that have

nested in your branches and left you?

Do you not remember how he sat at the window and wondered at

the tangle of your roots and plunged underground?

The women would come to fill their jars in the pond, and your

huge black shadow would wriggle on the water like sleep struggling

to wake up.

Sunlight danced on the ripples like restless tiny shuttles

weaving golden tapestry.

Two ducks swam by the weedy margin above their shadows, and

the child would sit still and think.

He longed to be the wind and blow through your resting

branches, to be your shadow and lengthen with the day on the water,

to be a bird and perch on your topmost twig, and to float like

those ducks among the weeds and shadows.

Look at those glutes!

Underpass art.

Median art near local architecture.

Local beach.  We were the only two people there!

Now, where's that Corona?

Had to do it.

Lagoon.

Perfect timing.

Some slum cats, living it up at one of the most expensive malls in San Juan.

El Mercado de Paseo Caribe food court.

Food from El Pilón de Ana.

And dessert.

A look back to the bridge.

Reminds me of Gilligan's Island for some reason.

Microbus!

He's not strong enough to move it by pedal power.  Oh, wait.  There are no pedals.

Everyone needs a hummingbird shelf.

Just some more local flower.  Mostly growing wild.