I’ve been told to go to Massa restaurant for a while now. Finally took my kiddos there (2x)
The place has more wood than any other building I’ve been in in Mayaguez. haha Kinda a brew pub kinda feel.
Fun there, but nothing without gluten for Trevor.
PLUS! old Trolley tracks outside on the street! yippee! I think that was the highlight for my son.
Yay for finding everything train related in Puerto Rico!
There’s no reason to park on the curb on a divided, spacious street. (the incorrect direction I might add.) eh, habit maybe?
eat slugs Malfoy!
Sucks to be you, dude
Local horse club rides through town at rush hour
No obscene words you $&%@#!
Short women and tall men.
It’s fuzzy ’cause you know, I was driving, but the sign says “Se Vende” for sale. Does the air conditioning still work?
$9.99 for cloves Pueblo supermarket? I can buy this on Amazon for $4.50 people.
Cowboys of swing, eh? How swingin’ is it? Probably not enough for this gal. (music, people, that’s all I’m talking about)
“In July 1898, near the end of the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launched an invasion of Puerto Rico” And so it began…
I’m betting a lot of people in the USA don’t even know that Puerto Rico is part of the United States. What the heck is a commonwealth anyway? It’s part of the US but it’s not. Puerto Rico seems to be in a limbo. Maybe that’s what a commonwealth kind of is.
For instance, we use the US dollar, the US postal system, Social Security, pay Federal taxes, and can get welfare. (I believe). Puerto Ricans also serve in the United States armed services. The official languages are Spanish as well as English. 
But there are a lot of European influences from when the Spaniards were here.
-Gas is pumped in liters not gallons.
-Distances on the highways are measured in kilometers. But go figure this, speed limit is in miles per hour.
-There is a custom of kissing each other on the cheek when you first greet each other. (the right cheek mind you)
-Cars park every which way on a road no matter the direction of traffic.
-Every town has a plaza, usually with a church. 
-And Puerto Ricans call us gringos Americano and Americana even though through Commonwealth status they’re Americans citizens too. (PR has a non-voting member of the House of Representatives. We can’t vote for US president)
Also, try ordering stuff online. When they ask for the country – do I select USA or Puerto Rico? It’s different every site. Sometimes it’s USA and the ‘state’ is PR. Some charge overseas pricing even though we use USPS.
It’s fascinating to think about!
Last Friday we took the boat to the island Caja de Muertos. Yeah, that means coffin. The boat drops you off at 8:30am and leaves at 3:30, which is longer than we usually spend at the beach. I was inspired to write this poem as I dealt with nap time 🙂 
Slathered in your SPF
At a playa fiesta,
You suddenly hit a brick wall.
It’s time for your siesta
Some beach days are a miracle
I say “lay down” and you sleep.
I may have to pet your hair but
Eventually you snooze deep.
Today you have a different plan
Dije “Ya es hora de dormir”*
You are too wound up with energy
To make this simple, I fear.
I wrap the toalla around your body
We might not have to go far,
But this nap might take more effort.
Vamos a caminar.
Put your head on mi hombro
Slowly up the beach I pace
I stroll along the edge of the surf,
I shield the sun from your face.
Past the carefree spring breakers
with their pre-child thin bodies,
I hug mi nena closer
And proudly walk along with ease.
I pray the surf will be a lullaby
To drown out the reggaeton,
The heladeros with their jingly bells
The grilling of pinchos done.
Soon her cabeza is heavy and still,
I turn back to our camp.
I want to really seal the deal
so slow and steady I tramp.
Would I change this moment?
Shed responsibility, be free?
“No,” I think, “not for anything.”
Squeezing her sea-hair close to me. 
Dije “Ya es hora de dormir” = I said, “Now it’s time to sleep”
Toalla = towel
Vamos a caminar = Let’s walk
Hombro = shoulder
Nena = girl
Heladeros = ice cream vendors who patrol the beach with their carts
Pinchos = chicken kabobs
Cabeza = head
I starting seeing a ton of small yellow fruits along the road. Not quite lemons, I needed a closer look. At my son’s school a fellow Mom and I picked some up. “They’re mangos” she answered to my query.
Smaller, and more mealy than the mangos you buy in the store, they don’t yield much fruit. But nonetheless – mangos falling all over the place!
The locals don’t seem to care, but to a Wisconsinite like me, mangos are exotic. Back in WI, if you bring mangos to a party, or get a mango smoothie, it’s special. Like a taste of the tropics. You’re fancy schmancy. ooooo…mangos.
Here, eh, mangos fall from tree into the ditch. In fact, on three separate occasions a mango beaned my car roof. It was loud and scared me! (“In other news, a gringa drove off the road when a mango beaned her car and she freaked out.”)
I decided to eat one. Yeah, it was mealy and mostly skin and seed. Maybe it was a little underripe. I could see why the locals just raked them up and tossed them out. Or ran over them with their cars. Now there is mango mush all around.
Squish the exoticness!
I’ve made a few awesome friends here, of which I am so happy. But I’m not sure any of them have seen the true me. The me that I’ve worked so hard to release from my cocoon of shyness that consumed me as a kid.
Why?
I’m so eager to practice Spanish and I have a fear that I’ll live here a long time and never become fluent. What a waste that would be.
So whenever I find myself in an English conversation, inside my head I’m continuously saying to myself, “I should be speaking Spanish. This is becoming a wasted opportunity. How would I say that in Spanish? I have no idea. I need to learn a lot more. I should be practicing right now. I’m cheating. Wasted opportunity!! I’m never going to be fluent unless I practice!” Meanwhile I’m trying to listen and talk and not doing either very well.
When I am speaking Spanish, I’m thinking so hard about my elementary words I probably make the weirdest faces. I certainly don’t crack any jokes. And I’m a funny girl! (But looks aren’t everything as Trevor says)
So my personality never shines through fully. (It has during the book club I’m a part of. I need to blog about that group).
our tutoring sessions help
I guess I don’t look or sound too moronic though because I keep getting invited to social events. ????
I started asking my friends where they learned their second language so well. (Some of my friends speak fluent Spanish as their second language, of which I am jealous) They are either married to a native speaker, learned as a kid, or spent significant time in a country where the language is spoken. Well, I’ve got that last one down, so I’m on my way. I take solace in the fact that my kids will learn Spanish somewhat easily and hopefully it’s a gift for life.
speaking Spanish is a gas!
I know my Spanish will come. It’s come a long way since last August. Now, I just have to practice over summer when we’re in Wisconsin so I don’t lose it…
hey hey hey I’m the Expat blog blogger of the month!
(When I was a kid, if you called me a blogger I probably would’ve cried. It sounds downright mean, haha)
“ As much as three billion metric tons of Saharan dust is transported across the Atlantic Ocean annually (Prospero et al., 1996).”
Yeah you read that right. It’s been hazy here. I just thought it was humidity but my friend informed me it was dust from Africa. I had no idea! It’s like the Sahara desert is emptying its dust bin on us. Rude!
Here’s an interesting video.
While I haven’t experienced respiratory issues, I will certainly be more aware of this.
We tried star gazing tonight and it was too hazy to see all but the brightest stars and planets.
$45 ticket. Like, a hundred restaurants and culinary schools, an Iron Chef competition, live bands and ALL YOU CAN EAT AND DRINK! Game on!
You get a wine glass and a bag of goodies at the entrance
Festival Gastronomica is a major event that draws people from all over the west side of the island. It’s run by parents of one of my son’s classmates. It was a three day event, and we went Saturday night with our next door neighbors. I’m guessing well over 1000 people were there. And at least half the women were wearing big ol’ wedge shoes. Me too! I fit in! haha
My shoes
The food was exquisite! There was a culinary school’s booth there that got me dreaming…
a pumpkin soup with coffee!
I would’ve thought that more of the restaurants would have postcards/biz cards and coupons, but not many did.
The suggested dress code was blue jeans and a white top. A good portion of the people wore that and it looked cool.
a photo booth with the biggest touch screen I’d ever seen
posing with my sparkly top
Trevor in a cool ‘couch’
We got a table in front of the main stage. The two bands were quite fun in spite of being uber loud. Lots of salsa/merengue music (some of which I actually knew!) plus a few wedding standards. Trevor said he’s give me $1 if they played YMCA. I bet on Brick House. shrug No money exchanged.
our neighbors cut a rug
The band played Twist & Shout/La Bamba which I asked Trevor to dance to! So we did even though no one else was dancing. Slowly, like 200 pairs of eyes drifted over to us. I couldn’t stop smiling but I kept my eyes on Trevor. haha super fun. Bringing Lindy Hop to Mayaguez. GRINGOS IN THE HOUSE! (we dance at the end of this video)
At the end of the night we got in line at the Bacardi booth for a freshly made Mojito. Bacardi is made in Puerto Rico!
Siri on iPhones is pretty cool. You can just say “What song is this?” and hold your phone up to a song that is playing. However……. Siri is NO GOOD if the music is SO LOUD she can’t hear you ask the question. How’s a girl to build a good latin music collection?
