Blogs from Puerto Rico, Central America Caribbean - page 19

Caguas (Spanish pronunciation: ) (founded in 1775) is a city and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range of Puerto Rico, south of San Juan and Trujillo Alto, west of Gurabo and San Lorenzo, east of Aguas Buenas, Cidra, and Cayey. Caguas is located twenty minutes to an hour by car from San Juan and an hour and a half from Ponce. It is known as El Valle del Turabo (Turabo Valley) or La Ciudad Criolla (The Creole City) and its name originates from the Taíno cacique Caguax. Originally called San Sebastián del Piñal de Caguax, Caguas derives its name from a local Indian chief (Caguax) who was an early Christian convert. The colors are blue and yellow. The cross stands for the Cross of San Sebastián, for this was the first Christian ... read more

Pete and I have had numerous experiences with hurricanes. We have taken everything of the deck, jib is down, wind generator is down. Canvas came down this morning. We have secured the boat best we could. It is now in God's hands. We are staying with friends in NE Ponce. Two other sailors have decided to remain with their boats. One is not even taking the canvas down. This morning's update says it is 110 miles South of Ponce. With sustained winds 65 miles but gusting higher. We are told when it comes to the SE of PR around 2 am tomorrow morning it will be a category 2. It should cross around the virgins. We feel bad for those persons over in that area. If someone hears from Island Siren, please let them know we ... read more

bregar: verbo intransitivo 1 (trabajar duro) to toil, slaveaway: ha estado bregando todo el día en el taller, she has been slaving away all day in the workshop 2 (discutir) to argue: han estado bregando toda la mañana sin conseguir nada, they have been arguing all morning and have got nowhere Uñuelo: Uña enterrada. ingrown nail malbete, marbete is the correct spelling, PR people pronounce R"s as L's. No English translation found, but it is referred to as label. Here it is used as the tag or boat registrations. pai or mai, your Dad or mom, papa or mama. "Que pasa Pai o Mai"- What's up dude or What's up girl? compai, not sure, but they refer to it quite often. Algarete - The word literally means in Spanish wayward, without a given path. It is ... read more

Adjuntas was founded August 11, 1815, by Diego Maldonado, gaining administrative independence from Utuado. It was one of the main cities where the Anusim, Maranos, and other Sephardi Jews settled. Many of these families were of the Torres, Perez or Peretz, and Bennazzar families among others. Bereberes and Mozarabes settled there too. After the mid 1800s, Adjuntas welcomed many immigrants from the Mediterranean islands Corsica and Majorca. Some of them established coffee plantations. During the last decades of XIX century, the fine coffee produced in Adjuntas was exported to Europe, United States and even the Vatican. It was proclaimed "villa", or a first order municipality, by the Spanish Government Monarchy in 1894. Adjuntas was occupied by the United States Army forces during the Spanish American War of 1898 and was visited by President Theodore Roosevelt in ... read more

Cool Change is a 27 ft Catalina with a single hander, Juan Cuartas. Juan's Father is Cuban and his Mom is Colombian. His home is in Augusta, Georgia. Juan is getting ready to leave Ponce this week behind Ike. He needs to get back to the US. He has traveled to Margarita Island, in Venezuela, where he was boarded by bandits, beat up, robbed of clothes, money and auto pilot. David Smedley, is from Kemah, Tx. Where he was a realtor for many years. Then he moved to Dunedin, Fl for 9 years. It is a small world, he knows Laurel Nash from our sail club. David is presently looking for a companion and sailor to continue South until he can no longer do it, or runs out of money. David's boat is Calixta, a 36 ... read more