adventures with fried food

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So far this trip is turning out to be a bit more of an adventure than we anticipated, but we’re going with it and having fun regardless. We arrived at San Juan airport Saturday afternoon. It was a bit chaotic and crazy busy, but tolerable—until we had to wait 45 minutes for the Enterprise bus to pick us up. I read that you should only use the big name rental car places to avoid hassles and scams, but a hassle it was. They even gave us a car with no gas in it.

But we managed to get a car and began the hour and a half drive to Aguadilla on the north shore of the island. We stayed in a Marriott Courtyard on Ramey base—what used to be a U.S. military base until sometime in the ‘70s when the U.S. decided they actually didn’t need to be occupying its own province. It must have been a more happening place back then, but now it is mostly fast food chains and a few small neighborhoods. But it’s also known for it’s great surfing waves. Sunday morning we found a very tight driving path down a steep incline that led to an amazing spot on the coast. No place to lie out on a beach because it was a coral coast, but there were a few surfers out in the rough seas and a number of people hanging out and watching. It was a fun little find that made the night in Aguadilla worth it.

That afternoon we headed to a town in the southwest corner of the island called La Parguera. This was supposed to be the highlight of our trip—the best place to scuba dive off the island, a great place to snorkel, and a fun little boat town with a lot of charm. Well, the fun little town was mostly deserted. I had gotten a call from the dive shop we were scheduled with early last week saying that both employees had quit, so the owner had to temporarily close the shop. Bad sign number one. But we kept our reservation at La Parguera Guest House hoping to just find another shop. The Guest House was this little bright blue and yellow painted building with tiny rooms big enough only for a double bed, a mini fridge, and a bathroom that you could only turn around in circles in it was so small. It was a step up from a hostel; on the level of the fanciest guest house I have ever stayed in compared to some accommodations in Nepal, Toronto, and even San Francisco. But it was charming with it’s fish décor—bed sheets, shower curtain, and toilet seat. Ken is a bit more of a luxury traveler, so he was a little taken aback by its simplicity, but I convinced him that we had our own bathroom with hot water, air conditioning (which is turning out to be quite important), and excellent wireless internet, so we were actually living the high life. He took my word for it and was a good sport. But I think what really made him nervous was the fact that we were the only ones there. We arrived at 5:30pm and the owner had already left, leaving us a key in a little box by the hose. She said she would come by later that night to check on everything, but she never showed up. Bad sign two.

We went to the “downtown” area of La Parguera, which was about half a block of empanada stands, a place to get your name written on a piece of rice, a shell shop, and a few docked boats. We found another scuba place owned by a guy named Luis, who was promising to take anyone out diving that wanted to go. We found out from another American that a dive shop he was originally set up with was not going out because there were 2-3 foot surface waves. So Luis said he would set up a dive for Tuesday no problem, he just recommended we load up on Dramamine beforehand. Bad sign three.

Luis also said he would try to set up a snorkel trip for us the next afternoon—a trip out to the coral, then come back for empanadas made by his wife, followed by a sunset trip to the bioluminescent bay. We were psyched! We asked if we needed to be fitted for our dive gear ahead of time, and he said not to worry, that they would get everything for us right before the dive at 8am on Tuesday morning. Bad sign four.

That night we found a little restaurant in a hotel across the street that was still serving dinner to its total of 3 customers. I managed to get grilled chicken, rice and beans, and some vegetables. Ken ordered red snapper which came out fried whole and seemed to stare at me with mouth agape during the entire meal. I was just happy to be eating something not fried. So far we have only been able to find fast food, Puerto Rican food vendors selling fried food out of the backs of their trucks, and on the high end, an Applebee’s. It’s really kind of sad the lack of healthy food options on this end of the island. No wonder there are so many health problems among Puerto Ricans when your only options are Burger King or fried local food. And for two people used to eating whole, fairly healthy foods, fatty fried foods can only be tolerated so many times before you feel like you want to go outside and regurgitate the lunch you just devoured.

But we enjoyed our dinner and went back to the Guest House, where we watched episodes of the Daily Show online and tried to think positively about the planned snorkel trip the next day. We both slept surprisingly well in that cramped room, and woke up yesterday morning feeling refreshed and hoping to find a panaderia to get some baked goods for breakfast. The only one in town was closed, so we drove back out to the neighboring towns. No bakery open anywhere. No breakfast places. Nothing but Burger King, KFC, Church’s Chicken, and a fast food sandwich place called El Meson, which is what we decided on. We got sliced chicken sandwiches, which weren’t bad, but were accompanied by more fries. It was in a shopping center with a supermarket called Econo (which was closed), and a Kmart. We even scoped through the Kmart hoping to find some bananas, apple sauce without corn syrup, or something fairly healthy to keep as snacks when we had no other options but fast food, but all we could find were a couple of boxes of Kashi granola bars.

Our snorkel trip, if it was going to happen, was not going to leave until 3pm, so we spent some time driving through the neighboring towns (San German, Lajas). Parts of them were quaint with their brightly painted cement buildings, but what has become apparent is that this end of the island is very poor and very much effected by the recession. Shops everywhere are shut down, and people are mostly just standing around or sitting on their porches or the side of the road bearing the heat and humidity. The countryside out here is really beautiful, and the water is a gorgeous blue-green color when you are able to catch a glimpse of it through the hills, but otherwise it is a very simple, very secluded life. To me it looks like parts of South Africa, and it reminded Ken of the poor parts of Jamaica. But I’m so glad we were able to see this part of the island—that we decided not to remain only in San Juan—because we are really seeing how “the other half” lives. And you want to talk about a community devastated by the U.S. economic crisis? This is it. We’re glad we’re putting even a little bit of money into the local economy, even if it is only $65 a night at the guesthouse and $5 for our fried food.

After avoiding several auto accidents through the tight streets of the neighboring little towns, we went back to La Parguera and called the dive shop owner. The snorkel trip was cancelled because he couldn’t get two other people to make the trip worth his while, but he said we would go to the bioluminescent bay that night. So we went to Coco’s, a pizza joint that looked like the most happening place in town, for breadsticks and a coke and to regroup and figure out what to do. We were not having a good feeling about the dive trip scheduled the next morning, with the threat of high surface waves and no concern for proper-fitting equipment by Luis. It was becoming apparent that this guy was going to do a dive trip to bring in some money, regardless of how safe it was. And when you’re doing something as risky as diving, you want to ere on the side of caution. We also figured out that he was using a gas-powered boat to get to the bioluminescent bay, which contributes to killing the wildlife that people long to see anyway. So we strategized to get online back at the Guest House and see what accommodations might be available in the town of Ponce, on the way back to San Juan, if we decided to just skip town.

I have never seen Ken pack up his things so quickly! Within 20 minutes we had a reservation at a Holiday Inn with a pool and a restaurant onsite. We paid the cleaning woman at the Guest House, and were back in the car for the next part of our road trip. And after just a 45-minute drive, we pulled up to the Holiday Inn, which sits on a large hill overlooking the ocean and the town of Ponce. I never thought I would long for a Holiday Inn of all places, but after a night in the town that time forgot, it was nice to arrive in a place that resembled the Puerto Rico we had in mind.

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Comments

[Jerry]

Time to make it a state!
Sounds like P.R. is ready to join the U.S.! I say let Sarah or G.W. Bush run it. They both need something to keep them occupied and challenged.

[alex]

Bad but not that bad
The village is some what dead specially now that the economy has gone south but if you do your research yes you can find some decent food at la Parguera. A small joint called El Cayo at the end of town serves only lunch as well as Agua Azul. For breakfast you are indeed in trouble now that the local supermarket has closed along with many business due to the new town ordinance which have become wide spread under the new political party with is spear heading a USA only option as the next political alternative to being saved. Most healthy food locations are out of the way in the mountains, Mayaguez, and Rincon. If you travel to the town of Lajas you will find a few panaderias which have good cheap breakfast. As for diving, West divers and Taino divers in Rincon are excellent dive groups. Do your home work before heading south; plenty of web sites about laParguera. Good luck to all on your next adventure