Fall energy was definitely in the air eventhough the economic situation was somewhat apparent while glancing into stores or neighborhood restaurants. My local market (Jefferson Market) closed down. They were behind on their Con Ed bill. This place was an institution in the West Village. A place to get great veggies, gourmet cheeses and stumble into the neighborhood celebrities like Julianne Moore or Elvis Costello. Once Citarella opened up down the block, they just could not compete. Sad to see them go. We need to support these local shops. Otherwise, the big corporate chain businesses will just gobble them all up.

Had dinner at a cozy, fun, new restaurant  Cafe Select. Located in Soho at 212 Lafayette. Cafe Select, a Swiss cafe is the latest venture of downtown restaurateur Serge Becker. A good variety of small plates and salads. The puff pasty with mushrooms was divine. Entrees range from veal sausage to seared marinated steak over arugula (yummy) and of course Schnitzel. Cute crowd and decent selection of Swiss wines. After we headed to Apotheke in Chinatown. A speakeasy/cocktail bar at 9 Doyers St. The spot’s marked only by the Gold Flower Restaurant sign in an alleyway off Bowery.

Like an apothecary, the bartenders/mixologists mix and concoct all sorts of drinks from glass jars lined up along the bar and on shelves. We tasted a Pisco drink, something with Rose-water and some Scotchy thing. All incredibly satisfying. Suprising since I really don’t drink anything but wine.

Just when I thought I had seen it all, along comes a pedi-cab with a pole dancer.  This rentable stripper rickshaw’s comes equipped with pole, boom box, neon-lit platform, and video camera for capturing the sweet dance moves and onlookers befuddled titillation. Only in New York!

ShareThis

Into our second month here. We have moved into our place on a hill overlooking the town of Rincon.
Very pretty and breezier, thank god. It can be extremely hot here in the afternoon 87º+ on a regular basis. We just constructed a screen door, so we can keep the front door open being that there is only ac in the bedroom.

A couple of days ago, while driving back from dinner, I almost ran over a few stranded puppies that were left on the side of the road. There are so many stray dogs and cats here.  Not more than a month old, someone just dumped these 3 adorable dogs and cut out.  We stopped and put them in the back of our borrowed SUV. Home with us they went. Fortunately, we were able to find a home for one of the puppies and shelter the other two for adoption in Mayaquez.
The island has a cultural disregard for animals. Last year a horrible incident took place when animal control workers seized dozens of dogs and cats from housing projects in the town of Barceloneta and hurled them from a bridge to their deaths. Since then, there have been laws put into place to halt the abuse and negligence of dogs and cats.  Obviously, this has not stopped people from throwing them out of cars late at night. Very sad.

ShareThis

Beautiful sunsets they do have, but living here in Puerto Rico has been an enlightening, frustrating and sad experience.

My partner (E) and I arrived a little over a month ago with the hopes of taking a break from NYC, and starting a seasonal bar/grill on the beach. E, would have time and space to read, write and do her artwork, and I would work on menus, cocktails, music and ambiance. How excited we were of the prospect of doing what we enjoy and of waking up to beautiful bright days by the sea.

We rented this small house on the beach. Not the tidiest, but on the beach afterall. We swam most morning before embarking on daily location scouting (for our new spot),  grocery shopping, book store hunting etc.

To give you some background, Rincon is on the far west side of the island.  San Juan is on the East side. There is a big surfing community here, both local and riders from abroad.  These beaches have some of the best surfing on the island.  Rincon also has a large ex-pat community. My guess is surfer dudes that started coming here in the 60’s and 70’s and just decided to stay or come back and settle in. Some have opened guest houses, casual eateries and of course…surf shops. As you can perhaps imagine, it is a very laid back town.

Coming from NYC, it has taken us quite some time to adjust. As New Yorkers, we are so accustomed to getting everything asap.  Here, there is no sense of urgency for anything. I’m not just talking about customer service, there is no urgency on the road, on the check out line, returning a call, keeping an appointment. They must be returning calls while driving because everyone is on a cell phone, which partly explains the turtle speed. I’m not sure if it’s the heat, but it’s unexplicable. I ‘ve heard of “tropical time” but this is ridiculous.

Rincon thrives on tourism. It’s their main source of employment and income. So, you would think that customer service would be priority. There is so much potential here, but I do not understand the disregard for some of the basic requirements to keep customers coming back. The funny thing is that I believe they know what it takes but, just don’t care. Maybe because no one really cares about them.

My parents are Puerto Rican. They both emigrated to the U.S. in the late 1950’s. Not by choice, unemployment was high in Puerto Rico. In the 1950’s, the United States under FDR implemented “Operation Bootstrap”. This program aimed to transform Puerto Rico’s economy from agricultural-based to manufacturing-based. The U.S. offered foreign businesses major tax incentives to get them to set up shop on the island which included hard-working men and women at a fraction of the price. Yes, cheap labor. In the meantime, farmers lost their land, some were bought or taken over by Americans or other foreigners and we stopped producing. If you go into any supermarket in Puerto Rico, all across the island, everything is imported. Puerto Rico has become a dumping ground for products and it’s people have become major consumers.  The U.S. will never give Puerto Rico it’s independence because it needs the island for business. Suzuki, Isuzu, Ponderosa, Burger King, Taco Maker. There are sooo many fast food chains here. Fish is imported from China. This is an island, surrounded by water, where is the fresh fish?

Does the U.S. care about the people of Puerto Rico? I’m beginning to think not. They ask, are we American? Are we Puerto Rican? This limbo state continues indefinitely. Do we have a voice? Certainly not in America. Puerto Ricans can not vote in U.S elections because they do not pay Federal taxes. They don’t seem to have much of a voice here either since many programs and funding need to be approved by the U.S. Federal government.

The island is having it’s elections for Govenor today. There has been a non-stop caravan of cars with loud music, and flag waving crowds along the roads cheering for either the red party (Popular Democratic Party) or the blue party (New Progressive Party). It just seems like an occasion to party and literally “burn rubber” with friends and family. I wondered if anyone really knew what their representatives stood for. Some of these kids weren’t even old enough to vote! I have been warned to stay indoors tonight and avoid the street frenzy that ensues after elections. If only Puerto Ricans were as enthusiastic about maintaining the beauty of the island and it’s waters, education, infrastructure, animal rights, gay rights…

I’ll be glued to the TV set tonight watching the elections in the States and listening to Reggaeton blasting out of souped up Hondas out my louvered windows.

…to be continued.

ShareThis