Just Do It: Saying "Yes" and Breaking out of the Comfort Zone

What do you get when ten women writers who live on different rocks, are total strangers, and have vastly different life stories become roommates in a villa in the middle of Old San Juan? An estrogen-charged "Real World" but with more mature characters who use big words, that's what!

Okay, just kidding. What you get is magic. Pure. Friggin'. Magic.

The Mona Passage

Several of you have asked about our passage across the Mona. Before I begin, I would urge you strongly to follow our Facebook page as well - as it is supplemental to the blog, there are pictures, miniature updates and more. I wrote a bit about our crossing there, but I will expand here...

As I mentioned before, the Mona Passage is not to be taken lightly and is one of the most difficult passages in the Caribbean due to currents, shoals and frequent storms spinning off the mountains of Puerto Rico. To say I am relieved it is behind us would be an understatement.  Our crossing was, by all accounts, uneventful, thanks to a great forecast by Chris Parker.

Our strategy was to leave Samana at night fall to sail along the coast of DR in the “night lee” (this is when a land mass causes a sort of bubble of calm weather around itself). As we exited the Bay of Samana, seas had built to about 6 feet and we rolled along the coast with our main reefed.

Due to the north east wind, we headed offshore just north of Cabo Engano to get around the hour glass shoals. We watched as a line of squalls passed to the North - and had to make one tack completely out of our way to avoid them. However, as Bruce van Sant so often says in his book; “sometimes you gotta go north to get south”.

The seas were large for our first 24 hours - so much that it made cooking down below a very unpleasant prospect - so we dined on saltine crackers and lollipops. By 36 hours the seas had calmed and our last 12 hours was spent enjoying a beautiful sail in the lee of Puerto Rico.

One thing that made our passage so wonderful was the fact that we had Scott’s godfather, Al, with us. He’s a former sailor who has been with us before and knowing that we had someone at the helm we could trust for a shift was a huge gift. We maintained a watch schedule of three hours on, six hours off which meant that all of us were fresh and well rested. Any significantly long passages we do from here on out will have at least three aboard, it makes a huge difference.

All in all - it was completely uneventful and - other than this incident - not very interesting which is why I didn’t blog about it. 

Hopefully this satisfies those of you who wondered!

Puerto Rican Pig Roasts

I don't know a lot about Puerto Rico, but I know I like it.  I like it a lot.

I also know Puerto Ricans like their pigs.  They like them a lot.

We stayed in a little town called Salinas for a couple of days (two thumbs up) and from there we took our rental car up into the hills to a town called Guavete.  We had heard from friends that every weekend there's a giant pig roast and that it's a major affair.  So we hopped in our rental car and went winding up the narrow twisty turny mountain roads through the lush green jungle passing through village after village.

We zipped by a million beautiful scenes of mountain life - people dancing in the streets, vendors selling fresh produce on the side of the road, families gathering on their porches, music blasting and horns honking...I love how lively this culture is - they laugh loud and dance freely.  As we drove we passed by probably six or seven pig roasts at various elevations.  It was clear that these roasts were more than a meal, they were a destination - everyone was dressed up, strutting their stuff and filling their bellies with pork and mavi (a type of fermented fruit drink).  The music was loud, the food was plentiful and vendors were selling everything from battery operated bubble machines to jewelry to hammocks to shot glasses that said "Austria".  It was like a scene from the Lionel Ritchie song "All Night Long" except it was "All Day Long".

Highlight of the day:

The scene:


A bustling street.  We - Al, Scott, myself - are walking aimlessly from vendor to vendor, seeing what goods they have available - most have a full pig roasting over a fire...


Vendor(tending to a pig on a spit):  You want to try some pork?
Al (who has been dying for a pork chop):  Yes, please!  (BIG smile on his face!)


The vendor hacks at the pig with his machete and then produces a four by three inch piece of deep fried pig skin which he hands, beaming, to Al. It looks like leather and feels like the bottom of a shoe.


Al's face goes white.  Al is not what you would call an "adventurous eater".


Vendor: Here you go!  Thees is thee best part!
Me (laughing hysterically):  Go on Al, take a bite!! 
Al (trooper that he is) takes a tiny bite (actually it's more like a non-bite), I take a tiny bite. We both smile at the vendor.  Then Al feeds it to the mangy dog in the street, which - in retrospect - was probably highly offensive to the vendor.

Al is still dying for a pork chop, and we continue on our quest.


- Scene-

I can tell you this - it did NOT taste like chicken.

Love,
Brittany & Scott

PS - Want to see more pics?  Go to our Facebook page!!  You don't nee to have an account to view them and there are lots of great pics and fun to be had!