Vieques - This is the small island off the coast of Puerto Rico - much smaller population (9000), fewer rich people therefore not as obvious gap between rich and poor. Has a flavour a bit like our Gulf Islands - sorta bohemian. Many ex-patriots.

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Diary

Day 7 - Monday Sleep in and then have doughnuts and coffee at the guest house - chat with hosts while waiting for delivery of rental jeep. Get scoop on local scene (population on the island is about 9000). Pack up provided beach chairs and towels, etc. Head out to the west. Stop at the pier to look out over the water to mainland PR. Chat with fisherman and his wife - learn a bit about the local politics (US military uses half the island as bombing range). Meet guy, Tim, who runs AquaFrenzy Kayaks. Funny story. We tried to book our BioBay trip with him, but our email got returned saying we made a mistake, AquaFrenzy doesn't provide kayak trips but here are some other firms that do. And then this: "AquaFrenzy Ozonated De-alcohol Filters: discounts for couples or triples" etc. Weird. Turns out Tim's ex-employee, Elena, had taken over his email account and was funneling business to anyone but him. So he was trying to get her "thrown off the island" as she was crazy. He asked me to send the email I got from her back to him so he could use it in court. That night we chatted with our hosts who added this tidbit: she wasn't just an employee, they were a couple for about 8 years. She now tries to run her own kayak trips (we'd also tried to book with her but she saidshe didn't have any trips for that period - apparently doesn't have any gear, has to rent from one of the other kayak outfits). Anyway, after about an hour or so chatting with locals on the pier, we set off for the beaches. Lovely, deserted beaches. Snorkeled and lounged and read for a few hours. Then we set off for Esperanza, the small tourist strip on the south of the island. Strolled the strip (all three blocks), bought some nibblies and headed for more beach. At sundown we took our biobay kayak trip. Wonderful! You kayak and swim in shallow, warm salt water that has one of the highest concentrations of dinoflagellates (up to 720,000 non-toxic dinoflagellates per gallon) in the world. So every movement in the water creates light. Too cool. Our bodies glow as we swim, and if you let water run down your arm, it looks like liquid diamonds sparkling. Each fish movement leaves a lightening zigzag in the water. Too cool! After that we zipped back to our room to change and then went out for supper at THE hot spot: Chez Shack. Which is just as it says: a shack out in the middle of nowhere. Anne had a rib dinner and I had a salad bar. Nummy! And they had a live Caribbean band (okay, it was two guys with a synthesizer, but that's the height of entertainment there).

http://www.biobay.com/

Day 8 - Tuesday Woke up to the sounds of a rooster crowing outside our window (well, actually, there are no windows there, just louvers). No doughnuts this morning (line up was too long). Spent most of the day on the beaches by Esperanza. Had a late lunch/dinner at Bananas, another local hot spot. All beached out so we bought some bevvies and food, went back to our guesthouse and hung out on the upstairs balcony and ate, drank and played cards till bedtime.

Day 9 - Wednesday Woke up and walked to the bakery for our own breakfast (our host had left on the 7:00 am ferry so no coffee or doughnuts). Jeep rental guy came and got the jeep. We took the 11:00 am ferry. Took a Publico (a beat up old van with no a/c) to the El Conquistador to pick up our rental car and drove back to San Juan on the freeway (averaging about 30 mph). We stopped in a burb where the University is, right next to a huge public market. Too many crack addicts wandering around with paper cups, begging, for our comfort. Scary. So went to find our cheap hotel in San Juan. $62 US internet special (saved $3) gets you a room with a/c and a parking spot. Something you'd likely pay about $35 CDN for here. Went for Brazilian pizza (?) which was good, and then a last stroll on the Isla Verde beach (which is the same one as you get at the Ritz).

Day 10 - Thursday Up at 8:00 am. Breakfast at Burger King (Anne says it was the best coffee she'd had all trip!?!?), then to the airport for Anne's flight. I returnedthe rental car and then met up with her in the terminal. Saw her off and then hung around for a couple of hours till my flight. Again, great service with AA. I got to Victoria about 10:00 pm, met by mom. Drove back to my home, peeked in on my boys, then visited with mom for a half hour before heading back to the airport to pick up Anne. Home after midnight local time (4:00 am PR time).

General Observations PR has lovely beaches. Things are at least as expensive as continental US and given the exchange rate, was not a bargain. PR is very American. And they have all the rich-poor gap problems endemic in the States, perhaps exasperated by their "poor cousin" status in the US. We were constantly reminded (by hosts and guidebooks) that crime was a problem. Don't go to the beach at night unless you're with a group, don't leave anything of value in the car, don't go to any areas you are unfamiliar with, etc. Puerto Ricans have not figured out how to harness their unique culture to make it a selling point (maybe they don't have any anymore?) So, if you want a cultural experience go somewhere else. If you want lovely beaches, there are probably cheaper places to get that (Dominican Republic? Dave?).

All in all, we had a lovely break. Came back well rested. Returned home to discover how easily I'd forgotten how much noise and chaos is a part of my real life. After four days with my boys, I was ready for another vacation.