Vieques-
March 2010
NEW
Living and Working in Vieques..
It is now twenty-two years since I first landed at the old wooden shack we
used to call an airport in Vieques. I came for a break, too much urban
living, a high paying demanding but boring job, and way too much running
really fast just to find I was still in the same place.
I stayed a while, several months, writing, swimming and making tentative
conversation with people who lived here. I remember once having a
conversation with some weathered guys about whether people who ended up in
Vieques were losers. They seemed to agree we were - losers. Unable to make
it in the "real" world, finding a less demanding life in Vieques. It was not
a depressing talk, in fact no one seemed to mind being labeled a loser - no
one except me. I minded and while I was quick to agree (that people pleasing
knee jerk reaction from New York not yet broken), I minded a lot.
Nevertheless, loser or not, I decided to stay. Now twenty years later, no
one could say that people who choose Vieques are losers. Some may be
temporary drop outs, some dreamers who think yet another restaurant, their
restaurant can make it, some innovators who open small businesses, some
creative people who draw, write, sculpt, fashion sea glass into jewelry,
sell gourmet food.
None of them losers, far as I can tell. Of course we now have the advantage
of DISH, easy Internet connections, and soon, if the W keeps its promise
even the NY times on Sunday. Perhaps, like Hugo, which demolished the
weakest of the wooden houses never to be rebuilt, the winds of change have
swept through and taken the losers somewhere else.
In an economic sense, everything here for people who live here is THE
SEASON. If you don't make it in SEASON you have a very hard time. Luckily, a
hard time in Vieques does not resemble a hard time in any urban center.
Here, it is possible to cut back on expenses and make it on so little the
sweet dream of next season shapes ones fantasy.
For the first time since I have lived here, next season holds a promise of
prosperity never before imagined. The W is opening, the exclusive W hotel,
with rooms at prices inexpensive for them but astronomical for Vieques, is
opening on March 25th.
The publicity the W has generated, from the NY Times, to Brides Magazine to
all the travel magazines, to - well, to everywhere is more than all of the
publicity put together over the past twenty years - by far.
The Navy left, the Wyndam opened and we enjoyed, for better or worse, a
modicum of publicity,. But never anything like this coordinated effort on
the part of the W to show Vieques in it's best Sunday go to meeting clothes.
The efforts to employ and co-opt the people living and working here makes
many of us feel they have good intentions, will do well by doing good. Of
course we all realize they are here to make a go of it - to make money. But
they are not selfish, they seem to realize that there is enough to go
around.
Vieques has defeated every other large hotel chain that opened here. Usually
if it is Vieques against a behemoth, Vieques wins. Not this time; this time
I think the W has a fighting chance to beat back the inertia, to plow over
the retrograde thinking, to win over even the most skeptical of old timers.
It could be that all systems are go here for a better life for the children,
through better schools, for the sick, through better hospital care, and for
all of us through a revitalized economy that will lift our improvised
institutions to an higher level.
I'm pulling for the W. Despite my early resistance, who needs that kind of
development, I used to say, I now see WE need it. Of course Vieques will
change. But it already has. Underneath the still gorgeous and placid
countryside, change has come to Vieques. The beaches are still pristine,
there is still no traffic light, the horses still roam free - but change has
come and more is on the way. I see it as positive, these new changes. Once I
saw it as a potential to spoil all the things I love about Vieques, I am now
eager for more change. I have complete faith that those of us who chose
Vieques will hold fast to our values, while enjoying a bagel and lox on
Sunday reading, in hard print, the New York Times.
Sheila
sheilevin@gmail.com
The opinions expressed in this newsletter are the
opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Enchanted-Isle.com.
Webmaster's Note * Sheila has many hats
and is also a published author Her first book was "Simple
Truths". She has asked that I put a short story she has written and I enjoyed it
a lot, even though it has nothing to do with Vieques. You can download
"Knowing" by right clicking on the link. She is also
the owner of
Vieques Fine
Properties.
Sheila can be reached for a brochure through her web page at http://www.viequesfineproperties.com
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