This is the lady that writes this column every month and to whom I am extremely indebted.  Jim Starke -webmaster

 

Greetings All,

Again I apologize for this being late – wish I could blame it on “island time” but again this is being written from Pennsylvania. I was on island in January and it was amazing. The week I was there was one of the quieter weeks in January, coming after the holiday craze and before the end of the month big hit. It was great to see friends, eat out and just enjoy the weather and the beaches. Unfortunately, well not really, it was time for me to go back to work full time so this was a working vacation. I have to thank Glenn and Wynne (Bananas) again for all the help they provided Elí with producing Vieques Events in my absence. Due to business and personal commitments they could not continue production of the magazine so I had to gather the information for the February issue. Not an easy task as I have been leading the relaxed life for the past 6 months! I am hoping to return to the island later this month to work on the March issue and to celebrate my birthday. It will be so good to get back to the island full time again but I won’t know what my continuing treatments will entail until the beginning of March.

While on the island I did get to frequent Roy’s Coffee House, what a joy. Great place for coffee and a bagel each morning! With internet access I did work from there on occasion. I had a chance to eat at Tropical Baby and had a great meal there, her prices are very reasonable and portion was more than I could eat. Also ate dinner at El Jardin at Crow’s Nest, what a nice addition to the island. It is a very small, quaint space with a nice casual menu at great prices. Although I am off meat these days, people raved over the churrasco! Not to worry, Island Steakhouse is still there and is a bit more elegant than El Jardin Had lunch a few times at bbh, Lauren does a great salad and great menu is general. Of course did a few meals at Coconuts, including sushi by Mr. Sushi, they are just around the corner from my house so it is an easy stop for me. Stopped in Esperanza to make the rounds, of course had to have lunch at Bananas, the “island meeting place” and of course did see several people. Stopped in to see Peter at Kim’s Cabin to see what new and great things he had for the season. I also stopped in to see the girls at Diva’s Closet, I always have a hard time not shopping there! They have a new spa line of treatment products arriving so that will be worth checking out. Tom was off but I made a trip through Vieques Flowers and Gifts, another great place for gift and souvenir items. Unfortunately did not get down to Trade Winds, either for a meal or shopping, I love their gift shop which has the best t-shirts on the island. Unfortunately I ran out of time to eat at other restaurants and my next visit won’t be long enough to eat everywhere either unfortunately. I am hoping to get to Carambola next visit, the new restaurant at Inn on the Blue Horizon. That is one of the loveliest spots on the island so am hoping for good reviews on the food. I also promised Randy to stop by and visit him at Mbar but I am not sure if they will be moving into town this month or not. For now check and see if they are still located out near Martineau Bay, if not they will be reopening in town next to Uva. I understand there is a new small café in Esperanza called the Doghouse Cheesecake Café, not sure what they are offering but I imagine it has cheesecake for sure! I think they are possibly doing lunch and dinner and are located in the same complex as Tiki Hut, which is another casual spot for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Big news for this month is the Motocross Event that will be held out on the western end of the island, past the airport and Mosquito Pier. This event is being met with mixed reviews because to the number of people that are projected to visit the island during this time, just for the event. Mid February is already one of the busiest times of the year for visitors and most hotel rooms are booked months in advance as are rental cars. The government is working to make this event go smoothly with lots of additional ferry service being offered to and from the main island. My guess is that besides exhibitors, most people coming to the event will just stay for the days activities and return to the island. In most cases the exhibitors will have to do that as well as there will be a shortage of available hotel rooms for them. I am sure that many of the local food vendors that set up tents at various locations on Vieques will set up shop at the event. I also imagine that the promoters of the event have contracted food vendors from the main island to come over also to accommodate the crowds. The municipality is supposed to be providing some camping facilities and more water and electricity. If it is where I think it is, it should be just in front of the old military buildings so there is water and electricity nearby and should not be that hard to run it closer to the event. If it is done right it can be a very successful and fun event. There is talk that Vieques will host the finals in November and maybe will hold another event in July. Many people don’t remember the number of people that used to arrive from the main island years ago for Patronales, it was in the thousands and everybody got fed, and the community survived the influx of all these people. We all hate a certain amount of change but we have to remember that Vieques deserves to be exposed to sporting and cultural events just like other locations on the main island. As the island gets used for events like this, the developers will learn how to best coordinate everything for these events to be successful and something that can be enjoyed for a large part of the population.

Other events this month that are worth attending involve the arts. There is a wonderful “Horses of Vieques” photo exhibit held at the Vieques Conservation and Historical Trust in Esperanza all month. My friend Dave Krueger is the artist and has taken some wonderful pictures over the years. This exhibit also ran in New York for many months and was well received. On Friday, the 24th plan on attending the opening of “Contemplation-Exploration” featuring photos by Andrea Baldeck and River Karmen. At Casa Vieja Gallery, in La Hueca, from 5-7pm. Gallery openings at Casa Vieja are always a lovely event and hopefully I can attend this event. Also Siddhia Hutchinson is hosting an Open House at the Fine Art Studio Gallery, located near the ferry dock, every Wednesday night. Siddhia is very well known in the commercial art world for her wonderful, vibrant pottery including dinnerware. She also has some great textile items. Many of her new paintings are inspired by her surroundings at their second home in the Rainforest on the main island. There is also a photojournalist/photographic exhibit featuring works by Filiberto Ojeda Ríos. This exhibit will be held at the Fort all month. A visit to the Fort is always educational and the views of Vieques are spectacular from the Fort. Also check out some of the gardening lectures being offered at the VCHT. These are educational even if you do not live in Vieques. Also the Trust is hosting the annual house and garden tour on Thursday the 9th. This is the way that visitors can visit some of the most fabulous houses on Vieques. Reserve your spot early as it fills up quickly.

Well I think that pretty much covers the activities being offered in February. For more information you can always download Vieques Events, available for free on the internet at www.viequesevents.net. The calendar follows and will list all the activities that we know about!

For those of you who keep up to date on my health concerns, I just finished my 6th cycle of this chemotherapy protocol. YEAH!!!!! I have a CT Scan scheduled for Monday the 13th and then hopefully will get to Vieques the end of that week. I will return to see the doctors on the 27th of February where we will discuss using a drug to then maintain my current condition and keep the cancer from progressing. I will also meet with a radiation oncologist to see if that is a viable option. When I first started this process there was too much cancer and the area that could be treated with radiation was just too large and would cause too much damage to the area. My medical oncologist does not think that radiation is a definite possibility yet he wants me to see the other doctor just to make sure. So the next step will probably be a drug that I will get every 3 weeks but at least I can begin commuting from Vieques to Pennsylvania for those treatments. For those of you that do not know, my business partner in Vieques Events, Elí Belendez (also an owner of Crow’s Nest Guest House and Crow’s Nest Realty) was recently diagnosed with lung cancer also and is being treated in Houston, Texas. We wish him all the luck in the world that he gets through his radiation and chemotherapy treatments will ease and that he returns home to Vieques soon. I will really miss him while I attempt to do the next issue without his expertise in Spanish. The doctors are telling him to expect some side effects and to be tired as he continues through his treatment so he is just not sure how much energy he will have to translate. So the paper may go through some changes until we are both healthy and have the energy to work as much as the paper needs us to work. For those of you that expressed interest back in November and December in the heart pendant that we are having made to benefit lung cancer research, we are still working on those. The man who is making them was involved in a car accident and fell way behind on holiday orders. He says he will have some of them done soon. We are more committed than ever to get these in production now with Elí also being treated with lung cancer. Please email me again as my computer crashed and I am now working on a new one and did lose some of the emails. Thanks again for your support through my illness and for your interest in the double heart pendant.
Wishing you all a wonderful adventure when you next visit Vieques. For anyone who is in Vieques on February 25th, stop by the Mar Azul for karaoke, I will be celebrating my 48th birthday that night – just look for the bald woman! At least I doubt that there will be any other bald woman at the bar!

All the best to you,

Judy
Know with me that both Elí and Judy free of Dis-ease, and perfect, whole, and complete. Jim Starke webmaster@enchanted-isle.com

Thanks for reading and have a great visit!
 
Judy

PS: If there is anything you would like to see in the newsletter or have any feedback please email Ask Judy. Thanks.  askjudy@enchanted-isle.com 

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