by Janie Chadwick
by Janie Chadwick
December |
|
2008 |
Hi everyone,
With much of the island still suffering the effects of mucho pavo (too much
turkey), getting information on what’s going to happen in December has been a
challenge. For example, “Are you going to be open seven days this month?”.
“Yes….well, maybe, but maybe not until the 15th or the 16t”or so, but maybe if
it gets busy, we’ll open up a littler earlier?????????? One thing that is for
sure, however, is the island’s love of Christmas.
Here on Vieques, we are not (thankfully) able to zip over to the super Wal-Mart
or dash into the mall to do some shopping. What we do instead is decorate for
Christmas. This decoration is not simply digging out the twinkle lights and
inflatable snowman, it is an all out home improvement project. For example, when
I left work on Saturday a house on my street was light blue with dark blue trim.
On my way to work on Monday, the house was yellow with orange trim. Last year I
painted my house; it took me four months. These neighbors somehow completely
transformed a home twice the size of mine in less than 48 hours. The kicker is,
you never, ever, see anyone with a paintbrush.
Almost every house goes through some sort of color change before the Christmas
decorations are hung. In fact, there are bets placed all over the island
guessing at what color certain houses will be. There is at least one family that
has had to resort to keeping an excel chart of each year’s color combination
lest they inadvertently repeat one.
This phenomenon has been the topic of conversation for many, many years. For a
land mass that operates on what is known as “island time”, and where the word “mañana”
does not mean tomorrow but simply “not today”, the speed of the paint fairies is
mind boggling. Vieques is a place where it sometimes takes two days to mail a
letter. It is not that it takes the letter two days to reach its destination,
but it takes two days to get the letter in the mail. The first day you stop at
the Post Office in the morning and the stamp machine is out of service, and the
line at the counter is fairly long, so you go do another errand. The line at the
bank is out the door and in the morning the sun is a bit strong, so you go off
to the hardware store, but everyone working there is mixing paint for the paint
fairies so you can’t buy the plumbing supplies you need. Back to the post office
only to find that the people in line at the bank have moved two blocks to the
post office and the line is out the door. The only alternative remaining is to
go the Mar Azul, have a beer and tell everyone that walks in that the bank and
the post office are really busy. But everyone coming in already knows that,
which is why they are at the Mar Azul at noon instead of mailing their letters.
The next day, with your letter in hand, you finally get to the counter and get a
stamp. You march up to the mail slot and find that the out of town slot is out
of service and only the one for local mail is available. So, you figure that the
mail is going into one big pile and will be sorted. With that errand out of the
way, you move off to check your mail, only to find that the letter you put in
the local mail slot has found it’s way within a nanosecond to your postbox. Why?
Well, you put it in the local mail slot……But this is why we live and visit here.
If it was easy anyone could do it.
But, I digress, back to Christmas. The folks here have far more Christmas
decorations than the Griswold’s. (Those of you that have had the chance to see
inside a home on the island will understandably wonder where these decorations
get stored since the houses are built with absolutely no closet space.) It is a
favorite pastime to drive around the island and take stock of everyone’s
decorating efforts. There are some truly outrageous ones, with literally miles
of lights, inflatable nativity scenes and Santa coming down the palm tree since
chimneys are not generally available in the tropics. It would be easy to list
the locations of the more creative decorations, but it is far more fun to make
you do some investigating and find them on your own. You will find someone to
discuss this with at every watering hole.
December marks the start of the new tourist season and as such most every
restaurant, guesthouse and shop is open. This is a real treat for those of you
that can sneak in a visit the first three weeks of the month. Everyone and
everything is open and the heavy tourist traffic has not yet arrived.
Roy’s, the pink house in town, is featuring Home Cookin’ every Monday
night with Lola. Lyman is behind the bar and Cody is the waitress. You will not
go away hungry, as can be attested to by the many mouths she has fed here over
the years. The space is limited so reservations are a must. 787-741-0685. Menu
changes each week.
The Blue Crab is hosting happy hour on Fridays and Saturdays from 5pm on.
They are offering a mixed grill platter on Wednesday nights. The Mar Azul
has happy hour every day from 5-7pm. Mr. Sushi is back in the courtyard at
BBH.
Vieques now has a real nightclub, Kama, located on the main street near
the post office. Kama is open weekends beginning at 8pm. Reenie and Bill
are serving on Friday’s with a rock and roll theme, Adam is on Saturday’s with a
mixed bag of music and fun, and Victor rounds out Sunday’s with a Latin beat.
But, Sundays might become Thursdays, so just ask anyone, they’ll know.
December is dessert month at the Island Steak House at the Crow’s Nest.
They are donating $2 of every dessert sold during the month to the Vieques
Historical Society and Conservation Trust. It is a great excuse to gain a
few pounds. Coqui Fire Café is continuing to open on Tuesdays and
Thursdays, with a theme night every month.
Over in Esperanza, Bananas is open upstairs Tuesday through Sunday
nights. Sunday features ping pong, also known as beer pong, for some great fun.
El Quenepo is open every night except Monday, offering fine dining in a
fun atmosphere. Trade Winds, as always, is open every night for dinner
with some of the freshest fish around. Mucho Gusto is open most nights
for fabulous Puerto Rican food. Belly Buttons is open for breakfast and
lunch. Duffy’s is open seven days and has plans to offer some brunch
items as specials on Sundays to compliment their outrageous Bloody Marys.
Daddy Duffy in Pilon at Chez Shack is planning a mid-December opening and
will host his traditional grill night every Monday. Menu options for the rest of
week are being kept under wraps as usual.
The old Coconuts property in Isabel has been sold. Newcomers may remember it as
Los Pepes restaurant. It will reopen toward the end of the month, with menu and
staffing to be a surprise. (We can’t wait and will let you know all about it in
January, including who bought it.) Scoops, the pizza and ice cream place up the
street from Coconuts has closed. This was a late breaking decision, since the
restaurant is advertised on the local maps. It may morph into something else by
Christmas time. You never know.
Fun Brothers Jet Ski Rental is back in action. The bio bay, dive, fishing
and kayak tour companies are spit shined and ready to show you some fun.
Black Beards has set up a storefront in Esperanza to compliment the main
store in town. Trade Winds gift shop is still in the construction stage,
but getting closer. Diva’s Closet and Kim’s Cabin are stocked and
ready. Barefoot beachwear, Pretty Woman and Caribbean Walk have
some great stuff going on. If you need anything from swimsuits to bathroom rugs
to wrapping paper, check out Carolyn’s on main street in town.
There was a concerted effort to nail down New Year’s Eve fiestas in time
for this column. However, island time reared up and made that impossible. It
went something like this, “well, we are going to be open, and we’re pretty sure
we’re going to do something, and we’re probably going to have fun.” Sound
familiar? But, you can be sure that those speaker trucks featured last month
will be dusted off to bring us up to date.
The Vieques Humane Society has a wish list of medical and surgical items
that they desperately need. They especially are looking for small catheters and
IV line. If you can help, call the shelter, 787-741-0209. A full wish list is
printed each month in Vieques Events.
As a reminder, sunsets are south side this time of year, so grab a rum on the
Malecon in Esperanza watch for the green flash. Some savvy tourists that just
arrived thought they had seen the green flash, but we discovered it was only
noon…….there is definitely a t-shirt in there somewhere.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Janie
December
Calendar is available now!
Thank
you Vieques Events, Eli and Kelly.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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