vieques — Mama's Ponderings

It took us two tries but we made it to Veiques, an island–municipality of Puerto Rico in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands.

Vieques is definitely a place I would want to stay for a couple of days, to do more exploring and visit the amazing beaches.

We rented a Wrangler for the day, my dream car when I was in high school.

OMG... We truly had an adventure visiting this Black Sand Beach. First, there were no signs to show exactly where the beach was from the road. We noticed three other Jeeps parked on the side of the road and stopped to inquire. Sure enough the beach was down below, or so we thought. Let me tell you the drama that ensued. We figured it would be a short trail leading to the beach. Chile!! It was a 20 minute walk/HIKE through the wilderness with no directional signs. I made D carry our carryon suitcase because I didn't want to leave it in the SUV. After about fifteen minutes of walking/hiking we both were frustrated and wondering where the hell was the beach. Low and behold we finally reached the beach and what a magnificent sight it was. We were in stunned awe of the seascape before us. Less than five minutes of us arriving on the beach D was like "Look!" {in a hurried, panicked voice}, he was pointing to the horizon. The sky had turned gray, storm clouds were moving towards us, and the ocean was getting violent. We hauled ass back toward the wilderness for our hike back. The only difference was the sky opened up and it we got a first hand experience of a torrential rain storm. It was horrible! We were slipping, sliding, and cussing. D's flip flop broke and SJ's water shoe fell off without us noticing, so D had to trek back for it. D was carrying SJ and the suitcase. I had CC so I ran the whole way to the Jeep. Once I made it to the road I saw a man coming towards me. I immediately went on alert. Then I noticed his family in the Jeep behind him. He asked me if I needed help and asked where my husband was. I pointed behind me and he was off to assist D. He told me to wait in the car with his family, so I did. Forgot to mention the cute little Jeep we rented had the roof panels off, so the entire interior got wet. :-/

We where the talk of this beach . . . between me being Mommy and SJ with only a PullUp on the Latinas on the beach felt it necessary to let D know they had issues. SMH . . .

We are back from our annual trip to Puerto Rico.

I packed enough for a trip around the world and back, add on all the young children equipment (i.e., stroller base, two car seats w/ base, potty, organic whole milk, breast pump, diapers and pull ups) and you got a stressful situation.

We took an early morning flight to P.R. which was ideal for the girls' schedule. Everyone slept the majority of the three and a half hour flight (I'll share all the items I packed in my carry-on for toddler entertainment in a subsequent post). I kept CC in my Moby Wrap from the time we arrived to the airport to we reached the condo. Going through security was one-two-three because of the wrap. I just wish we could travel with less stuff. I love how TSA, other travelers, and airline personnel give you special treatment when flying with small kids. Since having children, D and I either fly first class or the very last row of seats on the plane. SJ (Lil D) had her own seat this time so we had quite a bit of space to move around.

We always stay at the Racquet Club in Isla Verde. Its central to all highways, super markets, restaurants, and beaches.

Once we touched down in P.R. CC became a totally different baby. No more crying fits and only wanting Mommy. She allowed everyone to hold her and didn't cry much at all. The Puerto Rican sun agreed with her. It was kind of freaky how mellow she was while we were away.

This trip made me appreciate all the times I've gone to the beach prior to having children. Babies+ Beach+Sand = Disaster waiting to happen. Between lathering SJ and CC up in coconut oil (worked well) and telling SJ to not throw sand in CC's face it was a nerve racking experience.

As you can see above this fool brought his pitbulls to the beach and guess what one (the one to the left) got loose!! Chile' I picked up my babies so fast and hightailed it to the water in like 3 seconds flat. The picture of SJ, on the lower right was taken right before the beast got loose.

Enjoying a pina colada daily was on the menu.

Half way through our stay we decided we wanted to visit Vieques, one of the island off the main Puerto Rico island, for the day. Well we woke up at 4:00 in the morning and drove an hour to Fajardo to purchase tickets for the ferry. We didn't make it, the port was soooo crowded with people traveling to Culebra, another island, that we just said F it and decided to return a different day. Because we were on that side of the island we decided to brave the environment and visit the rainforest, El Yunque. We hiked the half a mile trail to the Cascada La Mina. The other parts of the forest we looked at via a car ride, because the trail took everything out of us.