On Westward and New Beginnings....

Grab your hats and travel West with me my dear friends! Our trip this weekend did us well. We returned home this evening with lifted spirits and found our little house nice and clean with beds freshly made and floors swept and mopped. We are all cleanly shaven and enjoying the sounds of the Coqui frogs whistling about! The hot showers were great, but we missed our home a bit.

Yesterday I got up in the morning and took a long stroll on Playa Jobos. The surf was raging and there were but a few lucky go-getters up for the challenge at the break of day. I was feeling light on my feet and trekked quite a ways on the soft sand. There were crabs popping in and out of holes, and also a fair amount of trash on the western most part of the beach. I got the good with the bad. It seems our human element is prevalent everywhere.... even in paradise.

When I got back to the house, Sam was waiting with clippers in hand. It was shaving time. I had promised them that I would jump on the bandwagon to celebrate our new healthy way of eating. We started with a mohawk, which would have looked really cool if it hadn't been too much to the right. I enjoyed it for a few minutes and then was dragged back to the chair by Sam who insisted we finish the job. I had horrible memories of the last time I shaved my head playing in my head! I was seventeen at the time and I had let my brother Ben shave it while we were home one afternoon. I remember my friend Becky coming over and saying, "Oh my God Jer! Please tell me you have a hat!" I have a big head, and at the time I had a smaller body, so I looked like a watermelon walking in the sun. It didn't help that my brother shaved an arrow into my head as well! Now that my body has grown in a bit.... I look like a big, bad biker or perhaps the wrestler Bam Bam Biggalo without the tattoos!

Bald and beautiful, we three cruised to Aguadilla and straight to Crashboat Beach. This beach has it all! Great sand, beautiful clear water, and a long pier that used to dock ships. It was awesome for swimming and also had some interesting snorkeling in the depths. We enjoyed the warm water and sunshine for a few hours in the morning and then shot down the west coast for Cabo Rojo. Everywhere we stopped for food and supplies we got funny looks. We must have seemed like three Aryan brothers and seeing as Sam and Alwin are from the motherland, I can't blame anyone for the extra glances.

We enjoyed the ride through the lush grasslands, which remind one of what South Africa must look like. Big swaying grass in the foreground and gorgeous mountains towering behind. Almost all of the roads we drove were small and curvy and it was such a relaxing contrast to the heavy traffic up here closer to San Juan.

5.3 million potholes later, we completed the dirt road to Cabo Rojo and it's famed light house and hidden white sand beach. I kept assuring them that it was only a rental car, and we'd laugh until the next pothole nearly broke our necks! Alwin was clicking away on his camera as we ventured through the boggy salt swamps and dry forest. A short hike got us up to the light house, which overlooks some of the most amazing sea cliffs you have ever seen. They are red in color and very craggy from all of the wind and ocean erosion. And the ocean below is a splendid sight. You can see for miles and miles into the south western Caribbean Sea, clear skies above, and grass and rock at your footsteps; it's like stepping back into time. Then you make your way around to the beautiful white sand beach that sits in a half moon bay below. I think this might be heaven... mine at least.

I hiked alone, while Sam and Alwin took pictures up top. They eventually met me about half way down the beach where Sam and I headed directly for the water. It was windy and had a nice three foot shore break. We body surfed for a good two hours while Alwin took pictures and played with crabs. This was living. There were a small number of people on the beach enjoying the same, but you had a great sense of isolation in this wild place. It was magnificent. We packed up just before sunset and took the backroads to La Parguera where we were to spend the night.

I lied. I totally lied about La Parguera. It seems that I just wasn't there on the right weekend. The place had livened back up to what I had remembered with live music, restaurants, street vendors and the like. We took the bioluminescent bay tour with a small boat operator and had a great time. There were only seven of us on the boat, so the operator gave us the option of swimming. Splash! Before we knew which way was up, Sam was in the water. Then Alwin joined. The organisms react to movement and glow a sapphire blue. It is quite magical. I have swam the one in Vieques, which is probably the best in the world, so I didn't go in this night. However, it was awesome all the same for me. I loved being out on the water with a sliver of a moon hanging low in the sky and all the stars shining in their glory. I daydreamed about the old days and how scared the sailors must have been of the glowing water! It was amazing.

We spent the night at Gladys Guest house, which wasn't as nice as our previous night, but still very inexpensive at $65 US a night. It was our last night in AC for a while!

We woke up this morning and stopped at a roadside vendor for our daily breakfast of fresh fruit! Ahhh... the new eating is going great, except that we had to eat McDonald's salad today which totally sucks! We spent the morning cruising through the Guanica dry forest and even got to see a manatee from afar on a cliff side lookout. Sam was happy about that, but disappointed that he couldn't join in for a swim! We got our swimming in at Gilligan's Island, a mangrove cay just a half mile off of the southern side of the island.

Gilligan's is a great place to relax for the day! There is a ferry that operates from the lone restaurant in the area and drops people at the island. It is a pack in, pack out reserve so most of the travelers bring coolers full of food and drinks for the day! The island has a few channels flowing through it that are maybe 12 to 15 feet wide by 5 or 6 feet deep. You can don your snorkel gear and float through the river like channels viewing all sorts of great fish! I saw angel fish, guppies, jacks, puffers, barracuda, flounder and a host of others that I couldn't even identify. They dart in and out of the mangrove limbs...all but the barracuda. who are nearly fearless. I followed a two and a half foot long monster for about 15 minutes, then he followed me. We played cat and mouse with each other, but I was careful not to turn my back to him. They have very sharp teeth and are curious as all hell.

After a few hours of fun and frolic we ventured on to Coamo to visit the hot springs. We were however turned around because the place is still under reconstruction. I'm hoping that it will be finished soon, because this is one of my favorite features on the island.

A beautiful drive through the central mountains and we were home in a few hours time. I feel refreshed, healthy, and ready to enjoy another day! I hope you are all well and enjoying yourselves whatever you may be doing! Until next time! J.

The Good, The Bad, The not so Ugly....

Where to start.... where shall I begin? How about the here and now! Actually, let me thank Brad first for calling me early this morning and saying," Where's the blog bitch!!! I waited up til after midnight to see if you would post something. I like reading it!" I was flattered, and still am that anyone reads and enjoys my mental vomit! ha ha. So again, thank all of you!

At this moment, I am sitting outside our quaint little guest house near the world famous Playa Jobos. A small seaside village just outside the town of Isabela, Playa Jobos is a surf mecca and has been for well over 30 years. It is often a stop on the pro tour, and many people come to this island to enjoy it's break, which can be treacherous one minute and glassy the next. It's balmy, but I can hear our air conditioner cooling the room. Alwin and Sam are already in bed. It's only 9pm. We just got done with a great dinner of salad and soup and I just took the first hot shower I've had in weeks! It was like a little slice of heaven. We are spending the weekend on the West coast of the island and will be traveling around the area for the next two days eventually making our way back to the rain forest. It is quiet here except for the occasional loud car speeding down the road bumping reggaeton, the local flavor of hip hop. I'm relaxed and feeling fine. Tonight is the good.

Yesterday was a different story. As most of you know, the whole reason I have come here for an extended stay is to help Lucy and the children at Casa Suiza. I found out yesterday that I may have to put that dream on hold.

Alwin had spent the day revamping the website we were creating, while I took Sam to the doctor for his physical therapy. Sam and I spent a few hours at the beach to give Alwin some peace and quiet. The two of them have been backpacking together for over 6 months now, and a day apart is much needed at times. I was anxious to finish the preliminary work I had started for the project, so we headed back to the house before sunset. Alwin was completely stoked about the website. He had spent all day revamping the functionalities and it was looking great. I had already contacted some possible donors with a lot of resources that were willing to help. People were contacting me out of the woodwork and willing to open their wallets for the children. Things were going great.

After a few edits of a donor letter, I called Lucy to come see all of the hard work we had done. This is where the onion started to really peel. I won't get into the details, but layer after layer after layer of information later, and we were utterly handcuffed. Partly because of legal semantics, partly because of Lucy's inability to think outside the box. I had been mislead on the details of the operation and every problem I addressed or found a solution for had another underlying problem that would have to be fixed first. (Thanks for the call Aunt Pauline! Perfect timing!) I felt completely exasperated, emotionally drained, heartbroken, done. I had dreamed of this long term sustainability project that would be great for the children, Lucy and the forest. It would ween them off of government reliance. It would allow her to enjoy the rest of her life with far less financial woes. It would have possibly given me a long term home down here and the ability to help her year round. So far.... Nada. I'm not completely without hope however. She did agree to go sit with a lawyer and discuss options.

The opportunity is absolutely gigantic if she is willing to do some initial work and make an investment. Getting her to see that when she is busy raising 7 children full time may be next to impossible. Leading the horse to water would be hard enough, getting it to drink may be a battle nobody could win. Needless to say I had a very sleepless night. This was the bad.

"Nothing is good or bad, less our thoughts make it so" -- not sure who to quote, but this very famous and true message popped in my head this morning. I immediately began working hard to change my state of mind. I thought about how lucky I was to be alive, to be relatively healthy, and relatively young. I thought about all of the challenges I had overcome in my life, many that were much much harder to deal with than this. I thought of all of my friends and family and all of the people that love me. I thought of how awesome it was to be on this island and of all the people I have shared and will be sharing it with! Instantly I felt better and felt like I had the world on a string again! I breathed deeply and with a sense of purpose decided to shift my goals. Have fun! Enjoy! Write! Create! And work on my physical state!

Didn't I open a book and start instantly reading about food chemistry. Divine Karma in instant action. Turns out most of what I've thought is wrong... well some of it, and I shared the information with Sam and Alwin and we all instantly decided to treat our bodies to the best things for them! It was exciting! So much so that we decided I would join them tomorrow and shave my head.... as a sort of "rite of passage" for our new found attitudes towards our bodies. Look out world, another bowling ball joins the ranks of Brad Zacek! Since I quit my full time job, I have been much more aware of my health and exercising much more often, so this was like a Godsend of information at just the right time. I will share it with any of you if you are interested, and I'm sure I will be writing about how I feel and any changes that are going on both good and bad. I'm really excited. The not so Ugly... time to do what one wants and a strong lesson learned. Hey... what's a little more character to my personality going to hurt??? Nothing at all!

I pray that you are well, happy, feeling good and alive no matter what your challenges! Pick your head up, smile and carry on!

Much Love! J.

Laird Hamilton Says!

Taken from the foreword of his book "Force of Nature", big wave surfing legend gives us some great advice on life and living! I hope you enjoy this as much as I did! - Jeremy

"It's a big world. And we humans? Not so big. If you put yourself into a position where you realize that in your solar plexus, one thing I can promise is that you'll never feel more alive. For some of us, it doesn't take leaping off a cliff. It could be a high porch. It's all relative.

Our days are meant to be fun. Once you lose that thread, I think you've just lost the essence of the whole deal. If you build up a wealth of experiences, letting yourself be amazed by everything and everyone around you, then fun and its close relative, joy, will be the inevitable by-products. The last thing you want to do is to look back at the end and think coulda, woulda, shoulda.

The idea is to become an old wizard; to live a long and fruitful life and have family and be healthy and enjoy the ride. And speaking of the ride, why not let it rip, at least a little bit? Everyone I know who's really stoked about getting out of bed in the morning does that to some extent."