Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to sneak a
video in the International Spy Museum. Good luck!
We spent a winter Monday at the International Spy Museum in
Washington, DC. They shut down Bob’s video,
but see what you can decipher! It’s a fascinating place and definitely worth a
visit. We couldn’t even begin to capture it. Lisa’s favorite room was the one
that showed videos about spying. There’s
also an interesting exhibit on women in espionage.
Everyone is issued an interactive spy identity card when
they enter, which they test their spy
skills at seventeen different digital and physical interactive stations spread
throughout the museum.
Unlike the Smithsonian Institution, the International Spy
Museum charges admission. It’s right by the waterfront, so just a short walk to
some interesting eateries.
Playa Montones, or Montones Beach, is a beautiful family-friendly
beach in Isabela, Puerto Rico. It has sand dunes as well as rock formations,
though not a lot of shade, so bring your umbrella.
Its shallow water make this natural pool the
family-preferred beach in Isabela, a safe environment for kids and toddlers to
play around. A natural wall prevents the strong surf from rushing in.
The beach is also right next to the jogging/biking trail in Isabela,
so you can add a nice walk to your day out.
Watch where you park, though! We got a ticket for facing the
wrong way on the street.
When we lived in San Juan 28 years ago, Bob and I journeyed
south to the Ponce home of Puerto Rico’s renowned carnival mask maker, Miguel
Caraballo. We commissioned a beautiful mask that dominated the dining room wall
of our homes for more than two decades.
That “vejigante” mask is now in storage in Colorado, and a
little bent at the tip of one of its horns. Since we spent a few months in
Puerto Rico last fall, we decided to commission another one. So last November,
we journeyed to Ponce again, and met Miguel Caraballo, his son and his grandson.
Caraballo’s masks are highly regarded. He has a mask on
display in the Museum of the Americas in Old San Juan, and another in the Smithsonian
Institution’s Museum of American Art.
These papier-mâché masks are typically worn by young men who
don the colorful costume of a vejigante, a character who roams the streets
during Carnaval de la Playa de Ponce, or the Ponce Beach Carnival, playfully
scaring children and other revelers. The carnival held each February, features
a huge parade, with the vejigante as a protagonist along with the kings and
queens of carnival.
Miguel Caraballo started making masks as an apprentice to a
woman in his neighborhood when he was 15, 66 years ago. The masks are made with
cardboard, newspaper and brown paper, pressed onto molds and held together with
a glue made of flour and water. His son makes masks now, and his grandson of
the same name does the family marketing.
We picked up our new mask five weeks after our visit. We
were delighted! But it was so big that we almost didn’t get it onto the plane
back to the States. We had to buy a very large bin from Home Depot to
accommodate all the protruding horns. Although the package weighed hardly
anything, the combined length, width and height exceeded Southwest’s size
limitations by 2 inches. It was only after we cut open the package and took out
the mask to show the ticket agent what we were carrying that he decided to seek
special approval from his manager. We had to pay $75 for the oversized item,
and the agent exhorted us never to try to fly with such a large item again.
We would have been heartbroken to have to leave such a
special item behind.
Now that we have purchased a home in Puerto Rico, we plan to
return to the Caraballo home to commission yet another mask!
After indulging ourselves on pinchos (kebabs) at a little food
truck park on the way, we spent a peaceful weekday afternoon at Playa Santa, a
quiet neighborhood beach in Guanica on the south coast of Puerto Rico.
There were no restrooms, though it looks like on weekends it’s
quite lively, and you can take advantage of food kioskos and kayak rentals. The
surf is calm and the kids are plentiful.
Puerto Rico is more than beaches, coffee and conquistadors.
It’s also pork!
For a glimpse into the real Puerto Rico, with a little
tourist kitsch thrown in, we suggest you pay a visit to the Pork Highway, or La
Ruta del Lechón.
https://www.discoverpuertorico.com/article/guide-to-guavate-la-ruta-del-lechon
Locals and visitors alike gather together friends and family
for a day trip to the lechoneras of the mountain town of Guavate.
They drive along winding Route 184 up a mountain to feast on
lechonera after lechonera serving slow-roasted whole pork (also
chicken), heaping portions of rice and pigeon peas, yuca al
mojo, mofongo, and other traditional Puerto Rican dishes, all ni a party
atmosphere. Get ready to dance!
Don’t worry, vegetarians – the yuca and rice are also
outstanding.
Lechón means roasted whole pork, cooked for hours over
hot coals or an open flame, so that the skin gets crispy while the meat remains
tender and juicy. This is a dish you can typically only get in the countryside
of Puerto Rico.
One of our favorite beaches on the NW corner of Puerto Rico
is Playa Peña Blanca, a secluded beach in Aguadilla distinguished by white
cliffs and interesting snorkeling. It’s tucked away behind a neighborhood, and
almost impossible to find, with hole-pocked dirt roads that aren’t found on
GPS.
If you require amenities, don’t come here. There are no
bathrooms, no official parking lot, no food stands or restaurants. But if
you’re willing to pack your own food and drinks, have a sense of adventure and
want to experience something different, by all means, come!
We paid a local to park in a yard in the neighborhood, not wanting
to receive a parking ticket as we had done at Playa Montones a week earlier. It
was $5 well spent. The walk to Playa Peña Blanca from the neighborhood was
short, though a little rugged closer to the beach. We came back another day via
a back road not found on GPS, which took us to a small parking area right
beside the beach.
Playa Peña Blanca is a clean, intimate, secluded spot with
crystal clear waters and interesting snorkeling. The left side is a little
wilder, with stone steps down a hillside to where white karst cliff walls and
caves abut the golden sand.
It’s hard to describe the appeal. You just have to
experience it yourself!
