Can you believe it? I am so technically unhip it is ridiculous.. as if not owning any gaming consoles, no I-phone, not even a proper I-pod isnt bad enough, at least now I can say I've got a blog... and if this is anything close to how some friends describe Twitter, then one can surmise that I now have an actual life too!
So lets see whats been going on lately... for those of you tuning in late let me get you caught up. I just arrived in Puerto Rico early Thursday morning at around 4AM. Why JetBlue only has one flight from Orlando to Aguadilla that arrives at that time is still a mystery to me. My big board bag, which is about 8 ft long to hold both my 7'6" and 6'6" board didnt fit in the rental car, so luckily I unpacked my soft racks from my suitcase (thanks J. Kelley - and no, hes not related R. Kelly!) and drove from the airport down to my new digs, in Aguada / Guaniquilla / Carrizales... does anyone know which barrio this neighbourhood belongs to? Well the closest place on Google maps is Guaniquilla so it must be that. My landlord Eloy woke up and opened up the efficiency apartment I will be living in for the next few months... when I visited this place back around Thanksgiving, I don't think I truly realized how close to the beach my bedroom window is, it is literally 30 yards away!!! And on the night of my arrival there was a big N/NW swell hitting... I couldn't believe how loud the crashing waves were, talk about white noise... I crashed pretty quickly though, but woke up around 10:30 AM.
I went into Rincon to look for some used cars a friend had mentioned and also stopped off at a few of the breaks... Marias on the West Coast had the best conditions and biggest crowd (+3 ft overhead), and Tres Palmas was breaking too, with quite a few kamikazes out in that lineup as well. But I would not be tasting the water today (mercifully)... My mission was to find a used car to buy and I looked at this old SUV that an ex-pat was selling, but it didn't have paperwork ie Title, Registration, etc. so I didn't feel like pursuing that... so Plan B was to drive down some roads and look for the 'CVD' sign which signifies "Se vende" / For Sale. In Puerto Rico, it literally seems like every third car is for sale, and the ones which aren't are probably still very negotiable... I called the number on one of the cars and the guy on the other end explained to me that he wasn't selling a car, which got me to pondering how someone could put a car out by the side of the road for sale and then put the wrong number on it... mystifying indeed. I then went up to Aguadilla and checked out some used car lots... comforting to see that sleazy car salesmen are universal presence, but here all the guys look like either Don Omar, Daddy Yankee, Fat Joe or an amalgamation of those guys. "Que busques, Papi?" they would ask, and when I described a cheap $1500 car they either pointed me out to some total piece, or some other guy told me that he knew a friend who had Mitsubishi Mirage that would fit the bill, but that he couldn't contact him for another 2 hours... Sketch city, right?
Anyways, I luckily found this pretty good looking car on the side of the road. The owner was this cool old guy Luis A. Ventura, and he introduced himself that way too, and I was in awe. Aventura translates to "adventure" so to me this guy's name was about as cool as something like "Johnny Danger" or "Max Power". Very friendly crunchy guy though who is an artesan who makes jewelry out of Bamboo. So back to the car, it's a 96 Kia Sephia 4 door automatic transmission, with only 65k miles, but a little bit of body damage, small dents here and there and a long area where someone keyed it, but the interior and motor looked good. And it's got some small custom rims, essential for when I try to resell it!!
So, cutting to the chase, we agree on a price of $1700, and the next morning, Thursday, we go and transfer the title and registration. So I got me a sweet ride! And as a bonus, it fits both of my surfboards when you fold the backseats down. Pretty sweet... well there have been other adventures around here, but I need to post some pictures and get some sleep.
Quick guide to the pics: most are pics of my efficiency both from the inside and the outside, including a picture of the door to my domain, balcony where the landlords live above, a view of the beach from my front yard, and the typical daily sunset from the front yard as well... more pics on the way...
