Vieques

In front of a Peace Mural.

This is an abandoned bunker for ammunition storage. There are many of them on the western end of the island.

(Ignore the date stamps on my pictures--they are mistakes I don't know how to fix.)

I've just returned from 6 days on the island of Vieques with two dear friends. Vieques is a magical, incredibly beautiful place with a complicated history. Shamefully, the U.S. Navy occupied much of the island for more than 60 years, displacing thousands of people and exposing thousands more to a plethora of carcinogens. The Navy is now mostly gone and, ironically, much of the natural beauty of the place has therefore been preserved and protected from the mass developments that have wreaked havoc on many Carribean islands.

Thanks to a home exchange, we stayed in a great house just outside the major town of Isabel II. Feral chickens, horses and dogs wandered the narrow, steep streets and the coqui sung us to sleep at night. Our house sat atop a hill and we had views of the ocean and enjoyed constant breezes. The beaches we discovered were breathtaking. On our first day we just splashed around in the ocean giggling and whooping like maniacs because we were overwhelmed by the beauty that surrounded us.


As an indication of how relaxed I felt on this vacation, at one point while I was standing up from my beach chair, I actually drooled! And I'm not a drooler! Truly, I can not remember ever feeling so completely relaxed. It was quite a blessing.

We made some stupid videos of ourselves. In fact, much of the delight of this vacation was the complete, silly abandon in which we indulged. Really, I think there is nothing more fun than acting really stupid and laughing at your self. I particularly like this two part series where Carolyn and I are preparing to visit the bioluminscent bay.

Incedentally, I was stung by a jellyfish in the biobay. I had been in the water and was splashing around, digging the light my body created and the drips that turn into stars when I raised up my arm or leg, when I felt a stinging on one ankle and then the other. I quickly swam for my kayak as I just wanted to get out of the water; it was dark and there was something in there that wanted to get me! It hurt a bit, but I did not, as our guide suggested, pee on myself. It would have to hurt a lot more to suffer the humiliation of peeing on myself in front of 10 or so strangers. One other man in our group was stung and my friends said he freaked out way more than I did, so I'm proud that I maintained my composure. During our paddle back, Carolyn had a fish jump into her boat (a glowing fish--it's all a-glow in the bay) which made her yell, "fish in the boat, fish in the boat!" And we all got to see fish swimming and jumping and creating light and sparkles in the dark of night. It was mind blowing. The next day, and still now, I feel as though it were a dream, and this sensation is only enhanced by my jellyfish sting. I hope someday to bring the kids to the bio bay, though I may not encourage them to swim, at least without good, fair warning about the possibility of a sting.

Here CB, and I give a tour of our neighborhood.
On the ferry to Vieques.