Back from Vieques

Hi all, Jane and I just got back from the island of Vieques, which is situated off the coast of Puerto Rico. It use to be the the bombing training ground for the US navy. I believe the navy left in 2003 after a local was killed in a bombing miscue. The natives protested and they finally won. However, the navy left all sorts of unexploded ordance on the island that will take another twenty years to remove. That being said, the beaches are pristine. If you see four other people on a beach , it is considered crowded. The island has a very diverse animal and plant life. Wild horses wander the island and they are competely road savvy. I have seen iguanas up to four feet long and mongoose as well. The iguanas were introduced by people who had them as pets. When they became to large for them to be cared for they were released. Now they are considered a real problem for the islanders. They eat many of the local plants and they like to poop in swimming pools. How strange is that? We also went to the bio-luminiscent bay with a group of people one dark night. This was a magical experience. The bay lights up when the dino-flagelettes are disturbed. When swimming every stroke produces this blue light. Fish swimming through the water leave a blue light trail. The ride in was a trip unto itself. It is on a one lane dirt road through the jungle. About two miles long. We rounded a corner 1/2 way in and we met another outfitter towing a dozen kayaks. Welll, the bus driver was amazing. After slamming the bus into a couple of boulders he finally managed to pull the bus into the jungle. The other vehicle passed by scraping the side of our bus. No place to drive a new car. lol. Their are several great resturants on the island. This is probably the last place in the Carribean where land and homes are still reasonable. It won't take but a few more years before they totally discovered by the rest of the world. The downside is that the infastructure is really poor. When the navy was there they were responsible for the upkeep of the roads and such. When George bush was in office he closed all the military bases on the island and the main island of Puerto Rico and that devastated the local economy. There is a 60% unemployment rate. There are quite a few Americans living here now or that have vacation homes. Several friends of ours have homes here. It is nice to have good friends in the Carribean. Well Jane and I are home for a little while now. Until next post. Have a great holiday season and a prosperous and healthy New Year.

Veiques Puerto Rico trip

Happy Holidays everyone. Jane and I just got back from the island of Veiques where we stayed with friends for a week. Our friends are building a home there so we will have another island get away lined up. While there we had dinner with other mutual friends from Vermont who either live there full time or also own a home on the island. What a fabulous place. The island is loaded with free range wild horses. You see them every where. The beaches are pristine and uncluttered. If you see more than four other people on the same beach it is considered crowded. The snorkeling was awesome as well. We saw mongoose and many large iguanas. The sunsets were surreal and we were there for the full moon and it to was beautiful. We stayed at a home on a hill with a five minute walk to a private beach and magnificent views of the islands of Culebra,St, Thomas and Puerto Rico.I picked coconuts and we drank the milk and ate the fruit. We ate carribean lobster and conch straight from the fishing boats. Next week we are going to South Carolina for our nephews graduation from OCS Marines. He will be recieving his commision. We are very proud of him. It was also fun to fly on the little puddle jumpers back and forth to the main island or you can take the ferry. We wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year. Until later Peace Don

More from Vermont

Well foilage is over and the leaves lay dead on the ground. Snow and ice are just lurking around the corner. It is raining really hard this morning. Jane just called from the Washington DC airport. She is on the way to Hawaii to swim with the dolphins for a week. I'll miss her but it will be good for her soul. Last weekend we went to Montreal to reunite with some incredible wizard friends. It was a beautiful time. Next time we will go to Toronto to meet. Jane,Louis and I went on a journey yesterday to a place called Manitou. It is in Newfane Vermont. It is about 280 acres of woodlands , fen and meadows. It is a really spritual place. We took a walk with Fred who is a long time associate of Manitou.It was a very enlightning trip. We are going to set up a program very similar to Manitou called Earth Angels of Vermont and we hope to be working with the Manitou project. Our next trip will be to Puerto Rico for the week of thanksgiving. We are going with Linda and Frank Ohotnicky. It will be a fantastic week I'm sure. Well thats it for now. Love and peace to all of you. Don