resolution-ing in 2018 [changes in latitude, changes in attitude p1.]

Let's be honest, I've got some serious catching up to do. I'm going to attempt to hit on all the highlights of the last several months since I've shared my life with you. Of course, these shares will mostly be fun, awesome stuff because who really want to hear/re-live the not so awesome parts of life...can I get a Heck Ya!?

I was feeling pretty blah last summer and thought that something out of my comfort zone might be just what I needed to get back on track. Read my teaser here.... I signed up to head to Puerto Rico on a Hurricane Maria Relief detail with the Farm Service Agency. I was gone for 4 weeks, worked in 4 offices for an approximate 275 hours of work. I worked exclusively on a new program for hurricane relief called WHIP. WHIP provided growers assistance who lost both crops and a means for production. The most common crops we dealt with were coffee, plantains, bananas and mangos. Most of these crops do not produce the first crop until 18 months to 3 years after initial planting. Because of the force of Hurricane Maria, many farmers lost 100% of their potential production as well as the producing plants/trees. The island is mostly tropical, but differs greatly throughout the different regions. Puerto Rico is very mountainous with postcard perfect coastal areas. The northern part of the island is much wetter than the southern end of the island. The southern end, near my second office in Ponce (south central), reminded me of southwest Wyoming. Ponce has beautiful beaches and short work commutes (our shortest! 30 minutes one way).

Coffee Grower meeting in Adjuntas

My first office was in Utuado, the mountainous west central area. There was lots of coffee in the area surrounding Utuado. I also had the opportunity to visit Adjuntas on a special presentation to the coffee growers association one day. We were there to take applications from producers after a presentation on the program requirements. This was very difficult because we lost all internet connectivity and also had to work through language barriers. Other than not being able to speak fluently with growers, this out of office setting with little to no technology made me feel right at home. While we were working in Utuado, we stayed in the capital city of San Juan, a 1.5 hour commute each way.

My third office was in Lares, which is also coffee country, just west of Utuado.While working here, we stayed on the northern beach in Dorado, about an 1.25 hour commute each way. I loved staying on the beach, although usually only a sunrise could be seen. In between these 3 offices, we also worked out of the State Office in San Juan, usually on Saturdays. I really don't have a ton of work pictures because they were all the same. There was 6-8 of us around a conference room table, talking to farmers, data loading applications, every single day. 

Utuado office

I arrived on the island nearly a year after Hurricane Maria made her exit. I was surprised to see how much had been cleaned up and repaired.....and how much had not. Driving down the roads, power lines would be replaced, but the old ones just lay on the ground. On a single block, half the houses you couldn't even tell that a hurricane had blown through, the other half were skeletons. Estimates show that 130,000 (4%) of the Puerto Rican population left the island in the aftermath of the storm. The Utuado office had just stopped receiving bottled water from FEMA the week before I arrived. The Lares office was still without working phones and we lost power and connectivity nearly every afternoon.

That left me with about 200 hours to take in the whole island of Puerto Rico, which I think we did a pretty good job of. We would squeeze in sight seeing after work, on Saturday afternoons and Sundays...in between driving to new locations. One good thing about being spread out in different offices is that we did get to see the whole island, which is about 100 miles east to west and 35 miles north to south.

Stay tuned, up next is pictures of the island!