Almost Gypsy Soul

I really enjoyed Puerto Rico, but some of my all time favorite things from my time in Puerto Rico. COFFEE! Puerto Rico is known for its coffee, strong and black! I loved it and had to buy another suitcase to get it all back to the States with me. Cafe Oro, resturant, cafe and processing, Lares Cafe Lareno, Lares   Flowering Trees We were told that the trees were just starting to flower again in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. I loved the beautiful vibrant colors that were everywhere you looked. The orange flowers of the Flamboyan were some of my favorite! Flamboyan   The farmers and Puerto Rican FSA staff. Although I struggled to communicate with a majority of the farmers that I worked with without an interpreter, I found many of them to be just like home. Salt of the Earth. They were a joy to work with and so grateful for us to be there helping them get back on their feet. This was one picture shared with me by a grower, a mango tree left in ...

Hotel accommodations were a problem during my tour of duty in Puerto Rico. Often times, we were driving back to San Juan over the weekend to have a place to stay for a night or two. We tried to plan our meals around things we wanted to see/do on our route. These are some of the sights we managed to squeeze in on our drives or for dinner. Sometimes dinner was a nice restaurant on the beach, sometimes it was a granola bar and a beer in our hotel room. Birth of the New World, Arecibo Dinner view at Playa Brava Restaurant, Arecibo Las Salinas (Salt Flats), Cabo Rojo Gozalandia Waterfall, San Sebastion La Cordillera Centra (drive between Utuado and Adjuntas) Playa de Hilton Beach at Ponce

Teaser The work part now on to the fun part....my 200 hours of "See Puerto Rico" Fajardo Its safe to say that Fajardo is exactly what one thinks of when they see the postcard perfect pictures of Puerto Rico. Beautiful, crystal clear waters, sun shine and sandy beaches. Our first Sunday we opted for a catamaran cruise to an island complete with rum punch, snorkeling and a sunburn. After a very stressful first week, it was exactly what the Dr. ordered. Our vessel was the Catamaran Spread Eagle II. El Yunque National Forest El Yunque is the only tropical rainforest in the National Forest System and also one of the smallest at 29,000 acres. Parts of the forest were still closed due to damage from Hurricane Maria, but some parts had been recently opened. It was beautiful, trees as far as the eye could see and waterfalls gurgling around what seemed like every corner.    After dashing to the El Yunque, the plan was to grab some dinner and then head out to ...

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 year...

  I just wanna go on more adventures. Connect with good people. Learn new positive things. Grow strong. So it was a Tuesday and I was sitting at my desk with a pretty bleak outlook on the day, mainly because of the state of my to-do list. I was talking with an Oklahoman co-worker when he said...."They need CEDs in Puerto Rico to work on hurricane programs." Four hours later, yes four, I was tentatively signed up to go to Puerto Rico on a hurricane detail. So for future reference, the government can move quickly when they want to.  Since those first four hours, planning has slowed quite a bit. I haven't received my temporary duty location, so I'm still not sure where I'll be headed, but I have dates....so its pretty official.  I'm really looking forward to working in Puerto Rico and being able to help the agriculture community that was ravaged by Hurricane Maria last year. I've been warned that the work is long and hurried, bu...