I’m currently back in San Diego for work and one thing we’ve taken for granted, when living in California, is how awesome the grocery stores in California are. The Vons’ and Ralphs’ are pretty nice, but nothing compares to Trader Joes, Henrys, Boneys and Bristol Farms. Here are some snaps that I took of the Bristol Farms in La Jolla, California:
They even have Vicious Cookies!!
Look at all that amazing produce! The local grocery store in Rincon, Puerto Rico (the Econo), pretty much sucks. The produce is horrible, the meat is bad and they run out of shit for long periods of time (who runs out of bagels for 5 weeks?!). I do understand that being on an island means that items need to be imported, but come on…It took me 2 days to ship my computers from California to Puerto Rico. Why can’t you keep bagels in stock?! Or yummy produce?! Sigh…
We’ve heard a lot of this and that about pitbulls and hearsay about Puerto Rican laws regards owning pitbulls, since one of our dogs is sometimes mistaken for a pitbull. So, here are the facts:
In 1998, a bill (HB585) was signed by the Governor of Puerto Rico, which bans introduction, importation, possession, acquisition, breeding, sale, and transfer of Pitbull Terriers or hybrids resulting from a breed of these dogs or with dogs from other races, are all prohibited. The banned race of canine is defined as “a race of bull terriers that include the Stafforshire Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terriers, American Pit Bull Terriers and combinations of these and other terrier races.”
The bill also states the following:
“Any person, as of the date of enactment of this Act, who owns any of the canines mentioned, shall register said dog or dogs in a registry intended for those purposes, at the Agriculture Department. The registration will take place within the eight (8) months following the approval of this law. After that grace period has expired, the opportunity to register them will cease and the Registry will be closed. The registration application must contain the name, address, and telephone numbers of the owner, the location where the animal will be kept, and all the information needed to identify the dog. Said application must be accompanied by a registration fee of twenty-five (25.00) dollars. Every dog so registered will be assigned a registration number which will be engraved on a small metal plate to be affixed to said dog’s collar. The owner of the dog will receive, in addition to the duly engraved plaque with the registration number, a certificate of registration as evidence of the dog having been duly registered with the Department of Agriculture. In the case of a female, she is to be sterilized, tattooed with an indelible mark indicating this surgical procedure has been performed, and the corroborative document signed by a veterinarian will be required by the department of agriculture prior to her registration. Any dog that fails to carry a plaque indicating its registration number and whose owner fails to produce the registration certificate after the eight (9) month grace period shall be immediately confiscated by the pertinent authorities.”
So this is the just of it: Pitbulls were officially banned from Puerto Rico, when the bill was passed in 1998. There was a 8-month window where they allowed you to register your Pitbull with the Department of Agriculture. You can no longer register a Pitbull or bull terriers and they are illegal to possess if they are not already registered. If you are caught with an unregistered Pitbull or bull terrier, the dog will be confiscated and you will be charged with a misdemeanor.
I can officially stop complaining about our flat spell. We have had weeks of consistent surf…ranging from waist high to triple overhead.
Today, Tres Palmes was breaking. There were about a dozen guys paddling in, a few paddle boarders and a couple tow-in surfers on their ski’s. I surfed by Maria’s with Brian. It was a couple feet overhead with double-overhead sets.
Stefan and I bought a truck yesterday! This is Stefans new Toyota Tacoma:
It’s a 2001 Toyota Tacoma with 4×4, automatic transmission, power everything, 8-cyl, 106,000 miles, etc. It also has dual exhaust, tinted windows, a bed liner and some other bells and whistles. Not exactly the beater truck we were planning on getting, but the price was right and Stefan really really really likes it. We bought it from Ideal Auto Sales in Aguada for $12000 out the door. They were asking $14K for it and we only wanted to spend $10, so we split the difference. Since it was already more then we had planned to spend, we also told them that we didn’t want to pay tax, or any other fees on top of the $12K. They agreed and they were very nice and easy to work with.
The process was very simple and took less then 30 minutes to complete. When buying a car in Puerto Rico (at least from a dealership), you need your license and social security card or birth certificate. That’s pretty much it. They even let us pay with a personal check. Ideal Auto Sales will file all the transfer of ownership paperwork and will call us when our plates come in (approximately 30 days).
I think Stefan and I are both in agreement on this one. We need a new car (or two). The Bronco that we bought is a hoopty. The radiator blew up, the windows no longer roll up (and we busted one out trying to force it up), the rear window only rolls up if you press on the sweet spot on the tailgate, the AC doesn’t work, the transmission is days away from dropping out, the driver side seat doesn’t lock into place so it slides back and forth when you are trying to drive, the brakes are fucked (for lack of a better description), the smokey exhaust fills the cab with carbon monoxide, it burns through gas/oil/transmission fluid like it’s going out of style, the windshield wipers work great, until it actually rains, the seats are so soggy/mildewed that we have to sit on big black trashbags, etc. Seriously. I could go on about the Bronco…
Stefan and I don’t mind roughing it. We actually enjoy it (to a certain extent). But, now that I’m down here fulltime(ish), we really do need two cars and I think it’s time to start looking.
Summer’s Puerto Rican car wishlist: Jeep Wrangler or Toyota 4Runner. White. Standard transmission, 4-wheel drive, 6-cylinders, under $10K.
Stefan’s Puerto Rican car wishlist: Toyota truck. 4-wheel drive, 6-cylinders, under $10K.
We were trying to hold out until after taxes, but I think it’s time to start shopping…
FYI. I’ve found Clasidicados Online quite helpful for car shopping in Puerto Rico :).
I’ve been playing the roll of gardener for the past week or two, since the guys are concentrating on the inside of the house. As I’ve been watering, weeding and planting, (I’ll leave the pica pica to Stefan ;)…) I’ve been getting ideas for how we are going to lay out the garden(s) and outside living areas. There is a HUGE mango tree near the back of the house that I want to put a swing in and I got the idea that I wanted to clear out an area under the tree for a table and chairs as well. So, I raked out under the tree, pulled the weeds and was prepping to dig out a decent sized tree to transplant into the front yard. I grabbed the pickaxe and round nose shovel and went to work.
On my first swing of the pickaxe, I hit the BIGGEST centipede I have ever seen. Lucky for me, I chopped it in half, otherwise I could have been in big trouble. I went up to the house and grabbed my camera, but the pictures came out too dark, so I photoshopped this reenactment for you…
Behold! Summer the giant centipede slayer!!!
Seriously, though, the centipede I came across under the mango tree was pretty close in size to the one pictured above. Scary! It makes me a little nervous having the dogs running around, being as a centipede that size could easily kill a dog. I’m going to have to fashion some sort of centipede-proof doggy boots for Kuta and Monkey…
Here is a video I took when I was spying on Stefan jackhammering the cement footings in the backyard:
We are reducing the size of the footings because we are going to pour a cement slab under the porch and the formerly big square footings would have been the perfect ankle-biting height. You can thank us next time you are stumbling around under our back porch and you don’t smash your foot into them.
Although Stefan did put in his time with the jackhammer, I can’t give him all the credit. Jerry did most of the work and my dad took his turn playing with the jackhammer too. If jackhammering looks fun to you, we know where to rent one for $60 a day. Come on down to Puerto Rico and we can find something for you to jackhammer!
In Puerto Rico, if you wear a green shirt on a Thursday, that is a supposed to be a symbol of your gay pride. At least that is what we’ve heard from a few Puerto Ricans.
I certainly noticed an abundance of gay guys in San Juan, when we stayed at the El San Juan hotel. I was not expecting to see so many gay Puerto Ricans, maybe because I’m used to Mexico, which is very machismo.
Stefan and I had SO much fun in San Juan for Halloween! We stayed at the El San Juan Hotel, got dressed up as vampires, gambled until 4am, went to the club at 4:01am and had the entire dance floor to ourselves (minus the two people having sex in the corner, yes, seriously), hung out at the pool the next day, went shopping at the awesomest Marshalls Mega Store that I have ever seen, picked up a TV at Costco and hightailed it home to Rincon.
Here are some pictures of our vampire costumes:
Stefan really got in to character and killed Monkey. Lo siento, Monkers…
Stefan and I have been really busy and will have some pictures to share in the next couple of days, but let me tell you this…The freaks come out at night, here in Puerto Rico.
And by “freaks”, I mean BIG, creepy crawly creatures.
I was working in my office last night (which is downstairs) and I saw something in the doorway out of the corner of my eye. I squinted to get a better look and thought it might just be some construction debris (we have plenty of that…), but upon further inspection, it turned out to be a HUGE toad. Seriously it had to have been a couple of pounds, at least.
I am working late again tonight and I went out to get my shoes that I left on the front porch. Apparently some tarantula had other plans for my pink Pumas, because he was looking longingly at them when I opened the front door.
Screens for the office windows has just moved up the priority list…
We’ve heard a lot of this and that about pitbulls and hearsay about Puerto Rican laws regards owning pitbulls, since one of our dogs is sometimes mistaken for a pitbull. So, here are the facts:
I think Stefan and I are both in agreement on this one. We need a new car (or two). 
In Puerto Rico, if you wear a green shirt on a Thursday, that is a supposed to be a symbol of your gay pride. At least that is what we’ve heard from a few Puerto Ricans. 
