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The Wanderboy is back on the road for a short jaunt to Rincon, Puerto Rrrrrrrrico. 

After 16 hours of travel that included leaving home at 2:30am, flying from Boston into and out of Detroit in a snowstorm and a 3.5 hour drive in traffic from San Juan to Rincon, my buddy Palf and I arrived in the surfside paradise around 7pm.

The spot we are staying in is roughly a mile from the beach up on a large hill.  It is a big studio that has no hot water, fluctuating electricity and lots of lizard friends.  In other words, a great spot for the price and the owners are super cool.  The lack of hot water is no big deal because it is 90 during the day so a well-timed cool shower in the evening is just what el doctor ordered.

Cold showers to wipe off the travel grime were followed by a drive around the area.  Unfortunately it was dark, but as it turns out there isn’t much to the main beach area of Rincon.  Three roads that dead end into a short coastal route are populated by an assortment of medium-sized houses, many of which appear to be owned by trust fund hippies/surfers.  There are four bars by the beach and a very cool and well maintained hotel/restaurant/bar called The Lazy Parrot. 

We grabbed dinner at the Parrot and had a few Medalla’s - the Puerto Rican cerveza offering.  The first two went straight to my head after the long day of travel and little sleep, but for some reason we went down to the beach and continued enjoying Medalla until about 2am.  There was a cool bongo/guitar live session happening and then we ended up at some outdoor spot called The Pool where a lively mosh pit erupted during some surf rock band’s second set.  It started simple enough and ended with plastic chairs being broken over people’s heads - all in the name of fun I suppose.  Nobody appeared hurt.

Palf and I managed to find an after party with some Bostonians.  The place had a pool and a fridge full of drinks so we chilled and I ended up falling asleep on a couch.  This is where things get a bit interesting.  I fell asleep around 3am and Palf was there.  I woke up at 9am and he was gone.  I figured that he might have found his way back down to the pool and passed out on a chaise lounge, but no dice.  Then I checked my phone - three calls from him at 4am.  All I could assume is that he went back to the studio, but I had the car keys, which meant he was somewhere in Rincon on foot around 4am.

If you have ever been to Rincon, it is a friendly place, but the way it is set up there is quite a bit of dense foliage around the houses and there are a lot of stray dogs.  The roads are also roughly 1.5 lanes wide with two way traffic - you get the idea.  Walking along those roads at night through the woods with stray dogs and other creatures and not knowing where you’re going is not the best scenario.

In the end I drove back to the studio and found him asleep.  When he woke up I learned that he had walked around for two hours, the stray dogs were barking/following him around and he had a massive blister on one of his feet.  He confessed to being so tired and lost that at one point he contemplated lying down by the side of the road and going to sleep.  What’s traveling without a little adventure, right?

Speaking of adventure, we ate burritos and quesadillas at a roadside stand for lunch and I found a short n’ curly in my food.  It was an interesting scenario because normally you don’t get to see the cook that prepared your food, but having him be in the vicinity when I found the springy little bastard and knowing it was his was an altogether new experience.  At least he appeared to be clean.  I had one bite left of the burrito, so I said fuck it and ate the rest.

There is a rooster off in the distance that has been going at it all day - if I had a gun and could see the thing he would be dinner.

I found out that Rincon is in a tsunami watch zone, but we’re high enough up on the hill to be out of danger.   There are actually signs marking the watch area and we’re probably a quarter mile above it.

Off for a nap and then the beach.  This is definitely more my speed - don’t know if I’m going back to the cold.  I thought of a travel show idea called ‘Two Gringos.’  I’m going to work on that one.

-Wanderboy