Domes

Looking at Dome's Beach from El Faro Park

Sunday, February 14, 2010

The surf brought us, the people keep us

When we first decided to move to Rincon it was because of the great weather and beaches, but the people here are what makes Rincon so special. I've already described how Steve and Francia Lantz from the Lazy Parrot have helped, but there are so many more. Whenever we have a question about where in the Rincon area or who in Rincon, we run it by John from Surf's Up Coffee, he's just a guy who has been here a long time and done many things here and he's eager to suggest local folks that he trusts and has a connection with.
Cyndi first met Rhea Maxwell of the El Coqui of Rincon at a volunteer graffiti cleanup event and Rhea, who has so much on her plate, was kind enough to see that we would like to help and we have built a great relationship with her.
A number of our friends have blogs; James and Shannon who got here about 6 months before we did have a great blog, James N Shan Do PR. She teaches yoga at La Paz Yoga studio and he teaches surfing at Rincon Surf School. Their blog is a great way to see Rincon through the eyes of an adventurous young couple, exploring all the things that make this place so unique.
Rincon Life is Annie, who along with her husband Justin, own Rincon Vacations a vacation concierge service for the West Coast of Puerto Rico. Her blog is probably the most informative Rincon blog I've read and there are always new and interesting posts. She and Justin are great at what they do and work hard to match local business people with tourists in Rincon.
Fernando is the man behind the Villa Orleans blog and his videos show so much about the Rincon area and beyond. He knows as much about this part of Puerto Rico as anyone I've met and is always willing to share great information about this place he loves.
His brother, Roberto is an amazing artist and runs the Secret Garden Art Gallery, where local artists can show their work. The gallery is located amidst a tropical and jungle landscape that Roberto and Fernando built behind the Villa Orleans.
Sam and Jahbi, who both work at the Lazy Parrot really welcomed us when we first got here. They came here from Pennsylvania a few years ago and remembered how hard it was to get the house in order and Sam worked on our electric and plumbing problems after some long days at the Parrot.
Carlos, who runs the Boarding House Surf school and rentals really epitomizes the Rincon attitude as we have found it to be. When Cyndi was looking to buy a board he offered up a few to try out so she would know what she liked and when I expressed some interested, he pulled out a big 11 foot board and shoved in my hands and told me to get out on the waves with my wife. When I got my hands on a nice longboard that needed a few fixes, he took care of it and found a cheap used fin for Cyndi's board, all the while not worrying about how he would get paid, more interested in us getting out on the waves. Not everyone in Rincon has this esthetic, but the more people we meet, the more nice things we have to say.


2 comments:

  1. Very good observation James people in Rincon are unique specially the ones who become bilingual.Those i consider the real locals. I really enjoyyour blog as other people's blogs like Rincon Life,on the other hand you see a blog like ca2pr that in the beginning the show the new adventures about building a new house and adjusting a new environment but on the other hand the past year and a half it has been a blog about bashing Rincon and the thing that i have and some people ask if they feel uncomfortable living in Rincon why they dont move. That's the diffence of Rincon LIfe from Ca 2pr i never read anything bad at all from that blog. Keep doing good work

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  2. Thanks for the little shout out James!
    Although I feel like I've been a real slacker on the blog lately! ;)
    Talk soon!

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