On Saturday morning, we dropped off Justin and Shera at the San Juan International Airport. We ran some errands on the way back to Beatitude before meeting up with some other friends. From 1996-2000, I was in medical school at the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine in Hershey. We lived in the campus housing, affectionately known to its inhabitants as the “Kennels,” where other medical students and residents lived with their families. Among our many lifelong friendships we developed there was the friendship with Mitchelle Rivera Villegas and her family. Her husband was doing a residency in child psychology at the time. Not long after finishing residency, they returned to their native home in Puerto Rico. Now, 16 years later, we were blessed to meet up once again. Mitchelle and her friend, Ivelisse, journeyed from their homes in Dorado to Fajardo where we enjoyed visiting aboard Beatitude before having dinner at The Blue Iguana.
On Sunday, we attended church at The Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Fajardo. We really enjoyed it. The people were exceptionally friendly. For us gringos, one of the best things was the ability to participate more fully in the liturgy. We had a Spanish Book of Common Prayer, and the words to all the readings and songs were provided (in Spanish, of course) in the weekly bulletin. It was nice to receive the Eucharist once again. After church, we met up with Mitchelle, Ivelisse, and her two sons, Bebé and Oscarlito, at the Kiosks in Luquillo for lunch. We had Puerto Rican fare at a spot called La Parrilla.
Alas, Tuesday rolled around, which meant it was time to leave our tropical paradise to return to the cold and snowy northern United States. I flew to Portland, Maine to do a week’s worth of shifts in the emergency department. Cindy flew home to Barberton, Ohio to be with family. Two of my seven shifts are complete. There are five more to go before we fly back to Puerto Rico on Thursday, March 3rd. Julie and Tracy arrive on the 4th. And, if all things work according to plan, we’ll head for the Virgin Islands on the 5th. While we are away, my Yamaha outboard on Dalí is being serviced and repaired. My Garmin electronics are also being looked at (the wind speed and direction indicator as well as the water temperature readings are not functioning). Hopefully, all will go well and we’ll be ready to continue our journey southward and eastward when we return.
Your pictures are amazing! Neat to see photos of the same places we have visited. Missed the ziplining but it looked like you had an amazing time.
We have been praying for you, Cindy, and your knee surgery, but cant quite remember the date of the operation….
We are anchored in St. Thomas right now.
Hey, we love the new dingy-entry method you taught us! Cameron, Patrick and I are getting proficient at it.
Ate lobster from Tortuga Bay. We were there on the weekend, definitely a local weekend get-away spot with over 60 boats in the bay! We were told that during the summer it is WAY more crowded. Monday morning there were two boats. Beautiful beach.
Thanks, Corice! It was nice to see your updated Facebook Photos. We are flying back today and will be in the BVI’s on Saturday, I hope. Hope we meet up! I can’t wait to practice my dinghy-entry method in the BVIs! By the way, Cindy’s surgery is April 4.
We have enjoyed your blog, both text and pics. We are now on our our adventure. We are not sailing but during a land-based adventure. We will be in Paris for the next five weeks and then travel around Europe for 4 months. I learned how to blog based on your SVBeatitude blog. Our blog is listed below.
Take care. Jack
Your adventure sounds wonderful! Your blog listing didn’t appear though. I’d love to take a look. And, I’m glad we were helpful in your blogging!
http://comingsandgoing.com/ is our blog. Sorry for failing to include it.
Thanks, Jack! Your blog looks very nice. Good job.