Clandestine Off-Roading in Cabo Rojo
This is my first attempt at posting video on the web so, if anybody is reading this blog, please let me know of any technical issues. I shot this last April in Puerto Rico:
Even though all of our beaches could be considered idyllic by mainland standards, most locals favor the beaches that lie on the Caribbean Sea, along the islands South, West and East coats, rather than the Northern beaches that are bathed by the somewhat more rambunctious Atlantic Ocean.
For this reason, a peregrination takes place most holiday weekends as entire communities of middle-class Puerto Ricans from the North move to the South-West to enjoy the calm blue seas and the party atmosphere. Among the folks from my hometown of Camuy (thus my alias of Camuyano) the area of Cabo Rojo, particularly the towns of Boquerón and El Combate, seems to be a favorite for holiday getaways. I spent many happy weekends and summer vacations as a child in a vacation rental right in the center of “downtown†Boquerón.
The choice of town to vacation in seems to be somewhat of an arbitrary inarguable truth such as some people’s religious or political convictions. I know of some folks that live near San Juan who favor the town of La Parguera in Guanica, a bit further south than Boquerón. Yet others, who own larger cruising boats, prefer the East for it’s proximity to the Virgin Islands. Many times neighbors back home in the “real world†remain neighbors during their vacations as extended family and friends buy or rent properties in the same spots.
For us, this means that we always have a choice of places to go relax whenever we’re in town during a holiday weekend as relatives urge us to visit them at the vacation places. (I am all too happy to oblige as these getaways offer plenty of opportunity for adventure.) This time we decided to go visit Brenda’s aunt and uncle in their house near “El Combate†just for a day. We had been there once before and I had joined Brenda’s uncle, Radamés, and his son in an off-roading adventure. During that visit, when I followed in an ATV as Radamés and his son led the way in dirt bikes, we failed to reach the fabled white-sand beaches Radamés had told me so much about.
On this visit, I figured there wouldn’t be much off-roading as I had not been feeling well all day. At first I thought that it was due to overeating (as always happens during trips back home); however, when we stopped for lunch, Brenda (who herself wasn’t feeling too hot) felt a touch of fever. This meant that we had probably caught a bug of some kind so we planned to just go say hi and leave.
Radamés and I are kindred spirits of sorts. He is a European car mechanic but I think of him more as an Engineer since he always has some new project up his sleeve. He is always on the lookout for interesting vehicles that he can restore, such as his cherry Type II Westfalia Camper, and will frequently employ astounding creativity in adapting whatever is at hand to complete his projects.
This time Radamés had a new toy he was itching to show me, an old Suzuki Samurai he had expressly purchased “pa’l monte†or “for the mountains.†Now you wouldn’t think that Puerto Rico is such an off-roading hotspot as the amount of land available for such pursuits is limited. Despite this, Puerto Rico has a vibrant car culture and Puerto Ricans are passionate about their diversions so they take advantage of every vacant plot even when this may technically be called trespassing. In this small geographic area almost every single pastime you can find in the mainland is also practiced. (We even saw an ultralight aircraft landing field outside of Boquerón and while we were eating in an oceanfront restaurant in Arecibo, an ultralight flew over, low and slow over the beach.)
Radamés’ Samurai was unique as it sported a Volvo grill and Mercedes Benz leather electric seats as well as a rear hatch made from some other car. I had my doubts about the little Suzuki being able to make it through some of the trails we tackled in the bikes the last time but I trust Radamés so, at his urging, I agreed to go for a “short†ride. We ended up going much further than on out previous trip and, by the time we got back, I had gotten over whatever bug it was I had earlier. Only later did I realize that there we only three lugs hold one of the wheels. It would have been a long walk back to the house!
Sadly, these kinds of adventures will most likely be short lived as the land you see in the video is clearly being prepared for developed and will soon be covered in condominiums. This is prime ocean view and ocean front real state that has become more valuable than gold in recent years. Oh, if only I had ten or twenty million lying around…
