Week 9

Shrimp scampi with risotto and sauteed zucchini with leeks, chicken and tomatoes over penne with a mushroom sauce, sauteed calamari and potatoes in a Mediterranean tomato sauce. This has been our menu for the last three nights, I am especially proud of it in that my stove is a hot plate with one temperature, hot. My kitchen knifes have found a substitute, my pocket knife. My cutting board is a plastic plate, and I only have one large spoon that acts as every handled implement one would normally reach for in the progression of raw ingredients to a finished meal. I could change all of this in a brief trip to the market, but I am not going to. I have no reason to, honestly these are some of the best half hour meals I have produced, ever. My limitations in preparation  and cooking have made me hone my sights on flavor in the supermarket and timing in the kitchen. Through my limitations I have learned to make individual flavors sing yet marry everything else found on the plate. Additionally my wallet has only released on average $8 a day for the two of us.
A day off, a wonderful day off finally found us on Sunday. Everyday we have had off together wounded hand or no has been cloudy and cold enough to think twice about going for a dip. This Sunday did an about face and mustered up all of its regiments of sun, warmth, sandy beaches and transportation. Our access to the ocean, though we live one block from it, is actually quite limited. Sure we could set up a towel on the main road and dodge fishing boats, local ferries, and behemoth cruise ships but that scenario errs on the side of a miserable time. What we needed was a vehicle and one came in the friendship of a coworker, Moises. Moises owns not just a car but a big old cadillac. After a quick trip to the super market for cervesas, rotisserie chicken, tortillas and salsa fresca, we found ourselves cruising to the wild side of the island.

The eastern shore is beautiful, it is dotted with tourist and local traps alike but it also has the remarkable bends in the road where one wouldn't know modern civilization set foot upon this island since the Mayans were here. The geology was scrubbed clean in 2005 by hurricane Wilma leaving petite palm trees and fallen cement lifeguard towers along the shoreline. The rocks were frightful, the eroded limestone structures looked liked human sized cheese graters, though the local families and the teetering toddlers made me look like an 90 year old man trying to find footing on a escalator.

I brought my goggles and found amazing fish but the most remarkable aspect was the sea and the sky. If Picasso lived here his blue period would have been completely different. Between the sea and the sky the blue takes hold over the landscape and is only cut through by the white beaches, rocks, and reflection of the sun across the surf.
Moises delivered on the following Sunday with a trip to a great snorkeling site. The snorkeling here is incredible and has me begging for the SCUBA experience. We found ourselves at a somewhat tourist/local location that as a US American I was expecting the landscape and wildlife to be a spoiled by the constant transients ruining what is natural. The truth is that when my toes hit the shore line I could have gone limp fallen straight down and when I opened my eyes aquatic life would be there to dazzle me. Two inches from shore small fish were picking off the scraps from land, 12 inches small barracuda were waiting for the petite fish to break from their schools. A few kicks with the flippers we found ourselves in a forest of purple sea fans. From there we become the stalkers of whatever fish entertains us the most, and the tens of thousands of them all have a show to put on. The queen trigger fish was the most imaginative swimmer while the multiple species of grunts and their curiosity of ourselves lent us the constant puppyish enjoyment of scampering away whenever within reach. I found crabs, sea urchins, fish making nests by picking up rocks in their mouths and carrying them great distances, and scuba divers. The most fascinating aquatic spectacles were the fish who changed color. I found these fish who I thought were puffer fish because of there bulbous heads and their diminutive tails, but when I descended to hopefully put a fright into them instead of puffing they changed from tan with black spots to azure with black spots. And they were not the only ones, I found species of parrot fish also displaying the same characteristics. I can probably go on forever but for now I promise you I will get a cheap underwater camera so pictures can replace my thousands of words.