Food Adventures in Western Puerto Rico

This is the view from the balcony of my room! 🙂

Hello Guys!

So I am here in Rincon, Puerto Rico- which lies to the far West Coast of Puerto Rico and is exactly on the opposite part of the island from PR’s big capital city to the East- San Juan. Rincon is a charming, sleepy little place with a town center that is only about 4 blocks by 4 blocks. There are also cute little areas to the south and north of town.

So the main reason why any Americanos would venture to this super chill, lowly populated part of the island (usually) is the legendary surfing!! I will report more on my adventures with that later on in the week. There is also pretty good diving and snorkeling by the way- though I consider myself to be a bit of a diving snob since I got to do my Open Water certification in Australia and along the Great Barrier Reef, and my Deep Water certification in Koh Phi Phi Thailand (i.e. the location of that Leonardo Dicaprio movie The Beach!). 🙂 There is but another reason that called me to this part of the world, and that would be the home of The Ann Wigmore Institute, one of my personal and very dear heroes. She is widely considered the founder of the raw food movement in the modern, Western world. More on my adventures with that later on also!

So over the last few years I have had many adventures in Latin countries- Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia, and Belize, to name some. I must admit that the easiest places for me to travel-food wise- are the Asian islands and SE Asia. Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, etc. – no problem! There is fruit everywhere the eye can see, and I can always do vegetable dishes and coconut soups, etc. Easy peasey!! But Latin countries….not so easy. Sure there is fruit here, and I pounce on it whenever possible! But meal wise, its is harder. For instance, here next to the ocean all the restaurants dominate in serving fish dishes and seafood. As a vegetarian your choices are then relegated to rice and beans, and guacamole. My first night here I was starving and spent $20 trying to order a wilted, sad pile of iceberg lettuce, with some beans and rice (which I do NOT do well with) and some guacamole made with BAD table salt. Eeekkkk!!! How am I to survive??

Let me assure you that I did consider bringing my Vitamix and/or possibly my juicer.  Then I reasoned, surely I can find things to eat for only 8 days?? I made my way around the world for 3 years and made do just fine. 8 days is nuthin’!!! Still… I was not feeling so good about my decision to come sans food prep gear come that night of that fateful, unsatisfying first dinner, let me tell you!

Then something miraculous happened! That next morning I went to talk to the concierge at our front desk, and she told me about a new store that opened in town called “Superfoods” partly because of the close proximity of the Ann Wigmore Institute.  I ran down there right away! I almost dropped over in sheer delight as I walked in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Raw nuts, sprouted bread, Kombucha, vegan deserts, nutritional yeast, and a fresh juice bar!!!

Right in this tiny little town in Puerto Rico- when all else were seafood, typical PR fare, pizza and Chinese food!! I was saved. And I knew that I would be very happy, from a food standpoint, on this journey. 🙂

Here I am as a VERY happy camper once I found this food haven. 🙂

Food during the day: covered and check! Well later on that night, around 7:30, we got a bit hungry. Our temple of food, Superfoods, was closed at 5:00! I could not bear to eat a crappy dinner again. So what to do?? Improvise!

I went to the grocery store, and discovered that yes, even in this tiny town I could make do. There was organic spinach, cilantro, avocados, tomatoes, lemon and olive oil. That was all I needed! I also bought a knife and silverware and plates. I spread a towel down right on my hotel floor. Okay I didn’t have a mixing bowl, so I used my hands to mix it all up. 🙂 And the salad came out delicious, amazing, highly satisfying!!

Definitely not afraid to get my hands dirty!

Ta daaaaaa!!!!! Absolutely delish! And better than anything I could have gotten at any of the local restaurants!

So yes friends, there are options wherever (mostly) you might find yourself in the world.  I am not merely surviving, but flourishing here!!

I will write back soon. There are tons of amazing happenings!!! Hope you are well and have a great start to the week.

With love,

Kimberly

Sunset on Sandy Beach in front of our villas. No one else on the beach at all!!