After five blissful days in Sun Bay, Vieques we were running low on fresh fruit and vegetables, a dangerous thing for vegetarians and counter productive to our anti-inflammation diet. Don starts to get cranky if there is not enough beta-carotene on board! The town of Esperanza is four miles away by foot, but only 1.5 by boat, so we hoisted anchor and made the long, arduous trip to anchor in front of town.

A quiet beach village during the week, Esperanza comes alive on the weekend. Island locals, visitors from the mainland who came by ferry, and New Yorkers on a weekend special make-up most of the weekend crowd. There are kayaks and jet skis for rent, island tours to the bio-luminescent bay, and taxis to the secluded beaches in the once restricted military area. The malacon is lined with small restaurants and guest houses catering to the gringo visitor with only one restaurant serving local Puerto Rican food, the rest specializing in back-packer fare, pizza, Philly Cheese steaks, and wings. Going to town is a big event for us so we are always on the look out for a good meal out. The best bets are usually the roadside stands. Here you can get a pincho, BBQ chicken shish- kabob and bread for two dollars. We always stop and pick one up for Daisy, after we each sneak a bite of course. The local store here in Esperanza is similar to a 7-11, with only a few groceries, beer, and ice cream. Everyone on the island shops in the town of Isabel Segunda, also known as Isabel 2, located on the north shore where the ferry dock is, a mere five miles away.

We located some shade by the side of the road leading to the north shore awaiting a publico, at ten in the morning the temperature is already above 95 degrees. After a few minutes a friendly local pulled over and offered us a ride into town. Jose was also headed to market, has three daughters, and one granddaughter, a casa full of hembras he jokes. As he speaks no English it was nice for us to be able to keep up on our Spanish. One thing we have found here in Puerto Rico is that the majority of the population also speaks English, so if your attempt at conversing in Spanish is too arduous, they quickly switch to English to save time. Rather frustrating if you want to practice and learn the local dialect, as every country's Spanish is different. Isabel Segunda is the main town on the island, a typical Spanish town, complete with a plaza and the last fort built in Spanish America circa 1840. As Jose was going to give us a ride back to the playa after shopping we were unable to explore town, and quickly completed our purchases.

Now freshly restocked with fruitas and verdures, we spent a few days enjoying Esperanza, cold beer, ice cream and a dinner out for Don's birthday. Yesterday we headed back to our secluded anchorage in Sun Bay, again we are the only boat and the beach is deserted now that the weekend is over. Tonight we will have our sundowners with a fresh lime, and celebrate, as Don says, "one year closer to Medicare!"