Puerto Rico Part III - Palmas del Mar

 Rest. Relaxation. Routine. Regroup.

That's what the third part of our Puerto Rico experience entailed. The majority of our 10-day stay in Palmas Del Mar included regular activities like working, studying math and science, doing our morning Bible study, swimming, exercising, lounging, and playing cards.

We had to play cards by "candlelight" our first night in Palmas because the power went out in the entire community. We played a lot of cards here. It was pretty fun.

We swam (almost) everyday in possibly the best pool we've ever stepped foot in. 

"What made it the best," you ask? 

1. The temperature was ALWAYS comfortable - and I DO NOT swim in cold pools or cold air temperatures. I do not know how they managed the pool temperature so well. Maybe it was just because this time of year has highs in the 80s and lows in the 70s so it wasn't too hot. Or maybe it was that there was never any shade over the pool so it was never too cold. 
2. The depths and lengths of the pool were perfect too. One could put a lounge chair in the shallow/stairs section and relax partway in the pool. The deep end was perfect for diving and jumping to catch a football (which Lincoln did for hours everyday). The distance from one end to the other was just the right length for a swimmer to do laps. Lincoln found 6 smooth stones and set them up on one end then we timed him to see how long it took him to bring each of the six rocks to the other side. His record was 3 minutes and 46 seconds. Then he was dying. One day we arrived at the pool to find a few other people enjoying amenity (it was our first time sharing this pool). One guy from California did laps for over an hour!!! We all were impressed. 
3. Location. Location. Location. We only had to walk for about 90 seconds to get to the pool. I think it would be nice to have a pool just like this. 

Palmas Del Mar is a very interesting place. It is a 2,700 acre, master-planned community of 25 different gated neighborhoods/developments (ours was called Harbour Lakes) housing about 380,000 people. It features two golf courses, an equestrian center, 20 tennis courts, a yacht club, three churches, The Palmas Academy K-12 school, and more. The "Palmas Bubble," as the locals referred to it, showed me what it would be like to live in a private community. (Did you have conversations like that during Covid?) Since the residents were mostly American expatriates, they pretty much all spoke only English. (When I asked one of the gals if they've been able to learn much Spanish in the 8 years they've lived there, she said, "No. We don't have to use it much. Everyone speaks English here." 🤷🏼‍♀️) Everything they needed was in the community - food, friends, fun, faith, etc. The community reflected what was important to the population. 

We attended church twice in the community. Summit Church in North Carolina started a campus in Puerto Rico...right in Palmas Del Mar. We met a handful of wonderful people who welcomed us into the church. Pastor Gabe and his wife Callie were wonderful. Pastor Gabe led us in a family time of prayer...prayer WITH family. (See photo above)

Through Summit Church Puerto Rico, the kids were invited to join the Youth Group for their Christmas party. The kids were all from various parts of the US (Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, etc.), but they have all resided in Puerto Rico long enough to think seeing a squirrel would be super cool. There are no squirrels in Puerto Rico. We actually didn't see many animals except iguanas (TONS and TONS of iguanas of all sizes), frogs (including the noisy coquis), and grackles. Anyway, the kids were super sweet and kindly included the Wilson's. It was a gift to everyone.

My friend Bronwen once asked me, "Do you just go around the world collecting friends?!" 😂 Maybe. But we had help for our experience in Palmas. Our Minnesota friends Jessica and Jeremy Johnson had plans to moved to Puerto Rico at one point and connected us to people in Puerto Rico...who then connected us to people in Puerto Rico...who connected us to people in Palmas Del Mar, Puerto Rico. It's good to know people. 😉

Speaking of friends connecting us to new friends - remember Carlos? We went back to his farm twice while we staying in Palmas. He is such a great guy and we were glad to go back and see him. Along our drives to his farm we passed a number of baseball fields. There were baseball fields everywhere in Puerto Rico. I expected to see a lot of soccer fields, but I was way off. We saw more basketball courts than soccer fields. But we saw mostly baseball fields. 

Carlos told us about Cultivos Frescos de Aquí, a farmer's market-like store where he sells some of his vegetables. And they have fresh, local eggs! (Until Cultivos we could only find organic eggs that came from Pennsylvania. Surely with all the chickens we saw on the island there had to be someone selling local, fresh, organic eggs.) 

The big deal in Palmas Saturday night, December 17, was the Christmas golf cart parade. Palmas resident and Summit Church family member Holly texted me the parade route so we found a spot along the route for 5 star viewing. In typical Wilson style (or Travis Wilson style) we arrived nice and early. I think we were the 2nd vehicle parked in this area. As time passed, more and more people joined us. We met quite a few people from around the US while we waiting for the parade to approach. Soon the volume increased and I wondered if Puerto Rico had freight trains. Nope, it was just the parade coming our way. I would guess there were over 100 golf carts decorated for the holidays and either playing music or honking. The Gingerbread golf cart above was Holly's family's cart. There were a lot of cool carts like theirs, but they did win the prize (literally) for best decorated golf cart.

Eventually the "freight train" made it to us. It was actually about a half dozen giant Coca~Cola semi trucks lit up and honking their semi horns. As they drove by I think everyone had their hands over their ears. Too loud, Coke. Too loud. 🙉🤫 

We will not forget our time in Harbour Lakes, Palmas Del Mar, Humacao, Puerto Rico. We had a wonderful experience.