Taking Taino Danser To Palomino Island


The Tainos were the original inhabitants of Puerto Rico and vestiges of their culture still linger in food, music and names. We hopped on the ferry, Taino Danser, to ride over to the private Palomino Island, owned by El Conquistador Resort.


The 8-minute ferry ride offers glimpses of nearby Vieques and Culebra islands.


Palomino island is 100 acres of unspoiled beaches, crystalline water and lush greenery. My kids required 3-hours straight of  splashing in the ocean, until we were all covered in salt and tanner skins.  The local cafe provided a relaxing respite of cool drinks and sandwiches but my favorite part was the iguanas and roosters freely roaming through the tables.


This rooster is extremely confident, he didn't seem to consider that perhaps he might wind up on one of the tables he roamed through. I know many places where roosters and iguanas are treated as tasty "bush" meat.

Comments

A Cuban In London said…
The Tainos were also one of our main tribes in Cuba, along with the Carbes. Great photos.

Greetings from London.
February 18, 2011 at 6:55 AM
Fly Girl said…
Yes, Tainos and Caribs first lived in most of the Caribbean region. I'll do a post about them soon.
February 18, 2011 at 7:01 AM
Rachel Cotterill said…
Looks lovely - and iguanas are so cute :)
February 19, 2011 at 7:35 AM
Fly Girl said…
Rachel, I don't know if I'd call them cute! Maybe interesting or fascinating..
February 19, 2011 at 4:42 PM
Catherine said…
looks an idyllic spot to chill out for a few days - quite beautiful and interesting pints about the Taino culture - I was unaware of this aspect of history...
February 21, 2011 at 2:16 PM
Fly Girl said…
Catherine, I wish I were there now!
February 21, 2011 at 4:12 PM
Beauty Is Diverse said…
Tainos so rich in culture.
February 26, 2011 at 11:33 AM
Fly Girl said…
Tiffany, it really is.
February 26, 2011 at 1:49 PM
Waist Hips and Thighs said…
Fly Girl this place looks great! Is that just a beach or an actual resort. I have a timeshare through bluegreen resorts but would you recommend this for just spouses or the whole family?
March 3, 2011 at 5:24 AM
Fly Girl said…
Waist, it's the private beach that's part of the El Conquistador Resort. It's a mostly family focused place but just spouses would have a good time too if they don't mind be around a lot of kids most of the time.
March 3, 2011 at 1:39 PM
Jen Laceda | Milk Guides said…
Ah, beach!!! Anything better than snow and slush in Toronto! I'm so sick of this winter.
March 11, 2011 at 6:47 PM
Fly Girl said…
Jen, I so here you. Chicago has been the same winter drudgery as well.
March 11, 2011 at 8:38 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Puerto Rico's Taino Culture

Image
The original inhabitants of the Caribbean region of North America were the Arawak, Taino and Carib  native peoples.  The Tainos are a subgroup of the Arawaks and are recognized as the founders of the island of Boriken or Puerto Rico.  These were the people who offered a peaceful welcome to Columbus in 1493.  They didn't know the cruelty and violence that would follow his so-called "discovery" of the land that they had cultivated for centuries. Despite official government pronouncements that the Taino have been killed off by the massacres and slavery that followed in Columbus' wake, they live on.  As demonstrated in the photo above by  members of  the Puerto Rico Folklorico Dance & Culture Cultural Cente r, Taino traditions, food and names remain strong. Throughout Puerto Rico, town names like Mayaquez, Utuado and Caquas echo the Taino language as do the musical instrument maracas and hamaca or hammock. Legends of Taino warriors, like Hatuey, who organized the ba
Read more

Traveling Through A Liberian Childhood

Image
I like to explore the world with books as much as I like to actually travel. A well-written narrative can transport you to places that you'd never experience with just superficial details like photos and descriptions. I've been interviewing writers about the criteria they use to select books for Summer reading and it made me think about my own general reading criteria. As a journalist, I'm really drawn to biographies, autobiographies and memoirs more than fiction. There's something about using the facts to entice readers into your world that gets me. It's no coincidence that some of my favorite writers--Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Zora Neale Hurston, Hemingway, started out as journalists. So when I glimpsed The House at Sugar Beach , at my local bookstore and saw it was a memoir written by a journalist, it was pretty much a done deal that I would buy it. Now it wasn't only that the author Helene Cooper was a journalist, it was that she was a Liberian journalist chro
Read more

Switzerland's Fete Des Vignerons

Image
                                               Once every generation, the centuries-old viticultural festival, Fete des Vignerons, unfolds in Vevey, Switzerland. Watching this spectacle of music, dancing, wine and fanciful costumes, felt like I had been transported to something out of a Dr. Seuss story. With a law that prohibits the fest from taking place more than five times in a century, I felt incredibly lucky to witness this celebration of Swiss wine traditions dating back to the 17th century.  Some of the fetes 5,500 performers in costumes strolled the narrow streets of Vevey after a show that featured fairies, bees, royal courts, playing cards and 17th-century wine growers. The performance was in French but the drama transcended language barriers. It's a difficult experience to describe but if I had to sum it up, I would explain it as the magic of Cirque Du Soleil combined with the pageantry of the Olympics, topped with the history of folk celebrations.  Take a peek at my v
Read more