The mountain village of Las Marias, Puerto Rico, throws a huge block party every March, the Festival de las Chinas Dulces, to celebrate the abundant variety of sweet oranges that grow on the island.
They call oranges “chinas” (pronounced CHEE-nahs) in Puerto Rico, though the Spanish word for “orange” is “naranja” (pronounced nah-RAHN-hah).
We spent a sweet afternoon drinking china coladas and orange juice, eating china bread and other Puerto Rican delicacies, sipping Puerto Rican coffee, learning about island agriculture, and perusing the products of myriad artisans. The music was traditional, colorful, and energetic, coming from two main bandstands, and the crowds extended for blocks in several directions. We even took home an orange tree to plant in our Cabo Rojo yard!
We drove up into the mountains with a friend yesterday to see the home he and his wife built in Utuado. The couple (they asked that their names not be used, for privacy), real estate hobbyists, scooped up 38 acres of property sight-unseen at auction 20 years ago, for just $1,000 an acre. Then they drove up to see what they had bought.
The red point is Utuado
What they found was lush land, covered with banana and orange trees, and a slab where a house had been. The views into the valley and across the karst mountains to the ocean beyond were spectacular.
First, a Campsite
The pair camped on the land for many years, driving up on weekends to escape the bustling city of San Juan where they lived, two hours and a universe away from this quiet spot where roosters squawked and the coqui chorus reached a crescendo during the dark night, where the filament of stars was awe-inspiring. But one weekend when they were inundated with torrential rain for two straight days, which soaked through their tent, and they decided enough was enough.
It was time to build a house.
Creating a Home
Working with friends and neighbors over a period of years, the couple designed and built a small, rustic home with a large main room, a master bedroom, a loft space for their son, and a partially covered porch with an outdoor wood stove and oven. They used found materials and built tables and gigantic doors using local hardwood. Consequently the house looks like it has been there forever.
The woodstove
The home is completely off the grid, with solar panels on the roof providing the small amount of electricity they need. A cistern collects rainwater for showers and dishes. The place is kept cool by its high-altitude location and breezes that pass through the windows. In fact, it was ten degrees warmer than the city below!
The Yard
The house has evolved into a small fruit farm. Passion fruit vines climb up the side of the house. Banana trees abound. The yard hosts abundant bushes offering juicy blackberries. There’s also a bocce court.
Blackberries
Bocci on the left
The Woods
We hiked through the woods to their one-acre coffee grove, wearing tall rubber boots (to protect from fire ants and navigate mud) and deep-pocketed aprons. Our friend used a machete to clear the trail where needed. We then spent a lovely hour plucking deep red coffee cherries off the plants. We then hiked to a neighbor’s abandoned coffee grove and picked those bushes clean as well.
Walking through the coffee plants
Fire ant hill
Picking coffee
We also found a branch still holding a huge bunch of bananas on the trailside.
Bringing home the bananas is a two-person job
One the way back, John and Bob picked fresh juicy oranges out of some tall trees, using a long orange picker. Watch a video of them picking here.
Oranges in the tree
John picking oranges
Quite a haul!
Then we had lunch, burgers cooked outside, on bread bought from a bakery down the mountain, with papayas, bananas, and blackberries from the yard. Magnificent!
