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From looking at the map now, my guess is that we ended up on A bubblegum-pink house holding hands with a banana-yellow
route 32, a winding, narrow road where we got stuck behind house, which is standing next to a lilac-purple house that’s
what we thought was a political-announcement vehicle. (Later hugging a lime-green house… and so on. To complete this pic-
we found out that we were following a funeral-announcement ture postcard perfection, rows of boats, docked directly below
vehicle. The driver wasn’t espousing his merits as a candidate each home, bobbed with the waves.
through his megaphone. He was letting people in the village
know who had just died and Since we were there to cover
where and when the funeral a sailing event, most of our
would be held.) time in Humacao was spent
on or near the water, but we
It took us twice the amount did visit another acquain-
of time to get to Humacao, tance who lived in a gated
but we finally arrived at Club community a few miles away.
Calla, a gated community Here I learned that the bird
where our one-bedroom/one I heard singing from dusk
bath condo awaited us. It until dawn actually was
wasn’t fancy but it included a teenie, greenish-brown
a kitchen stocked with pots, frog with warty legs and
pans, dishes and silverware; a two round-balled toes. This
countertop eating area; and a slimy but cute creature is
small living room with a pull- called a Coqui, after the re-
out couch, which was a per- peating tune it sings that
fect fit for 5-foot-2 me. sounds like “ko-kee, ko-kee.”
Our host told us that there’s
The best part of the con- a saying, “Soy de aqui como el
do was a little balcony with coqui” (I’m as Puerto Rican
entrances off the living room and bedroom where we could as a coqui), which illustrates that this little guy has been a
watch the sun setting over the canal. Across from the ve- cultural symbol of Puerto Rican history for centuries.
randa, our view also included narrow, attached houses that
looked like those vacation-poster homes advertising Curaçao:
Wine Dine & Travel Summer 2014 97

