Gasikara Kolotora sy Kolontsaina

VIEQUES, P.R. — The sun was starting to recline on the horizon, but as the chef Jose Enrique slid a beaten-up Ford Explorer into a parking space here at an easygoing beachside hotel called El Blok , he admitted that his menu for this Saturday evening was still up in the air. What would he be cooking? “I have no clue,” he said, and laughed. “We’ll see. I kind of like it that way. I think it makes me more creative.” Mr. Enrique and Katie Savage, his chef de cuisine at the hotel, tend to wing it based on whatever baskets of fruit, bags of vegetables and buckets of seafood come their way. Dinner that night would overflow with lobster ceviche, a conch salad spooned into steaming pockets of fried bread, a dip spun from eggplants that had been smoked over the wood of wild mesquite trees, a pork chop brushed with sugar-cane juice. Toward the end would come a sweet, coral-hued sphere of guava ice. Where did the guavas come from? Mr. Enrique motioned toward the window. The fruit tree stood ri

An environmentalist group signed an accord with the government over the weekend to officially adopt a beach of high ecological value in Puerto Rico and work to keep it clean while protecting its plants and animals. Signing the agreement were Natural and Environmental Resources Secretary Carmen Guerrero Perez and the Friends of La Poza del Obispo organization, named after a beach at the town of Arecibo on the island's north shore. With this contract, which will remain in force for six years, the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, or DRNA, officially acknowledges the organization's volunteer work to protect and preserve La Poza del Obispo Beach, a favorite of bathers and surfers. The initiative forms part of the Adopt a Beach program, by which "community organizations, private companies, municipalities and other entities can contribute to citizens' quality of life and promote the protection of natural resources and the environment by adopting a beach.&

Puerto Rico’s inaugural international tourism expo ETI – Expo de Turismo Internacional, will take place at the Puerto Rico Convention Center, May 13-16. The expo is designed to showcase the beauty, sports, nature, adventure and gastronomy experiences available throughout the Caribbean and beyond, bringing together members of the tourism industry from across the globe. ETI-Puerto Rico will be held at the Puerto Rico Convention Center, the largest and most technologically advanced business conference venue in the Caribbean. The Center is located in the heart of San Juan on the Isla Grande peninsula, near the world-renowned city of Old San Juan. The four-day event will include group meetings, social and cultural events, field trips, workshops, destination trainings, keynote addresses and more, with the exhibit hall open two days to travel trade and one day to consumers. “In planning for this event and with input from local and regional organizations such as the Caribbean Tourism Orga

Rum is the most versatile spirit in the world, able to stand against even the finest cognacs and whiskeys. How do you spot a good one, and how should it best be drunk? Staring at the paper mat before me were 12 unlabeled rums in glasses, all slightly different colors. I’d come for a blind tasting in a room with some of Washington D.C.’s most educated and ambitious bartenders and beverage directors in the United States Bartender’s Guild, unsure of whether I was really going to discern any differences. Because with variations in exactly how much, rum’s all sweet and caramel-y, right? Wrong. The event was part of a national series called Rum for All, spearheaded by venerable spirits reviewer and Spirit Journal author F. Paul Pacult and industry mogul Sean Ludford. It aims to help the spirits industry appreciate the nuances and varied characteristics of a liquor that, frankly, is too often associated with cheapness and drunkenness. But au contraire , as I came to fully understand that da