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...

Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory, home to one of the world's largest radio telescopes, will try to obtain information on asteroid 2004 BL86 this week, the Caribbean Astronomical Society said. The asteroid is expected to pass relatively close to the Earth on Monday. Asteroid 2004 BL86, which has a diameter of nearly 700 meters (2,295 feet), will be about 1.2 million kilometers (745,647 miles) from the Earth on Monday, with the best viewing time around noon (1620 GMT) in Puerto Rico. The asteroid is traveling through space at 56,420 kph (35,057 mph). The Arecibo Observatory, which was completed in 1963, is visited by more than 100,000 people a year. The enormous 305-meter-diameter (1,000-foot-diameter) telescope has been featured in a number of films, including the 1995 James Bond film "GoldenEye" and the 1997 film "Contact." EF.   Comments   Is a Big Data Doomsday on the Horizon? Work Intelligently by Ricoh Pu...

AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) –   A local company which specializes in tensile membrane roofs was just contracted to complete the roof of a cathedral being constructed now in Puerto Rico. Birdair, an Amherst company known around the world, will be making a PVC membrane roof for The Gran Carpa Catedral. The massive 423,000 square foot roof will be as large as four football fields, and will be red, white and blue. The Gran Carpa Catedral is a project which was started in 2006, stemming from a Christian pastor’s desire to have a church with the ability to serve people from different religions and denominations. When completed, the building will serve with conference rooms, studios for television, radio and music, along with space for a school and printing. Birdair representatives said the material choice is the right choice for the cathedral. They said they’d be supplying the membrane, but the frame and the installation will be organized by the general contractor. “PVC mem...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A group of scientists opened a cage at dawn on Wednesday and reintroduced 15 endangered Puerto Rican parrots into the wild as part of a conservation program. The birds flew away without hesitation as they disappeared into a forest near Puerto Rico's north coast, according to Natural Resources Secretary Carmen Guerrero. It was the ninth release at the Rio Abajo Nature Preserve since 2006. Another 204 parrots remain at the preserve, and an estimated 57 to 108 parrots are believed to live in the wild nearby, she said. The parrots released Wednesday were between 1 and 2 years old and were kept in a cage separate from the other parrots for a year. Scientists tried to simulate a natural environment in that cage, where they fed them local fruits and showed them how to recognize natural predators. The Natural Resources Department also manages another breeding center at El Yunque tropical rain forest in northeast Puerto Rico. Scientists expect to open a third breedi...

Legend Surf Classic Puerto Rico To Be Held January 16 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE —December 7, 2014 Rincon, Puerto Rico – The Second Annual Legend Surf Classic Puerto Rico takes place from the 16th to the 19th of January 2015 in Rincon, Puerto Rico. This year’s event proudly features two of surfings greatest champions: Hawaii’s Fred Hemmings, the winner of the 1968 World Championship which was held in Rincon, Puerto Rico and Australia’s Nat Young, the 1966 World Champion and a finalist in the 1968 World Contest. Introduced by Monty Smith in 2014, The Legend Surf Classic Puerto Rico has embraced its mission to “Promote and Celebrate the Surfing History and Culture of Puerto Rico.” This nonprofit event does so by recognizing the original surfers who started surfing in Puerto Rico and by recognizing surf legends from around the world who have had an impact on Puerto Rico’s surf culture. The 1968 World Surfing Championship brought international recognition by surfers and beach lovers worldwide...

Thousands of people will flock this weekend to Old San Juan, the historic colonial center of the Puerto Rican capital, to take part in activities of the 4th Campechada cultural and artistic festival. This year's event will be dedicated to Myrna Baez, 83, considered one of Puerto Rico's greatest painters and engravers. This is the first time the Campechada has spotlighted the life and works of a living artist, and also the first time it has featured a woman. Honored with countless prizes and exhibitions on and off the island, Baez is one of Puerto Rico's leading artists with a career spanning more than 50 years. This weekend will feature dozens of concerts, dance performances, stage plays, handicraft displays, painting and sculpture exhibits, movies, exhibitions of Baez's work, a book fair, conferences and other activities in the streets and plazas of Old San Juan. The festival is an institutional project that debuted in 2011, organized by the Institute of Puerto Ri...

If you're planning a tropical getaway, the Caribbean islands are a gold mine of beauty, seclusion, and adventure. Even though all the Caribbean islands are beautiful, some are better than others. So we decided to rank them. We figured that the best islands would have a low cost, be easy to get to, and have beautiful beaches and lots of activities.  In most instances, we defined a Caribbean island as a single country, republic, or territory in the Caribbean. To rank these islands, we factored in each island's average hotel room cost, according to Hotels.com ; the distance from New York City; the number of attractions listed on TripAdvisor ; and the amount of coastline per square kilometer, which we called the beach density score.  Read more on our methodology here. We also created an infographic and map that shows our ranking of the best Caribbean islands. CLICK TO SEE THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS, RANKED »   1. Puerto Rico Flickr/breezy421 Distance from ...

JAMES BEARD , the American cooking authority, was not impressed with Puerto Rican cuisine when he was posted on the island during World War II. “I have always felt that food in the Caribbean is perhaps the worst in the world,” he wrote in his memoir, “Delights and Prejudices.” He would certainly change his mind if he could enjoy the work of the island’s modern chefs—the true-to-roots refinement Jose Enrique Montes displays at his eponymous restaurant, the crossover cuisine Jose Santaella creates at Santaella, the farm-to-table fare of Juan Jose Cuevas at 1919. But even back then, Mr. Beard noted one culinary saving grace: “Fortunately we had available   lechón asado , the traditional barbecued pig with its crisp skin and deliciously tender meat.” Lechón asado is Puerto Rico’s unofficial national dish. It’s served year-round but is particularly prevalent during the holidays—especially Christmas and Three Kings Day, marked on Jan. 6. And it’s not just roasted pig: Lechón asado is a c...