GTMO Snapshots

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to take the annual "Cuzco Wells" tour. The Marines give a guided tour of an area called Cuzco Beach which normally has no-entry status. In 1898 a battle took place at this site between the Spanish forces and a battalion of Marines. We climbed a hill to view one of the lookout areas and tried to imagine what it must have been like over 111 years ago on that spot.


I've been perusing Cuban and Jamaican cookbooks from the library in an effort to try some local delicacies. I made a couple of Cuban dishes this week using chicken (were okay, but not great), and then we thought we'd try our hand at some Jamaican specialities. Ginger beer is popular, according to the cookbook, and looked easy to make, just requiring ginger, water, sugar, lime, and some yeast. So after Vince whipped up a batch, we let it ferment for a day, and then tried some over ice. It was amazingly good!


Our other Jamaican treat was more funny than tasty -- a recipe for a cookie called "Jackass Corn" just sounded intriguing. Again, just a few ingredients - coconut, flour, sugar, water, baking soda, and nutmeg. It's supposedly called "jackass corn" because the noise made while chewing the cookie sounds like a jackass! I couldn't resist, so I made a batch of the homely things. While the cookies aren't all that wonderful, the odd thing is that they do taste like they are made with corn. Maybe the name is applied because that is how you feel after you've taken the time to make them.


Fergus loves the frisbee! Vince will take him either to the dog park, or an open field, and give Fergus some great exercise early in the morning before it gets too hot. We've had to be cautious -- if Fergus gets overheated, which can easily happen with the temperature and humidity, he begins to "wobble" while he walks which we have learned is not a good sign. So, Vince tries to end each session after only about 10 minutes.


We did some beach combing this week and it was just one of those times where not much had rolled up on the sand and rocks. But Vince did spy this cute little fellow -- a hermit crab tucked into his shell, and his colors were so vibrant that we just had to take his photo. It's difficult to tell the scale in this photo, but the shell was about an inch and a half in diameter.