Vieques Vagaries – Island Time

Vieques is not like the states. A friend called it a two-and-a-half-world country. I think that’s ungenerous. It’s probably a second-world country, at least. People here live on “island time,” and there is no use in trying to rush them. In many restaurants, I can expect to wait half an hour to have my order taken and another half hour or more to have the food delivered. However, those same places are quick to bring water for my dog and me. I make sure to have my Kindle or my iPad with me. I’m not sure what one would label the personality type that is a happy Viequense, but I am one of them.

Banking

There is only one bank in Puerto Rico—Banco Popular. I guess it is popular because everyone who wants to deal with a bank has to use it. It is at least fifty years behind the banking practices of the states. My first account was a checking account. I could not get a debit card with it. I could not connect it to PayPal. I could deposit money, write checks, and take money out of the ATH (A Todo Hora— at all hours), which we call ATMs. I had to pay a monthly fee, a fee for every check I wrote, a fee if I withdrew money, and, believe it or not, a fee if I deposited money. Since the landlady I had when I moved here would accept only checks for rent payments, this was the account for me.

After I moved to town, I upgraded to a different account. This one has a single monthly fee, which I could get rid of if I had a monthly direct deposit from somewhere, and two debit cards. One of them works at grocery stores and the ATH, but not restaurants or online. The other has a chip and works online, at restaurants, and just about every other kind of store, but not the ATH. I can connect this account to PayPal, Venmo, and Apple Pay, but not Zelle. I cannot write a check from this “checking” account.

A clerk explained to me what I had to do to get a savings account, but it was too complicated; it took me two months to figure out how to use my debit cards.

The Farmácia’s rules

• • If a person has no insurance, explain that their prescription is good forever; they don’t need to see a doctor to get it extended.
  • Since often the pharmacy warehouse will not have a particular drug that was ordered, so that occasionally a person has to go without a needed prescription for six weeks or more, offer to let anyone buy two or more refills at a time when a drug finally comes in.
  • Don’t bother to ask for ID if you know the person.

How to make Iced Tea if you work at D’Frozz

Step one: Fill a foam cup with ice.

Step two: Add very hot water from the espresso machine. Ignore the few coffee grounds that fall in.

Step three: Stir slowly for at least a minute until most of the ice has melted.

Step four: Add a tea bag and stir for another minute.

Step five: Hand tea (including tea bag) to the customer.

How to manage your restaurant’s hours in Isabel II

Make sure the hours you are open are shown on or near the front door and on your website. Open only Monday through Friday. You need your weekends off like everyone else.

• • If something comes up and you need time off for any reason, don’t open that day.
  • If there are only a few people in the restaurant and some major cleaning is needed, lock the doors and start cleaning. 
  • Let people out when they stand by the door and plead. 
  • If you feel like it, open again in a few hours, or just send the staff home and stay closed.
  • Leave your neon “OPEN” sign on almost all the time; turn it off often enough, even when you are open, so no one can be sure until they park and try the door.
  • Make sure your website declares the restaurant is open during posted hours, whether it is or not.
  • Never answer the phone listed on the website.

Paper Towels:

You will not find paper towels in public restrooms. Apparently people steal them. But we Viequenses do figure out ways to get our hands dry.

Yes, we live on “island time.” That’s a lot different from living in the states. When I step out of my house at night to walk my dog, and I feel the warm, fragrant wind in my face, see the mango and banana trees, and hear the music of the coqui, our tree frogs, I get the feeling that “island time” is just about right for me.