I is for Island Life

I’m not sure where exactly my affinity for islands came from. Perhaps it started while growing up in Hawaii, or perhaps my being a Pisces has something to do with it. Who knows? What I do know, is that islands have been a significant part of my life for a very long time and that the longer I am on an island the longer I’d like to stay.

Aside from Hawaii, where I spent two formative years, I’ve spent time on Roatán and Útila, Honduras when I lived and taught there. I would go to the islands often to dive and get away from the tiny town I lived in. One of my favorite places when I live in Chile is the little known island of Chiloé off the coast of southern Chile. I had the unique experience of staying with my good friend, Belén in her family’s cabin for the better part of a week. It was magical. I traveled the island nation of Cuba for a month last summer. I traversed the length of the island discovering all that has been kept from Americans.

Most recently, I’ve fallen in love with a different island. It is an island off an island.  The island of Vieques, Puerto Rico captured my heart in 2010.  I traveled there and immersed myself in a Spanish language program in San Juan and then took a ferry to one of two islands off of Puerto Rico. With just over 9,000 people, Vieques is tiny.  Very few cars are on the island, and it is the only place I have ever seen wild horses roaming the streets.  Every beach I laid on felt like my own private beach.

I saw more conch shells than people. The few bars on the island were full of welcoming locals and ex pats.  Simply put, I felt at home, instantly.

I understand the trials and tribulations of island life. I experienced rolling blackouts in Útila often.  I know that if I ever want to go to a movie theater or eat something different than what the five or so restaurants on the island offer, I must head to the mainland.  I know this is not exactly a fast journey, nor a dependable one. I understand the isolation of island life. In fact, that might be what draws me most.

While on Vieques, I couldn’t stop thinking about one day returning. This is something I usually do not do.  I can’t return to a place when there is so much I haven’t seen. Yet something about the simplicity and ease of the island kept the idea fresh in my head for weeks and months after I returned, and I started planning. 

I thought about my snowbird folks, splitting their time between Colorado Springs and Palm Springs, California.  Of course, being retired makes this a bit easier, but I don’t think I have to be retired to make this work.  I envision starting out with just a few months. Renting a temporary place (which abound on islands) and bringing just a few possessions, mostly my laptop and books.  I would use the isolation to write my novel.  I picture myself at a table in an outside bar just steps away from the beach, drinking Don Q and coke and typing away, taking refreshing breaks every now and again in the ocean. For money I could teach online, tutor whoever I could find on the island, and even possibly bartend (I’ve always wanted to do it again.) I could make it work. I know I can.

Eventually I’d like to make it more of a full split, half my time in Colorado where I would teach the remaining semesters and tutor as much as possible to save up for the move, the other half in Vieques, while traveling here and there throughout of course.

It surprises me that I am so keen to return to a place, but I pretty much cannot stop thinking about it and know it’s what I need to do and will do one day. The island life is the life for me!