Punjabi Chole

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Litti Chokha

Litti and Aloo ka Chokha

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Serves: 5 people

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Lost

Lost in the ocean.

The sun gently slides off the water’s edge.

Darkness dissipated by the moon.

The kayak undulates to the dolphin’s song.

Lost in a cave.

Inside, it’s the blackest black.

A new upper chamber. A blind salamander.

We crawl through the deep waters as the cave closes in.

Lost on a dead volcano’s mouth.

The expansive lava bed is dark and hard.

Two silhouettes. A fiery incantation rises!

The headlamps shine resolutely on our way that melted away.

Shall we get lost again?

  

This winter’s trip to Puerto Rico is a trip of many firsts – pan fry fresh caught mojarras off-of the Caribbean waters, camp at a man-made rainforest, hike up to the clouds through a tropical rainforest, early morning shower at the beach, rediscover the humble hog plum (amara), and do all this with our 2 month old daughter Pahi.

Our trip started at Loiza on the northeastern coast of Puerto Rico. Rigo, our Puerto Rican driver with a New York accent, drove us to our AirBnB home at Loiza. After the initial consternation around the location of Loiza was settled we broke in to friendly conversations. Rigo, like many other Puerto Ricans we met at this trip, relocated back home after spending 22 years in New York. Once we reached Loiza dad perambulated in the neighborhood looking for the house while Rigo took care of Pahi and mom. Traveling with an infant was a very interesting experience. It brought out the selfless loving human in perfect strangers; it invited conversations across language; it grabbed the attention of little boys and little girls alike; it even elicited smiles from the usually mechatronic TSA agents at the airport.

At our AirBnB at Loiza we were greeted by Linda who appeared to have passed the active years of her dog life many eons back. Now she only walked gracefully in her grand burnt sienna collar in the courtyard of our 3 storied home. The first story was besotted with leaves of the breadfruit tree some dry and some green. The second story had our bedrooms, a tiny kitchen and a wide veranda. From the veranda we could see the sea in its majestic expanse and above it a perfectly round moon on the midnight sky. Rustic wooden benches and tables by the beach were very inviting at that hour but we decided to skip that until morning and instead climbed up the single flight of stairs to the third story – the “chaat” or upper deck. 3 single clotheslines ran under a makeshift shade right under the canopy of the breadfruit tree. A single plastic chair shared the space under the shade. It looked like no one had sat on it for many months but the thought of sitting on it mid-morning with a book in hand may have crossed many minds. A rooster crowed nearby not so much to mark the crack of dawn but more to mark every passing hours of time. At 3 AM in the morning, it was time to call it a night.

We woke up late and lazily walked out to the veranda. At 10 AM the wooden benches were populated with the locals who were predominantly black and mostly retired after having worked odd jobs for many years in the US. Coffee in hand we walked out to join their conversation. I was holding Pahi and standing on the edge of the waters when I was cautioned by a local to step-away. The island had lost considerable amount of land to the hurricanes and I was standing on lose ground that could potentially slide down under my feet.  They were a motley crowd the locals. Some had newspapers in their hands, one was listening to music on an antique radio and most had either a beer or an island drink of some kind. Shirtless and shorts was their island attire. A particularly friendly local Tito helped us with locations to the local bakery and grocery store. Amar followed Tito’s directions to get us some food while Pahi and I sat on a bench by the sea. She rolled her large brown eyes at the massive leaves of an overhead coconut tree. The Caribbean sun’s harsh rays filtered through the coconut leaves and softly shone on Pahi’s curious eyes.

As it turns out the local stores maintained island hours – open late, close early and close for lunch. Consequently our lunch and dinner were to be no frills – beans & rice. Amar did the cooking in the big kitchen in the basement. The basement had the musty smell of a room that had been unused in sometime. At the center of the room was an old motorcycle, few airline-sized bottles of alcohol neatly arranged on a dresser with a big mirror, a bamboo flute and a picture of the host from when he received the best employee of the year award for the airline whose flights he flew. The objects in a room told many an interesting story in their silent ways.

A long afternoon siesta later Pahi, mom and dad went out on a tour of the neighborhood and a walk along the banks of the water. Pahi cuddled-up in the mei-tai and mostly slept. Occasionally she would wake up, emerge from the mei-tai and look around with awe for as far as she could turn her still unformed neck. As the day cooled-off people sat outside exchanging drinks and stories. The island life is a good one.

The next day was going to be a day of exploration partly of the old San Juan and partly of how to get there using public transportation. We set out early but just as we were locked the gates and said good-bye to Linda, Tito appeared out of nowhere. That morning he was in luck with fishing. He caught 4 mojarras of which he wanted to give us two. Tito was retired but occasionally sold his catch to neighbors after leaving enough for his food. I guess that made him a fisherman. He followed him to his house to get our share of the fish. On the way a woman handed him a yellow-orange cocktail that he promptly gulped it down. Tito had a rich life rife with 19 children and grandchildren from 3 women. And now he is settled with two dogs and a cat by the sea. Every morning before the sun rises he goes out into the sea where the water is shallow and throws his fishing net. The rest of his day is spent between drinking with friends and watching the sun as it comes up and goes down. We thanked Tito for the fish and invited him for dinner that evening with fish, rice, beans and the Puerto Rican rum lazily named Don Q after Don Quixote by the Catalonian producers.

This entire detour with the fish set us off by a few hours in the morning. We were finally on our way to the bus station at 11:30 AM. We hitched a ride to Loiza town and from there took a bus to Isla Verde and then to San Juan. With buses running on random schedules we finally got to San Juan in about 2 hours. Once in San Juan we went to see the old forts – Castillo de Felipe del Morro and Castillo de San Cristobal that the Spaniards used to fortify and protect Puerto Rico from the seaborne enemies. The journey back home was an adventurous with about an hour of walking back home from Loiza town. We had missed the last bus home.

The next day we were to meet our friends KK & KV who were flying into Puerto Rico from Washington DC to spend the next 4 days travelling with us. We hitched a ride to Loiza town on a mini van driven by a woman who was holding a drink in her hands. The car was almost full with 3 kids in the back and another adult in the front. The bus from Loiza was about to drive off just as we got there. We made a dash towards the bus. Pahi’s head bobbed in and out of the Mai Tai that I was wearing her in. We made it. At Isla Verde we waited for the bus to San Juan. An elderly women soon joined us at the bus stop. She was an Evangelical Christian and she had made it her mission to persuade me to read the gospels. I told her I would do that in exchange for her reading the Bhagawat Gita. Once in old San Juan we found ourselves in a tiny corner restaurant by a cobbled street. The 21-year-old waitress and daughter of the restaurant owner loved Pahi. She was pregnant herself and expressed her fears of raising a baby as a single mom. The mystery of the mojarras continued to elude us as neither mother nor daughter had ever heard of that fish. We finally met up with KK & KV at the forts and walked on the cobbled streets to get some dinner. An Italian restaurant in Puerto Rico is not the smartest choice for food but we had to settle with what was immediately available given our friends were very hungry. Back at home I retired with Pahi while the others made a short trip to the local Walmart to stock up for camping food for the next few days.

I woke up to another gorgeous morning, washed up and walked out to the veranda. KK, KV & Amar were lazily sipping their morning coffee with some scrambled eggs and bread. The coconut tree lined beach, the sound of the waves crashing against the shore, the congregation of bare-top men in the neighborhood, the crowing rooster everything took them back to Palakkad in Kerala. But we had to rush. We had a long drive south to the salt flats and lighthouse in Cabo Rojo. A brief while later everything was packed and ready to go. Unfortunately Linda found the gates open and decided to take a stroll outside. We got in the car with the engine running while Amar tried to chase Linda back home. The harder her tried the further she ran away. Tito finally came to Amar’s rescue and gave him a mini lesson in animal psychology. He said that when the “big boys” chased Linda she will find her way home. And so she did.

Finally we were on our way to Cabo Rojo with one stop in between. Rio Camuy caverns in northwest Puerto Rico. They were natural limestone caves carved out by the underground river Camuy. As we got close to the caverns our hearts sank. The entrance gates were closed. The guard on duty sat on a chair in front of the gates. There were three other people with him – a slightly bigger man in police uniform, a husband and a wife. Contrary to what the website said, the caves were closed for Christmas eve. Amar stepped out of the car to talk to the guard. Meanwhile I tried to find a seat close to the gate so I could nurse Pahi. The guard asked me to use a seat behind him. While I sat there nursing an entertaining scene unfolded with the conversations between the people who had gathered there. The guard complained about Puerto Rico and the strictly mercenary attitude of its people. He advised everyone to vacation at the neighboring Dominican Republic. The husband said that if making money is so important businesses, in this case the caves should have been open. The wife complained about the money they spent staying at an expensive hotel nearby in the hopes of visiting the caves, which now they couldn’t. Suddenly a teenage girl joined the scene crying and the wife tried to console her. As it turns out she was wooed out of her hotel by her boyfriend of 5 minutes who she met there. That discussion then unfolded into the dangerous and thriving human trafficking business in Puerto Rico.

By this time many tourists drove in to the closed gates and drove away dismayed. The guard was still absorbed in the conversation, so KV filled his shoes for a short while arming the tourists with the necessary information to come visit the caves when they would reopen in 2 days. The guard did manage to redirect many of the tourists, including us, to a nearby restaurant that his friend ran. Given this unexpected closure we needed a place to re-strategize our travel plans and we needed food before that.

The restaurant was close by. A colony of wasps had made it there home near the tables that offered outside seating. We found an alternate place, laid out the food & maps and started planning. In this alternate plan we were to pitch tent at bosque estatal de Toro Negro for the next two nights. From there we drive down to Cabo Rojo. That meant one important change to our itinerary. We had to cancel that night’s AirBnB reservation with our host Ricardo at Cabo Rojo. And thus started the saga of Ricardo and Cabana Kittens, his listing on AirBnB. Ricardo was extremely responsive until he found out that we are asking for a cancellation. Finally Amar called him multiple times until he agreed to cancel our booking and refund us the money. We managed to finish up this conversation just as we lost signal closer to the mountains in Toro Negro.

Toro Negro is a lush, man-made forest reserve maintained by DRNA, Puerto Rico’s Department for Natural and Environmental resources. It took only 75 years to grow a forest on what was once a heavily cultivated coffee plantation. That would be 75% of a healthy human lifetime. So, if we wanted to we each could create a forest in our lifetime. How many of us would? I want to leave a world full of trees for Pahi to breathe and live in.

We reached the campsite by 4 PM. We were greeted by a cat that we christened as Toritos. There was one other car in the parking lot. The campsite was beautifully managed with 6 campgrounds, 1 community fireplace for campers to cook together, clean bathrooms and showers and the best part, a natural swimming pool right by the campsite. Many hiking trails into the forest were easily accessible from the campsite. We got to business before it got too dark. By 5:30 PM our tents were pitched, sleeping bags laid out inside on sleeping mats. I took Pahi into the tent to give her a wash, feed and put her to sleep. I have camped out so many times in my past life but this time was so different and so special. I felt ever so grateful to the tent for providing Pahi a protective shelter in a fierce jungle. I felt ever so thankful to the sleeping bag for providing Pahi a comfortable bed on a harsh uneven ground. Lulled by the symphony of a thousand coqui frogs Pahi fell asleep promptly. The soft silver rays of a perfect moon gently crept into the tent as if to greet Pahi into this beautiful world. Noodles and soup and warm coffee cooked over a difficult campfire made for a perfect end to a long day. 

After an elaborate early morning breakfast we set-off on a trail that started behind our campsite. The trail took us through short ferns, tall palm & orange trees and many orchids.  We completed the loop in about for about 4 hours. Back at the campsite we had a great lunch and hung out at our private natural swimming pool. Pahi took her first dip in the water. After lunch we went out for a second shorter hike that started near a river-fed swimming pool that was completely dry. On this hike we caught some rain but made it back to the campsite dry and ready for dinner. Having mastered the art of making fire the previous night Amar got on task and very soon everyone was cooking a delicious dinner. Our plan was to leave early morning the following day to see the dry forest in Guanica and the salt flats in Cabo Rojo. We retired early.

After quick breakfast, tents packed, car loaded we were on our way. Bosque Estatatal de Guanica is a dry (low rainfall) forest in southwest Puerto Rico. The forest was located right by the beach. It was a visual paradox to see so much water right by a dry forest. This is a perfect example of the diversity of Puerto Rico’s terrain. Because of the heat Pahi, Amar and I decided to hangout by the beach while KK and KV took off on a hike. From a distance we could see brown trails with giant cacti with stubbly shrubs on either side.

This was Pahi’s first official trip to the beach. At mid afternoon it was extremely hot and Pahi had no sunscreen on. So we set-up our beach tent and rushed Pahi into it. Amar and I took turns staying with Pahi in the tent and enjoying the warm waters that had a beautiful turquoise blue. A short while later KK and KV were back with much needed tender coconuts and cold beer. At Guanica, we felt very far from the cooler green rain forest that we had spent the past 2 days. We couldn’t wait to get back.

From Guanica we drove East towards Cabo Rojo to see the salt flats and the Lighthouse. We reached the Lighthouse just as the sun was setting. It marked the Southwestern tip of Puerto Rico. It stood at the end of a road bordered by tall sharp cliffs that disappeared into the water. The place was full of tourists that were capturing the sunset with endless pictures. We stood on the rocky promontory watching the relentless sun disappear into the majestic Caribbean. A solitary ship tried to stay steady on the waters and the Lighthouse beacon indicated nightfall. We walked back to the car. That night we stayed at a hotel in a popular tourist surf town of La Parguera in Lajas. After dinner, KK & KV went out on a tour of the local bioluminescence bay while we coiled back to our bed.

From Southwest we drove East the next day morning to see the El Yunque tropical rainforest. Cutting across the island it was a bit of a drive. We got to El Yunque by about 3 PM in the evening. With only 2.5 hours left until sunset we parked the car and got on a hike to the top on the El Yunque trail. We got on the trail together but KK & KV got ahead of us while I took multiple breaks to feed Pahi. I was wearing Pahi for the first hour of climb when I handed her over to Amar. As we climbed up we saw the flora change from Palo Colorado to Palm Trees to the cloud forest of dwarf trees at the very top. Nearing the peak we got caught in some heavy downpour but kept walking. We had to get out of the forest before it got dark. We felt the cold misty cloud on our faces as we got closer the peak. The trail felt like a stairway to heaven. We made it to the observation tower at the top but could not spend too much time there. Pahi was uncomfortable with the drop in temperatures at the top and the heavy winds.

On our way back we missed a turn that set us off on a different trail back to the parking lot. We met a group of Spaniards who were hiking back on the same trail and assured us that we were on the shortest trail back. The women in the group were rather intrigued by Pahi probably the youngest human to have ever climbed the El Yunque. There it was for Pahi – an introduction to her “roots”, to who her parents were.

We got back to the parking lot a little after dark. Our campsite for the night was at the Monserrate public beach in Luquillo. It was a 15 minutes drive from El Yuneue. The entrance gates had closed but the exit gate was still open. So we drove through the exit on the wrong side of the road. Fortunately the beach had closed for the day and there was no one besides the caretaker Maria. When I stepped out of the car with Pahi, in the dark Maria thought I was carrying a puppy. When I told her that it was a 2 months old baby she was shocked. In her best of intentions she asked me to put a blanket around the baby because it was cold although we were all sweating profusely. At the campsite we also met a young couple that were on their honeymoon. An interesting choice for honeymoon and that is what makes this world so interesting. Variety of choices, ideas and people.

Shortly after we pitched our tents we realized that we are in the middle of massive ant colonies. So we lifted our tents and walked around until we found a relatively safe spot. This was a perfect campsite - right by the beach, clean, comfortable temperatures. We even found a great location to do the cooking for the night. Our friends were leaving the next day so it was great to do a complete recap of the past few days and how much fun it had been – driving, eating, cooking, camping, hiking. The evening ended with much laughter and full tummies.

The next day morning Pahi woke up before we did. The back of her head was sweating profusely. It had gotten very hot. The open showers for use by people at the beach were located right behind us. At 8 AM in the morning the water was very cold. I wore my swimsuit and stepped into one of the showers. It was one of the best showers I have ever had. We got ready to drive West to old San Juan to have lunch at a local joint.

We went to a local café called Café Cultura. The Frido Kahlo looking waitress was topic of much discussion at our table. Just like Frida, Amar thought that Pahi had a uni-brow too. The food was delicious – coconut milk French toast, Mollarca, Mahi Mahi with coffee sauce and many cups of cappuccino. Much to my surprise the small café even had a baby changing station in the rest room.

We dropped off KK & KV at the airport and drove to our AirBnB for the night – a beautiful small house on top of the mountains in Utuado. We met our host at a Walgreens in the main town of Utuado. From there he guided us back to his house on a steep circuitous road with orange and coffee trees on either side. Once we got home we went out for a short walk. Along the way we met an old Puerto Rican and his dog El Capitan. After having spent 22 years in Houston snow-ploughing he and his wife retired on top of the mountains. A nearly perfect life. Further down from this house the road was unpaved and it had gotten dark. So we walked back home. Amar explored the backyard and discovered a fruit called the Snow Plum. Tangy and delicious took me back home back to a fruit called ‘amara’ that grew on tall trees in the backyard vegetable garden in my father’s tiny village.

The next day was our last in Puerto Rico. I called up a few tours in Fajardo in the hopes of seeing the bioluminescent bay. Unfortunately most of the tours were sold out. Perhaps next time. We decided to hang out in old San Juan - a visit to the Native American Museum, a bit of shopping, dinner at a local restaurant and call it a night. Pahi got her massage and shower while Amar went out for a run in the very steep hills. We got on the road around noon. We got to old San Juan much late. The museum was closing in 15 minutes. So we to hung out in the museum café that was also a coffee museum. Amar bought a little hand fan made of straw for Pahi. I often use when she is outside. The fanning movement never fails to get her excited. The night was fairly short after that. Dinner and a tiny bit of shopping and we were on our way to the AirBnB for the night – a glorified students hostel where we had the best room.

I looked at Pahi on our way back home and she looked wise for a 2 month old. Travel can have that effect on people or babies.