Ex-Hillers not slipping on BANANAS in Puerto Rico

by JIM WEAVER

Did you ever dream about running away and living on a topical island? Former Chestnut Hill residents Glenn and Wynne (Carson) Curry, who had lived on Lynnbrooke Lane, did, so two years ago they packed up and moved to Vieques, Puerto Rico. They purchased an eight-room guesthouse with bar and restaurant called BANANAS located on the beach in the village of Esperanza and began a new life. The coastal resort village of 1,000 residents is located on the south shore of the island.

If you’ve heard of Vieques, it was probably in connection with the U.S. Navy’s practice bombing range. During World War II, the Navy took over two-thirds of the island and for 60 years used it for training maneuvers. “There are more craters on Vieques than on the moon,” said Glenn. Under pressure from locals, the Navy finally left in May of 2003 and turned over their property to the National (U.S.) Wildlife Service for a nature reserve. It’s now the largest nature reserve in the entire Caribbean.

The Currys are no strangers to this part of the world. Glenn holds a Ph.D. in Latin American studies from Vanderbilt University and met his future wife when they were both working at the U.S. Cultural Center in Cartagena, Columbia. Several years ago, Wynne visited a cousin who has a vacation home on Vieques. She fell in love with the island, and when Glenn wanted to make a job change (he was formerly editor of a regional art publication, Art Matters), it seemed an ideal time for a change of scene.

They learned that BANANAS was for sale, so they bought it and moved to Vieques. “We rented a place and the move was almost fun except for our dogs,” Curry explained. “We have a Golden Retriever named Emma and a Standard Poodle named Lucy. When we arrived in San Juan, we discovered that the air service to Vieques would not take our dogs.”

The Currys had to charter a plane to fly them, but there was only enough space for one person, so Wynne went with the dogs and Glenn followed on a commercial flight. Within a few months, the Currys had found a house to purchase, but it proved too small. Shortly thereafter, they bought something larger and moved again. Finally, this spring the house they wanted in the first place came on the market, and they bought it and moved again. That’s four moves in less than two years.

According to Wynne, who was at one time an advertising salesperson for the Local, “We now have five dogs, two cats and what's left of the lizard population on the island. . . One of our bartenders says that stray dogs here instinctively know that if they find a family who speaks English, they'll be well fed!

Vieques is located six miles off the eastern coast of the Puerto Rican mainland and is served by several local airlines and a ferry service. The island is 21 miles long (east to west) and six miles wide. There are about 9,000 permanent residents who work in fishing, tourism and construction. General Electric has a manufacturing plant there. Sugar was a money crop before the Navy came and took over the farmlands. While the Navy controlled a large portion on the island, there were no jobs for locals since Navy personnel were based elsewhere.

Many Vieques residents now travel to the U.S. (mostly Florida and NYC) to work there for six months before returning. Most people hold several part-time jobs. “The economy is weak,” said Curry, “but everyone anticipates the growth of tourism here will change things for the better. While Spanish is the official language, nearly everyone speaks some English as well.”

Mary Sullivan, one of the couple’s friends, is a typical "Americano." She owns a house in Vieques and says she would much rather be there than in Boston, where she has a job. (There are about 1,000 Americanos and 8,000 Viequenses on the island. Of the Americanos, about half of them are part-time residents.)

BANANAS is one of five or six beachfront bar restaurants located on the concrete “malecon” (boardwalk) in Esparanza. Hurricane Hugo hit here in September 1989, and destroyed everything, but it’s been completely rebuilt. Curry describes the guesthouse as comfortable, clean and simple. It’s funky with a lot of straw stuff, but no TV or telephone. American guests are often from New England. They summer on Cape Cod and come here in the winter. “We also get visitors from New York City, Philadelphia, and increasingly from England, Germany and even Japan,” said Glenn. In the summer when schools are on vacation in Puerto Rico, there is a large influx of visitors from the main island. The attraction is the many pristine beaches here. Unlike much of the Caribbean, Vieques has remained largely undeveloped, and the beaches here rival the best in the world. It’s actually cheaper to fly here and spend a week than to drive to the Jersey shore for a week in season.

Operating a bar and restaurant is a totally new experience for the Currys. “We ‘re open from noon to midnight every day year-round,” said Curry. “We have 25 to 30 employees, nearly all part-tine. Hiring full time employees is difficult in a society where holding several part-time jobs has been the tradition. We occasionally get stuck in the kitchen when someone doesn’t show up, and I have to pitch in. I’m no cook, so whoever is washing dishes gets an instant promotion, and I take over that position. The cuisine is strictly beach fare, with burgers, hot dogs, chicken wings and fish sandwiches. BANANAS also serves lots of salads, but it depends on the island ferry to deliver produce daily. The ferry is not always reliable, so when we can’t get our lettuce, we have to change our menu.

“Running a bar, restaurant and guest house has been more intensive and harder work than we anticipated. Only now do we feel comfortable turning things over to someone so we can get a few days to ourselves. Then there’s the paperwork. Puerto Rico has more regulations than you can imagine, and they all require paperwork.” Nevertheless, Glenn, Wynne and daughter Hope (who works at BANANAS) are happy with their decision and their new life on the tropical hideaway of Vieques.

Glenn recently wrote the following e-mail to their friend, Mary Sullivan, in Boston: “This morning Wynne found a scorpion running around our sitting area. I beat it into pulp with a shoe I'll probably never dare wear again. Our Golden Retriever has left pieces of fur on every stretch of barbed wire

around our property and yesterday left a large chunk of flesh on one.

The cute little dogs we inherited from the previous owner aredetermined to

kill our cats. The cats spend most of their time killing lizards,  the body parts of which

make wonderful eating for many varieties of ants.

Wish you were here.”

To contact BANANAS, call 787-741-8700 or e-mail atbananas@aol.com. Vieques is in the Atlantic time zone, one hour ahead of Philadelphia.