"Salmonbait" wrote in message
...

On Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:05:20 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


Hopefully it is just the annual burning of the sugar cane fields.
We
lived in Ponce for 2 years and when the fields were burned all the
mongoose invaded the military base to escape the fields. Most were
owned by "Don Q" ... the rum manufacturer.


Ponce, Puerto Rico - Wow! If you'd hop on Hwy 2 and follow it around
to Isabella, you'd be where I
lived for a year or so before moving onto Ramey AFB, back in the early
50's. At that time Ramey was
populated with B-36's, a loud SOB if there ever was one. As kids, the
fun thing to do was go to the
beach at Aguadilla. On almost every Saturday morning, my Dad would
roust me out of bed around 4 AM
to go fishing at Lake Dos Bocas. We'd go right by the damn and catch a
washtub full of catfish in
about two hours, go home and clean them, and then have a fish fry for
the neighborhood. What a
blast. He said that Puerto Ricans weren't into fresh water fishing,
which is why the fish were so
plentiful.

I went to third thru fifth grades at Ramey AFB. Wow, old memories.


Salmonbait
--------------------------------------------

We took a few car trips to Isabella, "Old San Juan" and over to
Roosevelt Roads Naval Base a few times. The drive from Ponce to San
Juan was always exciting. I imagine the roads have been improved
since we were there in 1975 - 1976 but back then the main road became
a narrow, winding path through the "rain forest" areas. I remember
you passed by the big radio telescope dish in Arecibo where they
listen for radio transmissions from outer space.

Back then there were about six active US military bases in Puerto
Rico. Now there are only two.