The Coconut Chronicles

Book excerpt: When Patrick and Michael buy a rambling, dilapidated house on Vieques Island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico, they can hardly believe their luck-or how much work lies ahead of them. Renovating their little corner of paradise proves to be a crash course in how Vieques works-and how it doesn't. Few projects go according to plan and many veer alarmingly off course. Along the way they learn a number of unforgettable lessons: concrete houses can have termites; five-foot iguanas aren't necessarily more afraid of you than you are of them; emergency rooms don't always stock medical supplies; and a property manager who paints your house orange instead of yellow may resign in a huff when you point out his little boo-boo. The Coconut Chronicles is a lighthearted account of Patrick's and Michael's battle to create order out of chaos in the not-always relaxing tropics.