Islands and Injuries

* Spoiler alert: If you don't like pics of flesh wounds, proceed with caution. *

I haven't blogged in a while, because Fed and I have been Island hopping for the last few days. So here's a slightly long synopsis of our last few days...

Wednesday we drove to Fajardo to catch the ferry to Vieques. Vieques is a smal island about 4mi wide and 10mi long off the East coast of Puerto Rico. It has some beautiful beaches, and is home to the supposedly brightest bioluminescent bay in the world. Fajardo has some crime, and leaving your car parked in Fajardo is always a slight risk, but we have insurance, and what else could we do? =) After about an hour or so ferry ride, we took a 15 minute ride in a publico (like a cab), except this guy was driving pretty crazy. The roads in Puerto Rico are terrible, with potholes all over the place, so this guy was bobbing and weaving through the street. Pretty crazy, but he got us to Esperanza, a small town on the south coast. We checked into our guesthouse in the afternoon, and strolled down the beach-front street. Beautiful view, but not much going on. We had dinner on the street, and stopped at the beach for a little while. Then we got ready for the bio bay, where the water glows from microorganisms in the water. There are only like 9 in the world, Puerto Rico has a few, but the one in Mosquito Bay in Vieques is supposed to be the brightest. We got picked up by our tour guide around sunset, and met up with about 15 other people. We opted for the kayak tour, which was awesome. There's no way to really explain how cool it was. You have to experience it! The most interesting thing for me was that the water doesn't just glow; you see the individual glowing particles in the water, like glitter. It was amazing. We also met a cool chick named Alessandra from Boston (almost everyone we've met is from NY or Boston), who we got to talk to during the truck ride back from the bio bay.

The next day we decided to rent scooters (aka mopeds), drive around the island a little, and beach hop. Riding scooters was pretty fun. For a while. Like I've said before, the roads in Puerto Rico are terrible. While I was riding, I hit some bad patch of road that had some sand, and...I crashed. I cut up my right knee and left foot pretty good, as well as a little on my hands. I got up and felt a little light headed, so I knelt down, and passed out for a second. Luckily there were some other tourists behind us who brought us to their house where a (pretty hungover) EMT cleaned out my wounds with rubbing alcohol (painful, yes). After that, Fed and I got back to our hotel, and Fed cleaned out my wounds pretty thoroughly with q-tips and hydrogen peroxide (very painful). Then he superglued some of the deeper cuts closed. Guerilla military medical tactics, maybe, but it worked. A little while later, he cleaned the wounds out again with iodine (also painful, especially considering I still hadn't taken any pain meds yet). I laid down for a little to recover before one of the ladies at our guest house drove us to the hospital. Here's how things looked; luckily my phone's camera sucks so you can't see all the gruesome details. =P

My right knee, though this picture makes it look like nbd.

And my left foot. Gonna get me some decent battle scars.

Note: If any medical schools are reading this, I would be happy to explain how Fed would make an excellent physician--one you would be proud to accept to your school asap. He took great care of me, and I would have been so much worse off if he hadn't been around to do so much all the time to make things easier and better for me.

At the hospital, the doctor cleaned out my wounds again (still painful) while he just whistled away (which is a dick thing to do while hurting someone). lol Then he gave me a tetanus shot (the reason we went to the hospital in the first place), an antibiotic shot, and - at the very end of all this - some pain medication. Priorities, doc, come on! =) That pain medication actually worked pretty well, cuz I was able to limp to get dinner when we got back to Esperanza.

The next day we had planned to go to Culebra, another island off the east coast that's supposed to have some of the best beaches in the world. Unfortunately, there is no ferry from Vieques to Culebra, so we had to get one from Vieques to Fajardo, and then from Fajardo to Vieques. =\ We took a publico at 10am from our guest house to catch the 11am ferry, which turned out to be the 12:30ish ferry. =P From Fajarado we drove to Walgreens to get an antibiotic prescription filled, and when we got back to the dock around 4, they told us to come back at 6 for the ferry to Culebra. We got back at 5:30 just to be safe, but we would find out that ferry was a small one for locals only. They told us we had to wait until midnight when a cargo ferry would come, and likely bring passengers back; they'd just have to ask the captain. Apparently the captain doesn't have a cell phone, or anything, because we were supposed to wait until he docked before we'd have a definitive answer on whether we'd get a ride. Also, we piad to park our car in a lot this time, instead of leaving it on the street, but we'd have to pay about $5 if we left for parking "one day" in the lot. So...we waited. For hours and hours, I sat--trying to keep my legs elevated to relieve the pain and swelling, and my butt from getting numb. lol

Fortunately, we met a local family and their friends, who were really nice, spoke english, and were great to pass the time with. I got to talk to a girl named Elena for a while, who studies mechanical engineering at the University of Puerto Rico (which Fed and I actually drove through while staying in Rincon). She speaks english really well, and it was awesome to have a cool person to talk to while we waited forever. It definitely made passing the time much more enjoyable. Since we would arrive in Culebra after hours, she offered to host us if our camping situation didn't work out, which was super nice. The ferry finally arrived -- at 2AM! Ugh. And unfortunately, it was a very old and slow cargo ferry, so it took THREE HOURS to get to Culebra. So a little after 5am, we finally arrived in Culebra. Fortunately, a bus came to take us to Flamenco beach, where we set up our tent while getting bit by mosquitoes. It was pretty dang hot in our tent, especially because we tried to start sleeping as the sun was coming up. I could only sleep on my back too cuz of my knee and foot. Needless to say, it was not our best night's sleep. We woke up around 10am, and I hobbled to the beach. Flamenco beach is possibly the most beautiful beach we've seen during our entire vacation, and I thought I'd try to see if the saltwater would feel good on the wounds. Sadly, it did not. I had been really uncomfortable and in a lot of pain, and so unfortunately, we decided to leave Culebra early so I could get back to Nancy's to recover.

I've been here now since last night, mostly resting and trying to recover. She thought it best to clean out my wounds a few times a day (always painful, when will people stop doing this to me?) Here is basically the highlight of my day so far, lol:

Yep, this is how I move around the house now. Yeah, I'm cool.

Tomorrow we're going to try to spend our last day in old San Juan to grab some trinkets, before we depart early Tu morning. Even though this injury has been rather debilitating the last few days, and we missed out on a few things we wanted to do, it's still been a great vacation. =)

A beautiful update before a few days off

Today, Nancy, Fed and I went on a catamaran trip out of Fajardo (NorthEast coast), which was awesome! We got to the docks at 9:30am, and boarded a powered sailing catamaran that would take us to a small island off the coast, and then a reef in some slightly deeper water. It was SO amazing. The water, and island, and everything is postcard beautiful, maybe even better. The water is humorously clear and warm; it's unreal. We had about a 45 min sail to a small island, where we snorkeled for an hour or so. Saw tons of fish, and enjoyed the incredible water and beautiful small island. As stunning as these pictures are, it's still so much better in person.

Fed and I enjoying our sail on a catamaran. 

Approaching our first stop.

Our view to the left prior to docking on the shore.

Our view to the right prior to docking on the shore.

Yep, here's where we were today. Where were you? ;)

The water was AMAZING!

After that we had lunch on the catamaran. From there we sailed a few minutes to a big reef, where there were TONS of fish. I mean schools of fish that would just swim all around you. And they gave us bread to feed the fish, which would cause a frenzy of tropical fish to surround you, and even eat right of our hands. It was so incredibly cool. It's hard to even blog about this, because I can't do it justice at all. But let me tell you, it was awesome.

After the exciting catamaran trip, we stopped at the Luquillo kioskos to eat at El Jefe Burger per Nancy's recommendation. Now we're packing up to leave for Vieques in the morning, assuming the ferry will be running tomorrow. =P

I'm not bringing my camera or laptop to Vieques, since we're camping and I don't want to take any chance of having those things stolen. So I probably won't be able to make any blog updates until we get from Culebra on Sunday. Be patient until then; I'll post as much and as soon as I can. =)

Irene keeps messing with our plans

So today we left early in the morning to head toward El Yunque - the beautiful pride and joy of Puerto Rico, an outstanding rainforest that's a finalist for the seven natural wonders of the world. We ended up taking a major detour, which led us through an hour drive through the outskirts of the rainforest. It was a nice drive, but it was not where we were supposed to go. Eventually we found our way back though, and we made it to the heart of El Yunque!

Aaaaaand it was closed. =( Irene had caused massive flooding, mudslides, and crashed trees on all the major hiking trails. All we could do was go to the information center, which had a gift shop, a couple exhibits, a cafe, and very short trail that took all of about 5 minutes to walk through. Granted, the tiny bit of the rainforest we did get to see was nice, but we couldn't help but leave just a tad disappointed. Especially considering that the trails aren't expected to be open until next week or later (after we leave). Note to self: when planning a vacation in the tropics during hurricane season, do the best stuff FIRST, not last. lol

Some of the tiny bit of El Yunque we got to see.

Wildlife everywhere, per usual.

My friend Fady going Tarzan-status on these jungle vines. 

Though not quite the peak of the rainforest, we still got a decent view.

Fed and I outside the visitor's center of El Yunque, and no further. lol

After our little tease of El Yunque, we stopped in Condado (a city right outside of San Juan, where we went for dinner two nights ago) and ate lunch at a place RIGHT on the water. It was pretty sweet sipping pina coladas to the crash of the ocean waves and a hint of salt water in the air. Tough life, I know, but we're getting used to it. =) We ate paella, which is a large rice dish always served for two, full of all kinds of sea food, as well as plantain fritters on the side. It was delicious, and extremely filling.

Sipping pina coladas with an ocean-front view.

Lunch: seafood paella, plantain fritters, and pina coladas. =)

We also bought a tent today, for when we camp on Vieques and Culebra. Excited about that. Tomorrow we'll be on the Spread Eagle II, a powered sailing catamaran that offers an all-day sailing/snorkeling/eating trip. It sounds like a really great time. Plus I'll continue to get more tan, and Fed will continue to get more brown. lol

A day to relax, and cook

After a busy day yesterday, we basically did nothing today. Woke up around 10:30am, and hung around the house until the afternoon. We did figure out our plan for the remainder of our trip, which was good, but no real exciting adventures.

The Pedersen's have been incredibly kind, accommodating, and generous to us. So last night at dinner (Gunnar insisted on treating us) we offered to make dinner the next day. We went to the store to get ingredients, and started cooking away. We made baked pork chops over semi-homemade stuffing over apple filling, accompanied by grilled potatoes, mixed vegetables, and sweet rolls. Not too shabby for two bachelors, eh? =) The Pedersen's seeemed to enjoy it, and we were happy to do it.

The Pedersen's enjoying a home-cooked meal from my friend Fady and I.

That was basically the highlight of today. lol Tomorrow we're going through El Yunque, the beautiful rainforest of Puerto Rico that's a finalist for one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It'll be interesting to see how it looks after Irene passed through a few days ago, but it should be fun to hike through either way. Expect pictures from the highest point on Puerto Rico manana!

So much fun yesterday!

(This post has lots of pictures, and a video, to make up for my lack of media in the last few days.)

Yesterday was a pretty incredible today. It started at 9am with Gunner knocking on our door (bad news), because he wanted to tell us we were going jet skiing (very good news). So we got ready, and headed to the water. We went to some little hidden cove place, which was actually really beautiful, and camped out right on the shore. The place we camped out at had a gorgeous view:

Our view from our cabana right along the coast.

We didn't waste too much time enjoying the scenery though before hopping on the jet ski. Gunner took Fed out first, then he took me out, and it was awesome. But then Fed and I went out by ourselves, which was even more awesome. I drove first (of course), and then Fed had a turn to drive. I've decided that jet skiing is the most awesome thing on the entire planet. I want a jet ski.

Fed jet skiing with Gunner.

Me jet skiing with Gunner.

Fed and I jet skiing. Me driving like a boss!

Fed and I jet skiing. Fed driving ok. ;)

After some bbq'd hot dogs, we went another round on the jet ski, only this time we drive alone. The water got a little choppy from the wind, and that combined with the freedom of riding alone, made it SO much fun. I can't even describe it, but what I can say is that it is impossible to not smile while riding a jet ski. =)

There was a sunken barge right off the shore (which you can see in the picture above), which we snorkeled around, and saw TONS of awesome sea life. Tons of colorful fish, these cool squid, sea urchins, prawns, this lobster/crab thing, and a humongous baracuda-like fish. Snorkeling might be second on the list of most awesome things on the planet.

We actually found tons of living creatures all over. Besides all the fish and stuff in the water, we found a giant starfish, some big crabs, and a few iguanas! They're pretty giant, and they would come right next to our tent to eat Pringles (who knew?). lol Overall, it was just a super fun day down at the coast with the Pedersens.

Fed with a giant starfish. ("Hurry up and take it, it's prickly!" lol)

Iguanas just all up in our business to eat our Pringles. Pretty cool.

After getting home and unpacking from the beach, we all showered and got ready to head to Condado for dinner. Condado is a pretty cool little city, and the street we were on has some hopping night life. We ate at some nice italian restaurant, which was pretty delicious, and very filling. After dinner, we walked down the street a little, and ended up at a Hilton, which had a big room when you walk in with lights, and music, and people, and festivities. The room was really stylish and cool, and there were clowns, mimes, people on stilts, gold statue people, and other interesting forms of entertainment. It was pretty entertaining to watch, and be a part of:

Me dancing with a masquerade stilt lady. (Also I apparently have white pupils and two chins, lol)

There was also a sick DJ in an awesome suit. His headphones were actually like a space helmet that plugged in on back of his head. He had like a stormtrooper suit, with a neon LED light vest, and glowsticks around his ankles. He looked like a boss. He was a pretty good DJ, and we would dance along with his mix. He was so much fun to watch. You couldn't watch him and not just smile a little to yourself. Check out just a little taste of what he had to offer:

So basically we just hung out in the lobby of the Hilton all night, listening to live DJ music, and watching the ridiculous circus all around us. It was pretty bizarre, and definitely super awesome. You had to be there.

So yesterday was for sure one of the highlight days of our trip thus far. Today we'll probably lay low, and plan out how to venture to the East coast tomorrow. We're hoping we can get a ferry to Culebra or Vieques tomorrow, in which case we'll be living on those islands for the next few days. =)

More deep fried food!

So today, Fed and I ventured out to the East coast. We had planned on being there already, and heading to the islands of Vieques and Culebra, but hurrican Irene has set our plans back a bit. So we went exploring there to see the condition of the East coast, and if ferrys are still running trips out to the island.

Driving, as usual, is crazy. Especially now that power loss has turned off many street lights. In the states, we know that when a street light is down, you behave as if it's a stop sign. In Puerto Rico, when a street light is down, you behave as if a shark with a sawed off shotgun is hot on your tail. Basically it's a mad free-for-all of who can weave through the traffic first.

Our first stop was Luquillo beach, which is known to have kioskos - little food shacks right on the beach. And it's true. Though we didn't get food at first. We stopped at the beach right behind this long line of kioskos. Even though it was a little overcast, it had been almost a week since we had been in the ocean, so swimming was long overdue. The water was actually pretty nice, and the sun came out just as we got out and laid on the sand for a bit.

From there we continued our expedition toward Fajardo, where ferrys usually depart to Vieques and Culebra. We never really found any ferries, but we did find some closed roads and a Navy base. So hopefully when we actually need to get a ferry, we'll have better luck finding one. lol

After our fruitless search for ferrys, we went back to Luquillo for lunch. We basically tried something from almost every kiosko. And did I mention that EVERYTHING is fried? =) We started off with like a lunch version of banana split: a fried plantain, split and filled with ground beef and cheese. Also we tried a poinono, which is another way to fill fried plantains with ground beef and cheese. We also tried something like a crab corndog (but with way more greasy fried outside). I also tried a crab sandwich thing, but of course the outside bread thing was fried. A pina colado helped wash down the grease. =)

Left: Poinono, ground beef stuffed inside sweet plantain, then fried. Right: ground beef in sweet plantain, then fried. lol

Fed and I outside the Luquillo Kioskos, though this picture doesn't really do it justice. At all.

After our excursion, we headed back to the Pedersen's house, where we had great pasta leftovers, and another pina colada which Gunner made for us. I know, tough life. =)

P.s. Frogs, aka coqui ("coe-kee") are really popular here in Puerto Rico. They "chirp" really loudly at night, and I finally found one last night!

A little coqui I found in the Pedersen's front yard. Nbd. =)

Chilling at Ft. Buchanon

So we've been having a great time at the Pedersen's house. Yesterday we went to the Bacardi distillery a couple miles away, which was actually pretty interesting. Then we came home to a wonderful home-cooked italian meal. It's amazing having such great hospitality.

Today we slept in a bit again, had some breakfast, and went shopping! =) We started at the largest mall in the Caribbean, which is a confusing labyrinth of stores, paths and escalators. It's a pretty cool mall, but it's a doozy to get around. I don't think we saw the whole thing, but we were able to wander around for a good hour and a half or so. Then we went to a outlet mall, which was mediocre.

For dinner, we went to a country club type place on base, where we got bbq'd ribs and pina coladas. =) We're chilling at home now, which is great. Tomorrow, Fed and I might venture East coast to see how things look, and try to figure out when we can head out there to visit the NE and the other islands off the East coast. Sat we're supposed to finally see some sunshine, so I can break out the ol' camera and take some more pictures. =)

Forgot to mention...

I forgot to mention, on our last day in Ponce, we traveled a little to the city of Guanica, where we rented kayaks to paddle to Gilligan's Island (lol). Turns out Gilligan's island is a small patch of land filled almost entirely with mangroves, and is actually one of a few islands in this small clump less than a mile off the coast of the main island. So fed and I rented a kayak for a few hours, and paddled around and between the various little island. We snorkeled in the shallow water, and saw all kinds of new and beautiful sea life. One fish even swam around my leg and nibbled at it! There was a small pier too, under which TONS of fish were swimming around. They were so trusting, one of them even let me touch it! =) There were also these crazy spider/crab-like things. And the water 30 ft or so from the coast toward the sand was SO incredibly warm. I think honestly it might have been 85 degrees; it felt like a hot tub. Overall, it was just really fun and awesome. Certainly a diamond in the rough as far as tourist attractions go.

Day 11-15?: Tropical storm craziness

It's been a few days now since I've blogged because hurricane Irene has been messing with our plans a bit. After our friends left Ponce, Fed and I had a few days to hang out in the town, which was pretty cool. We tried these delicious huge burritos that some guy in a little metal cart was making. They were delicious.

Giant, delicious burritos from a cart outside our hotel in Ponce.

Our last night there, we stumbled onto a big reggae concert in a closed-off street of the downtown area. We heard there was a hurricane warning, and that the south might get it extra hard, so we headed North to San Juan again on our way to the NorthEast.

Fed and I in the streets of Ponce for a big reggae concert.

We had trouble finding available hotels and hostels, but we ended up finding room in a hostel in Old San Juan that Sharon was staying at. So we stayed there the night through the hurricane, which was pretty crazy! Crazy winds, and tons of rain. We lost power pretty quickly. Even though the center of the storm passed, the rain and the winds stayed for a few days, and with the rain/winds/floods/mudslides/broken trees/etc., we decided to stay put for another day. So we lived in a powerless hostel in Old San Juan for a few days, which was certainly an interesting experience. We met a girl names bridget in our hostel, who hung out with us a bit, and so the four of us just tried to stay busy and have fun. The hostel was pretty nice (minus the power loss), and the view outside our common area was pretty awesome.

The view from our hostel in Old San Juan after the storm.

Yesterday, we brought Sharon to the airport in the afternoon, after her flight was delayed, and hung out in the airport for a little while until she checked in. It's been really fun hanging out with her for the last week or so, but now it's down to just my friend Fady and I again.

Sharon, Me, and Fed playing a ridiculous card game in the airport. lol

Last night, we stayed with Nancy and Gunner Pederson; Nancy is a good friend of my Mom's. They graciously offered their house to us on base in Fort Buchanon, which is great. We have electricity, food, TV, internet, a warm bed, Wii - it's awesome. =) We're waiting until the NE clears up a bit, so we can go to Fajardo, Luquillo, Vieques, Culebra, El Yunque, etc., so we'll probably stay here a few more days.

Today we woke up real late, had breakfast, and have been hanging out around the house enjoying the cool inside air, warm water, working lights, cable television, and internet access. =) Also, I ate a fresh coconut from a tree in Nancy's front yard which I had to open with a hammer! I realized that for sure noone could survive on a coconuts, because the calories you get from a coconut are dwarfed by the calories it takes to obtain, open, and consume said coconut. That being said, the water inside, and the meat of the coconut are a tasty treat to enjoy inside an air conditioned home once you've gone through all the work.

Trying to crack open a coconut with a hammer. Also flashing my lower back.

Enjoying the fruit of my labor. (Get it, fruit of my labor? Cuz it's a coconut...haha)

Who knows what will happen next; Irene certainly shook up our plans. lol So stay tuned...

Day 10: A quiet day to recooperate

Yesterday  was pretty low-key, since the last few nights have been pretty crazy. We started the morning off at Church's Chicken. I should let you know that Burger King and Church's Chicken are EVERYWHERE in Puerto Rico, and basically always next to each other. Not that fast food is in any way a real highlight of the latin culture here in Puerto Rico, but we thought the prevalence of these chains must say something about what cuisines Puerto Ricans enjoy. lol Nothing to write home about, but now we can say we tried it. And apparently they had decent coffee too (ironically in stark contrast with Burger King, whose coffee is pretty terrible).

After "breakfast", we all went to the Museo de Arte de Ponce (Ponce Museum of Art). They had some really cool pieces. There was everything from paintings, to sculptures, to drawings, to insect collections. But since the girls had been there before, and they and Nick needed to drive to San Juan that day, we didn't have time to see everything. So Fed and I might go back if we get the chance to see the rest of the exhibits.

Nick, Fed, Sharon, Me and Renee at the Museo de Arte de Ponce

After the museum, our friends left and it was back to just Fed and I. It was great to have them around, but it's a lot more chill now that it's just Fed and I again. =) I crashed at our hotel room in the afternoon while Fed went shopping while I slept. After I woke up, we went to find coffee around the downtown plaza of Ponce. It took us 3 tries to find a coffee shop that was open, but we found a gift shop with a cafe in the back. We looked around there for a while just window shopping (and Fed actually shopping).

By the way, Ponce is sometimes known as a kinda stuck-up town. They have a saying "Ponce es Ponce, lo demas es parking!" which means (Ponce is Ponce, the rest [of Puerto Ricp] is parking). There are plenty of shirts and souvenirs displaying this cute little motto of theirs.

We ate pizza at a place downtown, which was actually very good. And the downtown-ish area of Ponce is pretty cool, and some cool buildings and landmarks. In particular, Ponce is known for is their firehouse, which is pretty awesome.

The famous Ponce firehouse

Some beautiful views in the downtown plaza of Ponce

We hung out in our hotel room for a bit in the evening, before calling it an early night. Today we're kayaking to Gilligan's Island (I know, cute, huh?) which off the coast of Gaunica, a city a little West of Ponce. It's a small uninhabited island about a mile off the coast, supposedly with some good snorkeling surrounding the island. Should be fun. Tonight is our last night in Ponce, and then we're off to find more adventures in Puerto Rico!

Day 9: Traveling to ponce. And lots of dancing

So I'm behind on my blog again because tomorrow was another yet - but very fun - night. Yesterday we checked out of our hostel in Rincon, and the five of us headed toward Ponce. We all went together because Nick was stopping by on his way back to San Juan (and staying in our room), and the girls needed a place to pick up transportation. Well once we got to Ponce, we found out the public transportation had been closed for hours. So basically all of us would have another night together, but this time in a new city (well mostly new; the girls had stayed a few days in Ponce before heading to Rincon). Our hotel, which we would all end up sharing, had a pretty nice view of the streets.

The view from the balcony of our hotel room. Unfortunately, we had to switch rooms after the first night.

We didn't arrive in Ponce until the afternoon, so we mostly had time to check in, park our cars, take a quick tour of the streets around our hotel, and eat dinner before it was late. But that's really when the fun started. Around 10pm, we went to a bar called Kenpas that was right around the corner from our hotel. We sat outside, had some drinks (water for me), and played cards for an hour or so.

After that, we went into the back of the bar where there is a big club-style dance room with outragiously loud music. At first, noone was in there at all. So we just took over the place, though the music wasn't great. After a few minutes, the DJ came in, and started playing some techno-y,trance-y, dance-y kinda music that we started all dancing to. It was still pretty much just us for almost an hour, until other people started coming in. It was so fun because people were a little hesitant first, but we (Fed and I mostly), would walk over and grab someone and make them dance in the circle, or on the small stage. A few people refused, but for most people that was enough to get them dancing. It was so much fun. Needless to say, my latin hips were on display for everyone that night. That's how I do. It was really warm in the club, but we were all having so much fun dancing, that we didn't end up leaving until after 3am. It was a long night, but it was great fun. I really wish we had pictures of us dancing though... =)

Day 8: Caves and Ice Cream

This post is going to be short because It's almost 3:30am right now... =)

Today we left in the morning with Sharon and Renee for the Rio Camuy Caves Park, after stopping for coffee and breakfast. We only saw part of the caves, because the whole thing is a massive labyrinth of tunnels and stuff. But what we did see looked amazing!

Renee, Me, Sharon, and Fed just inside the entrance of the caves...

A little taste of what it looked like inside. It ook like 200 hundred pictures, but I didn't feel like looking through them all tonight to choose the best one. Sorry. lol

The rainforest outside the caves was heavenly beautiful!

We ate lunch at a mediocre place by the caves, but after that, we stopped by this ice cream place that was supposed to be good, and offer many flavors. It's all true. They offered - to name a few - avacado, pumpkin, rice and beans (actually very good), guava, passion fruit, rice milk, sweet potato, and so so many more, many of which I didn't even know that the flavor was because it was in Spanish. After like 5 tasters I got embarrassed to keep asking for samples, but it was definitely really fun trying everything. I wish it was much closer to us so we could go again.

After getting back, we met up with nick and all five of us just jung out all night. I think we are the only ones at the hostel tonight, so we basically had the place to ourselves. We had a really interesting and fun night. We talked in the living room, played some games, went in the pool, and just hung out all night (until 3am). It's been a lot of fun having these people to take adventures with, and when we head to Ponce tomorrow afternoon, we're actually planning on sharing a room with Nick for at least one night.

Tomorrow, another day another city. Stay tuned. Ponce here we come! =)

Day 7: Does tropical paradise ever get old?

I'm guessing no. Because today was another great day. Fed and I started off our morning by driving into a little downtown area of Rincon to get coffee and breakfast. Nothing particularly authentic - just breakfast burritos and coffee - but it was pretty good. From there we went to snorkel again, which is still one of my favorite things I've ever done ever. I saw many new kinds of fish, including what I think was a rainbow parrotfish, which was absolutely breathtakingly vivid. We've been hearing talks of a tropical storm heading our way, and while we were snorkeling, it started pouring rain! Which was actually pretty cool.

Not my picture, but basically I followed one of these Rainbow Parrotfish for like 10 minutes while snorkeling. If you can believe it, the one I saw was even more incredible and colorful than this one, especially from like 2 feet away the whole time!

After the beach, we came back to the hotel only to get in the pool. I think we've spent at least 20% of our time in Puerto Rico submerged in some kind of water. While in the pool, it started to pour again. The water felt so warm while the cool rain on our heads was refreshing. After the rain, we ate passion fruit that fell from the trees. Living the life. The rain also brought out a lot of cool animals.

Lizards runnin' e'rywhere after some heavy tropical rain.

These crazy worm things. This one was like 4" long. Notice the weird butt-whisker. So strange....

Our friends - Sharron, Renee, and Nick (our new roommate in the hostel who we only briefly met last night) - joined us at the pool for a little while. These cats are all really cool, and it's been nice having some extra people to hang out with, and go places with. After hanging by the pool for a while, we got ready and spent a little while relaxing at the hostel. We had dinner at Harbor Restaurant, a nearby place right on the beach. We sat outside with a view of the ocean and the ambient noise of crashing waves. I tried Acapao de Pescados. Acapao is a very Puerto Rican kind of stew; mine was with fish. I also got fried plantains on the side. Everything was very good. To top it off, I tasted almond flan, which was delicious. Very almondy, and very tasty.

Acapao de Pescados with friend plantains for dinner.

With a fancy and delicious almond flan for dessert.

We just finishing hanging out in our hotel living room talking, and preparing to visit the Rio Camuy Caves tomorrow, assuming they aren't closed from the rain. Hopefully they are not, which will make tomorrow a pretty exciting day. =)

Vacationing isn't all easy living though; here are some more first world problems I've had to deal with:
#5. I had to sleep on the beach for half an hour because I was too full from breakfast to snorkel right away.
#6. I had to get out the pool to pick fresh fruit off the ground. I was a little chilly during that time.

Day 6: Making Friends

So today was a pretty interesting day. It started with a nice photoshoot on the beach in Rincon with the CLEAREST water:

The beautiful beach right outside our hotsel in Rincon.

A kid name Jacob who snorkeled around me while I took pictures. You might think that water is really shallow because of how clear it is, but it's at least a couple feet deep right there.

After I came back to our hostel, Fed and I met two girls who came to Puerto Rico a couple weeks ago, met at a hostel in San Juan, and have been traveling together since. We exchanged numbers, hoping to do some stuff with someone else for a change. Fed and I went from there to buy snorkel stuff. I also bought an underwater film camera, hoping to have some cool shots of what's under the water. We then headed toward a nearby beach, that was supposed to have good snorkeling. Before heading into the water, we ordered food from a small little place near the beach. I tried a lobster and guava & cheese empanadillas, and coconut water. Everything was delicious. Tomorrow they have shark. I'm pretty sure we're going back, and I'll take pictures.

Snorkeling was the most amazing thing ever. The water is so clear, and right off the coast are coral reefs with so many colorful fish and sea life! It's like living in the fish tank at a fancy restaurant or hotel. I bought an underwater film camera, so I'm hoping those pictures will look alright when I get them developed. But we spent at least a couple hours just swimming around, watching so many different kinds of brightly colored fish just swim about. SO awesome!

After snorkeling for a while, we went to the pool, and the girls we met came after a little while too. Also joining us was this local huy who speaks fluent english and who works at the hostel. We all just talked for a while, and he gave us fresh passion fruit to try (not the purple kind, but this yellow kind) which was great. We were asking him about places to eat, and where to find local food, and he offered to cook. So we bought groceries and he made us all a meal. It was all just really fun. I think there's certainly better food in Rincon, but the experience was really cool.

Having a home-cooked family-style meal with our new friends at the Rincon Inn.

Tomorrow we're just chilling, eating, and snorkeling, so it should be another great day. Buenos noches, amingos; hasta manana. =)

Day 5: Mostly Driving

Much of today was spent en route. We woke up late, checked out of our hotel in San Juan, and hit the road. We burned through almost a whole tank of gas during our first few days in San Juan, so we stopped at a Texaco on our way out.

That's where our adventures started. Now, I'm getting better at Spanish, but I am in no way fluent. Well, I'm pumping gas, and this lady comes up just spewing out all kinds of Spanish. I catch very little of what she's saying, but I can tell she was asking me to help her with her car. She didn't speak English. Despite the fact that I clearly was not understanding what she was saying (because I specifically told her in Spanish that I did't understand) she was persistent. I figured out she wanted me to open the hood of her car, and prop it up on that little kickstand thing. So I did. Then she opened her trunk and gestured to a bottle of vegetable oil. Now I had no idea where this was going. But I opened it up and it was just water. Since my car has a coolant leak, I have to top off the coolant tank with water every so often (I use water because coolant is super expensive to keep refilling). So I asked her if her car was hot, and realized she wanted me to add more water to her coolant tank to keep it cool. Which I did. And that was that. She thanked me a bunch, and even managed to say "thank you" in English. It's no big deal, but some old lady is driving safe and sound today thanks to me. And I did it all in Spanish. =)

After that, we headed toward the black sands beach near Aricebo, along the NorthWestern coast. Based on pictures, this beach looked SO cool. Based on my pictures, it was just pretty cool. lol The drive in, however, was awesome because we took this dirt road through a forest for miles - basically just driving through a tunnel of vibrant green trees and foliage. The ocean was literally separated from a forest/jungle by about 30 feet of sand. Where else can you find dense vegetation and an ocean so close??

Here's where we came out of to get to the beach. Crazy, right?

The black sands beach. Not too shabby. =)

I love this because the coast is like a palette of so many colors! Also my picture is kinda crooked. lol

Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains rock.

5 minutes of crawling through a jungle and 22 pictures later, I got a good picture of this pretty little guy.

From the "black" sands beach, we went to an outlet mall to shop around a little, and ate some not-too exotic food at the food court there. From there we drove our destination - Rincon. Driving in Puerto Rico is so nice, because the view is always stunning. It's like the surroundings are in high def: the vegetation is so green, and the clouds are so big and white and defined, against a sky that is so blue. Everything is just so vivid. And the countryside isn't very industrialized, so most of the time right next to a freeway is a seemingly unexplored and uninhabited forest.

Btw, we found out from Gabriel, our tour guide from yesterday, that cops basically never give parking tickets, or moving violations. Which explains why people make left turns on red from the right hand lane, and why they park on any side of street, or curb, even if it specifically says no parking. Knowing this, Fed and I have started to park wherever we want. It's awesome. F la policia! haha

When we got to Rincon tonight, in a kinda sketchy hostel/inn, we went to check out the beach. Here, the beach is SO different than in San Juan. Maybe it was just that we went after sunset, but it's a totally different feel. The waves only break maybe 10 feet before the end of the water; the rest of the ocean is very calm. There is nothing in the difference, or to the sides, so your entire view is just ocean and sky. It's so hard to explain, but we were only maybe 50 feet from the shore, but it felt like we were in the middle of the ocean. It was truly surreal. Tomorrow I will take some pictures, so hopefully I can show you what I mean.

We got ice cream down the street, where we tried CORN flavored ice cream. Really interesting to taste, because it tastes exactly like corn, but I don't think I could eat a whole serving of it. Apparently Maiz (corn in spanish) is a local favorite with some cinnamon on top. We talked to the girl that worked there, named Natasha, who spoke fluent English and told us about the city, and let us know about some stuff to do. We ended up taking a short road trip toward the University of Peurto Rico to get a lay of the land and campus. We'll see what Rincon has in store for us tomorrow!

p.s. Better late than never:
First world problems #2: There is so much food to eat and I have plenty of money, but I can't decide what I want.
First world problem #3: I wanted to go to a tropical beach with black sand, but I had to settle for a tropical beach with mostly normal sand.
First world problem #4: I haven't had a chance to eat in hours, because I've been driving in a car that I rented for my vacation.