First Stop... Puerto Rico!

Well today is my last day in Puerto Rico and it has been amazing. Right now I am sitting in an internet cafe in downtown Old San Juan just reflecting on my last few days in port and wishing I didn't have to leave, but then again... I can't wait for BRAZIL!

The language barrier has been a slight problem here, and more of a problem that I expected. When I was in Puerto Rico before I was in a resort area where almost everyone spoke English and was able to point you in the direction of places that you want to go. However, when you really get off the beaten path things are quite different! I speak a little bit of Spanish and that has helped tremondously, but its still intresting trying to communicate. I can’t wait for India where I know nothing about the languauge.

Ok, so for the highlights of San Juan… here we go. The first day we were here I went into town with some friends and just did some exploring. It was great to not have much of a schedule and just walk around at a leisurly pace. There was a large number of students that had to get off the ship early to catch early trips, but the customs officals were great and did not really give us too much trouble, so the ship cleared realitivly quickly. I ate lunch at a local mexican café… I guess it wasn’t exactly Puertican food, but it was local and cute and fun too! After walking around for a while, I made my way back to the ship to get ready for the welcome recpetion that I attended at the University of Puerto Rico. What a fabulous welcome to the island! We ate great Puertrican food, talked with local students, and I learned to Salsa… yessss I can actaully do it! I got back to the ship around 11 and went out with my friend Jess from Penn State… she is so great, I’m sure you will be hearing lots about her, and we ended up at this little local hole-in-the-wall pub called Douglas’. We drank a few margaritas and actually met a guy from Latrobe who is a chef down here and is a huge Steelers fan! It was fun to talk to a local that also knows a lot about my home too.

Tuesday was another day filled with exploring the city and having fun in Old San Juan. We explored the forts on the island and ate more local great food. Then I was off to the Bioluminesence Bay at 6:30. The bay has these little algea like planton that when disturbed in the water by kayak paddles actually glow a light greenish-yellow. It was one of the most incredible things that I have seen while I was here. We kayaked around for about an hour by the moonlight and it occurred to me… I could never in a million years be doing this at home in the middle of January. I am learning that those types of moments are what this trip is all about. Learning to do things that I could never do before (salsa dancing) and seeing things that I never knew even existed (the bio bay) and eating things that I never ever thought of eating (and we will just leave it at that…).

Wednesday, today, I spent soaking up all of the last moments I could in Puerto Rico. I went to the beach this morning with a few friends. We then ate at this other local place called El Hamburger. Liz, Joanna, Jess and myself were probably the only four people that were speaking English in the whole resturant. But… we were able to eat for $20 which was such a good deal considering what we have paid for some of the other meals that we have eaten. Then it was off to the Bacardi factory. We took this little Ferry that cost $1 to the island that the factory is on. We toured the factory and there were a few free adult beverages at the end of the tour which was fun. I had no idea what went into the making and distilling of Rum and that the company has been around since the 1800’s! It was fun to see and something I figured that I might not have the oppurtunity to do again, so I went, and I’m glad I did.

OK… now for some real fun stories. Here we go…ready? Well On Tuesday-the 2nd day in port- I was carrying my phone around in my pocket since my cell phone actaully worked down here in Puerto Rico and somehow the phone fell out of the pocket while I was in the cab. I realized it right away that it was missing and so I freaked out and starting running after what was the cab that I thought the phone was in. Well, it turns out the same cab and the driver had actually left the complex where our ship was docked. But, the cab driver that I was running up to knew the driver of the cab that cell phone was in. So he agreed to help me find the guy. I jumped in the cab and we took off flying into to the city. The driver was weaving in and out of traffic, running red lights, and probably going 70 miles an hour. We got into the city in about one minute flat, which should have been about a 5-6 minute drive, and started looking for the cab. I was so paniced that I couldn’t even remember what the originial cab or the driver looked like so I was almost helpless in the frantic search. We then got stuck behind a horse and carriage, yes, horse and carriage going about 1 mile an hour. All I could think of was “this is not helping and all I am going to do is lose time.” There were also two little old ladies that were on the sidewalk trying to flag down the driver and he just flew right past them. The cab driver was so good to me and told me to get out of the cab because he thought he saw the other cab that my phone might have been in up the street. I sprinted across a busy street of traffic and started banging on the window of the cab and yelled at the guy, “You have my phone!” Meanwhile this poor man that I was yelling at speaks no English and is just jamming away to his Salsa music. I crawled over the seats of the van and sure enough my cell phone is on the back seat of the cab. I was so relived. I got back into the cab that I had been on the “high speed chase” in and the driver leisurely took me back to the dock. He starting telling me about his son and his family and how he was so glad that he could help me when I was stressed. Thank goodness for him!!

Alright, well thanks for reading this far. I know it was a lot to read. Keep the e-mails coming and mail is great too. I will be sure to write in Brazil!