After Puerto Rico!

Hi readers! I hope everything is going well. I just spent 3 amazing days in Puerto Rico, seeing the sights and meeting some great people. Day 1 (Monday) started out with a pretty lame City Orientation that I would not recommend, except for seeing a fort and then walking around Old San Juan. Dad, you’d be proud – we went down an alley and found a restaurant with ONLY locals and had some awesome food for $4.50. I am now a big fan of plantains, the small bananas, especially when they are sweet and caramelized! Steph, Ryan and I wandered around Old San Juan, walked all the way from the ship there and back. At the main cruise ship docks there were HUGE ships, at least double the Explorer. They looked like buildings themselves!

 

Since Puerto Rico is US territory, there is such an influence here – fast food, stores, music… But it was fun. Monday evening I went to the Welcome Reception at Caribbean University which was awesome! I was completely blown away by the hospitality of the students and faculty who were stoked to have us there. When we arrived, they were all clapping and there were even 2 stilt walkers. The mayor of Bayamon (the city where CU is located) even presented one of our professors with a really nice letter/plaque saying how special this opportunity was! We got introduced to the faculty of the university in there extremely modern auditorium, watched a promotional film, then went outside to this huge area that was set up with a band, tons of Puerto Rican food/snacks they were constantly giving us, and some tables where we could buy things. We watched a ballet performance and then a Bomba dance with large colorful dresses and the male partners all in white tuxes with different colored ties. I also got 2 bags of Caribbean University paraphernalia like highlighters, pencils, a t-shirt, calculator, etc etc. Got back to the home away from home, hung out with my friends, and got about 4 hours of sleep! I have come to the conclusion that while we are in port, I am going to do everything possible and get very little sleep and then make up for it (or try to!) while we are on the ship.

 

On Tuesday I had an 8am start to El Yunque Rainforest. Our guide was hilarious, 3 people fell in the mud, it started to pour for 3 minutes and then stopped, I tried to find a parrot until I found out there were only 60 of them in all of Puerto Rico, so that was shot down. The rainforest was gorgeous and so was the waterfall we passed and the hike was good. Wandered around Old San Juan again that afternoon, searched for an Internet Café for an hour, and did a lot of walking. In the evening I had Bioluminescent Bay which was AMAZING! Check this out: http://www.biobay.com. Words can’t even describe how cool the experience was, and even though I had a blonde moment and left my swimsuit in the cabin, there was NO WAY I wasn’t going to swim in the bioluminescence. So, I did, which is hands down one of the coolest things I have ever done. Wow. I was glowing/sparkling and it was so neat. On the bus ride back at 1am it definitely hit me that I was doing amazing things and having the experience of a lifetime. I can’t even imagine what is going to happen next!!

 

Last day in port, I did the Rio Camuy Caves for the majority of the day which was actually disappointing. It wasn’t as big as I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, the caves were cool, but it was not what I expected. If we had maybe spent more time or been able to wander around without a guide and go propelling (like the introductory video showed us) it might have been better. But hey, you win some and lose some!! I did meet a few new people, so Katie, Mark and I headed back to Old San Juan with our laptops and sat in an Internet Café for an hour, went to Walgreen’s where it was STUFFED with SAS kids stocking up on everything you can imagine. I did a lot of SAS trips, some of which I liked and some which were okay, but it was a perfect way to meet a lot of people, especially since it was our first port!

 

Departure last night was awesome. At 10pm, everyone was out on the back deck. Pulling away from the dock was cool and watching Puerto Rico/San Juan fade into the distance marked the next leg of our journey. A ton of kids had gotten extremely wasted and were singing and dancing and being loud… definitely interesting. Everyone was using their cell phones for the last time until San Diego!! We took “leaving port” pictures and then my guitar buddies (aka Todd and Charlie) had a fun jam session as we all watched the land disappear towards the horizon. Around midnight I decided it was homework time (because yes, I am taking classes!) so I did some reading, picked out trips that I want to do for the rest of the ports, and wrote my project proposal for my Environmental Studies class – urbanization and population, focusing on South Africa, India, and probably China. I am getting to know a lot of people and slowly making amazing friends.

 

Now it’s reading time for my classes! I will try and do a short update after Neptune Day on January 30 when we cross the equator. I can’t wait to get to Brazil and the Amazon!! Bye from somewhere between Puerto Rico and South America…