Puerto Rico 2010

On January 22nd Ariel and I took a much needed break from the brutal freeze of Boston, and ran away to Puerto Rico for a 5 days. We flew into San Juan, and rented a room in a small beach community called Ocean Park, just outside of the city. The guest house where we stayed was amazing: http://andalucia-puertorico.com/

Esteban and Emeo are the owners, and are so sweet and accommodating I suggest running away there immediately! The house is 2 blocks from a quiet and beautiful beach and close to anything you could need.

The first day we spent a lot of time lying around in the sand, swimming and trying to thaw out.

The next day we went to the beach early...

...and headed into Old San Juan in the afternoon. Old San Juan is lovely, full of ancient old buildings and churches and funny little shops.

So many of the buildings are abandoned or for rent,

and a number of them are painted like easter eggs.

The hightlight of that day trip for me was the Castillo del Morro, a sixteenth-century citadel which lies on the northwestern-most point of the islet. The fort was designed to guard the entrance to San Juan bay, and defend the city from seaborne enemies.

You can see it (sort of looming in the distance) as you walk up from the more conjested Old San Juan. It's a bit like walking onto the set of the Princess Bride, with massive rolling green hills, and a morbid (but incredibly beautiful) cemetary nestled just below the wall, right at the coastline.

We watched the sun set from way out of a stone wall overlooking the bay, and that was pretty spectacular.

It was a good day.

The next day we rented a car and drove down to Fajardo so we could catch a ferry to Vieques.

We stopped at a little roadside/beachside strip of kiosks at Luquillo Beach and bought some of the greasiest food imaginable. It was pretty gross, but we got to see a gigantic brown lizard that made me shriek,

and the beach was beautiful.

When we finally arrived at Fajardo, it was really hot. I got trapped by some crazy lady in the bathroom and she kept pulling on my shirt trying to see my tattoos. She then invited us to camp with her and her boyfriend on the island of Culebra. (no thanks!) We sat around for what felt like a really long time waiting for our ferry, which usually takes about an hour. After some long announcement in Spanish, a friendly Australian secret service body guard guy (we came to learn this later) told us that our ferry had broken down, so we'd need to board a different ferry to Culebra, which would drop us in Vieques after. It was getting late in the afternoon, and we were concerned because a large part of our trip to Vieques was motivated by our desire to swim in the Bio Bay, the last night swim tour was scheduled to leave at 6:15pm, and we were only there for one night.

So we got on the ferry. It was really breathtaking, we saw whales breaching, and watched the sunset.

The ferry docked in Vieques at about 6:20, I frantically called the kayak tour place, begging them to wait for us. With no time to spare, me, Ariel, and the Australian body guard Anthony, piled into a cab and hauled ass across the island from Isabel II to Esperanza. We tumbled into Blue Caribe Kayaks http://www.bluecaribekayaks.com/ at about 6:40, with just enough time to pull on our bathing suits and fall into beat up old van with a trailer full of kayaks attached.

It was really dark out by that time. There were probablly 12 of us sitting in the back of the van driving down a tiny, VERY bumpy dirt road.

If you don't know what a "Bio Bay" is -please allow me to allow Wikipedia to explain it for you:

The Bioluminescent Bay (or "Bio Bay" as it is sometimes called), is perhaps the world's largest and brightest. The luminescence is caused by micro-organisms (dinoflagellates) which glow whenever the water is disturbed, leaving a trail of neon blue. A combination of factors create the necessary conditions for bioluminescence: red mangrove trees surround the water (the organisms feed off the dead leaves); a complete lack of modern development around the bay; the water is cool enough and deep enough; and a small channel to the ocean keeps the dinoflagellates in the bay. This small channel is the result of Spanish ships' attempts to choke off the bay from the ocean's waters. The Spanish believed that the bioluminescence they first encountered was the work of the Devil ('El Diablo') and tried to block the ocean's waters from entering the bay by dropping huge boulders in the channel. The Spanish only succeeded in preserving and increasing the luminescence. Kayaking is permitted in the bay and can be arranged through local vendors. Swimming is allowed on limited basis through guided tours.

Having never kayaked, I guess I was a little nervous, i was also nervous to be standing in a bikini in the dark in an area called "Misquito Bay". I accumulated an estimated 45 bites in 12 minutes we stood there unloading the kayaks by moon light. (It was well worth it!!)

Here's a photo I stole from the internet to give you an idea of what it's like:

We kayaked out for about 15 minutes, most of the bay is only a few feet deep, so in order to swim you have to paddle for a bit. It was really awesome, each time you dip the paddle in the water it lights up. Apparently it's better to go when the the moon is less full, but our experience was pretty incredible. It's difficult to describe, sort of like swimming in stars? Pretty Avatar-y, and super magical. Ariel got stung by a jelly fish and didn't make a peep about it initially (probablly knowing that it would have scared the shit out of me)

I did not pee one him.

We walked up the one main street in Esperanza, with teenage homies on cell phones trotting by on little horsies (they roam all over the island) to our guest house in our bathing suits. We were tired, hungry and dirty but totally psyched.

We wandered for a while the next day, drank delicious coffee and stared at an amazing beach.

Then we started the trek back to Fajardo.

In the parking lot at the ferry in Fajardo, there were dogs everywhere, there are dogs everywhere in Puerto Rico. This little guy we came very close to stealing:

We named him Fajardo. and he was the cutest little dude ever.

We stoped at El Yunque National Rain Forest on the drive back to San Juan, but it was after 5, and the trails were closed. It was still pretty impressive to see leaves the size of Volkswagons, and trees that appeared to be 500 feet tall. Also, it always sounds like it's raining in there. crazy.

We got home a relaxed that night and most of the next day too. We played on boogie boards for the early part of the afternoon, and later pulled it together and went to a good old fashioned Puerto Rican Cock fight.

It was pretty out of control, (also totally gross) to see them kill each other.The rest of the time was spent relaxing, which was awesome.

Track me down if you want details on any of the specifics, (and go to Puerto Rico soon!!)

The end.