HASTA LA VISTA, BABY

Culebra, Puerto Rico

(July 28^th, 2011)

Here we were, camping on a beautiful beach on the gorgeous island of Culebra. We had watched a lovely sunset the night before, followed by an awesome lightning storm off in the distance, but what I wanted to see most of all was the sunrise. It’s my favorite part of vacationing on a beach—my butt is always out of bed well before sunrise so I can capture every moment.

It was very important to me to catch the sunrise, but I had the roughest night sleep, tossing and turning in the tent. When the sky began to lighten about two hours before sunrise, I kept checking the time to see how close it was to the official sunrise and contemplated getting up and sitting on the beach to wait it out, but then I found the most comfortable position of the whole night and promptly passed out.

Remember those wild roosters roaming our campsite the day before? Well, let me tell you something about roosters—they truly are nature’s alarm clock. Lord, have mercy. Those little suckers were LOUD. Luckily, they were loud enough to penetrate my sleeping brain and wake me up.

I woke up in a panic, thinking I had missed the sunrise, grabbed my camera, and ran to the beach. No sooner had I sat down on the sand than the sun started peeking over the hill in the distance. It was absolutely stunning. The distant sky was filled with clouds that kept capturing the sun’s rays in various shades of oranges, yellows, pinks, and purples, so the sky was exploding with color. And the most amazing part of the experience was the fact that I was pretty much alone on the whole beach. One of my campsite neighbors came out and sat nearby for a while as she ate her breakfast, but for the most part it was just the sea and me.

I took a really nice stroll down the beach and then decided it was too beautiful not to go for a swim. The water was deliciously warm, and with the lack of people around so early in the morning, I felt it was the perfect opportunity for a skinny dip. I had been in my swimsuit for over twenty-four hours, having been in it the entire previous day and sleeping in it that night, so it was luxurious to give my skin a break from it for a while. 

My friends started waking up, and after they relaxed on the beach for a while and took a look through my sunrise photos, we walked back to the main campground to get some breakfast. I made the mistake of getting a bagel with cream cheese. Being a New Yorker, I am very rarely satisfied with a bagel made outside New York, and I knew better, but I ordered it anyways and was quite disappointed. Oh well.

We headed back to our campsite, grabbed our snorkeling gear, and headed out to the reef. Miriam and Laura swam on ahead of me as I wrestled with one of my flippers, and when I finally started catching up to them, they both turned around and high-tailed it back to me. Apparently, they had gotten close to an eel that was hiding in a small alcove of the reef, which excited and terrified them, sending them swimming away from the eel in fear and towards me with the thrill of their story. We attempted to find the eel again, but, alas, it had disappeared.

The deep red, spiky balls are sea urchins

Me in my snorkeling gear under water

Once we got back to shore we relaxed on the beach to soak up the sun. It was really cloudy, as another storm was attempting to roll through, which made all the blues around us pop. It was gorgeous. And off in the distance we actually witnessed a rain cloud passing over the water. It was crazy to see blue sky with one low rain cloud breaking through it, pouring rain. I’ve never seen anything like it!

The rain storm amidst the blue sky

We decided the day before that we wanted to fly back to the main island instead of taking the ferry, since the flight left later than the ferry, and our car was already parked at the airport, meaning we would all have to pay a cab to take us from the ferry dock to the airport. More time luxuriating on the beach? It was a done deal, right there.  So as the afternoon came around and the storm clouds got closer, we decided to pack up, and pack up in a hurry. The first drops of rain were coming down, and we wanted to get the tents taken down before they got soaked through. 

Right as we finished up the rain started coming down more steadily, so we sought shelter at a nearby picnic area. Once we got under cover, the skies really opened up, and the downpour began. We all huddled together with the other people who were also trying to stay dry, as the wind and rain tried their best to reach us.

Another Sherman tank located by our rain shelter

Rick decided to have a little fun while we waited for the weather to calm and grabbed one of the coconuts that were lying around on the ground, chopping off the top with his hunting knife, so that we all could try fresh coconut water. I’m not the biggest fan of coconut water, but who could pass up drinking directly from a coconut after watching a guy hatchet it open? It was exactly like the coconut water I’ve had from the grocery stores, but for some reason it felt a little more exotic...

Rick busting open the coconut

The rain didn’t look to be stopping any time soon, so we decided we were just going to have to brave it. We left the campground and, thankfully, there was a shuttle bus waiting to take people to the airport and ferry terminals. Yay!

We got to the airport with plenty of time and found out our flight would be delayed because of a medical emergency—someone had fallen ill and needed to be flown back to the main island to get to the hospital, and they would be using our plane to do so. So we got comfortable and had a bite to eat from the little eatery inside the airport.

Once it was time to load the plane we discovered we would be sharing the flight with another couple. How does an airline fit seven passengers on a six-passenger plane? By making Laura the co-pilot, of course!

Laura's perspective during the flight

Laura was given the empty seat right next to the pilot, and she was petrified! She said her nerves calmed down almost as soon as we took off, though, since she had a perfect view of everything the pilot was doing. The flight back was not as scenic as the flight the day before, mainly because the sky was so overcast that it muted the colors below us, but it was just as uneventful as the day before, which I was thankful for.

We loaded up the car and started back to San Juan, planning on having plenty of time to get back to Laura’s house, take showers, and grab some dinner before I had to get to the airport and they had to get to Laura’s movie premiere. What we didn’t count on was the tropical storm that was causing floods, shutting down roads, and slowing traffic to a near standstill. It took us a bit longer than we anticipated getting back to San Juan.

Laura’s mother was sweet enough to prepare dinner for us, so while we all took turns jumping in the shower, we would sit down with a plate of delicious food. Then it was time to pack up the car once again and hit the road.

Laura was going to be dropping me off at the airport, dropping Rick and Sara off at their hotel in Old San Juan, and then going with Miriam to her movie premiere at a Spanish film festival. She had performed the soundtrack in a short film that was being shown that evening.

Before dropping me off at the airport, they swung by a grocery store to grab me some of their favorite coffee, Yaucono, so I could gift it to my sister and brother-in-law—I could have gotten it in the airport, but it would have been four times as expensive. And, wanting to also bring back some Puerto Rican rum, Laura gave me the best tip to wait to purchase it at the duty free shops by the gates in the airport. The prices are still cheap, and you can bring the bottle on the plane instead of trying to wrap it up in your checked luggage. Score!

I said goodbye to the gang, following Laura’s instructions to go to the USDA bag screening area before checking in, as all bags need to be screened for bugs/plants to ensure no foreign species would be introduced to the mainland agriculture.

After checking in I sailed through security, bought myself a bottle of passion fruit Puerto Rican rum, and got comfortable at my gate.

I landed after midnight back in New York, and not only was my buddy, Miriam (the other other one), waiting for me, she surprised me by renting a Zipcar and loading it with cat litter. (Hey, relying on trains and busses to get to and from your home means having to carry 20lb containers of cat litter on the train once a week. Getting a car and loading it with enough cat litter to last me two months was pretty dang exciting!)

It was the perfect ending to a fabulous trip. I headed home and crashed…Hasta la vista, baby!

THE IT-NEVER GAME

Culebra, Puerto Rico

(July 27^th, 2011)

Our grand plan today was to camp on the island of Culebra. In order to do so we needed to get up early, drive to Fajardo, catch the ferry that takes about an hour to get to the island, set up our tents, and enjoy a bit of paradise on the beach. Sounds perfect, right? Well…it was, but not without a few hiccups along the way.

First, due to some miscommunication and misunderstanding, we found out that Miriam, Laura, and I were tent-less. The tent we were going to borrow was no longer available. Interesting predicament. Laura said she had no problem sleeping on the beach in her sleeping bag, but Miriam and I were already covered in bug bites and wondering what kind of voracious appetites the bugs on Culebra would have. We needed a tent. And I’m guessing Rick and Sara were wondering if they would be sharing their tent with the three of us. Hmm…But let’s come back to that later.

We woke up early—or rather, we tumbled out of bed because the three of us did not fit properly on the queen mattress (remember, all five of us squeezed into the air-conditioned bedroom the night before)—had a quick bite to eat, and hit the road to Fajardo on the far eastern coast of Puerto Rico. I was excited for the adventure because it meant that during my stay I traveled the entire length of the island, from Isabela to Fajardo.

Our plan was to take the 9am ferry from Fajardo to the island of Culebra. If we missed it the next ferry wasn’t until 3pm. That would be a really long wait and a waste of a day. Friends of Laura’s insisted that we should get to Fajardo early because the ferry to Culebra tends to sell out, but Laura said that in the many trips she’s taken to Culebra the ferry has never once sold out for her, but we would leave a little earlier just to be safe. We got on the road with the plan of being there around an hour ahead of the ferry’s departure.

Once we got close to Fajardo we stopped to grab a bite to eat, as it would be a long trip on the ferry, and then, upon seeing a Wal-Mart off the highway, we ran in and bought a tent. Woo hoo! No sleeping on the beach!

As we pulled up to the ferry terminal we started getting a little nervous. The parking lots were all full and traffic was a nightmare. Miriam got out to go purchase our ferry tickets while we tried to find a lot that wasn’t yet full. 

We pulled into one lot that was still accepting vehicles, but the lot attendant started telling Laura something in Spanish that was eliciting quite a reaction from Laura, making me believe that maybe the lot was full. Lots of Spanish was being spoken, none of which the rest of us in the car understood. Eventually, Laura pulled over to a spot that was obviously not a parking spot and started speaking with another attendant. She then told us that the first attendant told her the ferry was sold out, the alternate 9:30am cargo/car ferry was not running that day, and we could pull over to this non-parking spot to regroup for a couple minutes before they would have to charge us for parking. The second attendant told us our other option, if the ferry was indeed sold out, was to fly. Hmm…

We got a hold of Miriam, and our fears were confirmed: the ferry was sold out. Miriam immediately got on the phone with the airport in Ceiba to see what our flight options would be. The next flight was leaving at noon and would take about 15 minutes to get to Culebra. The cost? $40. Not bad, but compared to the ferry price of $2.25, it was a pretty significant difference. We decided to bite the bullet and do it, though, since the next ferry wasn’t until 3pm. We didn’t want to waste the whole day sitting in Fajardo.

We booked our flight over the phone and headed out to the Ceiba airport. I was manning the map while Miriam checked the GPS on her phone. All of that and we still got lost. Fun adventure time!

First, none of the little streets in Fajardo seemed to have names, so getting out of Fajardo and back onto the appropriate highway had us stopping and turning around a number of times. Eventually we got out and were heading in the right direction…or so we thought. On the map there were two airports listed around Ceiba. The closer one looked to be a normal airport; the other looked to be a military base. We kept driving and driving and driving. Eventually we saw signs for an airport, but I noticed we were far beyond where the normal airport was listed and seemed to be heading towards the military base airport. Miriam agreed that it looked to be the military base, so we turned around and started driving back the way we’d come. Until we passed the point where the normal airport was on the map. No signs of an airport.

Luckily, we had plenty of time to find the airport before our flight, so we weren’t panicked, just getting a little loopy, laughing over the fact that we were so obviously lost. We decided to stop at a gas station to regroup and figured we would head back to the military base airport, hoping that it was an actual public airport after all.

And it was! We followed the signs all the way to the base, passed over what used to be a military checkpoint, and drove along a long and windy road until we arrived at the airport. Sigh of relief.

Our plane was a six-passenger seat plane. Gulp. Upon checking in, we had to tell them our weight so they could balance the station-wagon-with-wings properly and check in all our possessions except for our cameras (no under seat storage on this baby).

We had a lot of time before our flight, so we got comfortable in the waiting area and watched as large, dark, foreboding storm clouds began moving our way. Laura assured us that in the many years she’s been going to Culebra, it has never rained while she was there. The weather pattern always ends up shifting it away from the island. No worries.

Our flight was, apparently, on island time, and ended up being an hour late. Finally, as the storm clouds were almost upon us, our plane pulled up. We all had to steel our nerves as we walked out to our tiny plane. Laura and I were particularly nervous and were seated next to each other. The pilot tried to assuage our fears, answering Laura’s questions about crashes, saying the last crash had been 15 years prior with no fatalities. It helped a little bit…okay; it didn’t help much at all. We were still nervous. 

As some of you may have read in the post about my trip to Six Flags, I’m very much afraid of roller coasters. Why mention this? Well, one of my least favorite parts of a roller coaster is the slow climb to the top where you can see the ground far below you right before you are dropped over the edge. Imagine being in a plane that is the width of two people and has big windows right alongside the wings that allow you to see, clearly, everything below you. Now imagine this tiny plane ascending into the sky. Much like a roller coaster. I. Was. Petrified.

Brave faces BEFORE take-off

Looking around I saw we were all pretty scared, but as we leveled out, the beautiful blue waters came into view. As nervous as I was to look out the window, I couldn’t help but notice how gorgeous our surroundings were. And as soon as I brought my camera up to my face and looked through the viewfinder my nerves were replaced with awe and excitement. I have never seen water so blue before, which made the small, green islands dotting the surface pop against the background. It was absolutely amazing.

Playa Flamenco

When I was able to tear my eyes away from the view for a little bit, it was fascinating to see all the controls and watch how a plane operates, as I was sitting directly behind the pilot. How pilots can keep track of every little switch, gauge, and button on their dashboard is beyond me. It was so cool to watch and something you usually don’t get to experience.

Our nerves resurfaced as we approached Culebra. We would be flying in between two very large hills, which tend to create a bit of a wind tunnel. We prepared to be buffeted around, but, thankfully, there were only a few slight bumps and then we were on the ground. Woo hoo! What an unbelievable experience!

There was a shuttle bus waiting outside the airport, prepared to drop-off at the various beaches and campsites around Culebra. It was rather full, but we were able to squeeze in, me sitting on the wheel instead of a real seat, and Rick in charge of keeping our luggage from tumbling over onto the driver.

Luckily, ours was the first stop: Playa Flamenco (Flamingo Beach). We clambered out of the van, grabbed the driver’s card in case we needed to call the shuttle bus the following day, and made our way to the camp check-in.

Culebra is technically part of the Spanish Virgin Islands, also known as the Puerto Rican Virgin Islands—not to be confused with the US Virgin Islands to the east—and Playa Flamenco is one of Puerto Rico’s finest beaches. We were in for a treat. Playa Flamenco consists of a free beach area, where day- trippers come out for quality beach time, and camp grounds, where people rig up tents next to the much more secluded beach that the day-trippers are not allowed on.

At this campground they charge per tent, not per campsite ($20 per tent), but Laura said they never actually come around and check so we only registered for one tent. She requested a campsite in the farthest section of the grounds, meaning we would have a bit of a walk, but we would have a lot more privacy.

As we hiked to our campsite, the sun was shining brightly, and we kept catching glimpses of the amazing looking beach through the trees. We were excited to get to our site and set up camp so we could get on the beach…and then the heavens unleashed themselves upon us. (Remember how Laura said it never rains?)

Three quarters of the way to our campsite (which really wasn’t that far of a walk—maybe 10-15 minutes) it started pouring. And when I say pouring, I mean absolutely everything in my water-resistant backpack was wet. Pou-ring.

Rick and Sara were smart and sought shelter, while Miriam, Laura, and I ran ahead to set up our tent. Word to the wise, do not attempt to set up a tent in the rain.

1. We had never set up this tent before, which is always difficult the first time through, regardless of the circumstances, and adding rain to the already confusing mix did not help.
2. There are lovely screen vents and windows on tents, which are usually left open in brand-new packaging. Setting up a tent in the pouring rain means there will most certainly be a pool of water inside your tent by the end.

During our struggles to set up the tent we realized we didn’t have anything to pound the stakes into the ground. Luckily, there were coconuts lying all over from nearby trees, so I grabbed one and used it as a hammer. It was fun and cathartic.

Having a strange foreboding, I pointed out to Laura that some pretty important things happened to her today that have never happened before, mainly the ferry selling out and the downpour. Having the same thought, she took off to the campground’s office to register our second tent while Miriam and I finished setting up.

Once we got the tent up, the pool of water inside it dumped out, and tried our best to towel dry the tent floor, the rain stopped and the sun came back out. Rick and Sara arrived and began setting up their tent while we emptied our wet belongings out and hung them on the convenient clothing lines left from previous campers. Our most important task was getting our sleeping bags dry. Muy importante!

Our campsite

We were sharing our campsite with a group of college-aged kids, who were all sharing one very large tent (they were very nice and even offered to help us put up our tent in the rain). The bathroom and outdoor showers were conveniently close (right across the road, although there was no toilet paper provided…we weren’t really expecting that…). We also noticed there were a lot of wild chickens around. A rooster was leading a bunch of chicks around a big puddle. It was so cute!

The path from our campsite to the beach

Beach time! There was a tiny path through the trees from our campsite to the beach, and we practically had it all to ourselves. Amazing! Whilst taking a walk along the beach we came upon an old World War II Sherman tank sitting in the surf, covered in graffiti. It was absolutely stunning against the beautiful blues and greens of the island. There were a number of Sherman tanks all over Playa Flamenco, all covered in graffiti, relics from when the military used the island. They created an interesting juxtaposition with the natural beauty of the island. 

We grabbed our snorkeling gear and underwater cameras and headed out to the reef. The water was so warm and clear, and the reef was just as beautiful as the reef in Isabela, with a lot of the same kind of fish swimming about. Our campsite neighbors were out snorkeling, too, with a speargun, trying to catch some dinner. They were actually successful in getting a lobster and a red snapper!

After a while of swimming and soaking up the rays we walked back to the entrance of the campground to pick up some dinner at the counter shops. I got myself some empanadas and rice and beans, and then we walked back to our spot on the beach to have a picnic. We were quickly joined by a hungry stray cat, who was too cute not to share our dinner with. She had a fondness for Laura-- she latched on to the one person who wanted nothing to do with her. We all found it pretty amusing.

Laura with our little friend

Once we finished with dinner, we watched the beautiful sunset, grabbed a bottle of rum, and sat on the beach, watching the stars, keeping an eye on the thunderstorm that was slowly rolling in.

Lightning was flashing over the hills in the distance, and we could feel the wind blowing in. We were ready to make a run for it if it started pouring like it had that afternoon, but it was really stunning to watch from a distance.

Wanting to make sure I got up in time for the sunrise, I hit the hay early, while the others stayed out. The tent, even with the windows open, was extremely hot, so sleeping was not easy. I stripped down to my swimsuit and slept on top of my sleeping bag. The rain eventually started, and I had to shut up the windows, and when the girls joined me in the tent, we all had fun tossing and turning, trying to sleep.

Eventually, I found the perfect position and completely passed out. Unfortunately, it was about an hour before sunrise...

Oh, and just for the record, the campground attendants came by early in the morning to make sure both our tents were registered. I’m just sayin’...

So, let’s recap:

• The ferry: It never sells out.
• It never rains on Culebra.
• They never check to make sure your tents are all registered.

The It-Never Game...

Rick and Sara taking a stroll at sunset

SORRY, WE'RE CLOSED

Isabella, Puerto Rico - Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

(July 26th, 2011)

We woke up on our last day in Isabela, me waking up much earlier than everyone else again, and headed straight to the beach to get in a little more snorkeling before we had to check out. We were hoping that, with the tide being out, the water would be calmer and more fish would be swimming about. We were right. 

Last time down at the beach

It was still early enough in the morning that the beach was pretty much deserted, and we were the only people swimming out to the reef. It was a much easier swim this morning than it had been the afternoon prior. And, because the water was so much calmer, we were able to really get up close to the reef and explore it. It was even more amazing than the day before.

We discovered that the glass of our goggles made things appear closer than they really were, and when we wanted to swim over the reef to explore other caves in the middle of it, we were initially scared we were too close to the reef, but as we watched each other we realized there was a good three feet between us and the reef below us, so off we went! (Seriously, at one point I almost panicked because it looked as though I was about to scrape the top of the reef, but Laura assured me I had a lot of room to move. Silly goggles.)

Once in the middle of the reef we found really deep caverns and alcoves that we could swim into, surrounded only by the waving plants and the dozens of fish swimming with us. The colors seemed to explode around us-- purples, bright blues, yellows, deep reds. Everything had so much color. We saw little black fish with neon blue spots, fish with  bright yellow and sky blue stripes, tiny fish that resembled bumblebees with their black and yellow stripes, and dark red sea urchins. We even saw small swordfish swimming by! That was out of this world! At one point we were noticing very tiny, clear things floating around us, and when we finally stopped to focus on them, we realized they were baby shrimp! They were probably no bigger than my pinky fingernail and completely see-through (or sea-through, for a fun play on words?). There were also these psychedelic looking sea caterpillars crawling along the reef that were really long and brightly colored with greens and pinks and yellows. They looked as though they were under a black-light, they were so bright.

As we started heading back and got into the sandy part of the ocean floor where we could officially stand up and touch bottom, we kept our goggles on, following little sand crabs as they scuttled around on the ocean floor. I began playing with them, following them with my fingers along the bottom until they would quickly burrow themselves under the sand. It was fascinating to watch. We also found small, sand-colored flatfish, fish that look to be swimming sideways along the ocean floor and have both eyes on one side of their heads. They camouflaged themselves perfectly with the sand, and if I hadn’t seen one swimming along the ocean floor before settling down into the sand I never would have known they were there.

Once back at the beach, we grabbed a couple beach chairs and relaxed until we were dry before heading back up to the villa to pack up. Since I had woken up before everyone else that morning, I had already taken the liberty to pack most of my things, so I headed out to take some photos of the grounds.

Once the car was packed up, we checked out and headed over to Wal-mart in the hopes of trading in the unused kids’ snorkeling gear for adult gear for our camping trip the following day to the island of Culebra. We wanted good snorkeling gear and underwater cameras for the giant reef we would be venturing to.

Miriam and Laura were able to exchange the two unused packs for adult-sized fins (the kids’ goggles from the other two packs fit them fine), which was a lovely, even exchange. Rick, Sara, and I picked up our own adult-sized gear and loaded up on bug spray, water, and other camping essentials we were going to need.

Then we were on the road back to San Juan. We decided to drive right into Old San Juan, so we could do a quick foot-trek around the area before heading to Laura’s house for dinner with her family. Starving from the drive, we parked the car in Old San Juan and took a respite for appetizers and drinks at a restaurant in Plaza de San José.

Once revived we set out on foot, noting right off the bat the beautiful blue cobblestones exclusive to Puerto Rico. Usually cobblestones are tinted grey or red, but these blue cobblestones were brought over as ballast in Spanish galleons and can still be seen and walked upon today, although the current governor has replaced large portions of this historical cobblestone with pavement, much to my chagrin.

We immediately stopped at a cute store selling lots of fun musical instruments, hand-painted ceramics, and other bric-a-brac. Since this was my only official shopping day, my goal was to buy all my souvenirs and gifts while we traipsed around Old San Juan. I decided to hold off on making any purchases right away since we were at the beginning of our trek, knowing I could always come back to this shop since it was right near the car. I asked the girl working there for a card, and she also told me about their sister location, Poet’s Passage, mentioning they were having a poetry reading at that location around 7pm, if we wanted to stop by.

Laura led us into the square we had driven through a few nights prior, giving us a day view of the area and the convent-turned-hotel that would be Rick and Sara’s next stay once we returned from Culebra. From there, we ventured down what I like to call “El Gato” street in honor of all the cats that seemed to own it. They were everywhere! Lounging on cars, walking on hoods, climbing trees, laying on balconies, eating food left out by considerate neighbors…you get the idea. I loved it! I’m sure the rest of the neighborhood hated it, though, considering there was an official sign at the end of the block stating it was illegal to feed the cats. You go right on feeding them, neighbors!

At the end of the block was an official piragua stand, where the guy had a large block of ice and was scraping it into cups and dousing them with syrup. I had an unofficial piragua on our road trip to Isabela a few days prior (he cheated and used a blender to crush the ice instead of scraping it by hand), but this time I was going to have the real deal! I decided not to go all fancy on the flavor this go around and chose raspberry. It was tasty and refreshing.

Some of the beautiful colors

We then walked through the giant gate leading outside the city walls to get a spectacular view of the ocean and the sun beginning to set on the walls. We could have walked along the wide path outside the walls to get more of a view, but the actively used gates getting back into the city are few and far between, so we headed back through the gate we had just used and walked over to La Fortaleza, Puerto Rico’s version of the White House for the governor. It was a lovely light blue color, surrounded by many other colorful buildings and beautiful wrought iron gates.

Not far from La Fortaleza was the Capilla del Cristo, marking the entrance to the Parque de las Palomas (Pigeon Park). The Capilla del Cristo, a small chapel at the very end of the street, is surrounded by much folklore. Some say a young horseman got carried away during festivities in honor of St. John the Baptist and raced his horse to the end of the street but couldn’t stop in time, plunging over the steep ledge. Another version states that the horse stopped right at the edge. Some say the chapel was built in the man’s honor because he survived, others because he perished in the fall, and still others say it was built so that a tragedy such as this would not befall another person (i.e. they wanted a road block).

Capillo del Cristo

The pigeon coops

After snapping a few photos of the chapel we entered Pigeon Park, aptly named for the hundreds of pigeons that live there. The pigeons are so embraced here that there are even pigeon coops built into the walls. The park overlooks a beautiful view of the Bahia de San Juan (San Juan bay), and while I was standing under a tree taking a photo of my friends looking out over the bay, Laura looked up into said tree and started exclaiming over the gigantic caterpillar hanging over my head. I looked up and saw not one, not two, but about 50 gigantic caterpillars hanging over my head, all black with bright neon yellow stripes and orange legs. They were really neat to look at but completely unsettling to think about while being underneath their tree. I quickly moved.

And, side note here, what is with all the giant caterpillars today?? The morning started  with giant sea caterpillars and ended with giant tree caterpillars!

Caterpillars!

View from Pigeon Park

At this point it was getting to be early evening so we started making our way to Miriam’s favorite shop, as she’d been talking it up all afternoon and I was really looking forward to checking it out. Unfortunately, as we arrived they were locking the door. Sadness! They saw us standing outside and decided to let us in as they closed up. The shop had a lot of great jewelry and beautiful woodworkings, and I really wanted to take the time to look around, but I was feeling guilty for staying in their shop after closing so I rushed through and grabbed a few hand-carved magnets to bring home. I’ll have to come back to this store on a future visit and spend some quality time perusing the merchandise.

On we went up the steep hill to Castillo de San Cristóbal, a large, clifftop fortress overlooking the oceanside of the island. I had been greatly looking forward to seeing the  Castillo up close, as I was fascinated by the sentry boxes hanging out over the edges of the cliff. I got a couple great shots of one of the sentry boxes right outside the walls, and then we climbed the big ramp up into the Castillo, only to discover that it was closing in twenty minutes...sadness, again.

Sentry box

So we gave up that idea and headed to the city of the dead and Fortaleza San Felipe del Morro, a fortress sitting at the farthest corner of the island. We made it to the city of the dead, which was an above ground cemetery on the edge of the island, overlooking the ocean. It was a beautiful and serene area, made even more so by the setting sun sending purples, oranges, and reds cascading through the park.

The city of the dead with El Morro off in the distance

El Morro

Laura really wanted us to walk all the way to El Morro, but I heard the clock tower chimes ringing in seven o’clock, the time Laura originally planned to head back to her parents’ house for dinner, and I hadn’t bought any souvenirs yet! We ix-nayed the walk to El Morro (have to save that one, too, for another trip...) and headed back for the car. Laura sent us on ahead to the souvenir store we had stopped in at the beginning of our trek while she got the car, and just for fun it started to rain.

We raced on ahead to the store only to find it locked up tight and completely dark inside. What?! The store was supposed to be open until eight o’clock! I had made sure to check before we left that afternoon. Beyond sadness!

At this point I was upset, as I hadn’t gotten any of the souvenirs I wanted, and I knew we had to get back for dinner. As we waited for Laura to come get us I ducked into a corner store to buy a couple postcards so I would at least have those. When Laura picked us up and found out the shop was closed, she insisted on finding the sister location and called her mother to say we were running late. She wasn’t going to let me leave Puerto Rico without goodies.

We fought lots of traffic but eventually found the shop, and lo-and-behold, there was the girl from the other shop, running the poetry reading! No wonder the shop shut down early. Luckily, Poet’s Passage had the same products as the other store, so I went hog-wild in my shopping, buying handmade Christmas ornaments, musical instruments (maracas, a güiro, and a small flute), dominoes, and pretty much anything else Puerto Rican I could get my hands on. My night was made.

We finally made it back to Laura’s house where her mother had prepared a delicious meal for us, and then it was time to pack up and get to bed for our early departure to Culebra in the morning. 

The fun part of the evening was fitting all five of us into one bedroom (where the air conditioning was). Rick and Sara shared the mattress on the floor, while I squeezed into the queen bed with Miriam and Laura. I felt sorry for Miriam in the middle. It was not going to be an easy night for the three of us! But hopefully our trek to Culebra would make up for it...fingers crossed...

Goodnight from Old San Juan