Puerto Rico...a bit after the fact

Hey you! Sorry it's taken me so long to write back...I've had a lot to do with catching up with school and whatnot...also, I went to Boston the last two weekends in a row to visit friends who I met in NZ who were visiting my friend Sarah...it was craziness, we were all reunited and it was wonderful...we visited Cape Cod and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, both of which were beautiful and new to me...I got to play in a really old cemetery. :D We also stopped in Salisbury, New Hamp, which was creeeepy...we went there for the beach, which was beautiful, but the town next to the beach was like an abandoned carnival...there were all these closed down arcades and pavilions with clowns painted on the side, and the only people around were obese forty year old men who were eating hot dogs and staring at us five girls...the hot dog stand was the only thing open...it gave me the uh oh feeling. Interesting to see though.

Sooo, Puerto Rico...Dimo and I decided on a whim to go there after his friend found cheap plane tickets...originally we were going to go with several of Dimo's friends, but they all dropped out at the last minute, so just Dimo and I went. We flew down there separately, met up at the airport in San Juan (the capital), and rented a car...I drove for an hour to our first hotel, which was interesting because all of the road signs were in Spanish and neither Dimo or I speak Spanish...remind me why I took French again? Lol. Anyhoo, we booked the first hotel we stayed at on a website that said the hotel was "near the water." When we got there, though, we could hear the crashing of the ocean, and when we went out back, the ocean was lapping the bottom of the hotel. Very beautiful and very cool...we had a balcony that we could see the ocean from and we got up one morning to watch the sunrise from there. We also walked on the beach and made sandcastles like four year olds...I love sand SO MUCH.

Other things we did...we went on a hike in the El Yunque rainforest and saw waterfalls and ended up jumping into the pools at the bottom of the waterfalls in our clothes...we saw huge caves formed by the third largest underground river in the world...we went back to San Juan and saw an old Spanish fortress whose construction began back in 1540...we went to old San Juan and saw all of these beautiful old houses...they were all bright colors and had intricate railings like in New Orleans...Dimo taught me to salsa dance and we went to the restaurant where the pina colada was first invented...it was THE BEST mixed drink I have ever had. The coolest thing we did though was taking a kayak tour at night...we started out in the ocean and then wound up in this narrow channel...there were trees hanging over the channel and everything was dark and eerie and peaceful...very cool. Eventually, the channel opened up into a lagoon. The coolest thing though was that in both the channel and the lagoon lived phosphorescent plankton...when the water was still, you couldn't see them, but whenever you moved the water, they glowed. :D So, whenever we dipped our paddles or hands into the water, the water swirled around them in this glowing cloud...it was so cool! The bottoms of the kayaks were also made of glass, and you could see the plankton moving across the kayak underneath you like stars...it looked like something out of Star Wars. Once we got to the lagoon, Dimo and I asked the tour guide if we were allowed to swim in the water...he didn't say no, so we both dove out of our kayak and watched the water glow around us...I felt like a fairy because the water left phosphorescent trails behind me...it was really cool. Now I have no money for after graduation, which is probably stupid of me...the trip was so good though that I can't regret it.

Speaking of after graduation, I found out last night that I didn't make it into the Japanese teaching program. Part of me is kind of sad...I really wanted to go and travel through Asia. A different part of me is okay though...I didn't necessarily have my heart set on teaching (especially children) and I know I'll have chances to go to Japan in the future. For now, I guess I'll just move back to Cali...perhaps this is a sign that I'm supposed to be near my family right now. I'd love to live with either my parents or Dimo for awhile and finish up my memoir...I need a job to pay off student loans though, so that's probably not all I'll be doing. We'll see...the future is a big, scary thing, but I feel okay about it...I still have options. :)

That's so cool that Elly came to visit you! I'm glad you had fun. Also, the kayaking sounds really cool...how big is this canal? Robin sounds like a blast. Also, how was your dad and Liz's visit? Oh, and a couple of entries ago, you mentioned friend and sister crises...is everything okay? I hope so. How are you getting on at work? Making any friends? I hope all is going well. Much love and take care!

Love,
Kae

P.S. I'll be calling you back soon hopefully...we'll see. One month from today, all my work for graduation is due...AHHHHH!!!

written by

snookyferrit on April 8, 2009 from Bronxville, United States

from the travel blog: Mel and Kae's Craaaaaaazzzzy Blog

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