Puerto Rico!

Alright, so now for the good stuff. As you all know I am currently in Puerto Rico, which is the first port on my journey. Heck yes. After only 2.5 days at sea I was already ready to get off the ship and begin my travels and cultural learning experiences. Once our shipped docked in Puerto Rico everyone was herded into the Union (our meeting place) at 8am for a mandatory presentation where some dude would ramble on about how amazing Puerto Rico is. Great I thought, who wants to listen to some dude ramble on at 8am (can’t emphasize the time enough) when you could be sleeping a little longer and then get off the ship and explore? Well, turns out that the some random dude was our good friend the Puerto Rican Governor and his friend the Secretary of State. Now that is pretty cool if you ask me. We were welcomed to our first destination by the Governor and Secretary of State and were on tv on about 5 different stations in Puerto Rico. Not too bad of a way to be welcomed to Puerto Rico if you ask me. Once his shpeal was done I had my first organized trip through Semester at Sea- a walking tour of the fort El Morro and Old San Juan. It was a very interesting fort with lots of history, so naturally I enjoyed it. Also on this trip I saw the capital building, a 16th century cemetery right along the ocean, and a really cool Catholic church. Following this tour 5 of us decided it was time for lunch. We found this great little restaurant and “had” some typical Puerto Rican food. Well, I guess you can call it “having” traditional Puerto Rican food…I had black bean soup and simply watched one of my new friends “have” typical Puerto Rican food. It was this Octupus and vegetable dish. It looked amazing, let me tell you! Following this my new friends and I wandered around Old San Juan for about 4 hrs. We found some of the most amazing spots in the city that normally you would probably never find. Leave it to the curious college students to discover these places. After wandering forever we walked back to the ship, showered, and prepared ourselves for a meet and greet with some local university students. We attended Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico where the student government greeted us with typical Puerto Rican food, music, and dancing. It was an all around good time. I learned a lot. One of the most important things that I learned there was that Puerto Rican men can dance…really well. VERY educational.

Day two of Puerto Rico began with an early wake up to watch the sunrise. I decided that I wanted to see at least one sunrise in every country. So, I got up at 6:30, walked to the 6th deck, and watched the sunrise, by myself. It was beautiful (picture #1. Beautiful I know). Not only did getting up early provide me with the ability to see an amazing sunrise, it also provided me with a little surprise. Walking around the deck at 6:30am, apparently getting some exercise, was Des (my nickname for Archbishop Desmund Tutu). He saw me there by myself and said good morning, and I, still shocked to be face to face with him, replied with a hello Father. It was great. This was my first interaction with Father Tutu. What a fantastic way to start my morning. So then my day continued with another adventure into the city where Megan (one of my new friends- big thanks to Prim for that one) and I went to Walgreens and Pueblo to pick up a few necessities. In both Walgreens and Pueblo (which is a grocery store) there were probably some 30 other SAS kids running around grabbing their bottle of shampoo that they forgot or an extra box of granola bars (realizing that they were definitely going to need them). We then proceeded to a ghetto jewelry store in hopes of finding a watch (since Megan did not have one, and mine some how had already broke). Fortunately for us the store carried some Casios for only $12. We each bought one. Hope they don’t break by Brazil. Later that night I went to probably one of the coolest places…bioluminescent bay. For those of you who don’t know what that is…it is a bay that has phytoplankton that light up when you touch the water like little pieces of glitter. Your body also lights up when you get in. In order to get there you have to kayak for about 20 or so minutes, which was a fun experience all in itself. My partner and I were such great kayakers- we only crashed into the sides of the path 3 or 4 times and only managed to get stuck once. When we got to the actual bioluminescent bay we were able to jump in and swim around, lighting up in the process. Very cool.

Day three was once again a very jam-packed day of adventures. Traveled to the El Yunque rainforest (picture #2) and hiked around for a while. It was quite beautiful. Look below for some pictures of that. Also jumped in the waterfall, which was absolutely freezing, but well worth it. Had the most amazing lunch following this. We all cleared our plates and went back for seconds (picture #3). Then it was time for the beach. Luquillo beach was amazing. The whole time I kept thinking how incredibly unfair it was that I was swimming in such a marvelous place while my friends were either stuck in school or freezing in Colorado, perhaps both. Sorry guys. I enjoyed the beach for you. Promise. Hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all!