Where do I even begin with this weekend? It was filled with so much fun and so much awesome scenery. Basically, we went out to Fajardo to kayak in the bio-luminescent bay (laguna grande), go to El Yunque Rainforest, and end it at la playa de Luquillo, one of the most beautiful and calmest beaches of Puerto Rico.
But let's start from the beginning so my memory doesn't fail me (like it has in half of these posts).
I was woken up at 10 AM Saturday with a call from my teacher, who was on campus to teach a workshop for intercity kids. She had to pick us up at my apartment early because she had to run back to her house in Old San Juan where she forgot her cell phone, so we drove back there. Old San Juan has very tiny streets, they're all one-way and have one side reserved for street parking and one for cars to drive. So we just blocked up her whole street by parking next to the parked cars so she could run in and get her cell phone. Mission accomplished.
On our way to the freeway to Fajardo, we were passing the hotel where her son's cafe is, so she asked if we were hungry. I always say yes to that question. We stopped there to get the famous 3-tea blend and a muffin and to visit for a while. Their tea is so good so I'm glad we stopped.
I played co-pilot on the way to Fajardo and had to pay special attention, because my teacher get's lost very often with directions and such. I fell asleep anyways, and my teacher just said she would let me know when she needed me. Ok, so you know when you're in the country, and the roads don't have names? They just have those route numbers with north, south, east or west and it's confusing. I've encountered these a lot with my parents and little sister trying to visit colleges in the middle of nowhere like Ohio Northern or Findley. Well, that is exactly what we were up against on the way out to Fajardo. From the main highway, we did find the route we needed, but from there it was very confusing. The directions from the kayaking company listed about 5 different turns we had to make. We didn't make any of them and we kept on straight, yet we ended up on the last route we needed before the beach. In other words, instead of making 5 turns, we continued straight and made it right to where we were supposed to be. I think a few revisions need to be made.
We unloaded at the beach and tried to look for the kayak company, but were told we were real early since we were taking a night kayak trip. This gave us time to play in the water and soak up some sun. Fajardo is the north eastern part of the island, where you have access to the other islands of Puerto Rico such as Vieques and Culebra. Those were in the background as we played in the water. We saw some cool fish and a lot that camouflaged into the rocks on the bottom and others that looked like the seaweed leaves, which was really cool. There were a lot of boats in the background as well as kayak companies setting up. As a per-departure snack, we got some pinchos, those kabob thingies. They actually had a shrimp one that Jenn tried and my teacher and I got chicken.
Finally, it was time for kayaking. These were open ocean kayaks, so we would be getting wet from the waste down, at the very least. We just wore our swim suits with a shirt over top, but it was pretty chilly. My teacher says we're not allowed to say that it's chilly because we're from Ohio, where it's snowing now. Surprisingly, we now think that 70's is cold because we spend the day in the 80's. Anyways, we put on bug spray and life jackets and grouped up to hear some instructions. Everyone got a partner, so Jenn and I stuck together while my teacher went with another single guy. She kept trying to get Jenn or me to go with him, but he was old by our standards and I'm too shy for that business. It was funny to hear them trying to communicate because he spoke no Spanish and she struggles with English, but they made a good team. Our kayak guide was funny, referring to kayaks with other companies as "the enemy" and teaching us how to hit them and make it look like an accident. Well, it was decided that I would be the person in the back of the kayak to steer and everything because I had been kayaking a few times in the ocean and my gym class in college was kayaking. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much I remembered from that experience.
We got into our kayaks and rowed into a single file line until our whole group was ready. We kayaked across the ocean docks where the boats sat to an opening of a river canal. This canal was awesome because it had mangrove trees that hang over the top of you and form a canopy. When you look up through the branches in the air, you can see a million stars. The little river was very shallow and pretty narrow so we had to be careful not to crash into the trees on the side and get stuck. We got stuck anyways, on a few occasions, but our guide just told us that we got the full experience that way.
After about half an hour of kayaking and some twists and turns, we got to La Laguna Grande, a bio-luminescent bay. This lagoon is filled with millions of organisms that react to movement by lighting up. In other words, when you stuck your hand into the water and wiggled it around, your hand lit up like tinker bell. It was the coolest thing ever. At one point, you were able to swim in it to see your whole body light up, but they discovered that all the oils, perfumes and bugsprays that we wear were killing the organisms which would also stop them from lighting up. The sky was filled with more stars than I've ever seen before. I saw the usual suspects, like Orion and the North Star, but they were surrounded and filled with a million other tiny stars.
It was time to go back and we all lined up again to start down the river back to the ocean. This trip would be easier and faster because we would be going with the current. I was excited about that, but then quickly learned that we would encounter enemy kayaks that would be entering as we were exiting. Not good. We crashed a few times into oncoming traffic and got stuck in a jam in the roots of the trees. We finally made it out and back to shore where they had snacks and water waiting for us. My teacher decided she was going to change and went to her car. When she got back, she told us about how she had to go pee but didn't want to go in the nasty bathrooms, so she went in her fast food cup by her car. She really is a character.
For dinner, we saw a restaurant as we were headed back to the highway to stay in Luquillo. The tables were outdoors and the scenery was gorgeous. We had great service and confused them on whether we spoke Spanish or English. We're too tan to look American, but our facial features are American, and then we always enter places speaking Spanish, so it's fun when they come up to our table and say "¿Inglés o español?" Well, with my teacher, it's always at least a 3 course meal. We got 2 appetizers: some shrimp in a fruity glaze and some ham croquettes, both of which were awesome. Then we went to look at the menu. Surprisingly, one of the cheaper things was Filet Mignon, and I don't feel like I get to eat that enough, so I ordered it. All of our dishes came out beautifully decorated with sauces in different designs. Everything was delicious, and when the waiter came with the bill, our teacher refused it and asked for dessert. We ended up getting a creme brulee made with sweet potatoes. It was awesome and also beautifully presented. We called our friends who were staying with us at the apartment, and they said they were at dinner at Taco Maker, a fast food taco chain. My teacher doesn't approve of that, especially since we were meeting up with another teacher and her student teacher, who needs to experience Puerto Rican restaurants, not Taco Maker.
We got back on the highway and went to the ocean side apartment and were exhausted. I shared a room with my teacher who was literally passed out with lights on and everything when I got out of the bathroom. We slept great that night.
The next day, I woke up to birds chirping and the sound of ocean waves, which I now believe is the way that everyone in the world should wake up. We threw on some clothes and went to Walgreens to get bottles of water and then subway to get some breakfast and a sandwich to eat later on our hike. I was very impressed with subway's breakfast; I had no idea they made the eggs right in front of you to put on the flat breads. We took our breakfast back to the apartment to eat on the balcony in front of the ocean and then got our stuff together to go to El Yunque. The other teacher and her boyfriend hike, kayak and bike all around the island, so they knew the spot to take us in the rainforest.
El Yunque is a rainforest that is a mountain, or basically the whole mountain is the rainforest. So, we had to drive up and around the mountain until we finally got to the trail to Las Minas waterfall. They have created trail paths with concrete stairs and big rocks to help everyone get to their destination, which was really nice. After hiking 30 minutes down hill and seeing some awesome scenery and plants, we arrived at the waterfall. It was so beautiful and everyone was going in it. We took off our clothes to get into our bathing suits and climbed over a bunch of huge rocks to get into the freezing cold water. I saw some fish swimming around and we kept screaming because of how cold the water was and also because there were huge rocks at the bottom of the falls where we couldn't see them below the water. We got some awesome and hilarious pictures of it all, though. We dried off and hiked up hill all the way back up to the top where we ate lunch by some beautiful scenery and then decided to head out to the beach.
Luquillo beach actually has a parking lot that you have to pay to park in. This is all because the beach has wonderful park facilities. They have great bathrooms, life guard houses, and awesome colorful tiled showers. Luquillo beach is arguably one of the best beaches in Puerto Rico. One of the teachers told us that most people think it's the best, but in her opinion, she likes the beaches on Culebra and La Playa Sucia better. But 3rd best in her book is fine with me. The water is very calm and there's almost no waves. It's also crystal clear and you can see your feet. The sand in the water doesn't have anything in it. No rocks, no plants, but you can see schools of fish swim by and there were actually a few people walking around with starfish they caught. We floated in the calm water and laid out a bit. One time when I went in the water myself, I ended up making friends with these 3 little kids. They thought my name was strange and said I seemed like I was from a different planet, but I just told them I was from the United States. The little girl told me she had never heard of it, but then proceeded to tell me how she was born in New York. My teacher said that I'm a good teacher because I taught some little kids that day how New York and Ohio are both states in the U.S. I pulled them around in their floaties and when we had to go, the kids didn't want me to leave, it was so cute. Sadly, we had to go home from there so my teacher could babysit her grand kids and Jenn and I could go back to our apartment.
This island is one of the most amazing places for me, and this weekends is one of the reasons why. There are so many diverse ecosystems in one tiny place and you can see so much. For example, just this weekend we went to the bio-luminescent lagoon, the ocean, and the rainforest. Another weekend we got to go to the caves and a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. I know why they call it "The Island of Enchantment."
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