PUERTO RICO!!

Just as everyone was getting used to ship life, we pulled into port in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Saturday morning around 8. I woke up at 7 so I could go outside and watch us pull in. It wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be, but I’m assuming that will change when we get to some of the other countries. Customs had to come onboard to check all of our passports which went by pretty fast. However, the line to get off the ship was extremely long. I just got breakfast with some people and waited for it to die down. Once we got off, I walked downtown with Ananda and a couple other people. We weren’t sure where we were headed so we just kept going and eventually made it to Old San Juan. Old San Juan is filled with many touristy shops as usual but it also had some really interesting restaurants, old forts (El Morro and San Cristobal), historic buildings, beaches, etc. We ended up eating lunch at a small restaurant that seemed pretty American. I just ate a turkey sandwich – no big surprise there! After lunch, we continued walking downtown and ended up on this little patio that was filled with hundreds of pigeons. If you put your hand out they would all think you had food for them and would land on you. I tried it once just so I could get a picture and say that I had a pigeon land on me. There were some kids in there that loved it and would hold the whole bag of food out so maybe 8 or 10 pigeons were landing on them. It was pretty cool until the damn thing tried to land on my head. I decided that was my cue to leave before they started pooping on me or something. On our walk back to the ship we went into the Capitol building and walked around taking pictures. We stopped at a gas station for some drinks and Ananda and my friend Rachel bought energy drinks called Gasolina (like the song ha-ha). They say that they are like red bull, but it’s actually all alcohol. It is supposed to taste good but both of them ended up throwing them away because they were so disgusting. Once we got back on the ship, we laid out on the deck in the sun for a couple of hours. We ate dinner on the ship that night and then I went on my first trip to Bioluminescent Bay at 7:30. It was about an hour bus ride to get there. Once we were there we were paired up and had a safety meeting. We then got in the kayaks and headed towards the canal. There were about 14 or 15 kayaks in my group. Going through the canal was really dark since it was nighttime and covered by the trees. It was a really narrow canal, but we all had glow bracelets on for light. It took probably 20 minutes to get to the lagoon that was awesome! When we got out there, our tour guide told us all about how the bioluminescent bay worked. When you moved anything in the water, it would sparkle. There are little organisms that light up and look like crystals. The night that I went it was difficult to see them because the moon was really bright. The stars that night, though, were definitely worth the trip. After staying in the lagoon for a little while, we kayaked back through the canal to the base. It was already 11:30 by the time we got off the water and it was still another hour bus ride back so after I showered, I passed right out.
On the second day in Puerto Rico, I went to the beach in the morning. The water was SO warm and it was so nice out! We stayed at the beach for most of the morning until a huge wave came up and absolutely soaked everything! That was the time we decided we should go back to the ship. We wanted to go to a market in Carolina (like 15 minutes away) but the taxi driver had no idea where it was. We drove around with her for a little while until finally she brought us to the place where it was. The only problem was that the market was gone. It was no longer there. So after all that driving to try and find it, we just went back to the ship. Waste of money, but oh well. After showering and getting ready, we went back into Old San Juan to a restaurant where the Pina Colada was invented (or the first one was made). We got dinner and a couple drinks. Ananda was going on the Bioluminescent Bay trip that night so I walked her back to the ship and then took a taxi back into town. I met up with Rachel and Kaleigh; we went to a couple different bars and then made our way to Senor Frogs. Since it was only like 7:30 we were pretty much the only ones in there. We ordered a couple drinks and by the time those were finished, the place was packed. It was fun; we met a couple people from the Coast Guard that were stationed in San Juan. The whole night each of us only paid $12 for drinks and we stayed until after midnight! J . On Monday morning, I went to the First Hospital Panamericano. It’s a psychiatric hospital in Puerto Rico that is linked to a bunch of hospitals in the United States. We had a presentation about the history of the hospital and then a tour of it which was pretty interesting. It wasn’t what I was expecting and we didn’t really get to have any contact with the patients, but it was still worth going. Once we got back to the ship, I walked into Old San Juan again and did some shopping. Nothing great though…I got back on the ship around 4:30. The rest of the night I just hung out since I didn’t want any dock time for being late! I didn’t want to get back off the ship and then not make it back in time! That would not be fun for the next time in port! We left Puerto Rico right at the scheduled 11:00 pm and then I went to bed. The last couple of days have been filled with classes and laying out on the deck getting tan! Yesterday (Thursday) was the first cloudy day that I didn’t lay out. I did lots of reading and homework and just hanging out with new people. I have to say it was nice having a break from the sun. (I never thought I would say that!!) Pub nights started this week also which seem to be pretty fun. You can have two drinks at dinner and then four at the pool bar. That’s plenty for mee! Haha tomorrow we have no classes, not really sure why yet? I know that we are taking pictures of all the different universities and colleges represented here on this voyage. Ananda and I have to go at 5 for the UNH picture. Anyways I miss you all and love you lots! I will probably write again after Brazil!

i tried uploading some pictures and im not sure if it worked or not..if not ill try again later! <3