Waterfalls, Glowing Organisms, and Zip-Lining Oh My!

1/26 – 1/28

I have now lowered my average amount of sleep per night since leaving home to just above 5 hours after a short night sleeping out on the deck! What began as a hearty group of about 20 adventurers thinned out to a meager 3 of myself, Lauren, and Kayleigh. Wind and discomfort were definite factors as the ship has (and does indeed enforce) a policy that our pillows and other bedding materials are not to be removed from our cabins. As such my pillow was a squished up hoodie and I had nothing but the deck to lie on. This was fine for periods of 45 minutes or so until I would begin to stiffen up on the side in contact with the deck. Also the wind coursing across the deck seemed determined to unzip my sleeping bag and otherwise find its way into my protective cocoon.

But in the end it was absolutely worth while. We were treated to a spectacular pre-dawn view of San Juan as its distant lights seemed to rise up out of the water under a magnificent starry sky. Before long several of us were witness to a spectacular sun rise that coincided with our arrival into San Juan harbor.

After a quick bite to eat I stepped onto Puerto Rican soil with Kate, Megan, and Kristen and headed in a direction that looked interesting. We happened across one of the two old forts in San Juan (San Cristobal) and discovered that admittance to see it and a neighboring fort (El Morro) was only $5 which we gladly contributed. San Cristobal is a spectacular fort built by the Spaniards in the 16^th century to defend against land attacks while the neighboring fort of El Morro sits roughly 1 mile away to guard against invasion by sea. The fortress provided spectacular views of the surrounding landscape and Old San Juan and provided opportunities to explore the tunnels and battlements. Between San Cristobal and El Morro sits the center of Old San Juan. Rolling hills and cobblestone streets greet visitors as streetside bars and shops display their wares. We ended up having lunch at a place called Yurat, which was being run by an incredibly nice man who was very excited to have us eating there and animatedly showed us the various meals he had prepared in the last hour. I ended up with a meal called rice cerrada which was a rice, pea, corn, pepper, steak, and chicken dish which I thought was excellent.

After lunch we made our way to El Morro but made a slight mistake in our path to get there. Finding the old harbor gate to San Juan we thought we had found a walking path outside the city wall along the sea to get to the fort. While it was indeed a fine walking path the heat was stifling as the sun beat down on a windless walk. After about 15 minutes we came to a dead end and had to head back! But the incredible views of the harbor and the sea when we finally made it to El Morro quickly made us forget about the detour to get there!

After returning to the ship and a few hours break Robyn, Kate, Kait, and I went to a welcome reception at a Puerto Rican university. There we met several Puerto Rican college students who had prepared food for us and gave us Salsa dancing lessons. Some of them have quite different schedules than us as one student explained to us that he goes to school only on Tuesday and Saturday, 3 classes each day but each class is 4 hours! They also described how English speaking students are taught in a separate building from the Spanish speakers and that they are often harassed. We were also told that many people sign up for classes in order to get access to Stafford and other federally funded financial aid but never attend, effectively stealing money from the US government!

My Second day in Puerto Rico began with a chance meeting with a group of people going to El Yunque, the only tropical rain forest in the US Park System. A decent sized group of us caught a ride with an excellent Puerto Rican tour guide named Rupert. Rupert provided us with a narration of everything we were passing by during the trip to the forest. Before reaching the heart of the forest we stopped at an observation tower that provided an excellent view of the valley and mountains surrounding it! After moving to a trailhead shortly thereafter, we began our trek through the forest where the rushing sound of a nearby river meets the chirping of jungle birds in a fantastic setting of lush green plants covering every square inch of the ground save for the narrow trail path.

At the end of the hike a 20 foot or so waterfall provided a refreshing place to take a dip and stage a photo op! Afterwards we stopped at a little place near the forest where I sampled my first Puerto Rican brewed Medalia which is a quite good light beer as well as a pork and rice dish recommended by Rupert.

A few hours later I found myself heading on a bus to Bioluminescence Bay, a winding mangrove canal traversed by kayak where millions of tiny organisms inhabit the water. When disturbed such as by an oar or by one’s hand a chemical reaction causes them to fluoresce, in our case a pale blue. The experience was surreal and was very reminiscent of the canals in Pirates of the Caribbean where our heroes visit Tia Dalma. Another starry sky to top it off was spectacular and allowed me to put some of my Astronomy knowledge to good use by pointing out a few constellations and planets. I thought the whole experience was great though there were a few difficulties as navigating pitch black canals with only the starlight and the small glowing markers on the kayak in front of you led to several collisions with branches and trees lining the shores as if one person hit something the kayak behind them haplessly hit the same object because we were instructed to follow the light of the kayak in front of us! Overall though I found it a very enjoyable experience!

On our last day in Puerto Rico I once again found myself on a bus, this time bound to Guaynabo to partake in a zip-lining experience between several platforms scattered throughout a dense forest. It was a quite nerve wracking experience to put on all the gear and finally make ones way to that first platform, but the feeling of soaring over the forest floor and through the trees without hitting them was spectacular! Sarah from the rain forest hike happened to be on the trip too and so we were able to catch a few pictures of each other! Also one of our guides was kind enough to take a group photo with EVERY SINGLE ONE of our groups 20 odd cameras! Now that’s service!

After returning to the ship Kayleigh, Kait, Kate, Garret, Sarah and I went into a Starbucks in San Juan for free wi-fi access to get a chance to share photos and send email. Afterwards we enjoyed happy hour for a bit before meeting Robyn and Mandy for a bite to eat. Spooked by the harsh dock time penalties given for late returns to the ship we headed back early after dinner and a short few hours and last phone calls to family and friends later find ourselves on the way to Brazil!