Home again
Well, I'm home, and, well, it's been another wonderful trip. We got there around noon on Friday, which is when I posted from Mom's Blackberry, and basically just spent the day hanging out with family- my baby cousins are absolutely the sweetest things ever, and while the fact that I don't speak Spanish well enough to be able understand it in babytalk sort of obstructed communication a little bit, for at least some of the time I could figure out what they were saying. It's funny, actually, how much I just completely adore them, without really even knowing them.
Anyway, Saturday and Sunday we went out on their parents' boat, which the have docked in Fajardo, about 45 minutes from San Juan. Fajardo is more or less the easternmost tp of the island, and so from there you can go to most of the other little islands nearby. The first day we just spent at the little islands nearby, but really, evey single beach is just the most perfect thng imaginable, all white sand and crystal clear blue water and brillinat sunlight. And starfish. I liked the starfish. :-) The second day we sailed all the way out to Culebrita, across a fairly wide stretch of fairly rough water, and so we got tossed around a lot, which wasn't quite as much fun. But the beach on Culebrita was, again, stunning, and I ate lunch that day standing up to my shoulders in the ocean, floating a plastic plate out in front of me. The girls created a lot of fun games, mostly involving them jumping off the side of the boat and me or Baby Brother John catching them. It took them a remarkably long time to tire of this one.
On Monday we wandered through Viejo San Juan, to the forts and the city walls and then all the little streets and the shops and restaurants and cafes. It's really pretty, but VERY hot, so we kept having to go into the shops just for a few moments of air conditioning.
Tuesday we went hiking in el Yunque, the rainforest, which is basically a large mountain in the middle of the island. We climbed to the peak, which is the highest point in Puerto Rico...it was amazing; if there hadn't been clouds (though of course, since it's a rainforest, there are more or less always clouds) we would have been able to see the entire island. But just the concept of being in a rainforest, the way it smelled and the way the air was thick with humidity and the shadows of the palm trees and the way everything was green and the sounds of birds and tree frogs...*squees softly*. That was probably my favorite part of the trip.
Today we spent the morning back in Old San Juan, and then flew out in the afternoon. It really did turn out to be a wonderful trip...Puerto Rican food is delicious...driving down the mountain, for instance, we got cocos frios, chilled coconuts that they just hack into with a machete so that you can drink the coconut water and then eat the meat inside, and pastelillos, which are fried meat pies, sort of, that are absolutely wonderful, and we had plantain cooked every way imaginable, though my favrite is tostones, where green plantain is cut into chunks, smashed into patties, and then deep-fried. Yes, everything is fried. I could not live off of this food regularly. But it IS very good.
I took lots of pictures...I can't wait to see how they came out...if there's anything specatcularly good I'll put it up here. But I need to go to bed now. And I can't wait to take a hot shower tomorrow morning...I haven't had a hot shower in three or four days. No hot water in the apartment (and no air conditioning, so it sort of evened out, in a predominantly uncomfortable way. :-)
I have a lot I want to say about the books I read while there, too, so I'll have to post more tomorrow.
Anyway, Saturday and Sunday we went out on their parents' boat, which the have docked in Fajardo, about 45 minutes from San Juan. Fajardo is more or less the easternmost tp of the island, and so from there you can go to most of the other little islands nearby. The first day we just spent at the little islands nearby, but really, evey single beach is just the most perfect thng imaginable, all white sand and crystal clear blue water and brillinat sunlight. And starfish. I liked the starfish. :-) The second day we sailed all the way out to Culebrita, across a fairly wide stretch of fairly rough water, and so we got tossed around a lot, which wasn't quite as much fun. But the beach on Culebrita was, again, stunning, and I ate lunch that day standing up to my shoulders in the ocean, floating a plastic plate out in front of me. The girls created a lot of fun games, mostly involving them jumping off the side of the boat and me or Baby Brother John catching them. It took them a remarkably long time to tire of this one.
On Monday we wandered through Viejo San Juan, to the forts and the city walls and then all the little streets and the shops and restaurants and cafes. It's really pretty, but VERY hot, so we kept having to go into the shops just for a few moments of air conditioning.
Tuesday we went hiking in el Yunque, the rainforest, which is basically a large mountain in the middle of the island. We climbed to the peak, which is the highest point in Puerto Rico...it was amazing; if there hadn't been clouds (though of course, since it's a rainforest, there are more or less always clouds) we would have been able to see the entire island. But just the concept of being in a rainforest, the way it smelled and the way the air was thick with humidity and the shadows of the palm trees and the way everything was green and the sounds of birds and tree frogs...*squees softly*. That was probably my favorite part of the trip.
Today we spent the morning back in Old San Juan, and then flew out in the afternoon. It really did turn out to be a wonderful trip...Puerto Rican food is delicious...driving down the mountain, for instance, we got cocos frios, chilled coconuts that they just hack into with a machete so that you can drink the coconut water and then eat the meat inside, and pastelillos, which are fried meat pies, sort of, that are absolutely wonderful, and we had plantain cooked every way imaginable, though my favrite is tostones, where green plantain is cut into chunks, smashed into patties, and then deep-fried. Yes, everything is fried. I could not live off of this food regularly. But it IS very good.
I took lots of pictures...I can't wait to see how they came out...if there's anything specatcularly good I'll put it up here. But I need to go to bed now. And I can't wait to take a hot shower tomorrow morning...I haven't had a hot shower in three or four days. No hot water in the apartment (and no air conditioning, so it sort of evened out, in a predominantly uncomfortable way. :-)
I have a lot I want to say about the books I read while there, too, so I'll have to post more tomorrow.