Puerto Rican Diaries: Part I
As you may or may not know, I just got back Thursday night (well, Friday morning to be more precise) from Puerto Rico. It was my sister's (better late than never) graduation from college gift. I have decided to chronicle the trip here on live journal, for my sake as much or more as that of you guys. If it gets kind of long, I apologize. But hopefully you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing about it. Ok, here goes:
Friday, March 17th: Ready to leave behind the world of teachers, students and test preparations and forget about the frustrating, mind-consuming search for a house, I left Birmingham for Atlanta with my sister and mother around 5:00 in the afternoon. Much to our dismay, we encountered not one, but TWO areas of roadwork on the way. Instead of 2 1/2 hours, it took almost 5 1/2 for us to arrive at our hotel in Atlanta. 5 1/2 HOURS! Needless to say, we made a pact then and there to never again fly out of Atlanta, even if it is cheaper. On the plus side, my sister revealed that our flight the next day was at 9:00, not 5:30 like my mother had told me.
Saturday, March 18th: Another day of travel. However, this day started off well when we got bumped to first class for the first leg of the flight (from Atl to Miami). The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. Oh, except that my mom decided to bring her new Spanish-language magazine that she got to practice her Spanish, "Siempre Mujer." She did not bring a dictionary...she had me. So, while I tried to make the wait in Atl and the layover in Miami go by more quickly by reading MY magazine, I had trouble getting very far because every few lines I was interrupted by, "What does ______ mean?" And she was only to the ads section. Fortunately for me, and my sister who was sitting in between us, in Miami my mom ended up purchasing a Spanish-English dictionary. We finally arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico around 5:00 in the evening. Our hotel was in Isla Verde on the beach, and it was beautiful. My mom and I congratulated Heather on her travel agent skills in choosing the hotel. That night we ate a very expensive (and only so-so) meal in the hotel lobby and then had drinks at the bar, called Salsa. Cliche, but fun. They had a live salsa band, and the bar and dance space quickly filled with people, many of whom appeared to be locals. We quickly realized that we were underdressed...especially me in my jeans, brown tee and chacos, but oh well. We danced anyway, and had a lot of fun. A nice welcome to our brief island stay!
Friday, March 17th: Ready to leave behind the world of teachers, students and test preparations and forget about the frustrating, mind-consuming search for a house, I left Birmingham for Atlanta with my sister and mother around 5:00 in the afternoon. Much to our dismay, we encountered not one, but TWO areas of roadwork on the way. Instead of 2 1/2 hours, it took almost 5 1/2 for us to arrive at our hotel in Atlanta. 5 1/2 HOURS! Needless to say, we made a pact then and there to never again fly out of Atlanta, even if it is cheaper. On the plus side, my sister revealed that our flight the next day was at 9:00, not 5:30 like my mother had told me.
Saturday, March 18th: Another day of travel. However, this day started off well when we got bumped to first class for the first leg of the flight (from Atl to Miami). The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. Oh, except that my mom decided to bring her new Spanish-language magazine that she got to practice her Spanish, "Siempre Mujer." She did not bring a dictionary...she had me. So, while I tried to make the wait in Atl and the layover in Miami go by more quickly by reading MY magazine, I had trouble getting very far because every few lines I was interrupted by, "What does ______ mean?" And she was only to the ads section. Fortunately for me, and my sister who was sitting in between us, in Miami my mom ended up purchasing a Spanish-English dictionary. We finally arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico around 5:00 in the evening. Our hotel was in Isla Verde on the beach, and it was beautiful. My mom and I congratulated Heather on her travel agent skills in choosing the hotel. That night we ate a very expensive (and only so-so) meal in the hotel lobby and then had drinks at the bar, called Salsa. Cliche, but fun. They had a live salsa band, and the bar and dance space quickly filled with people, many of whom appeared to be locals. We quickly realized that we were underdressed...especially me in my jeans, brown tee and chacos, but oh well. We danced anyway, and had a lot of fun. A nice welcome to our brief island stay!