Puerto Rico through my eyes...

**Quick update since it’s nearly impossible to be up-to-date with what I’m doing or where I am – NY was great but my career ambitions molded into something else and I moved back to California yesterday – I’ve got a summer job with EF (a company that does exchange programs) – I’ll be the Director of their international camp in Long Beach starting June 14!! At the end of August I’ll be moving to Vermont to attend SIT (School for International Training) Graduate Institute where I’ll be obtaining my Masters in Intercultural Management/International Education! I just returned from a trip to Puerto Rico so below is my travel blog!**



I firmly believe that the best way to experience a new place is to spend time with a local. When my friend Adam (I worked with him at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in NY) told me he was going to Puerto Rico for a week to visit his uncle, I jumped at the chance to go. The best way to experience another place is to live there. The second best way to explore a new place is to spend time with locals. I’ve never been a “tourist” and never will be.



Technically part of the United States, Puerto Rico is the most foreign-feeling place using the U.S. Dollar that I’ve ever visited. This marks the first year that citizens of Puerto Rico will be able to vote in the national election. And now, Puerto Rico as I saw it…





“La Isla del Encanto” – (The Island of Love) – as stated on the license plate of every vehicle in Puerto Rico.



I LOVED Pinones. I only spent an hour in the seaside village. However, that hour spent at a table of an outdoor café with a view of the water, an amazing chilled alcoholic beverage and a meal of fresh fish will forever be engrained in my memory. After waking up in New York City among the skyscrapers and starless sky, I had to pinch myself in order to ensure that I truly was sitting across from bright green and blue water and palm trees. Amazing what a 3.5 hr plane ride can do.



I LOVED Old San Juan. The oldest city in the United States, San Juan is rife with charm, beauty and history. Blue brick roads wind throughout the city. Lined with brightly-colored houses and stores adorned with ornate iron, archways, custom tiles and courtyards, the streets give off a European feel. I took countless pictures of doorways and windows. If I ever have enough money to design my own home, I’ll be sure to give my photos of Old San Juan to the architect! The fort at the outskirts of the city was beautiful. The history was overwhelming. So were the ocean views.



I LOVED El Yunque (the rainforest). As I was driving up the 1.5 lane road through the rainforest, I kept saying how much the surroundings resembled that of the jungle cruise ride at Disneyland. Crazy to compare the Puerto Rican rainforest to a ride at an amusement park, but it’s all I had to reference. Colorful flowers, wide leaves, waterfalls, pools and tropical plants abounded. I heard the calls of tropical birds but they were only heard, not seen. The only things that prevented me from feeling as though I was trekking through the middle of the rainforest were the paved paths that marked the trails, concrete signs that stated “Forest Service US Department of Agriculture” and the concrete huts with fire pits interspersed along the trail.



I LOVED that the locals were friendly.



I LOVED that the speed limit on the main highway I drove on was 50 mph. With gas prices as high as they are, you can imagine my excitement when I had only used a half a tank of gas when it came time to return the rental car.



I LOVED that people rode horses bareback along the side of my car in Fajardo.



I LOVED that the people spoke Spanish and were as colorful as the houses in Old San Juan.



I LOVED Adam’s gun-toting, dual cell phone carrying, BMW driving, clean freak, charismatic, businessman, generous and comical uncle. Yes, he carries a gun. In his pocket. All the time. Well, if it’s not in his pocket, it’s sitting next to his leg in the car, or on the counter in his kitchen, or on his desk. I tried to ignore the fact that he carried a concealed weapon but my curiosity and fear took over and I asked him why he had the gun. He informed me that there are many poor people and fewer rich.



“We’re in a recession right now,” he said. “People want money and they rob those that have it. I have the gun for protection.”



He has never used it and hopes he never has to. He claimed that Puerto Rico is very strict when it comes to weapon licenses. I think he told me this to reassure me that Puerto Rico has good laws. Instead, it made me wonder how many people are walking the streets of Puerto Rico with illegal guns in their pocket. I never got used to the gun.



Guns aside, Tio Edward was extremely hospitable. In spite of his busy work schedule, he made time to pick us up and drop us off at places. His five bedroom house in Carolina with an immaculately stocked fridge (all beverages were lined up in rows), state-of-the-art entertainment system, pool, jacuzzi, palm trees and bbq, was a welcoming addition to my care-free vacation.



I LOVED that the temperature in the morning was the same as when I went to sleep.



I LOVED riding the bus from Isla Verde to Old San Juan. The 45 minute ride only cost $.75. It felt good to venture out of the air conditioned BMW that Tio Edward drove. Puerto Rico looked different through the windows of an overcrowded city bus.



I LOVED the middle-aged American women that Adam and I “rescued.” On our way down from the rainforest, we saw two distraught women arguing on the road. I pulled over and asked if they needed help. The calmer of the two explained that they had been hiking for two hours and ended up emerging from the forest in a different place from where they started. Between explaining their predicament to me and them getting into my car, they bickered about whether or not the other one was hysterical. In my opinion, one was semi calm and the other was slightly hysterical. But of course, the hysterical one refused to accept it and the other one kept telling her she needed to calm down. After driving in two different directions, we finally found their car. The entire event could have been prevented if there was a sign notifying people that the trails did not loop. Those ladies belong on The Amazing Race; they won’t win but they’ll definitely be entertaining.



I LOVED lying on the white-sand beach with palm trees on either side of me, crystal blue water in front of me and a book in my hand. The transformation of my skin from light brown to dark brown was great as well.



My one beef with Puerto Rico was that the humidity caused my curly hair to uncontrollably frizz and the mosquitoes ate me alive. In spite of those two issues, I fell in love with Puerto Rico!