Puerto Rico

This is in the Rainforest, which is up for one of the ‘Wonders of the World'. We walked down to this waterfall after our big hike to the top. In order to get down a bit faster we hitchhiked (my first time doing that) with a couple who we had someone how passed going one way and then passed going the other way. I stopped and laughed with them about how Rodger and I had somehow made a complete circle so on the way down as they passed us in their car the husband called out the window "ya'll want a ride to your car?" Very nice people. Because of them we had more time to hike down to the falls in this picture. People did swim in the water although it was chilly. There were tons of stairs to walk down in order to get to the falls. We had to move very quickly in order to get back to the DeVry welcome dinner on time so we were practically running back up and were passing people who looked at us like we were crazy for going so fast. It's a good thing we live way above sea level because we probably had an advantage. Needless to say after our hike and then this we were sweating and very ready for the dinner!

On top of a mini castle like structure at the end of our hike at 3,000 ft. 3,000 ft was funny to us becuase we usually hike mountains to 14,000 ft although we of course start a lot higher!

Rodger on top of the 'castle'. It was like a great kids play fort with lots of graffiti. It even had a working fireplace at one time. Everything on top of the hike reminded us of the TV show 'Lost.' There were lots of TV satellite buildings, one which was manned which was super weird. There was this guy just sitting in this green, mossy building, very 'Lost' esque.

Yes, this snail is as large as it looks, very cool. At one point we saw what Rodger thought was a rat and I thought was a ferret running across the trail. Later we saw warning signs that said that there were mongoose (made me think of Rikki Tikki Tavi) in the rainforest many of which were rabid. I thought mongoose ate snakes...we didn't see any snakes...thank goodness...not sure about those in the Rainforest...

In Puerto Rico everything looked damp all of the time and slightly foggy. Our cameras would fog up sometimes and then not take great pictures. We felt hot and cold at the same time it was the strangest feeling, balmy I guess would be the best word.

View from the top of a concrete look-out - gorgeous.

Stairs up to a concrete look-out. It was a bit off of the trail but we were glad we went to it because the very top of our hike was too foggy to see anything.

This is a pic of our friends Vance and Tara's cattle ranch hat from Kansas in the rainforest.

The bridges and paths were really pretty. Concrete paths with rocks imbedded in them. They were pretty but very slick.

Either the leaves were ginormous or Rodger's head is huge...

We flew in a day early before the other DeVry participants in order to hike in the rain forest. We were fortunate to have read travel blogs that suggested renting a car. The cost of tour was $60 per person and the car we rented was $90 for our entire trip. It was only $3 to get in to the Rainforest visitor center, about a 10 minute drive from the resort, and the tour would not have allowed us to hike as far up as we were interested in going.

Starting our hike.


This was waiting for us in our room on Thursday night after our welcome dinner. The DeVry PRIDE symbol was made out of white chocolate and the palm tree was solid chocolate. It was stuck to the plate so hard we had to bite it off which of course cracked us up. It was a fun thing to come back to after hanging out with our friends that evening.

Brett in front of the boat that took us over to Vieques Island for our bioluminescent tour. On the boat ride over from Puerto Rico we had to stay inside the boat so by the end Brett and I (Amy) were starting to feel a bit quesy and were very ready to get off. On the way back they let a few of us ride outside since we were riding with the waves and it is less bumby and safer. Even though we got wet and our drinks were half saltwater from the spray, riding outside was tons of fun. The boat was fast, we could watch the stars and as a result of the fresh air no one felt sick.

Catamaran we rode on across the ocean. At the start of our trip we really didn't know what we were doing. We knew that we were taking a boat ride, eating at a restaurant and swimming with something that glowed. At that time I thought it was fish. Stacey, Rodger, Brett and I at that point were not even sure we were going to swim. None of us enjoy getting into swimming suits in front of others (oh, don't we all miss our skinny, buff early 20s) and all of were a bit apprehensive about swimming in the ocean, especially in the dark...(theme song of jaws in the background)...we all figured a boat ride would be just as much fun without the swim.

Pic from the dock on Vieques Island. Since it was close to Christmas there was a sign made of large green and read letters in the background that read 'Feliciades'. At this point we got off of the boat and into two white vans. It was really strange and we weren't exactly sure what was going on at that point. The streets were crowded with people, mostly men in wife beaters standing around holding beers (which explains the beer guts) leaning against cars staring at 'the tourists.' It was so weird, I still can't figure out what they were doing there exactly, maybe tourist watching was the thing to do. The tour guides had to get out and direct traffic in order to get on our way because the roads are tiny and jam packed with cars and trucks. It was made much more sureal becuase I was still feeling a bit sick at that point.

On the boat over to the island. We originally thought it would cost $180 to go on the tour. Then we found out that since we had a car they would only charge us $140 but then when we got the bill they only charged us $120 AND we found out that they provided free drinks on the boat. The only stipulation was that they only served rum drinks since that was what Puerto Rico is known for (though we found out later that most of the ingredients to make rum are actually imported). Everything seemed to get cheaper in Puerto Rico!

Place where the tour started. From this point we took a ride on this crazy ghetto fabulous school bus that had graffiti all over it, a broken windshield, no door and the seats were completely sunken and broken down in the middle. The guide, who spoke in a fairly thick accent and kept saying "duper super" instead of "super duper," told us to make sure to stay away from the windows in order to avoid the branches that could come in and hit us which explained the broken windshield. He also said that if anyone had a bad back or was prone to motion sickness that they should sit up in front. Of course that describes both Rodger and I so the front seat it was for us. The bus then drove down a pitchback path (it reminded me of a haunted house ride) that served as the road which was so badly rutted the driver would swerve off into the grass and trees to avoid the deep ruts, not that I can even imagine ruts any deeper than the ones that we drove over. From the bus ride we boarded a pontoon boat that took us out into the bay where the guide used a laser pointer to point out constellations. Even growing up in Kansas I'm not sure that I've seen the sky so densely packed with stars before. I've also never had a guide so knowledgeable about constellations, though I guess he could have been making them up for all I know!

The guide then explained that the bay we were in (not the picture above - it was too dark for any of the pictures to come out) was protected by a coral reef and surrounded by mangroves so the plankton that we were going to swim with would get trapped and since they split to reproduce making them very prolific, there were 500,000 per gallon of water. These plankton soak up sunlight during the day and glow in defense when disturbed. Eventually if disturbed over and over they lose their glow for the night and will 're-charge' the next day.

As we drove out into the middle Brett and Rodger said 'look out the back of the boat.' It looked like there were running lights as we drove but it was the glow from the plankton. The glow they put off is the same chemical process used in glow sticks.

We then put on wrap around float belts and the salt water was denser as well which made us more buoyant. The water was surprisingly warmer than I thought. Every time we moved our body it would sparkle and when I raised my arm out of the water the entire limb and my hands would twinkle. At one point Rodger went underwater and when he broke the surface his entire face was covered in sparkly light. With his full beard he looked like some kind of glowing merman. Brett, who was on the boat during our swim, said that we all looked like Tinkerbelle.

It was probably one of the most extraordinary experiences we have ever had. Oh, by the way, the most dangerous thing in the water were jelly fish. At first I wasn't too worried about them but then the guide said that a four year old girl had been stung by one and stopped crying by the time she got back on the bus. He told us that because he thought it was reassuring, I'm not sure if it got lost in translation or what he thinks is reassuring is different than what Stacey and I did because at the end of his story Stacey leaned toward me laughing and sarcastically said 'Oh...now I feel a lot better!"

After the swim we got back on the bumpy bus made no better by the fact that most of us really had to go to the bathroom, which of course led to jokes about 'if you peed in the water did it glow' and so on. Back at the shop we ate a local meal which we found that in Puerto Rico mostly consists of fried food. The fried plantains were wonderful, they are sliced and fried and mashed and fried in various forms.

On Saturday we drove to San Juan. This is Ft. San Cristóbal. It was built by Spain to protect against land based attacks on the city of San Juan and at one point the wall basically wrapped around the city of San Juan, though much of it has been torn down.

View from the wall.

Stacey and Amy

View from top of tower.

Soldier's quarters.

Statue in the square.
Front of restaurant that was recommended in San Juan. We actually ran into another couple from DeVry there. We were about 30 minutes (without traffic) from the Resort so it seemed strange to run into someone we knew, especially since out of the 900 DeVry employees ond their guests I probably knew only around 30.

Amy, Stacey, Rodger and Brett. The orange things sticking out of my plate are fried plantains...yum, yum!

The streets of Old San Juan reminded me a lot of Italy except that they were a bit more colorful. Muted pinks, blues and yellows, very beachy. Narrow streets with cobble stones and teeny tiny sidewalks.

On top of Ft. San Cristóbal.

Ft. San Cristóbal.

Rodger, Amy, Brett and Stacey. Brett and Stacey are brothe and sister. Brett, Amy and Rodger have been friends for more than 7 years. We were so happy and excited to find out that he was also going to Puerto Rico and that we would finally get to meet his sister Stacey.

San Juan. We kept looking for neat things to bring back to our family but it was just touristy junk. Since Puerto Rico is part of America we kept having to remember that they had shops just like us, duh...

This mannequin head was outside the restaurant and we thought it looked a lot like my brother Brad!! What do you think Brad? I wish I would have bought you those glasses and hat now, I didn't even think about it at the time!

Stacey and Brett at the PRIDE dinner.

Part of my group (the training department) was working the event which was fun since I got to see them and Rodger finally got to meet some of them but not as much fun for them since they worked very hard. Rick, Scott, Mike S., Mike C., Jeff, me, Mary.

Me, Mike, Jeff and Mary.

Rodger and I.

There were tons of cats all over the island.

These flowers were in the trees throughout the rainforest. We saw red, yellow and purple variations.

Rainforest

Since we had a jeep we went back to the rainforest on Sunday with Brett and Stacey. We took the top off of the jeep which was really fun for awhile but then it started to rain and the boys had to get out and put it back on while Stacey and I latched it on the inside. It was actually pretty funny to us that it started to rain though it didn't happen until we were leaving.

Stacey.

Brett.

Inside tower in rainforest.

Observation tower in rainforest.

Amy and Brett.

Our jeep. We originally rented the smallest car that we could for only $19 a day. When we got to the rental place they asked if we wanted to upgrade to a jeep, which of course we did but then we found out that it would be $70 a day and not worth it to us. Since it was late at night and we were some of the last customers the manager said that he would give us it for $10 more a day. He then went on to explain that 'Everything we had heard about driving in Puerto Rico was true.' Rodger and I were so confused, we had heard nothing about driving in Puerto Rico but just smiled and listened to him. He explained that 70% of the people who drive do not have insurance so if we were in an accident our insurance would be billed regardless. We later found out that driving in Puerto Rico is similar to driving in New York except all of the streets are smaller and everyone seems to drive Ford pickup trucks. We tried to tip the manager because we were grateful for the deal and he wouldn't let us. Then when we dropped off the jeep and got the bill they didn't charge us for the upgrade. Like I said...everything gets cheaper in Puerto Rico!

Stacey and Brett

Stacey and Amy - Driving around in the jeep was fun. I think a jeep will be our 'mid-life' crisis purchase someday!

These are various pics of our resort...yes, it looks like something in a magazine, beautiful.

The iguanas are feed everyday at 11 a.m. which must make them hang around for most of the day all around the pool area.

Inside lobby of resort.

From Brett's balcony. Since Brett was Diamond PRIDE (highest level) he and Stacey were given a suite with three rooms, bedroom, living room and office and two bathrooms. He said at first they didn't unpack because they figured they were sharing with someone since there was an adjoining door. Eventually they realized it was all for them! Rodger and I enjoyed the space too as we all sat around in the living room and played games after the PRIDE event. Rodger and I were blessed to have an ocean view as well though I didn't put picks from the balcony on the blog because they came out foggy.

Backside - facing the ocean.

The waves were quite big.

Yes, the iguanas even got in the pool. At one point one of them must have gotten stuck because we saw some people trying to help him (I guess it could be a her) out of the pool.

The first night Rodger and I walked all around this area in the dark. We needed some exercise after being on planes all day and it was nice and warm outside and very relaxing. Later we found out that one of the PRIDE participants and her husband were held up at gunpoint at the fire pit at the pool. The young man who held them up took her purse and ran. The hotel acted like it wasn't a big deal and that was just "Puerto Rico."