culebra

January 11

After a near death experience(I thought but probably wasn’t in any clear danger), I was ready for some relaxation, so I veered towards fajardo and la isla culebra, which according to many travel sites, has the best beach in the carribbena, playa flamenco. I embarked on the ferry at 9:30 AM and set out to some really choppy waters, and sat next to a man from culebra.  He was a firefighter and was bickering about how there is nothing to do in culebra so he has to go to fajardo to get things done.  As my new carribbena dream island approached, I was blessed by the Caribbean trade winds and a fine mist from the ferry. I landed on Culebra and started hiking towards playa flamenco as the rest of the tourists paid 3 dollars for a 5 minute drive, suckers! But to my avail the hike was longer than expected as I passed the smallest airport I have ever seen  and trucked my way up the hill. A couple in a golf cart stopped and asked me if I would like a lift, and they were right. It is a freakin hot island and hiking doesn’t cool things down. It turns out that the lady was from South Africa, which I guessed her accent right immediately, and she was very impressed, saying” I have never had any one get it right before!”.  It reminded of Kate and the South African accent she picked up while being out there.  The couple even drove out of there way to drop me off, how corteous of them. We said our goodbyes, and I said hello to the most beautiful beach I had ever seen.  It was like the nicest beach in Miami but without the skyscrapers and towers, completely pristine, sublime, untouched white sand and phosphorescent blue water, though ironically enough the military used to shell this beach and there are two tanks on the playa that remind you of it. It was crazy thinking that this island used to be military property and they did practice beach landings here for D-day.  I soaked up the sun until I burned, and burned I did well, and I had to go to the shade.

 I came back out from my nesting hole in the hammock during sunset and took a nice stroll on the beach. From there I spent my night under a luminescent moon that brought the craziness out in me. I jammed out on my Ipod dancing alone on the beach, looked up to the sky and sacrificed to the moon god, practiced yoga like a white bendy twig swaying in the moonlight, ran the beach along the waterline, and skinny dipped in the water after. Then I pondered under the stars and fell asleep until later that morning. I was woken up by someone on the beach and decided to spend the rest of the night in my hammock, but it rained and I had no choice but to rough it out because I forgot to bring the tarp.

 Next, I woke up at 7 in the morning to a man saying with a thick heavy accent, “my name is henry, you suppose to pay 20 dola to camp, where you fron and was ur name? I, in a half daze and without my contacts on(I’m blind without them), mumbled some words in English and told him that the office was closed. He repeated, is ok I give you a warning and if you want to camp another night jew have to pay. My name is henry, have a niiiice day.” Pretty much the only thing I remember him saying is my name is henry about 4 times.

luquillo

luquillo from the top of yunque

 The next day I headed for playa luquillo, and foolishly paid 5 dollars to get in when I could have parked at the beach next to it and walked over. Instead, I parked at luquillo and hiked over to the free beach. Over there, at playa azul, I set up my hamaca and soaked up some rays, but not before long when I was taking a siesta a man coconut hunting woke me up. I asked if he wanted help and ended up helping him fetch coconuts for a couple of hours. The process is rather interesting- he takes boards from the ground and nails them to the tree to scale it like a ladder. I handed him boards tied to a rope so he wouldn’t have to get down, and handed him the machete to cut the coconuts down. Before long we had an efficient system working and got about 20 coconuts. I gave him a mandarina, and he cut a coconut open for me to drink the milk and eat the meat. It was delicious. I think of my favorite things about tropical countries is that you can just walk around pick fruit of of trees for sustainment. Next, we gave a coconut to a nice family for the kids to enjoy, and they loved it.  Before long, I was tired of working but he needed my help and relied on me to help him, but after a while I told him I’m on vacation and I’m here to relax. So I jumped in the water and did a little bodysurfing, which to my amazement was really fun. Up to this point, all of the beaches I had been to had really placid waters, but finally I caught a glimpse of how rough the atlantic can be. In the afternoon, I went to the kioskos and had some great Puerto Rican fast food, all of which is fried to a crisp.

macro mushroom

bomba y plena

luquillo palms

playa azul

playa azul

sr. coconut

 Then, for the sunset I drove up to el yunque national forest, which is the only subtropical rainforest in the US.  I wanted to spend the night doing some free camping, but the ranger said that it was temporarily closed for camping. El Yunque was misty, creepy, dense vegetation, with ubiquitous fog and narrow roads, a foreshadow to the ruta panoramica that I would drive a couple of days later. At el yunque, I took the big tree trail to the waterfalls and jumped in some surprisingly cold and clear water at around 3,000 feet. I ran back to the car(literally) because it was 5:30 and the gates close at 6:00 plus a torrential downpour you only see if you’ve spent a little time in the rainforest was setting in.  It was quite an experience realizing I was at the balmy beach just a couple of hours before. I then decided to sleep in my hammock overnight at the beach in luquillo, although I didn´t know if it was allowed or not. I first wanted to go to a place I had planned out earlier in the day, but as I was leaving town on foot to go to the secluded beach entre luquillo and playa azul there was a creepy man following me and he would stop every time I would stop and text on his phone. I thought he was notifying his friends of a potential mugging victim, and supposed they would storm me and take all of my possessions. Siguente, I had to find a place to camp, So I went to check out another beach just east of luquillo called playa la selva. After driving like a blind monkey for an hour, I found the beach, but it was deserted and eery, and the guidebook warned about this place at night when no one else was camping . So I headed back to the car and passed out for a couple of hours. I woke up around 1am ,determined to sleep in my hammock, so I packed up my things and headed were  I was cutting coconuts all day. I set up camp, but things didn’t feel right. Still, I persisted, and I just became more scared as the night drove on. Though I never saw a single person on the playa, I would sleep with two eyes open that night, constantly looking back and forth for shadowy figures rustling through the bushes or looking for solo campers to mug. I don’t know how many minutes I slept that night, but  It was one of the scariest I have had in a while. Creatures were making weird noises, there were leaves crunching, and dark people-like shadows swaying in the horrific winds.

The night of

Thursday, Jan 13,2010\

I haven’t had access to internet in 6 days because I’ve been busy sleeping in my car, in a hammock, and going to crazy odd places. I will go through my most memorable moments in the last few days. On the 9^th I rented a car but with traffic horrendous I didn’t arrive to the enterprise rent-a-car until 5 minutes after 5pm and they were closed. So, luckily the taxi driver, who was Dominican and really cool(he said he used to play with ubaldo Jimenez) drove me to the other enterprise in isla verde where I could transfer my reservation. As enterprise always is, the quoted me 103 dollars but because I’m under age it’s a fee of 10 dollars a day so the total ended up being around 170. All said and done with gas it will be about 32 dolla a day, which isn’t bad considering I would normally pay 20 for a hostel and transportation might be around 10 dollars a day anyways. I rented a red Hyundai, and as I was driving out of the lot, I immediately lost my bearings. Cars were wizzing by,  I became very nervous, and hoped I didn’t get in a car wreck(I neglected to buy insurance which is not advisable, especially in pr). But as soon as I found my way to the highway, I was off towards playa luquillo, supposedly one of the best beaches on the mainland of PR.

 On the way, I saw the baseball stadium named Roberto clement lit up and decided I would go to a baseball game, but I didn’t have any money to get there. I went to the ATM and it was closed so I had to drive around in my virgin Puerto rico driving skills and make a sorry attempt to find another ATM. Finally I did, and proceeded to the game. Tickets were 4 dollars, and the field was a combination of dirt and turf. Carolina the home team played Ponce(lost 6-1) and got their butts kicked hard. People were screaming and yelling, chanting songs, a guy was selling beer out of a trash can, and a player almost punched the empire. To say the least it was a little bit crazy. To add to the cultural flavor, there was a group of guys that had trumpets and drums and played between innings and after the game.

                I arrived in luquillo that night but a road sign took me to a peculiar place.  It definitely wasn’t luquillo although it was the same highway as luquillo but the road had a dead end at a secret beach. I didn’t see any large hotels or supermarkets here, just a small shantytown with kids and dogs playing in the street at night. So, I kept moving and finally found luquillo, where I stopped, walked around the town, and went to a locals bar to have an ice cold medalla light and listen to some African influenced caribe music. There was just a drummer and a singer, but the music was nice and the singer was very friendly to me.  After, I drove around to a neighborhood and passed out.

3rd time is a charm

Third day in PR sat Jan 8 2011.

Today I went on a nice adventure, took the bus to sagardo Corazon, then hopped on the tren urbano to rio piedras.  Now this is the nitty gritty of San juan. The market at rio piedras was dirt cheap, and I was tempted to buy some chortes for 4 dollars. There was also a food market with great prices and a part of the city that didn’t thrive on tourism. Less people spoke English and I felt like the only gringo. Yes! This is my territory. At the Universidad de rio piedras campus I saw the police and the protesters camped out outside the university gates, and decided not to get closer. 

After I went to condado beach and the concha casino and resort. I just kind of walked in and enjoyed the pool and lawn chairs, a situation fit for a king. There were lots of Americans, but hey I’m American, and it doesn’t matter when your in paradise. On the way back to the bus station  I ran into a nice lady named cindy that took action pics with me and a coconut we found on the beach. We had some great conversation and talked about traveling. It was pleasant to have a random person come up to me and say hi, because usually I’m the person to do that to others.  I stopped at the end of condado and decided to walk to el Viejo san juan, which lasted about 35 minutes. I saw a wedding, live music, the quinciñero trucks race by with their sirens and men on horseback, and a nice locals beach. 

this one´s for J

from the side of the fort looking towards the crucero

 Son las crack of dawn and still they dancesalsa. These Ricans really know how to party in san Juan, and I had a lot more fun tonight. I danced with some girls, drank a mojito, and saw some live musica. Reggae, salsa y rumba were the spice of the night, as I decided against the discoteca. I can find that anywhere in the US no thank you for now.  They told me that Boricua tiene the calor humano, or the human touch. It is true people are friendly , but you find friendly people anywhere on the globe, as well as the opposite. The seond night in San juan brought much more success, as I knew some people and could act with confidence who I was and where I was going. I flirted with the la nena at starbuicks  with beautiful curly brown hair and the door lady at the salsa club.  This night I did things right.  I just can’t believe that there are so many fine looking people here, and how well they can dance salsa. For now, I’m going to have to deal with my make shift breakdance line dance salsa.

 

crucero leaving q lindo

church in san juan

bar next to the newyorican cheap beers

the newyorican live bands! AAmazing

Tomorrow hopefully I can rent a car cheap, get picked up and head to luquillo beach. I plan on staying either on the beach or in el yunque in my hamaca.

boricua round 2

Second day in PR san juan, friday

Today I woke up way too late and will probably be sleeping late thanks to starbucks being the only internet café in town and a double shot of espresso that they call something like catrocito. I can hear the thumping of reggaeton from my hostel, which I moved to the San juan guest house, little bit shadier, a little bit more latin. The man’s name is castro and his cleaning lady has been working here for 40 years.

I did a great deal today considering the traffic and the hastle of moving to another place for the night. I met some great people that gave me lots of advice on PR, but most notably I met a girl from Ecuador. She reminded me of a simpler, more timid people that seem more inner driven. I recognized her accent and her aura, and without consciously knowing it, I my behaviors modeled that of when I was in the mountains of Ecuador.  I recognized that a lot of souvenirs were from otavalo, the large factory in northern Ecuador that makes anything from bags to bracelets. I even bought a bracelet that was the same exact as I had bought in Ecuador.

 When I walked in she was trying to dial a number and I snuck up behind her and punched a number in her phone flirtily. I don’t think I would have done that to a borincua, because I might have been slapped. The Puerto Ricans seem to have a more powerful force around them, and seem to not take “no crap from nobody”, but these are just initial stereotypes.

So what I did today is I slapped on a bus ride to nowhere, actually a place called isla verde, which I found out is a really touristy beach east of san juan. The water was perfect, the women were nice, and my Spanish bocadillo was satisfying, but I was missing a beer that was so cold it was slushy, something I had last night with some fried papas rellenos in the plaza near the Puerto. Cruising in the bus we drove past some more authentic places, marked by graffiti and a shady side street with stray cats.

I’m looking up right now in my hostel and the fan looks like its going to fall apart and chop me in half.

Anyway, when I got back to SJ,  I took the tourist trolly around the city for sunset and enjoyed pasting on my hawaiin shirt and large camera, sometimes you have to let go and purposely label yourself a tourist when you realize no matter what you do they know your not from around here. But at least when I try I can fool the extranjeros. I’m excited to be going to the rio piedras campus tomorrow and take the tren urbano to see a different side of SJ. Maybe even a publico, I don’t know. For now, my party sense is tingling and I have to leave this 11:00 room and get outside before I torture myself for not going out. The bongos are calling me. Is it ok for a man to go out alone, right??? Why not..

Just got back… 2:20 AM not too late. With salsa, bachata, and the all to familiar reggaeton still pulsing my ears I come back to the hostel thinking of all the beautiful women. Not bad for a night alone, but I did make one stupid fatal mistake.  I approached the hottest girls I could find and when ready I came up to them and said, “hola chicas” that’s it. In my creepy decree, I failed to say anything after that to save myself or at least make them laugh. I left the awkward situation marinate so I had to leave back to the bar and get a couple more drinks. This is not me, why was it so easy to look like a newborn fawn in front of drop dead gorgeous Latinas? I’d like to have that one back as ole George puts it, but I still brush it off chuckling silently to myself pondering how funny humanity is at it’s core. Just like in the discovery channel the mate, though discretely in the homo sapien nature, displays his array of feathers and superior genes at the first encounter to get the female. I failed, but I learned. I will probably never see those chicks again, and I realized I deserved rejection for the manner in which I behaved myself. I don’t want to be the guy that looks like a sleazebag and never knows when enough is enough, but I don’t want to be the wimp that sits in the corner of the bar like a creep and doesn’t muster up the courage to talk to any women. It’s only Friday night so I have another in this wonderful latin city of san juan. Are there going to be this many good looking women in Mayaguez?.I’ve seen worse, Spanish girls wouldn’t even acknowledge my presence until I weaseled my way into one of their “groups” so I consider myself lucky here in Boricua.

Me gustaria volver a la calle para medalla que vale solamente un pavo , pero yo tengo que dormir para que no gaste demasiado chavo ni me acueste muy tarde. Mis planes son grandes mañana y quiero hacer mucho antes de que me vaya de san juan, asi que descanso yo en paz, dándome cuenta que las nenas todavía están bailando.  Por lo menos yo se donde conseguir unas latas baratas y bien frias y estudiantes  universitarios locos.

Solo deme una hamaca, una puertorriqueña, una playa, y una medallita y la vida esta completa.