Puerto Rico - Day 6

Even though we were on a tropical island in the Caribbean, the days leading up to day six has been somewhat stressful. Why? Well, Mae and I had booked a day of adventures for this day. In every respect, Mae was extremely excited. But me? I agreed to do this reluctantly.

I admit it. I'm a big scaredy cat. But I like to push myself to do things out of my comfort zone thinking I may get over my fears. Scary things I've done include skydiving, snorkling in underground tunnels, skiing on the intermediate slope, jumping into a pool, walking across a wooden log over water, eating some of my mom's cooking (yes! these are in fact very frightening to me!)... that's all I can think of right now. No matter what I do though, my fears are never overcome. I am still afraid of water, heights, tight spaces, some of my mom's cooking, but what I do gain in these experiences is confidence and the knowledge that the chances of something bad happening to me is pretty slim. And after doing these "dangerous" things, I always am glad I did it. No regrets. (Except for my mom's cooking.)

So when I agreed to do this adventure, I knew that I would not regret it, but the fear of jumping into water was truly petrifying. I HATE water. I HATE heights. What I would be doing is the combination of my two biggest fears. The thing about this day was that our adventure was never confirmed. They needed a certain number of people to join in order to make the trip profitable. During this time of uncertainty, I was praying we would receive a call saying the trip has been canceled. My prayers weren't answered. The evening before the big day, we got a confirmation that the adventure was on.

On day six, we woke up waaaay before sunrise, packed some food from our inn's kitchen (the employees here are the most helpful ever!), and waited for our cab. After waiting a pretty long time, we were finally on our way to our meeting spot. We got dropped off at our location. Odd. No one was there. We peeked around the area, but didn't see a group of people with activewear, a bus, nothing. Mae called our point of contact and realized we were at the wrong place! Luckily, we were close. We ran, fearing the bus would leave us. After signing our lives away, we hopped onto the bus with the Aventuras Tierra Adentro team and were headed to El Yunque National Forest for a canyoning adventure.

While most people in San Juan were probably still warm in their beds, we were in a bus with the most entertaining crew. Ever. The group leader fed us information using lots of jokes, and the bus driver (and also the second in command) contributed by adding his own sound effects. This delivery not only woke up everyone, but also made us feel comfortable and safe having them as our guides.

The active part of our adventure, the activities that I stressed over, was finally about to start. I was just praying that I would come out of this unscathed. After gearing up and passing a few safety lessons, we made a short hike down a steep hill to get started on some via ferrata, a route equipped with fixed cables and metal rungs as footholds and monkey bridges, a very simple bridge made entirely of ropes. We then rappelled down to a platform and from there, ziplined into a cold pool of water. Once everyone had been dunked, we jumped into the water once again and swam towards a roaring waterfall, checked out some little white crabs clinging to the damp walls of the waterfalls mouth, took some photos and swam towards land and clambered back up onto the rocks. While they gave us a little time to rest, we were served a bit of hot chocolate. After a few minutes, we grouped up and continued our adventure. The via ferrata continued. We carefully crossed gulches via two cables, one to hold on to and one to step on, while the terrifying white water made its way down many many feet below us.

Next up was a zipline that would stop mid-way, and we would unclip ourselves from the cable and free fall into the water waiting below. Oh boy. This was was when I started to panic. Remember I told you that I'm afraid of heights and water? Well, this was pure anguish. While others went ahead, a mental war was going on full force in my head. "Should I push myself to do this? But I really don't want to! I am truly truly horrified of this. But you should do it! Everyone else is! But I have to drop into water! That's crazy!! What's the alternative? Go to the end of the cable and jump into the water from some rocks that are waaaay up high! Oh my gosh!! I can't do that either! What if I jump too close and hit my head on the rocks and die?! Might as well just fall from the cable!! But I can't!!" And so this continued up until the guide asked me if I was going to go for it. I honestly don't remember my answer, but I was stopped halfway through the zipline and was told to unclip myself by swinging my body up. I tried, but didn't have the strength or just couldn't figure it out (probably because I was petrified), so I asked them to just let me off at the very end. There, they told me I had to jump into the water from the rocks. I looked down to the water to see how long the jump would be. Holy mother of god. I can't do that. That's insane. I will die. They kept trying to coax me, but I just couldn't get myself to do it. I finally got my way and chickened out of this portion and made my to the group by hopping down some rocks.

The entire group climbed back up onto the rocks where I had just been. We had three options here. One, jump from ten feet (where I just was which was already the scariest thing I could imagine). Two, jump from twenty feet. Three, jump from thirty feet! These were all approximations, but this certainly looked a lot higher!! None of these options sounded good, so I just stayed at the lowest elevation. There were several girls in my group, including Mae. Others climbed up to the other levels. One girl had the guts to go to the highest one! One by one, they jumped off. It was finally our turn. Some of the girls weren't scared. Mae was excited, but she stayed with me until the end. Luckily, I wasn't the only one who was scared. Another girl needed some support as well.

When it was finally my turn to go, I was frozen. I couldn't. I was already unwilling to go once, how can they expect me to do it this time? After a lot of encouragement and a lot of deep breathing, I was ready to go. I stepped to the ledge and looked down. Oh god. I can't do this. I stepped back. Crazy. More encouragement and deep breathing. I fearfully approached the edge again, looked down, and felt a small nudge on my back. With that, I tried to launch myself as far from the rocks as possible so I wouldn't smash my head and kill myself, held my breath, and waited for impact. Splash! As quickly as possible, I kicked to the surface, and once my head was no longer submerged, I screamed. That was exhilarating stuff! It wasn't bad at all!

You see that cable in the back? That's where everyone jumped from.

We were all supposed to swim to another waterfall to take a group photo. It was not that easy. The rocks at the foot of the fall was heavily coated with slippery moss. People were sliding around everywhere.


Once our photo opp was done, we all swam back to dry land where we had lunch. I think we were supposed to continue down the hill, but they were afraid of flash floods, so our next little task was to climb up a rock wall to get back up to higher land. Again, we had three options, extremely easy, very easy, and easy. Cool. I've rock climbed before and didn't think it was too bad, so I chose the very easy option, the middle one. Man. This was not "very easy". More like very difficult! Some holds were far from each other and some were pretty small or at weird angles. By the time I climbed up to the top of this vertical face, my muscles had become soupy mush.


The rest of the trip was easy. We were all urged to dunk ourselves in a very cold pool of water before starting our way back up the trail. This helped with the heat. We hiked back to the trailhead, rested, changed, and were on our way back to civilization. But not without a quick stop at a roadside food stall! Mae and I shared lots of deep fried stuff and a virgin pina colada. Soooo good. It was such an excellent way to wrap up a day of adrenaline packed activities. This day had been wonderful. I pushed myself to do things I have only dreamed of doing but was afraid to actually do it. Everything about this trip was incredible, and I really thank Mae for her encouragement and sisterly ways. She watched after me like an older sister would take care of her younger sis. I love that Mae.

After we got dropped off near our guest house, we showered and decided to have dinner there. How can you go wrong with a table on the sand with a view blue skies that eventually turn to hues of pinks and purples while the glow of the sun slowly dip behind the sea? It was a good meal with good conversation and more people watching opportunities.We walked along the beach that night, at times, taking photos of San Juan's night lights. This was our last night in Puerto Rico. :(

The light building in the back is Numero Uno Guest House. It's really sitting on the beach.

Puerto Rico - Day 5

We were leaving Vieques today. Mae and I would continue our vacation in San Juan while my two sisters would return home to the Bay Area. Not surprisingly, we rushed to check out and return our vehicle to get to the ferry terminal in time. After waiting a while, we finally boarded. Guess who was sitting just a few feet from us? Yes, the mean man from our first night and his family. Yuck. When we reached Fajardo, we caught a cab to take us to their international airport.

For much of the ride, I was blinking back tears, tears of sadness that my sisters were leaving me! Seriously! I really didn't want to see them go. Being in a foreign place made me embrace familiarity more so. True, I had Mae with me, but it's still not the same. They are my sisters, two people I've shared so much with, and now, they were leaving me. I wanted to go home with them. Screw San Juan. I would rather be with my sisters. I know. I'm such a little cry baby. But I wasn't really going to go home with them... We said good-bye to them at the airport, and now we were on our way to Numero Uno Guest House in San Juan.

We went around in circles. Our driver stopped numerous people, asking them if they knew where _blank street is (I forgot the street name). We were pointed the wrong way at times, but most people couldn't offer any direction. Finally, after much circling around, we had arrived to our guest house at last. This place was a-w-e-s-o-m-e. It sat right on the beach, with a full view of the sun when it touches down onto the Caribbean Sea. Amazing.

Mae and I didn't waste any time hanging around our inn. We wanted to see San Juan! Within an hour, we were in Old San Juan, the heart of it all, surrounded by colorful, ornate buildings and cobblestone streets. It was so beautiful, a very different vibe from Vieques. Vieques was lovely! Don't get me wrong. It's just that after several days of leisurely island life, it's nice to pick things up a bit and be closer to civilization.

The first item on our agenda was to eat. We found a nice restaurant with street-side tables alongside a little plaza. Once again, I ordered mofongo, with crab. While eating this meal, I realized I really don't like mofongo. It's too starchy and sweet. By this time, I was really craving plain old steamed rice.


After lunch, we wanted to immerse ourselves in Puerto Rican culture and history. We decided on visiting El Morro, one of the two fortresses sitting on the edges of Old San Juan. As we made our way to this historical landmark, I snapped quite a few photos of the surrounding architecture, trying to capture the charm of this part of town. I really didn't do it justice, but here are a couple:


El Morro seemed to be steeped in history, but we couldn't truly get an appreciation for it as we arrived half an hour before it closed, and the grounds were pretty spread out. We would speed walk through passageways, run up and down narrow spiral staircases, race from one turret to another... all the while, snapping away like a madwoman. Needless to say, I didn't really get anything nice, but here's a little taste of El Morro...

The lawn leading up to El Morro's entrance.


The narrow spiral staircase in one of the turrets.

An old pile of cannonballs.


Half an hour, after numerous announcements that the fortress' visiting hours were coming to an end, we finally made our way back to the entrance. We took our time strolling across the vast lawn, taking in the cool air as evening approached.

Before heading back to Numero Uno, we had to grab some dinner. We settled on a restaurant close to our taxi drop-off area and with outdoor seating once again, Toro Salao. Mae and I shared a fantastic meal: pineapple and peach sangria, a delicious deep fried appetizer of some sort, and a mushroom, spinach, and bacon pizza. The pizza was sooooo good.


Our table offered a lot of people watching opportunities. We observed really bad karaoke coming from a nearby bar, a man creating works of art with leaves, people dancing to a live band... There was no time to linger and soak in this carefree San Juan lifestyle though. We needed to head back and get plenty of rest to prepare for tomorrow's adventures.

Puerto Rico - Day 4

This day was pretty much the same as the previous day: late breakfast, relaxing time at our suite, and when we were finally hungry again, we got ready to leave for the day. On this day, we returned to Santana Row and visited another open-air restaurant called Bili, named after a rather strong drink they are known for.


In addition to their potent alcohol, their seafood was delicious. We had lots of deep fried food, which is always good, and seafood paella with a whole lobster on top!

After our scrumptious lunch, we decided to head back to the same beach. Again, we ate. We drank. We slept. We played. And took lots of pictures... which was one of the funnest things we did!


The sun had long set by the time we were ready to go. We were once again faced with the difficult question: What shall we eat for dinner on our final night in Vieques? Mucho Gusto! I think we ordered a few of the same things for dinner, but what was worth mentioning (again) is their templeque! This is the BEST dessert I've ever had in my whole entire life!! It's a coconut pudding that was light and not too sweet. Pieces of fresh young coconut were layered in between. On top of the pudding was a layer of condensed milk, and piled on top a gargantuan dollop of whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon. How good was it really? We ordered one pudding for the four of us to share. Wowed by its incredible taste, we ordered another. When the server returned, we had to order two more! It was soooooooo good!! What a way to end our stay in Vieques. That meal wrapped it up very nicely.

Puerto Rico - Day 3

Vieques is a slow island with not too much to do. On our agenda today was... nothing really. "Relaxation" if I had to really choose something. We had breakfast rather late, as usual. I think it was this day, or actually the day before, that we were introduced to cashew fruit. The caretaker of the inn's little restaurant asked us if any of us had ever tried cashew fruit. All of us shook our heads with puzzlement, not knowing that cashews had fruit. She boasted about its power to heal (it apparently has a lot of vitamin C and antioxidants), the deliciousness of it, and that she ate a few every single day. To satisfy our curiosity, she retreated to the kitchen and brought back this pear/bell pepper-shaped fruit with a cashew stuck to the end of it. The nut reminded me of another type of nut...

Image borrowed from www.artsnuts.com.

She asked us if we wanted to try it. Of course! Why pass up the chance to sample something new?! We each got two or three thin, juicy slices of the fruit. Mmm. After the first mouthful, none of felt it warranted a "m-m-m". It was more like "eck-eck-eck". Tart. Rubbery. Waxy. Weird. NOT good. I ate most of mine because I'd feel bad for wasting the woman's efforts, but a couple of others in our group couldn't get themselves to take another bite. Eating that wasn't easy. Deep breaths preceded every bite.

The fruit wasn't great, but our surroundings certainly delighted us. We sat outdoors every morning, next to the huge tamarind tree that the inn was named after. Our tableware was colorful and cute. Paintings of shutters and planter boxes full of colorful blooms were found on almost every window. Beyond the inn, we could see tiny but lush islands sitting on the waters of the Caribbean.


After breakfast, we wandered back to our suite to nap, read, and hang out. I tried out the hammock, but flipped over and scratched up my elbow. :( Reverting back to something less adventurous, I just sat and read by the pool and the beautiful tropical flowers. The view was beautiful and the weather was perfect. This looks like the backyard of a drug lord or something... So nice.


And my stylish amphibious shoes were still a great hit with my sisters.


Once we had our fill of doing almost nothing, we wanted to get some good Puerto Rican food. Tom, our kayak guide, suggested this one place on what we named "Santana Row", a short row of open-air restaurants and bars facing the beach with strands of colorful lights hanging from the street lamps. This was considered to be the hip part of the island, and we were staying close by.

"Mucho Gusto" was the name of the restaurant. We were seated promptly in the indoor dining area. We ordered Medalla (beer), Puerto Rican gumbo (sooooo freakin' yummy), squid salad (absolutely delicious), some sort of deep fried seafood with lots of batter (much better than the ones we tried our first night in Vieques), and grilled salmon with fried plantains (yum). We were all so grateful for Tom's suggestion. This was the first great meal we've had since landing.


After we devoured our meal, we headed out in search of nicer beaches. But first, we snapped some pics along Santana Row. Couldn't resist. It was rather pretty out there.


The main roadways in Vieques are paved and just wide enough for two cars. But there are roads that snake throughout the island that aren't as nicely maintained because of lighter traffic, fortunately. These are nothing but dirt paths making their way up and down steep grades, with massive potholes that can do major damage if you're not careful. And passing other vehicles is always a bit exciting. Imagine if the car had died on one of those roads. I think we'd still be in Vieques!! Driving on these roads was like a little adventure - out in the middle of the jungle on these perilous roads (OK, exaggerating a bit), and no one knew where we were. FUN! And I was so happy to have driven on these the next day. So fun!!


Plant life in the tropics is very different from what we'd see in the Bay Area, as you would already suspect. We saw these trees that looked a little eerie. Very cool.


After quite a lengthy search for a nice beach, we finally came upon something that was on the side of a highway; don't even know if it was a marked beach. The water looked peaceful, the sand clean, and the presence of a family of foreigners made us feel safe. Here, we unpacked all of our gear again and continued our newly found lifestyle of living as if all worries have evaporated into the warm tropical air.


There, my little sister was interested in improving upon her photography. OK. So I asked her to take a photo of me with the beach and skies in the background. She snapped a photo and asked me how it looked. I laughed and told her it was horrible!!

To the left of us lay a bunch of rocks that looked like beached sea monsters, very pointy and rough monsters.


A couple hours have passed, and the foreign family had already packed their bags and left. The four of us were the only ones left on the beach. It was nice to be in solitude but our wary eyes continually scanned our surroundings to avoid any potential trouble. Inevitably, a while later, a small group of locals stopped at the parking area. A couple were lingering while the rest started to make their way down to the beach. I'm sure they were harmless, but we couldn't shake off the feeling of vulnerability, so we agreed to gather our belongings. Within 60 seconds, we were done. The speed at which we packed merited an award. After we climbed back up the short trail and into the car, we all burst into laughter. We were ridiculous.

On our way back, we stopped for some ice cream!


We hung out at the Tamarindo for a while. By the time our tummies started growling, it was already sort of late. It was like night no.1 all over again. Restaurants that looked good were already closed. We came upon a ceviche bar. I love ceviche! We went in and were told that they're out of ceviche. How can a ceviche bar be out of ceviche?! That was funny yet frustrating. A few buildings down, we finally found someplace that looked decent and was still open. Here, we were introduced to "mofongo". From what I remember, mofongo is made by frying plantains, then mashing it up, put into a mold, and fried again. First couple of bites were good, but it became too sweet and starchy after a while. Maybe it's because I'm Chinese, but I'd much prefer regular ol' steamed white rice.


As we were driving back to Tamarindo through Santana Row, we noticed a lot of people milling around the bars. Why not get a drink too? We chose a lively bar with a lot of outdoor seating, ordered some drinks and got really flushed. :(