Rincon and journey to San Juan (Capital)

I thought I would spend one night in Rincon, as it is famous for its beaches……..
When I arrived it was already late afternoon and raining, so most of that day was spent on the computer updating my blog and such. It is not really a town, more a strip (a really long strip), as evening arrived the road filled up with cars and people with banners. At first I did not understand, but then I was told it was election time in a few days, and therefore everyone heads for the streets to show their support for their party. I don’t think I have ever seen such a public display in politics. In some countries you could get killed for shouting to loud about whom you support, but here it seems that the louder is better. They kept it going most of the night, but it was definitely fun to see.

The next day I headed for the beaches with 2 Swedish girls, we looked for those gorgeous beaches for hours, walking up and down the coast, but did not find any. They might be great for surfers, as the waves were quite big, but for sunbathers who just want a little swim now and again it was nothing grand. I thought that maybe I had just become too accustomed to the paradisiacal beaches of the Dominican Republic, and therefore did not think they were great, but unfortunately it was not just me, because the Swedish were not impressed either.

After 3 hours of walking we finally just laid down on any old beach just hoping to catch some rays of sun….. Unfortunately however we were only there an hour when the clouds started rolling in and covering the sun, so off to the hotel we headed. I had to pack and get on my way anyway, so I did not mind too much! Once back at the hotel Rincon Inn, I showered and packed and once again headed for Mayaguez to get to San Juan. Everywhere I looked there were cars and people with banners, waiting for the big political parade in this area….

From Mayaguez to San Juan I had found a kind of public transport (Publico), which I had ordered a seat with. Unfortunately there are only a few throughout the country. This little bus is a minivan, very similar to the gua gua in DR, but less crowded and definitely much quieter. Little by little the bus filled up, and we headed for the Capital of Puerto Rico. One my row there was a lovely elderly lady and a young boy, they were great, so we chatted almost the whole way. When I say almost, that is because ¾ of the way our bus broke down! We did try to tell the driver in advance something was wrong as the bus was getting very hot, and that the back seats were filling up with smoke, but he did not take any notice what so ever, and carried on his merry way. So we were not at all surprised when the bus started slowing down and all lights were glowing red on the panel, and the best part was, the driver did not inform us until the bus stopped and we got told to get out, as we had to get a new bus!

As we waited on the pavement on the outskirts of San Juan, all the passengers engaged in chatter. They were all very friendly apart from the Dominican girl…. I tried to laugh about it all, and told them that we were lucky that the bus was not an airplane ;) So everything taken into consideration we were quite lucky….
Everyone laughed, and told me that they presumed I had to have that kind of outlook on life travelling, and I guess they were right.

When the new buses came, they divided us according to final destination, so I said my goodbyes to the elderly lady and off we went. The young man and I chatted the rest of the way about his dream of being a famous dancer, and he was so sweet that he actually got of at a different stop than intended just to make sure I made it safely onto the Metro. The Metro was surprisingly clean and pretty for being such a big city, it was very modern with marble everywhere, and it felt safe and not crowded at all.

I only had 3 stops on the Metro before I was going to meet my first Couchsurfer (CS) host Amy. It was all very exciting and a little nerve wrecking staying at someone’s house you have never met, but as soon as I met her when she picked me up to take me to the apartment all my nervousness was eased. She was so nice, and I was lucky enough to be able to stay at hers for a few nights.


Lessons learnt:

1. Don't always trust the guide books.
2. Better to ask one time too many than one time to few
3. Never have certain expectations of a certain place, because it might cause disappointment
4. When a bad situation occurs, just remember it could always be worse!:)

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