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So I returned to the States from London the night of the 4th at about 11pm so that I could quickly unpack my winter gear and re-pack my summer gear to go straight back to Newark airport about 6 hours later to catch our flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico at 9am. Insanity.
Nonetheless we made it to San Juan safely, packed up the car and made our way to our first destination: Ponce. We only spent one night here, but we got to see La Cruz and the beginning of the Tres Reyes Celebration.
We then packed up the car again and headed all the way west to Boqueron, which is where most of the locals go for their vacations. This was nice, but not as nice as I expected it to be. The sand was a bit rough, the nightlife was lacking, and I got stung by a jelly fish--twice!! So I was pretty excited when we packed up a few days later for the scenic car ride all the way east to Fajardo.
Along the way we stopped at San German to see one of the oldest churches in Puerto Rico and saw a real
Puerto Rican wedding. All the guests were wearing white, which was a bit weird because in the US it's like an unwritten rule that you can't wear white to a wedding. But it was really pretty nonetheless.
In Fajardo we stayed in a condo right on the water, but about a mile away from the beach--so nice! So much better than Boqueron. Throughout the week we took a few day trips:
-we climbed to the peak of El Yunque National Rainforest--1,066km of a full 1 hour uphill = buns of steel.
-got chatted up by surfers in Loquilllo, a beach just north of Fajardo.
-tried to see the Arecido Observatory for extraterrestrial life 3 hours away on our rainy day. However, to our dismay we discovered that the satelite was closed on rainy days, when we had already driven the 3 hours to get there. rawr.
The best part of the trip by far was our night kayaking adventure to Laguna Grande to see the phospherescent plankton. It was absolutely magical. We left the shore at about 7pm and the experience of just kayaking in the pitch black under the sea of stars was well worth the
money for the tour. Our guide, Juan, took us through the canal of mangrove trees in a single file line of kayakers, where the only points we could see ahead of us were the green glow sticks attached to the back of the kayak in front of us. Talk about really testing your senses and your kayaking skills! But Mama and I totally dominated. As we kept paddling through the narrow passageway, we could tell were were nearing the bay as the dark water began to sparkle through the glass bottom of our kayak. Once we reached the lagoon, every stroke of the paddle was a burst of underwater light and a ripple or sparkling wake as we glided towards the center of the lagoon. As Juan explained about the pyrodynumbahamense and the chemical reaction that causes the light, I couldn't stop myself from dipping my hand in the water and swirling it around incessantly to create the sparkle with every movement. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and absolutely miraculous. I have always appreciated nature for its beauty and inherent perfection, but this bioluminescent bay is beyond any natural experience I have ever had. Nature is
on a whole new level for me now. Absolutely mind-blowing.
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