puerto rico, that lovely island

sooo, I’m a little behind. there’s always so much to do on the ship, even while we’re at sea, and now that classes are underway I have lots of reading to do. after one day of classes we docked in san juan, puerto rico on saturday the 26^th of january. we pulled in to the bay area at around 8am, and although I didn’t make it up onto the top deck to watch the arrival, I woke up as the sun was rising and watched the skyline outside my window while still in bed. customs officials boarded at around 9 and my friends and I make it out of the long line and onto the docks by 10:30.

we wandered around the streets of san juan just taking it all in, and before long we reached the ocean side of the city, where we got to experience a beautiful coastline. the beach was almost nonexistent because of steep cliffs which were covered in jungle plants and palm trees. the waves coming in off the atlantic were huge, and I took some great pictures- all I could think was how logan and my dad would love surfing there, if not for the rocky shoreline.

for the rest of the morning we wandered around old san juan, which is the really beautiful part of the city with narrow cobblestone roads and pastel colored buildings. we visited a few of the old forts along the waterfront and then returned to the docks.

in the afternoon we made a much needed trip to kmart (i know its wrong, but it’s better than walmart, right?) to pick up all the cheap american goods that we had forgotten. for dinner we went to a nice puerto rican restaurant in old san juan, and I had sweet bread and shrimp monfongo, a local dish made of mashed-up fried plantains and grilled shrimp. soooo delicious!

that night I had my one SAS-organized field trip, to a bioluminescent bay. it was an hour and a half coach bus ride from san juan out into the country side, and by the time we were getting in to our two person sea kayaks, the sun was just setting. it was a 20 minute kayak trip from the harbor starting point to the bio bay, and we had to paddle through a narrow canal that was surrounded by jungle, with low hanging trees and low flying bats. it was wild! literally. we saw a huge iguana up in the trees, and you could hear rustling and howling all around. at one point the waterway was so narrow that it was pitch dark, and the only light you could see was the red glow stick attached to the back of the kayak in front of you. the closer we got to the bio bay, the more phosphorescents would light up around our paddles. it was so very cool.

the bio bay was a huge open body of water, completely surrounded by trees. it was really dark so the stars were especially bright and beautiful, and everyone seemed pretty impressed, although I think that the stars are just as bright on cape cod J. we were in the bio bay with the second highest concentration of phosphorescents in the world, and it was pretty amazing. any agitation in the water illuminated thousands of little lights, and if you let the water run down your arm, it stayed lit. after I got back my friends and I went out to some local bars near by for a few hours, but we came back relatively early because we were all exhausted.

the second day was spent exploring the open market and lower bay area of old san juan, which was a cool scene- there was live music, old couples dancing, home made sweets, and a beautiful fountain, all in an old cobble stone square. in the afternoon we found a locals’ beach on the ocean side and relaxed there for an hour or so, and I got to go swimming. the beach wasn’t so clean but the water was nice, and pretty warm for january. that night a group of about 20 of us went out in search of local music and dancing, but since it was a sunday night the only action we could find was at senior frogs. we enjoyed ourselves though, since the place was packed with semester at sea students and crew members.

our last day was mellow, especially since we had to stay near to the ship so we wouldn’t miss departure time. since puerto rico is a commonwealth of the U.S. (like massachusetts!), I was able to make a few phone calls home from friends’ cell phones, and I got to talk to my mom and dad, logan, clementine, and my boyfriend. I really loved san juan, but it was a little too american- I saw atleast 3 different starbucks! so we were all excited to get on our way to salvador, brazil, which took a week of travel time at sea.

during our time on the ship I fell into my routine a bit better, and got used to my schedule of two to three academic classes a day, three hours of work study a day, and a yoga class every other day. I obviously look forward to time in different ports over time at sea, but I’ve been enjoying myself a lot on the ship.

on saturday the 2^nd of february we crossed the equator, and I was up on the top deck when the horn sounded, announcing our entrance into the southern hemisphere. it’s exciting because I’ve never traveled to the southern half of the world before, but the physical crossing was pretty anticlimactic- they really should project some sort of yellow line onto the sea, or a line of buoys. haha, yeah right. (the photo below was taken on the bow of the ship as we crossed the equator.)

as for super bowl sunday, a group of about 200-300 students signed a petition promising not to use the internet during the hours of the game (the net is sluggish on the ship because of limited bandwidth, and even worse when everyone’s online), and we gathered in one of the dining rooms around someone’s lap top, which was streaming a new york-based radio station that was covering the game. there were speakers hooked up, a dry erase scoreboard, and although it cut out a few times and I was surrounded by obnoxious giants fans, it was a really fun experience. I located a hearty group of new englanders and we cheered loudly enough to drown out those giants fans at a few key parts of the game. well, until the last two minutes. that’s all I need to say about that.

time is flying by; after five amazing days in salvador we’re leaving brazil and setting out across the atlantic towards south africa. I promise an entry on brazil in the coming week. right now I need to do some reading and homework (pfff, can you believe we have to do work?)

as for the pictures, I’m sorry but I just can’t upload them from the ship, the internet is far too slow. I have some great ones though, and I’ll be posting as many as I can, hopefully from an internet café in south africa. it was just way too risky to bring my lap top off the ship during carnival in brazil!

love to all.