It's All Relative

Puerto Rico

So Puerto Rico was fun...of course it was a lot more fun when it wasn't raining.

Yes, we did run into some unfortunate weather down there, but all and all we had a great time. We did get a few days of just perfect beach-going weather which gave me just enough of a tan where I felt it was worth it. I think I got a little too obsessed over with the sun down there. But if you've ever been on vacation and the forecast is consistently "Scattered Showers" and know what I mean. It's panic-driven depression. I think I spent more time looking at the sky than anything else.

But seriously, it was really fun. Monday we made it out to a small island called Vieques and found this incredible secluded beach called Red Beach. It was amazing. I could not believe places like that existed. We initially planned to go out to another, smaller island that day, but because we were there during Holy Week (week leading up to Good Friday and Easter), every Puerto Rican and their mom were trying to get out there as well. Culebra is supposed to be the better island, and so the Vieques line wasn't nearly as long so we decided to save Culebra for another day. Unfortunately, the weather would not cooperate and the Coast Guard eventually shut down the ferry for most of the week. It was sad, but we were happy we got to make it to Vieques, it was awesome. If I were to do it again, I would probably stay on one of these islands the entire time. It was beautiful.

Heather dug a hole to sit in...

Me, enjoying the crystal clear water

Ok, Tuesday we were all a little sun burnt from spending all day on Vieques (me, more than Heather and Nicole because I was, for the first time in my life, the whitest one in the group), so we headed to the Yunque National Rain Forest. And let me tell you, they call it a rain forest for very legit reasons...

We literally hiked for about 4 hours in the pouring rain. Pouring. Although it was a tad chilly, I thought it was a blast. And the forest was unbelievable. We hiked to a couple waterfalls and to the top of the forest to an old tower that was meant to give you an overlook view of the forest. But since it was so cloudy and so rainy, we couldn't see 5 feet in front of us.

Wednesday was crappy weather on our side of the island, so we hopped in the car and rode up north to check out Old San Juan. Driving around in Puerto Rico was a trip. Heather was a trooper and did most of it and she did a great job. It's a little scary.

Old San Juan turned out to be a great time. We lucked out with the weather and the clouds went away for most of the day so we did end up getting some sun. We hiked to Fort San Felipe del Morro, which sat on a hilltop, overlooking the ocean and the rest of the city. It was so awesome. They had original cannons and artillery set up to give you an idea how it might have looked had there been an attack on the Fort from some enemy at sea. Way cool.

Thursday and Friday we had a decent days at the beach and continued to work on our tans. Let me just say how much I appreciated being on vacation with people who were just as obsessed with laying out as I am. We all read a lot (me and Heather read Twilight for the first time, but that's a whole other post), got into the water when we got hot and just kicked it. I love those kind of beach days.

Saturday, we took 3 hour car ride out to the west side of the island with Hector, a friend of Heather and Nicole. Hector was very helpful in getting us around on the west side. We found a couple awesome beaches and took a little hike to a lighthouse near a beach called Playa Sucia near a town called Cabo Rojo. There were a ton of people on this beach (because of Easter weekend) but it was still great. Big thanks to Hector for showing us around! Without him, we would have never found any of these places.

Overall, great trip. I think we all had a fun time, even with the weather and the crowds. Here are a couple more random pictures..

This is an LDS church building, right in front of the ferry terminal on Vieques. We walked right off the boat and right past it.

Island band performing during dinner

Shout out to the DE! This yacht was docked at the marina by our condo. Random and cool.