Friday, February 09, 2007 @ 09:32 – Puerto Rico
Day 1: Puerto Rico is a unique place in which they have a completely different cultural identity but yet they are still tied to the US. Today we were greeted by the Governor and Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. I woke up early and got a front row seat in the union. I think the union only holds about 400-500 so therefore everyone else has to be in a satellite room watching it. In my pictures you will see me sitting front row of the center section. To the right and left are sections the same size or bigger. You can’t see those sections because the union is like a horse shoe. The most amazing thing happened as Desmond Tutu came in, he walked right past me. But what made this event more exciting for me was the meeting of Desmond Tutu and the Governor of Puerto Rico for the first time. This all happened within 5 feet of me. After our greeting we began the process of clearing immigration and getting off the ship. The entire day was spent exploring Old San Juan which resembles narrow European streets. There are so many different shops, cafes and things to do. I really don’t have much planned but to explore on my own, I can always come back here to do more. We walked past the “ghetto” area they told us not to go into. When San Juan was revitalized a small portion of the population would not move. These people are a unique part of the population here in Puerto Rico and I was warmly welcomed. As I stood on the San Juan wall and took a picture a sketchy looking guy yelled up to us “Gringo, take no picture go away!” It was at that point we high tailed to the beach. (Don’t worry we stayed quite distant from them). I had my first authentic Puerto Rican lunch today at Spanglish Café. We walked in the café to a warm welcome from the staff. They took time to explain everything on the menu to us. I had onion steak with rice and sweet plantains and a few coronas to wash it down. The steak was real thin and marinated which made it extremely tender. I can’t even begin to explain how good it was, I rank it up in my top 10 dishes. Tonight I participated in a welcome reception at one of the universities with just about everyone on semester at sea. We had the opportunity to meet and talk with students but also taste some of the local foods, let’s just say they deep fry everything. They played live music and they gave us the opportunity to learn to dance. It was hard to pick up the beat of Puerto Rican music as it’s vastly different from any hip hop or music I’m use to.
Day 2: I did have a trip setup to kayak bioluminescent bay at 5:00 but it got pushed back to 6:30. So I decided that I can always come back to Puerto Rico and see more. I realized that my time is better spent with these wonderful friends I have made. So again, my friend Lindsay and I took on Old San Juan and went to the beach. I really enjoy exploring around this place. It’s about the only port I can explore and know I can come back. From this point forward every port I see may be the last time. Tonight we took on the Old San Juan nightlife. Walking down the narrow streets with salsa music pouring out in every direction put me in the greatest mood. It was weird because day and night are two different worlds in Old San Juan. We found a bar that was relaxing and we drank $2 Coors lights, before you knew it 150 semester at sea kids came, we renamed it SAS Pub. We chatted with the locals and learned a lot about life in Puerto Rico. It will be great to do the same thing again in every port.
Day 3: Again… nothing that interesting. Checking out Old San Juan for just a little while, the beach called my name. I can’t believe its February and I’m in school relaxing on a beach? I’m ok with this. We had to be on the ship at 21:00 because we pulled out at 23:00. The night was spent with a group of us having a real nice dinner on the water. Chicken breast in garlic wine sauce and sweet plantains with a side of coronas and pina coladas… yum. Bye Bye Puerto Rico.
Classes are starting to get more intense and the dean made it pretty apparent in the beginning that this voyage would transform us not only through our experiences but also push us academically. It’s really interesting how all my courses, ports, ship life all combine into one thing.
Check out the Puerto Rico and Ship Life part of the photo gallery. I’m going to do my best to take some pictures of the inside of this beautiful ship.
Next stop is Brazil! We have 7 days at see ahead of us which means 7 days of classes. I have planned a Lencois trip and the last day I will participate in CARNIVAL! I found out from the person who organized it that we will be with the directors of Carnival in Salvador. Salvador is the place to be for Carnival in terms of the actual party. Rio has a parade but people from all over Brazil move to Salvador for the month of February just for Carnival.
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