Puerto Rico!

We took off Wednesday night (5.18.10). While we were waiting in the airport we found a little cafe and watched the American Idol finale. You could tell we were flying to Boston simply by seeing how many Red Sox hats were being worn on our flight. To be honest the flight was horrible. Because it was a red eye and I didn't want to exhausted when we got to PR I really wanted to try and sleep on the plane. But I was so uncomfortable and I just can't sleep sitting up. So it was a pretty frustrating experience to be so tired, to want to sleep and just not be able to. That first flight was like 5.5 hours and we got there early morning. Landing in Boston was beautiful. The country is so different there than in CA with the rolling hills and everything so beautiful and green. The plane circled once, low around the city and we were able to see a lot of it and it was really beautiful. At the airport, we were able to stretch our legs and get something to eat and then board our next flight to PR.
Thursday

This flight was 4 hours but went by a lot more quickly because were so excited to get there. For some reason Matt and I were both pretty nervous and excited to land. As soon as we walked out of the doors of the airport the air just hits you. The whole island has a different smell to it. I can't describe it really. Just a wet, nature smell to it. It feels like you just walked into a bathroom where someone else was taking a shower. That hot, humid, wet feel to it. I was afraid that it would be hard for me to deal with it. But it's not horribly uncomfortable, just different really. Some cities and days were worse than others but it never went away. The crazy thing is that it is almost the same temp all the time. Day or night rain or shine. In the middle of the night it is the exact same temperature as it is at noon!

We were so excited to get our rental car and take off on our adventure! I was the navigator on the trip and Matt the driver. It was so exciting to see how different the island was. I have never seen any place like it. The island is really diverse. Some time you feel like you are in the middle of a jungle, but not always..just depends on where you are! One of the first things I notice was a tree called the Flamboyan tree. They are everywhere on the island. They have these HUGE, bright red flowers on them. I fell in love with them and now whenever I think of PR I think of that tree.

It took us about 4 hours to drive to the other side of the island and get to our apartment. Meanwhile it had started raining....HARD. At first Matt was a little frustrated with it but I was determined that I was going to stay positive and upbeat. We checked into our little house and was happy to realize that it was going to be a perfect little place for us to stay. It wasn't luxurious or fancy. But it was a perfect size, clean, (cheap!) and had AC! We dumped off our luggage and decided to head off to the grocery store. It was still pouring down and we got to the grocery store and got our food we wanted for the week. By the time we drove home I was feeling very homesick. I think between being extremely tired, hot, wet, the culture shock, getting lost a couple of times and really missing my kids I was feeling really down. I didn't want to say anything to Matt but I was a little worried how I was going to make it for the whole week. I was not worried about my kids because I knew they would be fine with Mimi and Papa, but I was feeling guilty for being away from them and second guessing going on the trip. I was wishing that we had taken the money and done a vacation with them instead. For dinner we went to a little bar next to the beach called Oasis. Because we went to PR during the slow season there were no waves or crowds at all in Ricon (the city we stayed in). This was nice on one hand to not have to fight the people and a lot cheaper. But also made a very quiet, not much going on, everything kind of dead kind of place. It felt a little depressing and I was feeling down. But by the time we got settled in that night I started thinking about all the fun things Matt and I were going to do that week and realized that I didn't take a vacation to get away from my kids; but because I wanted to go on an adventure with Matt and do things that I simply wouldn't have been able to do if they came with us. I wanted to experience things I had never done before and in order to do that they had to stay at home. Once I got a full nights sleep all those negative thoughts (AND the rain!) went away and we started have a great trip!

We woke up this morning and headed out to Cabo Rojo. One of the first things I saw on our way was a cow! Exciting right? Well I thought it was pretty funny. For the past 10 years when ever Matt had talked about PR, he talked about how no one really drank milk in PR and how expensive it was (Matt is a huge milk drinkier). He decided this was because there aren't really any cows in PR. So when I spoted one...then then another one...and...you get the idea. Everytime I saw one I felt the need to let him know. COWS! I would shout and point out to him. ;)

I really like the southwest part of the island and the Cabo Rojo area. They call this part of the island the desert. It's not really a desert, more like grassland. But I guess it feels like a desert compared to the rainforest. We first went to a perfect little beach. It was so beautiful and the sand was so white!