Exotic

That would probably be the one word I’d use to wrap up Puerto Rico’s essence. It was a vacation of many things…stress, heat, confusion, relaxation, excitement…but above all, I’d still call it exotic.

The first day we arrived, I discovered how much I could sweat. Seriously. It was SO HOT, like we had been dropped in a sauna. Coming from New York, I’ve braved brutally cold winters, and although I didn’t like them, I was more used to colder temperatures than warmer ones. Hence why I thought I was going to evaporate upon stepping foot out of the airport. Anyways, my one desire this entire vacation was to go to the beach. Any beach. Large or small. Seaweed or no seaweed. Shells or no shells. Hot water or cold water. Crowded or not. When we drove to our hotel, we passed by about 5 public beaches, and I couldn’t drink in enough of the sight. The waters were so BLUE, and there were different shades of blue within just a short distance from the shore. There would be a light, clear blue, then it’d sharply transition into a turquoise blue, then it’d sharply transition into a deep, sapphire blue. I had never before seen waters change colors so abruptly like that before. It was almost like a paint swatch sample you’d get at Lowe’s, or Home Depot’s. The sand was white, and so, so fine. If I have an inner mermaid, she came out because I was ready to throw myself from the car window right into the waters.

Unfortunately, after we had settled into the hotel, my dad decided to drag us around all of old San Juan since the downtown was supposed to be super famous or whatever. We hopped on a free trolley and slowly made our way around town. By now, I was positively DYING to get to the beach; there were no breezes and it was SO HOT THAT IT WAS HARD TO BREATHE. The traffic made the trolley move an inch a second and we didn’t have any water. My dad, being the stubborn person he is, insisted we stay on until we finish the route. Turns out, that took all the rest of that day.

The second day, we drove to what is one of Puerto Rico’s most famous attractions: The El Yunque National Rain Forest. The name is pretty self explanatory. It’s a huge rain forest and a national reserve of some sort. The trip involved some driving from one stop to the next, and then some hiking. The first stop was a small falls, known as Coco Falls. In real life, it was basically a thin trickle of water (seriously my sink faucet releases a bigger stream) down a slab of rock. That slab of rock was pretty high up, and I climbed up there for an artsy pic (which my mom failed to take because she had no idea how to operate my iPhone). Didn’t fall and crack my head open on the way up or down, so that was a major, major accomplishment for a klutz like me.

The second stop was the Yokahu Observation Tower. We climbed a good number of stairs before we arrived at an open roof, panting. Although it was cloudy and dismal that day, the view was still incredibly breathtaking. All you could see was green, for as far as your vision could reach. There were rolling hills, and so many different kinds of trees. All green, but easily distinguished from one another. You could hear the coqui frogs croaking “co-QUI, co-QUI” (the largest those frogs get are up to the size of a quarter), and chirps of numerous birds. Clouds touched the highest peaks, and if you looked directly down from the tower, you could almost pretend that you were a bird soaring above a green kingdom.

Next, we hiked to La Mina falls. On the way, the hike wasn’t that bad; it was all downhill. The falls was beautiful, and lots of people went in with their suits; I just stuck my feet in and cooled off. On the way back up, however, it was ALL UPHILL. ALL STAIRS. UP. I was ready to sit for 10 years after that.

That took up most of the day, but we spent a few hours at Condado beach afterwards. The waves were incredibly strong, and running straight into them was ALMOST as exhilarating as riding the Bizarro. The waters…it was like standing in sapphires. Except liquid.

The third day, we drove to Puerto Rico’s premium outlets, and shopped. Shopping isn’t that interesting to describe; we just walked around until the afternoon, looking at some pricey clothing. Lunch was great; their cheese fries were ON POINT.

The fourth day, we spent entirely at Condado beach. Nothing eventful happened, other than the fact I tanned a bit and started to resemble Casper the White Ghost a little less.

The fifth day, we drove to Fajardo and spent the day there. A water taxi sailed us to Icacos Island, which had the most beautiful beach I had seen yet. The sand was so fine that it was soft, and the waters were warm, but cooled you down. The water was also crystal clear; you could see the sand underneath it as if you were looking straight through glass. There were barely any waves, so you could float on your back peacefully for ages, if you wanted to. The water closer to the shore was a brilliant, light turquoise, and darkened as you went further back. It’s impossible to do the scene justice with words; I still can hardly believe I was there in person.

Later that night, we did the one thing that everyone who visits Puerto Rico supposedly should do. It’s called Bio Bay, where bioluminescent protista glow in the water at night. About 700 people show up a night to do it; that’s how popular it is! Most people kayak, but my mom refused to go through with such physical activity, so we took a boat that sailed in for us instead. There was a dark, half-mile long channel that we traveled through to get to the lagoon, where it was dark except for the faint light of the night sky. Our captain gave us long sticks, and when we stirred the water, the wake behind the path of our sticks glowed white. If we dipped our hands in and then withdrew it, there were real, flashing sparkles. It was as if you were holding the entire night sky in the palm of your hand. As we slowly sailed out of the lagoon and back through the channel, our captain pointed out constellations in the night sky. It was the first time I had seen the Big Dipper in the real night sky instead of in some illustration. Venus was also visible. As was some snake that decided to dangle overhead in the middle of the channel.

The last day, we visited Old San Juan, once again. They had an old fort that we visited, and it was extremely interesting to see the view, the old weaponry, the quarters for the soldiers, the kitchens, the hidden stairwells, the intertwining tunnels…it was the ultimate fort that any little kid would dream of exploring. Eventually it got way too stifling hot for us to stay, so we took a trolley around town and shopped around in little souvenir shops. Mostly, we window shopped, but there were a few cute trinklets here and there that we ended up purchasing. It’s always nice to bring back a bit of the place’s essence with you.

What a trip.