4:20 am. Alarm goes off. Shake the dreams out of my head, yesterday’s song still remains. Next thought: Puerto Rico!!!! Shower, wake kids, brew coffee, gather luggage, call airport taxi. hello? anybody there? Miscommunication with airport taxi, almost no ride, then airport taxi driver needed directions to the airport. (huh?) arrived at rdu. so far so good. Checking in baggage: flung my huge, bursting, had-to-sit-on-and-wrestle-to-close suitcase onto the scale, and...6 pounds overweight!!! oh dear. airport guy made me open it up, revealing its contents to the world of waiting passengers, and I dug out the heaviest items to carry elsewhere. Best bet= the big wad of bikinis; transfer to my carry-on. Result? 6 pounds lighter! tally-ho!
First flight to Charlotte, NC: non-eventful.
Second flight to San Juan, PR: as we speak!!! Sitting between Sam (doing minecraft) and Colby on Mario Cart. Hearing more Spanish language from passengers and of course the flight crew, but still feeling pretty American. Need to try something more exotic next time, craving culture shock. At least the TV’s on the backs of the seats are pretty cool on this bigger plane. Complimentary beverage and 5-calorie snack headed our way. can hardly wait. starvin marvin here.
Hour 3 on this flight. Getting antsy. Tired of little kid behind me kicking my chair. Seeing glimpses of the Caribbean out the window, but only glimpses because we’re in the middle row of the seats on this larger jet. this kid’s babbling behind me is driving me insane. Glad Sam & Colby have always been quiet ones in public. hmm. could visit the lavatory (sp?) again...or not. if this kid behind me asks, “are we almost there yet, mom?” one more time i think i will….ok relax. breathe deep. think warm rushing waves of the Caribbean. fresh tropical fruits. warm sand. suntan oil. waxed surfboards. colorful fish dancing with me underwater. i can do this..
Passing the time...playing with the webcam toy again...
End of the flight got interesting...as we lowered from our higher altitude, it got REAL turbulent, and we were bouncing and rocking and rolling like crazy, and at one moment i had to laugh when there arose from all corners of the jet this big collective shriek on one particularly big bump! Like a rollercoaster, i joked to Sam & Colby, trying to make light of the fear of death we were probably all feeling at the moment… But then we finally landed, and just like they used to do when I landed in the Domincan Republic, everyone applaouded and cheered at our safe arrival on the ground.
Gotta love these Latin Americans!!!
Waiting for everyone to get out of the plane...took for-ever-er. Looking at the map on the big tv screen at our location in Puerto Rico, I realize how very close we are to South America! hmm, maybe we should keep on cruising along here, visit Venezuela, maybe Brazil...
Riding along the expressway from the airport in the capital city San Juan, on the east end, to Rincon, the little surfing village on the west end. So pretty, reminds me so much of the Dominican Republic, which is just a hop-skip-and-jump across the ocean from here. Beautiful. Green hills, green foliage and these trees everywhere with bright red-orange blossoms. Then plenty of American looking places like Burger King, Krispy Kreme, T.J. Maxx, throw in lots of brightly painted cement homes with metal window slats with iron bars over the windows, laundry hangin on metal gate fences, signs in Spanish, lots of pigeons, crazy drivers in 5 lanes of busy traffic, now down to 2 lanes, Catholic churches with pointy steeples, sudden cloudbursts in the middle of a sunny day, perfect weather- balmy-humid and low 80’s...so so nice. So far I’m in paradise. Gang grafitti and some pretty artistic grafitti on cement walls and city tunnels, these are some of the sights so far, as we drive along in our red Hyundai Sonata rental car.
Had our first meal at KFC. I ordered. First I said, “hable ingles?” to the girl at the counter, hoping she could speak English. She immediately said no and started backing up to find someone who could speak English to me, but I assured her that I knew “un poquito espanol” ( a little Spanish) and then proceeded to place our family’s order in Spanish. Guess I did ok, as we all got exactly what we wanted. Then I had to take a selfie next to a Starbucks, though we didn’t have time to go inside, need to get to our house near the beach at the other end of the island before that fast tropcial sunset comes upon us, and we’re left on those crazy twisted roads out there, trying to find a strange apartment in the dark.
warm balmy breeze blowing through my hair from the open car window, lazy sunshine peeking out behind a random rain cloud, dancey salsa rhtyms playing on the radio…re-learning Spanish by reading all the road signs....yeah, i could get used to this…. Like a dream..
Exhausted. Ready to sleep. Twisty turning roads up and down steep heels on a narrow road sometimes only wide enough for one car at a time, mangy dogs scratching themselves on the side of the road, crazy directions, but we finally made it here, as we watched an amazing but fast tropical sunset, as the big orange ball dropped quickly behind the horizon of the ocean in the distance. amazing. thank you, God, that was awesome! Then back down those twisty roads in the dark to the supermarket, used my feeble Spanish again to ask where the peanut butter was in that interesting grocery store, and got a few necessary items to wake up to. (Puerto Rican coffee, of course, fresh-picked bananas, (the tiny tropical kind), papaya, fresh juice from the island, etc.) Now ready to sleep, if I’m not awoken by the blaring merengue and salsa music coming from the loud cars that go racing at breakneck speeds past our humble concrete abode...or by the roosters that supposedly start crowing at some ungodly hour, as well.
more photos on our trip so far tomorrow!!!
aren't i just lovely? i should just call this blog my jennerosity selfie, unplugged, unphotoshopped or something..
aren't i just lovely? i should just call this blog my jennerosity selfie, unplugged, unphotoshopped or something..
