Puerto Rico

Halloween was over, the Jack-o-lanterns were given a proper sendoff and it was time for the next big adventure of the trip: Puerto Rico.

After 12 hours of flying, Covid protocols, and one layover, I was in San Juan!

Jehu (a good friend from Michigan who had moved there earlier in the year along with Sione, Drake, Carter, and Phil) grabbed me from the airport and so began the adventure.

The first few days were jam packed with fun activities, but I’ll stick to the highlights:

· Pick Up Flag Football: Jehu, Sione, and Drake had joined a flag football league out in Puerto Rico and on my second night, I accompanied them to a practice. I went through warm ups, and then got to run some routes with their receivers. With no lights, cleats, or gloves I had many more drops than I would’ve liked, but it was still a ton of fun meeting locals and bonding despite the language barrier.


· Surfing: My roommate Nathan would never have forgiven me if I didn’t get out to surf once in Puerto Rico… and by some definitions of the word I went! After a morning of trying to find the surf shop owner at Pine Grove Beach I was set up with a board and too much confidence. I got destroyed by the ocean and had some solid wipeouts, but never quite caught a wave. I recovered from the endeavor by sneaking into a random hotel pool to chill before heading back.

· Charco Azul: My first secret spot of the trip! Jehu and I drove on some of the narrowest two lane roads I’ve ever seen before turning down a dirt path and parking by an old, decrepit building. After a short walk, we found ourselves in a peaceful slow moving river. Above us was a cliff you could jump off of, and upstream through a small tunnel carved out by the river it was a hidden valley. We chilled in the river and explored for an hour; but it is definitely a place I’d spend the whole afternoon.

· Bioluminescent Bay: One of the aspects of the trip I was most excited for was the Bio Bay. Jehu, Sione, Bilal (a friend of the house), and I all went and made it just before our tour left. I’ll be honest and say the bioluminescence was underwhelming, but kayaking in the pitch black was surreal and Sione playing peaceful music in the back while we cruised around the bay in Fajardo was hilarious and so memorable. If I did it again I’d definitely go to the bay in Vieques, which is known to be the brightest in the world.

Every town has a “Chippy” – the local guy who everyone knows. “The mountains” was my adventure with Chippy.

A few days earlier, Chippy had suggested going to the mountains, and Jehu knowing that I enjoyed hiking was eager to sign us up. On the sixth day of my trip, we hopped in the car around noon with a couple of Jehu’s friends and made our way up into the mountains of Puerto Rico… And soon learned that this trip was not a hike, but a bar crawl through chinchorros (local run-down bars).

We stopped 4 times going up, with each chinchorro having a slightly different vibe and food. I got to try parcha mojitos, a bunch of local snacks, frozen beer, and a surplus of fried foods. I also had my first medalla light (the beer of Puerto Rico), courtesy of Chippy. The views from the final two chinchorros were stunning with scenic lookouts over the forested mountains of central PR.

After our final chinchorro, Chippy had one more surprise for us, taking us to a hotel under construction by his friend. The place was a fully renovated factory building situated on one of the tallest hills in Puerto Rico with panoramic views of the entire island. It was a perfect culmination to a wild day…

Later, we went to play pick up soccer at an awesome outdoor sports complex/bar. I got to meet another fun group of locals and even scored a goal!

Oh, and a dog ate the soccer ball, prompting us to spend the entire  rest of the game partially focused on ensuring the only other ball went nowhere near the leashed up dog again.

Oh Vieques…. This is where the trip went a bit south. (Figuratively, since Vieques is literally to the east).

Luke (another of Jehu’s friends who arrived the day earlier) and I got up super fucking early and got to the ferry station around 4 am in order to make sure we had as much time on the island as possible.

After a quick ferry ride we arrived, and immediately grabbed some coffee at the only place open in town. (One of the few times I’ll ever drink coffee). After some liquid energy we walked to a sea glass beach for sunrise photos. I got a little too caught up photographing the moment and walked into the ocean with my phone still in my pocket. Whoops.

It still appeared to work so I ignored the potential damage as we went to go pick up our golf cart to get around the island. After a slight mishap with the first one (it wouldn’t move) we were off to Playa La Chiva, one of the nicest beaches I’ve ever been to.

We had crystal clear water, white sand, and the whole beach to ourselves. The snorkeling was phenomenal with schools of sea creatures around the rocks and mild tides/waves. I could’ve stayed there for days… until I stepped on a cactus plant and could not get all the spines out.

And my phone would no longer turn on.

Fuck.

During the Vieques trip, another one of Jehu’s friends named Bo arrived, so we had a solid squad for the next few days.

I spent the next morning trying unsuccessfully to save my iPhone before numbing the pain with a trip to one of Puerto Rico’s national Parks: Cavernas del Rio Camuy National Park. We got to see the largest indoor cave chamber I’d ever seen as well as some absurdly huge spiders.

Jehu then led us to his favorite spot on the island for Acai bowls. I had never had one and I was skeptical. I had my second one ten minutes after the first.

We watched the start of the sunset on the beach before driving to this secret bridge overlooking the ocean and forest for dusk. After regrouping back at the house Sione, Bo and I spent the evening watching 21 jump street. 

The next day, we took some Vespa’s into Old San Juan to explore the city, see the architecture, and grab gelato. Vespa’s are a little terrifying at first, but I have to say, once you get comfortable, zipping through traffic at 60 mph is an exhilarating feeling. (Just make sure you look at your helmet to verify it’s not just for show).

We got back, rested for a bit, and then the epic cookout began as Jehu cooked up 6 pounds of steak. Neighbors brought over tons of food and alcohol. We chilled, ate, and enjoyed each other’s company before heading out the clubs for a solid 5 minutes… A funny first Puerto Rico club experience.

I slept well into the morning and chilled around the house, reading, and relaxing for most of the next day. Feeling like a complete bum for not taking advantage of my beautiful surroundings, I decided to go on a run in the afternoon and made it 1.5 miles on the beach with my bum foot.

The full group then gathered out on the beach along with Chippy and Edgardo, (another of Jehu’s friends and neighbors) had some beers, and got started for another feast of a night. After a ton of food, we went on a bar hop through the city, where I heard my favorite song of the trip, “Pepas”, like 3 times.

I also ended up on a stripper pole and made a dollar. A little low for my dancing ability but I’ll take it.

Finally, the last day of the big group was mostly spent watching Michigan football (win! Fuck yeah) before they left.

That night Sione and I went out to the beach and met the last of the housemates: Phil, who was back in town from Boston with his girlfriend Talia. They treated us to an amazing dinner at the beach café and we learned a lot about crypto and the motivation behind moving to Puerto Rico.

With everyone leaving, the last few days were low key, especially with the lingering sadness of breaking my phone and exhaustion from the trip thus far.

I tried to shake off some of the sadness by jumping back on the Vespa and going into Old San Juan to photograph the architecture and amazing pastel colors. I also swung back to the gelato spot to try some new flavors and had a mediocre lunch at a touristy place after searching for a place that had true Puerto Rican food. Lesson relearned – no food in touristy areas.

Phil, Talia, Drake, Sione, and I had dinner at the Beach Café again, swam around in the ocean, then all headed back to Old San Juan to explore (with one minor Vespa crash on the way, leading a couple people to take an Uber instead).

We went back to gelato for the second time that day. And despite not needing it, I still had some. (Whoever says no to a chance for gelato is not someone I want to spend time with). We explored the city at night and finally vespa’d home in the dark.

Finally, the last day in San Juan I spent with Sione eating good food, hanging out and walking on the beach talking about life. We finished the night with a sunset, some amazing Japanese food, and a movie. A very relaxing way to end an amazing trip.

The final adventure of the vacation was getting home without a phone. I had a layover in Miami (originally planned to be a fun time to explore the city) but I instead went to a Verizon a 20 minute bus ride away trying to unsuccessfully get a new phone. After being told of the 1 month backlog I sadly walked to a local restaurant for lunch, jumped on the bus back to the airport and made my way back to Seattle.