Sometimes you get exactly what you wished for

I should know by now that when you wish for adventure, sometimes get exactly what you wished for.

Last week I spent my spring break in Puerto Rico, I went there to give a talk at a university about creating your own research opportunities as an undergraduate student. The main focus was on the fact that I had raised money to support my own research in Indonesia, not a common occurrence for undergraduates. The talk was not the adventure, the adventure started before I even arrived in PR.

Things first got interesting when I got stuck in the airport in Miami. As the time for us to board the plane came and went the other passengers and I were told that we would be delayed. Once our plane was disembarked by the previous passengers a set of police officers came through the airport in a bee line for the plane. Then our flight was delayed again, indefinitely. The airline said they would put us up in a hotel for the night and fly us the next morning but changed their minds (I am assuming since there were so many of us on the flight it would have gotten quite costly to put us all up) and then our flight was delayed until another plane came in from Texas that we could take to Puerto Rico. After finally boarding at 11:00pm we had to sit on the plane an hour for the last flight attendant, all of whom had been called in from home, arrived at the airport.

At 12am we took off…we arrived in PR at 3:30am, and because the plan had been for the professor at the university to originally pick me up and drive me to the other side of the island I had to now find myself a hotel. As people were swarming the taxi’s that were waiting outside the airport I asked a young couple that looked about my age if I could ride with them to their hotel so I could see if I could find a room. I found out the couple was from North Carolina and went to UNC which is right near Duke, we lived only about 30 minutes from each other when I was in Durham in the fall.

Once we arrived at the hotel I was told they were booked, and that every hotel in town was booked. This was not good news. I decided to just walk the hotel strip until I found one with a room, surely someone had made a reservation and then not showed up, right? Wrong, so so very wrong. The couple was nice and told me they would walk with me even though it was nearly 4am. We hit at least 10 hotels with no luck. When we finally stumbled into the Intercontinental Hotel at 5:30am the manager again said no rooms. I must have looked like I would faint/cry/or punch him because he changed his mind and said there was one room and it would cost $250. After going around and around with him I finally ended up paying $125 plus tax which came out to $165. The most I have ever paid for a hotel room! I think I roomed almost a week in Bali on that amount.

At 6am I fell into bed with the sinking feeling in my stomach that now I had to rent a car in the morning. Two hours later, after tossing and turning with crazy dreams that someone was knocking on my hotel door, I woke up. I was exhausted but could not sleep. I am not one of those super humans who can go with no sleep and remain functional, generally when I get less than 8-9 hours I burst into tears at the hint of stress. Needless to say it was a teary morning. Finally after a $30 breakfast (I had now idea it would cost that at the hotel restaurant- no prices) I booked an enterprise car and I was just getting ready to leave the hotel when I got a phone call. In the hour and a half I had wandered with the wonderful, helpful couple the night before I had offered to give them a ride to the other side of the island when I planned to drive there the next day. They said they would be renting their own car but at the last minute when they weren’t finding one they decided to come with me.

I was elated that I would have companions on the road. We spent the majority of the afternoon driving before we were all famished and we veered off the “highway” to a local food joint. I know some Spanish but not enough to decipher exactly what was on the menu, needless to say I ordered what was suggested and was not disappointed. I got grouper that was pan friend in butter and yellow rice with beans and bacon and a few spicy peppers. Finally I dropped my travel buddies off at their friend’s house who happened to be staying 2 miles down the road from me in Rincón.

Rincón was beautiful, it definitely had a beach town vibe. I wish I could say I lounged by the oceans edge drinking piña coladas, but alas this was a working trip and I had to head to the university. Once at the university in Mayaguez I had meetings with professors, a trip to the zoo, and my talk which all went really well. I was left wishing I had more time and more Spanish in my repertoire so I could really fit in with the graduate students who were so kind and welcoming. But the whirlwind trip was so short before I knew it, it was time to head back to the other side of the island. I helped out the couple that road with me initially and picked them back up for more road trip adventure. And what an adventure it was…

We decided to take the panoramic road which wound up, over, and around the mountains in hairpin twists and turns. One of the best compliments I received recently was that my driving skills “progressed” (or regressed, not sure which) and I was fitting in with Puerto Rican drivers! Now from my experience Puerto Ricans do not drive any worse than Peruvians or Indonesians so it wasn’t super surprising to me when I noticed that stop signs and stop lights were optional. But what was surprising was the speed at which those drivers took the cliff edge turns, wow they could be pro race car drives for sure.

This fenced in area in the jungle felt just like Jurassic Park!

Anyway the drive was long but so beautiful and we literally drove through the fog on the top of a misty rainforest mountain top, it was amazing. Also memorable was the pack (and when I say pack I don’t mean 2 or 3, try more like 10) wild dogs who chased the car when we came around a turn while in the national forest reserve. We were even able to get to El Yunque Rainforest to see the dense, fragrant beast of forest there. I breathed in the sweet air and it felt like home. I know that I am very lucky that I have been able to experience three different rainforests in my life and I can tell you that they are all different and special, it’s not like  you can just say “check, saw a rainforest what’s left on the bucket list”. You will always want more and you will want to return. I might just have to return to Puerto Rico someday, I have unfinished business, I need to actually make it to the beach!

Mmm, tastes like a raspberry!

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