I made it safely to Puerto Rico on a red eye flight from Orlando to Ponce. Talk about a long day...I did get to sleep a few hours on the plane and I actually enjoyed flying at night with the cabin dark and quiet. We flew in to Ponce, which is on the southern coast of the island - "The Pearl of the South," rather than San Juan, which is in the northeast. There are plenty of mountains covering the whole island. It really is beautiful and I just had to start practicing my photography skills with my new camera!
On the first day, we went and visited the city's town center, where we immediately stopped by and got some delicious ice cream from this famous vendor. I had pineapple, and mmmmm....I have to admit it beat out Jeremiah's gelato's...I know, I know! There are plenty of sweets in Puerto Rico, from piraguas (which are basically ice and syrup) to limbers (more cool icy ice creaminess). Yummy....it's hard to control how many you eat when you are so freakin' HOTTT!!! Oh my goodness, I definitely took air conditioning for granted. I'm sweating bullets and then pass out for a nap just from the heat...ahh, island life. Anyways, we visited La Parque de Bombas, which is the first fire station in Ponce. It is quite the landmark and very unique. It's painted black and red and it's been one of the main fixtures of the city for centuries.
Next, it was off to visit family. Lots of family...I should have prepared myself for the questions: Do you have a boyfriend? When are you going to have babies? AAHHHHHH, note to self: next time I come to Puerto Rico, I need to come bearing children. Hahaha, nonononono, at least not yet. It is a little weird seeing most of my cousins who are my age or younger with their kids. I did have a moment where I got a little pang inside my chest like, "This could be my child." One day, one day....
We went to a pier near the beach called La Guancha. It was nice just strolling around eating empanadillas.....and being eaten by mosquitoes!!! I must say, it's really attractive walking around smelling like bug spray. "What am I wearing? Well, I must say it's this fabulous new scent...it's called 'OFF' and it comes in the most darling orange spray bottle!" No matter how many mosquitoes you swat away, they still find you. I can't even count how many bites I already have, but it's okay. There was the sweetest little black puppy that ended up following me around, but I will leave that for a separate posting because there are enough stray dogs in Puerto Rico to create a blog in and of itself. I feel very badly for these dogs and often am saving up my food and water so I can feed them whenever I get a chance. I've been taking their pictures randomly (for practice for my pet photography business, wink-wink). But man, that black puppy was a cutie.
Today we went and visited the Indian Ceremonial Park in Tibes. The Taino Indians of Puerto Rico built this and can you believe that a man that owned the property did not even know that it was on his land? It wasn't until a hurricane blew through the island one year did the ceremonial grounds reveal themselves under piles of earth and rock...pretty amazing. Got to take lots of pictures of the rocks and trees and rivers, but again, it was freakin' hot. I don't burn easily, but my shoulders are definitely red.
Tonight we went and spent the evening just sitting outside on the front porch of my aunt's house. Mosquito suicide, tell me about it. But it was nice just sitting out and talking, breeze blowing through the mountains, the sound of the coqui (small tree frog in PR) in the trees, dogs barking, cars racing up and down the street, and then some random people riding up the hill on horses, and OH YEAH...a random streetside sermon being delivered by someone that I think I am going to have nightmares about tonight. But just sitting out, being with family - all these little things make me realize how it's all the little things that matter. Doesn't matter how much money you have, how big your house is - if you surround yourself with love and family and good times, that's all that matters. It reminded me of how we used to spend time in Waterbury, always outside, always a party - big mouths, big appetites, big love. All in all, Ponce (named after Ponce de Leon - and the city mascot is the lion) has been wonderful. Now we are off to Mayaguez and Rincon for a few days before we head to San Juan. Peace and love.
Pictures above - 1: The Flamboyan - tree of Puerto Rico. It's really beautiful and I don't think this picture does it justice. The orangey-red flowers really look like flames. 2: This is Puerto Rico's national flower. I don't remember what the name is. 3: One of the many mountain views of the island.
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