Bienvenidos a Puerto Rico!!


First things first:  I’m here, I’m safe, and I’m LOVING Puerto Rico.  A week without internet access has been driving me insane, and I’ve got so much to share on here!  For now, here’s the bare bones account of what I’ve been doing up until now, and I’ll post more about each thing in the next few days.

Day Zero (Wednesday): Flight arrived in San Juan at 3:40pm.  Eddie Gonzalez (the high school principal’s assistant) picked me up and gave me a tour of Old San Juan and took me for food.  Picked up Chamron, another US teacher, at 7:40, then came back to Guayama.  Chamron stayed at my place, because my roommate wasn’t here yet, and because there was no power yet at his apartment.  The 3 other new teachers who are already here all came over to my house and we hung out for an hour or so, and then bed.

Day 1: I spent the morning unpacking, then went to the beach with the girls, Chamron, Rachel (an American teacher who was here last year), and Rachel’s sister and family friend (who are staying with her this week).  After we got back, I went to Walmart with the girls, then out to eat with Rachel and company.  Finished up the night with some Family Guy on dvd at the girls’ house (which is just a few houses down from mine).

Day 2: Eddie picked Chamron and I up in the morning to go and get our names on our water and electric bills.  After getting back, Chamron and I went with Danielle and Kelsey (the girls) to the post office to set up PO boxes for ourselves.  Unfortunately, they were short, so we filled out the application but didn’t get assigned boxes yet.  I’ll let you know when I know my number, in case you want to ship anything to me.  When we got home, I had some lunch, did some dishes, and took a nap.  Eddie delivered my car that evening, so I went to Walmart and got a few things for the house.  That evening all of us (but Rachel) hung out at the girls’ house until the wee hours of the morning.

Day 3 (Saturday): We had planned on getting up early to head to the beach, but no one was really moving quickly.  We ended up going around 2pm.  We followed Zach (another American teacher) to a beach called Maunabo, which was really pretty—and we had it all to ourselves.  We headed back around 5:00, and stopped on the way home for some street food.  The rest of the night was pretty laid back—watched a few more episodes of Family Guy, and that was about it.  We were ready for bed by 10:30.

Day 4 (Sunday):  Eddie picked me up at 10:00am to go with him to San Juan to pick up my roommate, Jenni, from the airport.  We took the scenic route through the mountains, which was absolutely breathtaking.  We still got to San Juan a little bit early, so we drove out to Loiza, the beach there.  After a few pictures and catching a few hermit crabs, we headed to the airport, found Jenni, then came back towards Guayama.  We stopped at a mountain town called Guavate which comes alive on the weekends with tourists and locals.  There’s live music and dancing, and the town is known for lechón, which is roast pork.  After a delicious lunch, we returned to town, and Jenni and I spent a few hours talking before she started unpacking.  

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