Rocking that *International* Paradise

My first year in Puerto Rico is complete.  As I look back on the year, I smile at what I consider my “highlights.”  These moments weren’t always the big events of the year, but they are the times I remember most fondly.  Here’s a synopsis of my “Top Ten” from Year One: 10. Girls’ weekend at the El San Juan Resort and our trip to the nightclub there, Brava                 All five girls went on this trip.  We stayed at the luxurious El San Juan Resort, where we enjoyed getting dressed up to go to dinner, then changing and getting dressed up again to go to Brava for the night.  We were silly and happy and truly enjoyed ourselves.  The next morning, we made no rush to leave; we relaxed by the beautiful pool until mid-afternoon, then came home. 9. The San Blas Half Marathon                 Runnin...

5/30/12  I wasn’t expecting much from our Hiking and Caving trip in Utuado, with Batey Zipline Adventures.  Originally, Rachel had wanted to go cave tubing on the Tanama River.  However, due to the difficulty of finding a cost effective, English speaking tour company that offered such tours, we ended up opting to go with Batey, even though they take a small row boat through the tunnel cave instead of inner tubes.  The tour fit into our budget and included 5 caves on a 3-4 hour hike.  So, no, I wasn’t expecting a lot.  I went on the tour after 3 days spent hiking in El Yunque; I figured the hiking wouldn’t be exciting, and I feared the caves would be small caverns rather than extensive caves.  It’s more than fair to say my expectations were exceeded.  Our guide was great, the tour was personal (just the 5 of us, the guide, and his cousin), the hiking was fun, the caves were cool, the weather was perfect, and the company was great . ...

I was pumped to stay at the Casa Cabuy Eco Lodge after reading about it in my guide book, but the place surpassed all my expectations.  The building is set right on the hill overlooking a valley of the rainforest.  One entire wall of our room was windows for us to look out on the lush scenery.  A 10 minute hike downhill from the waterfall brought us to an impressive waterfall.  We got there too late on Sunday to do any exploring, but made plans to conquer more trails on Monday. Monday morning, it rained.  Lots.  No worries, though; we were in the rainforest, after all, and Liz and I just pulled on our ponchos and set off to explore.  We decided to do a long hike in the morning, then go and explore the falls in the afternoon.  Just up the road from the hotel, 3 trails in the south part of El Yunque have their start.  We decided to take the Sabana Grande trail up to El Toro peak, then come back down.  However, on our hi...

From the Yokahu lookout tower The 2 points we hiked to. I like hiking.  Like a lot.  I always have.  When I was little, I would look forward to the yearly school trip to Hixon Forest, hoping each year that we’d spend more time in the woods than in the visitor’s center.  I’d beg my parents to take me to Perrot Park in Trempealeau.  I would climb up in the pasture behind my grandma’s house with my cousins, “discovering” rock formations and tree forts and exploring the ridge as if there were a possibility of finding new areas.  One of my all-time favorite vacations was the summer I was 18, when we camped in the Canadian Rockies and I hiked up to the glacier at Lake Louise.  The hike included clambering over snow and ice at one point, and hanging onto a rope on the side of the mountain at another.  I was in love. This past weekend, Liz and I spent three days hiking in El Yunque, the national rainforest of Puerto Rico.  This beca...

**This post is proudly written by my sister, Liz, who is currently staying with me in Puerto Rico and will be here for two weeks.** It is with excitement that I accept my position as a guest blogger to narrate my trip with Sue to the island of Vieques. So here is the weekend in a nutshell…but a big nut shell, like the kind coconuts come in. AND keep in mind that like any good story, all the excitement is at the end, but you need the whole story to get there. Not to brag or anything, but it’s going to be Da Vinci Code good. By some gift of the travel gods, I woke up well rested and ready for the trip this Saturday. The bright Puerto Rican sunshine certainly didn’t hurt. The morning drive to Fajardo was beautiful, at least by my standards. Perhaps it’s an ordinary transit here, but the brightly painted cities, droopy foliage and coastal roads were a treat for me.                 After a breakfast s...

They say sometimes the journey is as much fun as the destination.  Or something like that.  Well, that proved true for us on Thursday seeing as…we didn’t actually make it to our destination (but we still had a fantastic day!)  Since we had a day off of school, Rachel, Heisha, and I decided to go and find Las Tinajas in the rainforest—a section of a river where there is a natural waterslide, a rock to jump from, and a rope hung over the swimming area.  So, following our directions, we took the correct exit from Hwy 53.  We turned right on Hwy 975, like the directions said.  We continued, looking for Hwy 971 where we were supposed to turn again.  We were starting to think we’d been on the road too long, when we rounded a bend and saw…Hwy 53.  The road had looped around and brought us to the previous exit.  So, we turned around, and headed back the way we’d come, keeping our eyes peeled for 971.  We still didn’t see it.  But what...

I have officially survived both my first “year” in Puerto Rico, and my first year of teaching.  In the yearbook, the students voted me the teacher with the “most creative classroom activities.”  As someone who used to fear I didn’t have enough creativity to be an engaging teacher, I’m really really excited about this!  So here are a few of the things I’ve learned about myself and about teaching during the school year: -My classroom management mantra is “CONSTANT VIGILENCE!”   I’ve learned that classroom management is less about a secret trick to instilling fear and respect in students, and more about diligence, consistency, and a will to follow through.  Students are much more likely to stop talking if I’m standing next to them quietly saying, “Be quiet, please,” than if I’m sitting at my desk and yelling across the room, “Billy!  Be quiet!!”  I can’t expect them to have the energy to obey me if I don’t even have the energy to circulate...