Trip Down in the Caribbean (Part 2)

It's like Pirates of the Caribbean, but not!

Picking up from where I left off, so let's describe the house a bit. It was called Casa Picaflores (for my non-Spanish-speaking friends, picaflores means hummingbird. If you don't know what casa means, I pity you), and was actually quite nice. The fact that it was literally in the middle of a rainforest--middle of nowhere sounded mean, though it works just as well--with no cell phone reception was somewhat abated by the hominess of the place. Three bedrooms, one with air conditioning, a kitchen, sitting area, and *gasps* a TV with DirecTV! Oh wait, I really don't like watching television anyways.. oh well. Maybe one of the best parts was the bookshelf on which it sat. There were definitely over one hundred books filling the shelf, which filled the entire wall on its own. Now, I never actually read any of the books, but nevertheless it's niftiness was not dampened one bit. (If you're actually interested in the "drama" that occurred at the house, read my sister's version).

Sunday: Since we had just arrived a day earlier, we were all pretty wiped from travel and such. Actually, my parents were the most tired since the night before they went to a high school reunion that went late into the morning (ahhh, what a nice oxymoron that is. Late into the morning...). But yeah, anyways, we spent the majority of the day doing nothing. I took advantage of this and sat around reading for a long time. Course I was reading a book titled The Elegant Universe which, while really awesome, was ridiculously complicated and confusing at times. In other words, I didn't get very far.

Other than lazing around the house, I had a chance to explore around the area, which was basically a tropical rainforest (quick geography lesson. Puerto Rico is a tropical island with a large chunk of it being a rainforest. One such area is called El Yunque, which is the mountainous region of the forest. That is where we were staying). Me and my dad went out behind the owner's house--it was just up the street from the guest house we stayed in--and hiked on a small path that had been carved out by feet and maybe a machete. It was pretty nice, but like I said (or at least I think I said), as much as I enjoy being in nature, there are things which I can't stand. Being trapped in a random guest house in a place very far from civilization with my family and no friends whatsoever to talk to makes me a bit... not.. happy. Yeah... Plus, the path didn't lead anywhere exciting or breathtaking or anything (don't get me wrong, there are tons of other parts of the rainforest I absolutely adore).

Yup, that just about sums up the day, 'cept for one more thing... As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had been in touch with a friend who lives in PR for a day or two since before we arrived. Throughout the trip, the day and a half I'd been there, I had tried to keep in touch with her. This day I got to talk to her and recieved an invitation to go bowling on Wednesday. I was ecstatic (I don't sound it, but I really was): not only would I get to meet her, but I'd get to meet a good amount of her friends as well. Really, there was just one problem in this whole situation. Would my parents let me go?

*Edit: after reading through the post, I have no idea where this came from, but just go with it.*
In reality, the reason I say I dislike vacations and traveling sometimes is because I am always forced to go with my parents (obviously, since they pay for everything >.>). When one is forced, even the most breath-taking and relaxing places can become a boring eyesore. Usually this happens since you can't see things at your own pace or do the things you'd prefer to do. As a kid it was much worse--I wasn't allowed to do anything without them--though I can say I am happy that I got to travel period. As much as I can't stand "family" vacations, I love to travel, see new places, meet new people. Trust me, I can gaurantee that it will be one of the things I spend the most money on. Screw nice cars or items for the house or whatever rich people buy. I want to travel. Experience is worth more than anything man has made. *coughs* Erm.. yeah ^^; Sorry, tangent there.

Continuing now! Well actually, that just about sums up Sunday. That night I went back to my small cot (it was just the couch in the living area with sheets and crap thrown on top) excited for Wednesday, but with little idea of how to convince my parents. 'Course, sitting in bed is one of the best ways to think, and think I did.

Monday: *reads sister's post* Ahhh, ok. So we went to Vieques on Monday. Yup, that's where we were at. We got up all early since the drive was far--about half an hour (ok, another thing about PR. Its dimensions are 100xx25 miles. Half an hour is far)--and we had to get tickets to take the ferry over to the place. Oh, right, gotta explain that. Simply put, Vieques is a small(-er) island off the coast of Puerto Rico that's almost uninhabited, meaning that it's very nice--beaches and such.

The actual ferry ride was quite nice. Almost every time I'm on some sort of short boat ride I am overcome with sleep, so I rested my eyes and attempted to do so. However, I can't really pull off the whole "sleep wherever I feel like" thing, so it was more of just resting.

Once we arrived, we took a taxi over to one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Not only that, but it was more or less one of those secluded (now I'm just bragging) beaches. Before heading out to frollick through the sand and water, we found ourselves a nice restaurant to eat lunch at. Unfortunately for us, this was a Monday. I'm not entirely sure why, but for the most part every local shop was closed. Also unfortunate for me was the fact that this was my first time to Vieques, since I can't tell if it is something that happens every Monday or what. Oh well, what're we supposed to do?

All in all, the day was quite fun: got to enjoy the sun, the sand, and most importantly, the water. The day ended with me sleeping on that uncomfortable excuse for a bed, dilly dallying into my dreams... Heh, I like that phrase. I have no idea if it makes any sense whatsoever, but it sounded cool. Oh, right, but yeah. I didn't bother to ask my parents about bowling yet; instead I decided to wait on it at least another day. You know, you can never go wrong with procrastination.

(To be continued...)