Puerto Rico and Ship Life

Note: If you have not read my Bahamas/Ship Departure recap, it is below this post.

This ship ROCKS. Literally.

It is almost impossible to walk down the stairs or through the halls of the ship without slamming into the walls. According to the Captain, the stretch of the Caribbean Sea from the Bahamas to Puerto Rico is the roughest stretch of seas we will hit because it is a “high traffic area”. I haven’t seen any other ships, but I guess the Caribbean is pretty well traveled. The seas on Friday were 7-8ft, and they were rougher Saturday and Sunday, around 9-10ft. A few sections outside on deck 7 forward were closed due to wind, all the elevators were shut down, and the pool was emptied. I don’t mind the rough seas, I feel absolutely fine. My roommate has been taking Dramamine because he has been feeling seasick a little, but he felt the worst on Sunday. He was in the union for class and got to the bathroom just in time.

The union is the huge theatre type room in the ship where the Global Studies class is held that everyone has to take, and that is the worst part of the ship. It is on the 6th deck in the front of the ship, and it feels like you are in a blender in there. Since the union isn’t quite big enough to hold all the students, the class is broadcast to all the TV’s in the lounges and classrooms. I sit in the lounge which is in the middle of the ship because it is the least rocky. My room is also in the middle of the ship. Don’t get me wrong, things have slid off my dresser and bed so it is still pretty bad here too. I don’t mind it, I think its fun. Walking through the ship and slamming into the walls has actually become routine. When we docked in Puerto Rico, I would find my legs swaying when I was standing still on solid ground. It’s even more fun in the dining room when dishes go crashing to the floor and you catch your drinks at the last second before they fly off the table. I actually saw someone sitting in a chair in Global Studies the other day fall over, chair and all. I have gotten my sea legs. It is pretty easy to walk at a 75 degree angle now, back and forth.

On a good note, the weather has been beautiful. We get reports over the loudspeaker from the captain at 1200 and 1730(We use military time on the ship). This past weekend out in the ocean it was 77 degrees and the water temperature was the same. I love going out on any of the decks and watching the open blue ocean as I study (believe it or not) or lay out in the sun.

Believe me though, when Erik told me he had no downtime on the ship, I believe him. Between classes, field work, organizing field programs, ship activities, and homework; I am busy all day long. Not to mention we are going west to east, which means we have to turn the clocks ahead almost every night and lose sleep. We turned them ahead Saturday night 1 hour for Puerto Rico.

As for my classes, I have an 8am class on “A” days…yuck. It is not that bad though because I have it with a bunch of people I know, including Jen, who I went to high school with. The class is Social Problems, and it looks like a cool and easy class. The field work doesn’t seem too hard, and we get to debate social issues in class which I love. Nothing like yelling at each other while trying to balance yourself to do so. My next class is global studies, which I have already explained, and my class after that is World Music. It seems like a cool class, and the field work doesn’t seem too hard either. The field work for my classes consists of journal entries I do in port pertaining to the things I’m supposed to be studying. This is not hard, but they want a lot of field notes, like 4 pages. For Social Problems and World Music, I will experience these no matter where I go in the countries, so I do not have to do any specific FDP’s. An FDP is a Faculty Directed Practica, and these are small day trips led by the faculty that relate to their classes. I have to do 3 FDP’s for my History of Africa Class, which is after my World Music class. This class will be a lot of work. I thought it would be a class where I learned the history of Africa. Makes sense right? I have to read 4 books, and I had to read 115 pages of one of them in 3 days. It feels like a literature class. This class is going to be my toughest, especially since I have to plan to do the FDP’s, which are not going to be easy to plan around my big trips. Oh well. On “B” days the only class I have is Global Studies.

Saturday night we had our first pub night. We can have 2 drinks from 5-6pm, and 4 drinks from 9-11pm. They serve wine (red, white, or rose) and beer (Coors, Bud, Heineken, Brahma, etc), and we have to buy drink tickets for it. I had a glass of wine with the guys, and then had to go back to my cabin to do some work on a trip I am organizing in Puerto Rico.

The food here is very good. Almost every night they have a type of seafood, and many other things, but you guys know me and my seafood. The other night I had mahi mahi and it was great. So far I am impressed. We will see as the voyage goes on if it gets old or not. Besides the dining hall, there are snack bars all over the ship that serve everything from pizza to smoothies. So food is never out of reach.

Before I forget, let me apologize for not having my pictures up as soon as I post my recaps. The internet on the ship is scarce and slow, and it is 100% impossible to upload pics. They are on there now, but I will explain how I got them there later in this post. Just remember to be patient with the pictures, and I will get them up when I can.

We found out Sunday night that the ship will be stopping in Hawaii. We will not be getting off the ship. We are stopping only for fuel, and I am angered. Those of you who know me real well know that I have been trying to get to Hawaii for as long as I can remember. Now I get to sit on the ship in the port of Honolulu and look at the Hawaii I can’t have. I’m going to come that close and not get it…
We will also be stopping in Singapore for fuel as well. And you guessed it, we arent getting off...

So that is a quick recap of ship life so far…On to Puerto Rico

Sunday night we had our mandatory pre-port logistical meeting. In this meeting we learn what to do and not to do in Puerto Rico, the places to avoid, emergency contact numbers, and logistics for debarking the ship when we get there. We also get our “green sheet” which is our lifeline in port. It has everything on it I just described. The meeting was interesting and is a good meeting because it really prepares you for the port.

Monday morning I was awakened by a motor outside my cabin window, and I looked out to see a small boat drive up to the ship, pull up below my window, and a guy jumped onto our ship. This was the pilot. A pilot always comes on to drive the ship into port for the Captain. I don’t know why the Captain doesn’t do it, but whatever. I got up and took a shower, then grabbed my cell phone and walked down the hall towards the door that leads to the bottom outside deck. I opened the door and there was Puerto Rico. We were pulling into port and it was absolutely beautiful. Two tugboats were taking us in, and the drive down the small channel to our dock was really cool. We drove right by the fort and old San Juan. I called my parents, and forgot about the time change, and woke them up a little before 7am. Sorry! We talked for a while, and they dropped the bombshell on me that they bought a timeshare at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas after I left on the ship. So basically I will be spending my time there A LOT!

After I talked to them, I got together with some people and we talked about our plans for the day. The ship docked a few minutes after 8. We packed our backpacks then had to head to the union to hear a special presentation. The secretary of state of Puerto Rico boarded the ship and came and spoke to us. There was secret service everywhere, it was pretty crazy. After that we were called by deck numbers to go through immigration, and I ended up getting off the ship around 10:45.

I spent the day with Mark, Marcus, and Ryan. Here is a flashback: a few days ago at dinner, I was hanging out with my roommate and some other people, and I was introducing myself to someone who I had just met. When I said where I was from, the kid at the table next to us said he was sorry to interrupt, but he heard me say I was from Syracuse. I said I was and asked if he was from there as well. He told me he now lives in New Hampshire, but grew up in Baldwinsville. I couldn’t believe this and I told him I grew up in Baldwinsville too and we must know each other. He told me his name was Mark Ruggerio and everything clicked. I grew up with this kid. He moved away in 6th grade, but I remember him well.

Anyways, so that’s who Mark is, and we all hung out the first day. We got off the ship and decided we would walk to old San Juan and hang around there for the day. Our ship was not docked at the normal cruise ship pier, so we had to walk a very long ways, but it was good exercise. Of course, we passed a McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy’s on the way. Americanization at its best…It started to rain on us on the walk to old San Juan, but then the sun was out and eventually there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The temperature stayed around 80 the whole day, and stayed like that the rest of the week. Old San Juan is really beautiful. I have been to San Juan before, but I never had the time to really explore the city. A lot of the kids I was with said it reminded them of Paris, the way the buildings were set up and such. It really is interesting to see the architecture and Spanish culture that is thrown into the U.S. owned island.

When we reached old San Juan, we visited a few stores, and Ryan bought some $200 Nautica watches for $70 each. We asked the Puerto Rican lady who sold him the watches where we could get some good local food at a cheap price, and she gave us directions to a place called La Calle. She said go under the arch to the back of the alleyway and there is a small place there with cheap but great food. We wandered around for a bit but found the place rather quickly. It was a small place, where the kitchen was basically right in front of where you sat at the bar area. They had only about 10 things on the menu, none of which we were sure what they were, but we learned. I knew what a Pina Colada was, so I got one of those. The guy asked me if I wanted rum. Silly Puerto Rican man, of course I do. Then me and Mark ordered beef with plantains and rice and beans. It was one of the best meals I have had. For those of you who don’t know what plantains are, it is like a big fried banana, and they pour beef in a sauce over it. It was amazing. I can’t remember what Marcus and Ryan got, but they liked theirs as well.

After lunch, we decided what better to do than head over to the largest Bacardi distillery in the world. We bought a round trip ferry ticket from San Juan to Catano for $1.00. We got on the ferry, and it took about 10 minutes. We arrived in Catano, and all of the taxi drivers offered to take us to Bacardi for $3 each. We said no way, we can see it so we will walk there. Well we were kind of wrong. It wasn’t the building we thought it was, so we found another taxi guy and we bargained him for 75 cents each. That’s what I’m talking about! We got to the distillery, took some pictures, and got on the tour. The tour was really cool. We learned all about the company, history, and types of rums that they make. We also got to go to a smelling room and smell every rum they have ever made. That was really cool. Then we went to a part of the tour where Thomas the Bacardi man showed us how to make all the official Bacardi drinks. For those of you who want to know, Bacardi and cola is an official trademarked drink. Not Pepsi, not RC, but Coca-Cola. I also learned that Bacardi owns Bombay and Grey Goose. This I did not know. So at the end of the tour, we were given free drinks. Did I mention the tour was also free? I like Puerto Rico. We had our choice of several drinks; I had a mango juice with Bacardi Razz, and a Mojito. The other guys had the same. Yum. After our tour we saw so many SAS students show up. Once again, SAS invades a city, and of course the Bacardi factory. I saw my friend Jen there and we were talking about how both our parents bought timeshares, and we are going to have a ton of fun in the Bahamas. I bought a drink glass at the Bacardi factory, it is pretty cool. They sell Bacardi there obviously, and it is REALLY cheap. We can’t bring it back on the ship, so obviously we didn’t buy it.

So after the Bacardi tour we decided we would take the ferry back to old San Juan then walk back to the boat. Marcus and Ryan had to be back for a welcome reception they signed up for. So we left the factory, and once again the taxi drivers wanted $3 each. So we said we would walk. We figured they would chase us down again and give us a lower price. We were right of course. Unfortunately, this did not happen until we reached an area we weren’t supposed to. We walked into La Esperanza, one of the cities that was on our “green sheet” of places not to go. After dodging a pack of wild stray dogs who looked quite hungry (yes, seriously), we got our taxi ride back to the ferry for $1 each.

At the Ferry we met some people from New York who are big time travelers, and they gave us all sorts of advice for Brazil and other countries we are going to. When we got back to San Juan, we started walking back to the ship, but we stopped every few blocks to talk to SAS’ers we saw that we would know. I saw an internet café, and stopped in to see if I could upload my pictures from my thumb drive that I had, but the computers there wouldn’t let me do that.

When we got back to the ship, we showered and made plans to go out with some people to get some food. My roommate and his friends were going to go out to a beach and go camping. They didn’t really know where the beach was, or if they were allowed to camp there, so I opted not to join. Instead, I went back out with the guys I was with that day, and about 6 other people. Mark and Marcus decided not to go the welcome reception, so that’s why they came back out. We went to a small café called Café Puerto Rico, oddly enough. I had plantain tamales with pork, and mofongu. Let me explain mofongu. It is fried plantains mashed up with a bit of garlic in them. You then put a garlic butter sauce over it, and it is so good. We had a great time, and then we all decided to head over to Senor Frogs since that is where pretty much everyone from SAS was going that night.

Senor Frogs was pretty crazy. I had one beer and a daiquiri because I did not want to blow my money on drinks, I’m not a big drinker, and plus you guys know me and my healthiness. Also, I didn’t want to get drunk and forget my experiences of traveling around the world. Some of these kids think that’s the way to do it, drink your way through every country. All I have to say is, way to blow $16,000. Anyways, I talked with a bunch of friends there and I had a lot of fun. We stayed there until about 1:30am, then we grabbed a taxi and went back to the ship. The beer I had there was called Medalla. It is the only beer I have found that I really like. It is pronounced “medieyuh”, if that helps. It is only sold in Puerto Rico, but apparently won an award last year.

I went to sleep at about 2, and then the voice woke me up. It was the Captain announcing a 9am emergency drill for the crew. It didn’t involve me, but the alarms got me out of bed. I showered and got together with Mark, and we headed back down to old San Juan to do some field work for Sociology class. See, this isn’t all fun and games, I do work too. I brought my laptop, and before we started work, we stopped at Starbucks. I heard from people last night that Starbucks has free wireless internet. That should solve my picture uploading problem. Luckily it worked out, and me and Mark were in Starbucks for over an hour uploading pictures to my Webshots and checking the news and sports back home. Syracuse lost to Pittsburgh, what’s going on? Speaking of sports, we leave Brazil the day of the Super Bowl, so no one will get to see it. They say that they will get a copy of it and play it for us on the TV’s, but I will believe it when I see it.

So after Starbucks me and Mark visited two pharmacies and got some information on the healthcare systems in Puerto Rico. We got some good work done. After that we went and had lunch at a place called Mofongu. I’m not sure why they named the place after a food that I had the night before. You don’t see a restaurant in the U.S. named, “Fried Smashed Bananas”, but whatever. The food was good, and then we headed on back to the ship to shower and get ready for the big independent Bioluminescent Bay tour I was so generous to set up for 40 people. Semester at Sea had one we could sign up for, but it oversold and hundreds of people got booted. So, that’s why I took the initiative to set one up independently, without SAS. I had been setting this tour up since the beginning of January, and had a hell of a time getting in touch with everyone who signed up with me online and getting the money from them. It was a good experience, booking the tour, organizing a group, and setting up a meeting place and pickup location but I don’t know if I will do it again for a group that big. It was just too much work and too tiring. The hardest thing was that EVERYONE wanted to go, but I only could take a limited number of people. But, as you will see in the next few paragraphs, this was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

So Tuesday night was judgment day. All the planning and hard work I put into organizing this trip was either going to pay off, or all come crashing down on me. All day long I had people canceling on me, and people begging me to take them with me because they couldn’t get on the SAS one. When 5:30pm rolled around, I had almost everyone at the meeting place, outside the Sheraton hotel in Old San Juan. So far so good. I checked names off the list and collected money from the remaining few people who hadn’t paid me yet. A couple of kids had called my cell phone at the last minute and said that their rainforest tour was running late, and they wouldn’t be able to make it. This made me a bit nervous because I now had less people than what I told the tour company I would give them. But of course, people started showing up asking if they could go, and I filled the spots quickly. The tour company arrived with 3 vans for us all, and it worked perfectly. I had a nice round number of 40 people, and we set off for Fajardo, where the bay is located. The tour cost $60 per person. It was $20 for transportation and $40 for the tour, so $60. Multiply $60 times 40, and you get $2,400. That is how much money I had in a plastic bag in my backpack. You can bet I was glad to pay the tour company and get it off my hands.

When we got to Fajardo it was around 9:00pm, and we had a short instruction about the kayaks. We then got in them, and paddled through the dark with the stars overhead. We paddled through beautiful mangroves, and it was even more amazing in the night. In my kayak was me in the front, Sheila in the middle, and Mark in the back. We named ourselves Team Ramrod. Those of you who have seen Super Troopers know what I’m talking about. Anyways, we paddled through the mangroves for about 20 minutes, and we didn’t notice anything at first. After a little while we began to see our paddles glow in the water as we rowed. As we kayaked further and further down through the mangroves, the bioluminescence grew brighter and brighter, and everything we touched in the water would flash to a fluorescent green and white light. We eventually reached a huge lagoon, where our guide Peter gave us about a 10 minute speech about why the water does this. The plankton in the water can do this because of the chemicals in the roots of the mangroves. When they are agitated, they actually reproduce asexually, and that is what makes the water become fluorescent when you touch it. I ran my hand through the water and brought it back out, and I watched as the bright lights within the water ran down my hand and my arm. It was absolutely magical. Everyone was amazed. After the speech, Peter said with his Spanish accent, “Ok, go make plankton babies!” We then jumped off the kayaks and swam for a good half an hour. As we entered the water, you could hear everyone going crazy at how amazing it was. It is so hard to describe to you how magical and beautiful it is when you move in the water and all the water that you move lights up and glows. It really is something special, and I definitely rank it as one of, if not the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in my life. It truly was that special. The water was so warm, and it was so comfortable swimming in it. There are only a few of these bays that exist in the world, and Puerto Rico has 2 of them. After swimming for about half an hour, we climbed back into the kayaks and paddled back through the mangroves to the beach, as we got out and grabbed our shirts and shoes, I was given a round of applause by the 40 people who I organized the trip for. All throughout the night and next day, I had people coming up to me thanking me from the bottom of their heart that they were given the chance that they could experience something so magical. Many people told me it was actually a defining moment in their lives, and that it was the most amazing thing they had ever experienced. It may sound very dramatic, but it is hard to explain why we feel this way, I guess you need to experience it for yourself. The night worked out perfectly. All my hard work paid off, and everyone was shaking my hand and giving me hugs for the experience I had given them. All the hard work and the $60 was more than worth it. It truly was one of the best nights of my life.

Wednesday also makes the list as one of the best days ever. We woke up at around 8am and got on the tour buses at 9. Several friends and I had signed up to go see the El Yunque Rainforest and then go to Luquillo Beach. This was the first excursion I was taking through SAS. I have to say I was impressed. The trip was excellent, as was the weather. 80 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. Absolutely gorgeous. We had air conditioned buses that took us through the rainforest and gave us all sorts of interesting information. The El Yunque rainforest is the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. forest system, and it gets about 220” of rain a year. After the tour we got to do a nice long hike through the rainforest. The vegetation and views were amazing. The trail was very long, about 2 hours. At one point we stopped at a giant waterfall and we all went swimming underneath it. After that we got back on the buses and headed to Luquillo Beach. I did not know Puerto Rico had beaches like this. It was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. We got some good local food there; shishkibob and plantains. We then got a margarita and headed down into the water. It was a beautiful turquoise blue color and it was so warm. We just swam for a couple hours and played wiffle ball on the beach. A guy came around with a cart and we bought some coconut flavored Puerto Rican ice cream and it was soooo good. Just wading in the Caribbean ocean with a blue sky and palm trees was heaven to me. At one point I looked at Mark and everyone else there and said, “School sucks, doesn’t it?” We all laughed and thought about our friends back home. Here is a picture of me and Mark on Luquillo Beach; Click it for a bigger image:


As I’ve said before though, it’s not all fun and games. As I write this I am getting ready to do a boatload (no pun intended) of homework. Actually I can’t call it a boat, the captain would be angry with me, it’s a ship. Right now it is 11pm here on Wednesday night (10pm where you guys are), and we just pulled out of San Juan. This probably wont get posted until tomorrow (Thursday) though. I just got back from Starbucks again where I uploaded the rest of my pictures from today and Tuesday. You can view them by clicking on the link in the right hand side of this page that says, “Click here to view my semester at sea photos”. I believe there are 6 pages of photos, just keep clicking the next button.

So my summary of Puerto Rico is: I LOVE IT! I can not wait to come back, and I definitely will. This country far exceeded my expectations, and I had a great time here. The people were nice, the food was great, and the culture was fascinating. Kudos to you Puerto Rico, you have made a great impression on me and everyone on this voyage who has visited you. And I WILL be back!

That is pretty much it I guess. Laundry day is tomorrow, so I won’t be a smelly kid anymore. Just kidding. I actually brought more than enough clothes; I still have a good weeks worth left. I have to have my laundry outside my door by 8am, so I better get moving on that so I don’t forget. And yes, they do the laundry for us. We sure are pampered here. I just pulled a flyer off my cabin door; it is from the wellness center. If I book a massage, I get a free one day sauna and steam pass. Hmmmmmm…

Ok I need to stop writing, this entry is absolutely massive. I hope you all didn’t get too bored reading it. I’ve left out so many details, but there isn’t room for everything. WE GET TO BRAZIL IN 7 DAYS!! Of course, I have lots of work to do for classes in between then, but I am so excited for Brazil. I am going to Rio de Janeiro and I can not wait. We get to Brazil on February 1st, and leave on the 5th, so look for my next entry somewhere around the 5th or 6th. Neptune day is January 30th, and I will be shaving my head as part of the tradition of crossing the equator. I will be sure to take pictures. Goodbye for now, and GO S.U.! (I can see that they need the luck…)