Puerto Rico--Archives #6

Stuff.  This is the stuff of 4 adults.  For two days.  On an island.  This stuff includes food, tents, sleeping bags, clothes, personal items, snorkeling gear.  Hmmmm, there must be more there.  If you had the pleasure of hauling this stuff around for two days (in and out of cars, on and off of ferries, finding a large enough transport to the camping grounds), you'd surely think there was more.

This is also the last post on Puerto Rico.  Every so often, this persistent thought flits through my brain; that I have not wrapped up this vacation.  These posts do take a bit of time.  I am speedy at most things, but not at posting.  I enjoy writing.  Creative writing was one of my favorite classes during one of my high school years.  I could lose myself in the pages of my journal, and write about abstract musings of my mind or heart, if I chose to. In a personal journal, spelling is not a consequence.  Nor grammar!  Freedom within those pages was wide and unlimited.  But here, I try to be good.  To follow most rules.  And so it takes a bit of time.

This is a girl who befriended us at the ferry.  Ah, the ferry.  It's been so long ago, that I've quite forgotten her name, so lets call her Persistent Petunia.  She rather looked like a flower.  And she was very sweet.  And she was fascinated by these Americans.  Or, perhaps more correctly, by me and my knitting.  Captivated.  Intrigued.  Fascinated.  So much so, that when I'd tire of knitting, and put it away, she would try to pull it back out to have me knit on.  A mother of five has had many years to work on degrees of patience, and those years stood me in good stead.

The ferry.  Yes, the ferry.  Let me tell you about the ferry.

Our day actually began the night before in preparation for leaving for the island of Calabria.  We had an endless, or so it seemed, list of items we needed to amass for this two day adventure.  And gathering these was an adventure in and of itself.  Then morning dawned with much activity.  To the credit of everyone,

I believe we were even close to leaving at our departure time. The drive to the ferry took about an hour and a half, and midway through that drive, it began raining.  Think in the form of cats and dogs.  Not a great outlook for unloading all that "stuff".  Happily, by the time we reached the ferry, the rain had quit.  We let Kim off close to the ticket area (she actually ran to get a place in line), while we went to park and unload the car.  Well to save a lot of explaining, unknown unto us, we chose the first day of summer to head for the pristine waters of Calabria.  Which explains why I had so much knitting time on my hands.  Yep.  We missed the first ferry.  Tickets were sold out.  Next ferry?  A wait of four hours.  So into our world steps Persistent Petunia.  Four hours worth.  I don't believe her mother was there.  Perhaps a grandmother.  At any rate, she had a lot of freedom.  Which she choose to use in our company.  For the record, she spoke little English, and I speak even less Spanish.

But it was all good.  When you have this to look forward to, who's complaining???

10 steps away from our tent.

Our tent.  Our home away from home.  Not too bad.  I definitely was thrown out of my comfort zone for these two days.  But I survived.  And had fun!  Even the 90 year old rooster that scratched in the dirt and crowed with his mate at 5:30 a.m., had a level of humor to it.  Albeit, very small.

 Now this was an entirely different story.  These were our showers.  Kim told me that the showers were outside, but somehow I had not envisioned this.  The road leading to the campsites was a mere 12 feet away.  Could not the designer of this, simply have faced them the other way, offering a scant more privacy?  I took my showers early.  Even before the ancient rooster began his crowing.

The day dawned quite beautifully.  In fact, we had perfect weather both days.  This corner of the world is quite breathtaking.  Well worth any ones time to visit.

Hiking across the island to get to those pristine waters to experience our first real snorkeling.  Oh the fun!  Loved, loved, loved it! If you can have a break from the everyday responsibilities, what a great way to spend it!

The morning of the day to head back.  All the way to Florida.  Back to dear Natalie.  Back to work.  Back to the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  We enjoyed our time in Puerto Rico.  Very much so.  But Marc and I are mountain people.  Given a choice of vacations, we will choose hiking in mountains every time.  But we loved this vacation.  Puerto Rico is a diverse and beautiful place.  The pastries were sooo good. (Thank you Bill!)  The people colorful and lively and very nice.  Our host and hostess?  The very best.  A-1.  Top rate.  Thank you so much.