Christmas Vacation!

Me & Cham snorkeling off of Culebra

We took this trip to Culebra with a teacher I work with Tom and his friends from home. We got on a boat in Fajardo, which is on the island of PR, and the boat took us out to the island of Culebra. Culebra is a municipality of PR that is 17 miles East of the big island. The boat ride was about 45 minutes. It was kind of scary at first because of the waves. It felt like riding a rollercoaster, but it was fun. We got lunch on the boat and the best part was all you can drink rum (rum came after snorkeling). Snorkeling was awesome. I saw so many fish of all different colors and the best part was the sea turtle we saw. After we snorkeled we went to Flamenco Beach. I have been to this beach before with my mom and sister. It is one of the top ten beaches in the Caribbean. The water is so blue and the sand is white. It is really amazing!

Tom's party
Chamron's last night

View from Yokahu lookout tower in El Yunque Rainforest

This was my third time in the rainforest and the best. Everytime I have gone before it was raining and the view was not as clear. It was also nice because you could actually get in the waterfall. When it is raining the water is too powerful to get in the water. It was a beautiful day.

El Yunque

Another picture from the lookout tower

The building in Old San Juan where the government meets.

View going down in Fort El Morro in Old San Juan. The forts were used for protection against enemies. There are three in Old San Juan.

Me on New Year's Eve

I went to San Juan with Chamron for New Years. We spent the day walking around Old San Juan. Then at night we went out. Only it was not what I expected for New Year's Eve. Almost all of the bars were closed because the big hotels had parties. I wish I would have know this beforehand and I would have celebrated in Guayama. Oh well. We still had a good time. We ended up seeing the fireworks on the beach at midnight, and then we went to a small bar across from the beach.

El Morro

Picture of my favorite type of palm tree. I think they look like fans.

Me & Chamron In Culebra

View from the boat we took snorkeling

Fish you could see from the boat

My first cockfight

So I never thought I would go to a cockfight, but I did. Chamron really wanted to see one here because PR is famous for them. I thought it would be interesting to see once in my life. It was interesting too. It is pretty nasty and sad, but I thought it was neat to see once. I also thought I would be the only female, however, there were women and children. Basically what they do is take the roosters into the arena, get them ready to fight, and then they put them in the cages you see in the pic, and then they pull that up and they start fighting. They have 14 minutes to fight. If one of the roosters goes down without striking for a minute then they call the match. The roosters did not always die, but many of them do. People really get into it as well. They are all yelling and banging on the sides as if the roosters understand. They also openly bet with one another. It was quite the experience.

Singer in the band we went to see on Christmas

This picture was taken outside of an Irish Pub in San Juan on Christmas night. We all went here to see a Puerto Rican reggae band. Their name is Cultura Profectica. They are very popular here, and they play music that is similiar to the music that Bob Marley played (except in Spanish). When we arrived the line was very long and we had to wait outside. Of course it started pouring down rain when we got in line. We got soaked, but it was worth it. I thought the concert was awesome.

The owner of our school, Mr. Dominguez, invited us to his home for Christmas. I am also good friends with his daughter, Cristina. I was happy to go because I wanted to spend Christmas with a PR family. We ate turkey, chicken, dressing, rice (of course), and drank Coquito (a traditional PR holiday drink, pretty much like egg nog with rum). It was a very nice day and their family was also fun to spend time with. Mr. Dominguez also has lots of animals in his yard so we got to see those too. He used to have lots more, but he is getting old so he cannot take care of all them anymore. He said at one time he had 90 snakes. He would go to Costa Rica and catch them and bring them back here. We got to see three boa constrictors. They were huge! He also has about eight turtles, and they just walk around the yard. There were lizards, iguanas, and some other wierd reptiles. He also has tons of empty cages so I want to see if I can get my turtle here. I hope so that would be awesome.

The Americans on Christmas Eve. Mandi, Alyssa (in front) John, me, Chamron, Barbara

Sunset in Patillas Beach.

Lighthouse in Rincon

I wanted to go to the lighthouse because the guidebook says that you can see whales here in the winter. However, I did not see any. I think that the lighthouse used to be open because that is what I have heard, but it is not anymore. The Humpback Whales migrate hear in the Winter because the water is warmer.

Well I have been on vacaction for the past three weeks, and now I must go back to school on Tuesday. The amount of vacation time we get here is great! I feel like I never work very hard. I have done many fun and exciting things over the past three weeks. For one I had a visitor, Chamron, so that was fun. I took him all over the island and did some things I have never done in PR myself.