Culebra!

So, I promised I would write about our trip to Culebra, an island off of the eastern coast of PR. We have been planning this trip for a couple of weeks, but finally we got up and left on Wednesday for 3 days. We got up very early, leaving at 6:15 in the morning. Seth drove us to the docks to catch our ferry, and we then stood in the every extending line for about a half hour. At this point, a voice came over the loud speaker to inform us that the ferry we wanted to take was sold out, and the next one wouldn't be until 3:30. In the next 20 minutes, we mulled over our options: wait until the next ferry; go to Vieques instead (another island near Culebra); take a charter plane over. As outrageous as it sounds, we took the plane! It's only about $40 per person, so we packed into a taxi and shuttled over. We had to give our weights, as well as the weights of our bags, and before too long we were packing into a plane the size of a matchbox :P The ride was about 13 minutes long, and it was AWESOME. We touched down and got out of the airplane like it was a car. From the terminal, we hoofed our way over to a bike rental shop, and then hopped on our bikes. Mind you, each of us had at least 20 pounds on our backs. Rachel and Alejandro had 50 pounds each. Through the hot sun we rode the 2 ish miles to our campsite, where we set up shop and then immediately jumped in the ocean/took naps. We brought all of our food with us, and so lunch was kind of whenever we felt like it. The beach was beautiful, and the snorkeling was wonderful. So many colorful fish :) We had an early dinner of hot dogs, veggie dogs and turkey burgers, and then lit up an illegal fire for smores. All day we were visited by a friendly kitty, whom we named Ocelot, or Ozzy, or Oshawott. She was super friendly, and very cuddly. We had a good dinner and desert, and we all turned in very early after the long day of traveling for some pretty bad sleep spotted with insects and heat.

The next morning we woke up pretty early and made pancakes for breakfast. Ozzy made another appearance, and we all took turns cuddling. We then took a trip to another beach (Carlos Rosario) for better snorkeling. During this trip, I definitely learned that we are spoiled up here on the mountain with our cool temperatures. On Culebra, the weather was hot hot hot hot hot hot hot and humid. We hiked over to Carlos Rosario, and then snorkeled to our hearts content. The water was so clear, and the fish were even more vibrant than at Flamenco, the beach we stayed at. Parrot fish, jelly fish, angel fish....so wonderful. We then hiked back to our campsite and made tuna for lunch. We finally gave in and gave Ozzy the water from the cans. She was so pleased, and even stuck around after! We hung around again that afternoon, with Rachel Tuber and Alejandro taking a bike ride around the island. I took another nap :) Dinner was pasta, and we make even more smores. Life really is good on islands.

Friday we woke up after another crappy night of sleep. Rachel, Mark and I took a walk along Flamenco in the early morning light, and then made it back for a breakfast of cereal, peanut butter, nutella and bread. We hung around a little bit, snorkeling or reading or relaxing, and then we packed up camp and headed back to our bikes. We biked back to the bike shop, and had lunch in the restaurant below. There were enormous Tarrapin fish swimming in the docks right by our table, and we had delicious food for lunch. We were all starving and super thirsty after the bike ride, and snarfed everything down. We then walked over to the ferry dock to wait in line for tickets for our ferry later that night. A few sat in line, and the rest of us walked around the main town on Culebra to get a glimpse of the city life. The ferry came a little late, but we got on and got home in no time flat (ok, like 3 hours. NBD). Time for a weekend of relaxation and Harry Potter!!