"Puerto Rico, My Heart's Devotion...."

Okay, not really my heart's devotion, but the song "America" has been stuck in my head since visiting Puerto Rico.  Exploring new places is kind of my hobby... well, let's be real, it's actually my whole life...  So when two of my closest NYC friends announced that their wedding would be in Puerto Rico, I was beyond excited for them and the happiness they've found in each other, and also looking forward to discovering a place I'd never traveled to before!

I was extremely honored to be one of the few friends invited to the small but gorgeous celebration of the bride and groom.  We all stayed at a beautiful resort; The Gran Melia in Rio Grande outside of San Juan.  The resort is just gorgeous.  Spending time at the pool with everyone was perfectly relaxing, and exactly what this pale Alaskan girl needed to rejuvenate (and turn herself into a little red lobster, even after using almost an entire bottle of 50 spf sunscreen by herself...) in the middle of November.

The bride and groom were gorgeous, by the way.  Give me just a minute to talk about them, since they are the reason I went, after all.  To prove my point: I showed my 2nd graders a picture of them when I got back to school a few days ago, and they all asked me how I got a picture of a real angel...  

Also, I quickly discovered that 4 full days is most definitely not enough time to explore the island.  But, I made a pretty good dent in it with the time I had, I think.  The first full day there I spent exploring caves outside of Arecibo with a new friend from Amsterdam.  She and I are both friends of the bride, and got along great from day one.  It was awesome to have an adventure buddy to spend time with as we explored Puerto Rico.

Cueva del Indio was our first stop, just a little ways outside of Arecibo, and was lots of fun to climb in and around on our own!

Next, we drove a little ways to Cueva Ventana to experience the window frame view, bats, snakes, and slippery rocks!  It was a fun little adventure, and the view at the end was definitely worth sweating our way through.

After the caves, we chased some waterfalls... El Yunque was beautiful, and getting to hike through the rainforest and swim in waterfalls was definitely a highlight!

We also spent a morning conquering our fears, doing some ziplining!  As terrified as I was of dropping my phone 700ft to the floor of the rainforest, I managed to get a few seconds of video before my phone's storage filled:

Along with tramping through rainforests, we also found ourselves enjoying an impromptu Reggae street concert in Loquillo with some super fun new friends!  This experience has fully inspired me to let my hair dread and start wearing fun head scarves and beads... But really, guys.  Actually, if I'm being honest, I don't listen to very much reggae on a day-to-day basis, but this is the second time in the last few years I've found myself at a random, and pretty sweet concert.  And I'm not really sure if I believe in coincidence; this might just be a sign about those dreads...

Dub Assassins rocking the street

And then, all too quickly I was on my way back across the country, from a Caribbean adventure to my Arctic home.

Of course it was sad to leave the sunshine and beautiful tropical weather, but 37 hours later, I'm glad to be back home with my 2nd graders and high school volleyball team! 

Speaking of my lovely teenagers (who currently are quite grumpy with me because I won't let them have their beloved soda pop when we travel, and because I make them go to bed shortly after 1:00am the night before games... I know, I'm clearly the worse coach ever), wish us luck as we head off to the Regionals Tournament in Gambell in two weeks!