Arrival to the Ship and Puerto Rico

I am really sorry that I have not posted anything prior to this one, but as I told all of you, the internet on the ship is HORRIBLE and so I will be updating my blog as often as I possibly can. So here it is; my first entry from the ocean.

Arrival to the Ship- February 4, 2007

I got to the ship at about 7:30am, because my check-in time was from 8:00am-10:00am. After waiting in an extremely long line of students and luggage for about a half hour, the line started to move. Finally, at 8:15am, I was able to take my first steps onto my new home for the next three and a half months, the MV Explorer. The very first thing they had us do upon entering the ship was hand over our passports and Yellow Fever Vaccination certificates for “safekeeping” (granted they did misfile my certificate and had to find it after I almost flipped out on the health clinic). After handing over the important papers, I made my way to my room, Cabin #4008 (for those of you who wanted to know). Yes, I am in the front of the ship, and yes it feels like I am on a rollercoaster when I lay in bed. In fact, just the other day, my roommate and I were taking naps and she kept going “Weeeeeeeee” along with the up and downs of the ship. So anyways, after finding my room, I began to explore the ship. I found that there were 9 classrooms, 2 dining halls, a piano bar, a bar on the top deck, a pool deck, the union (which is the largest room on the ship), and plenty of cabins. There are 702 students, and a bunch of faculty, staff, and life-long learners. The age range of passengers on the ship is 7month to 91 years. The ship is “gorges” (yes I still will use the famous Ithaca phrase), and I will have pictures to show everyone when I get home.

San Juan, Puerto Rico—February 7-9, 2007 (Wednesday-Friday)

We arrived to Puerto Rico at about 7:30am, and were docked at I think 8:15ish. After the ship was successfully attached to the dock, the governor of Puerto Rico came aboard to welcome the students of Semester at Sea (SAS) to the nation of Puerto Rico, as well as talk about the nation he governs. Although this speech left us behind schedule, it was amazing that we would get welcomed by such an important figure. After his speech, the entire ship had to go through customs. When going through customs on the ship, we have to all travel to the 7th deck, get our passports, and meet with a customs official. To my surprise, over 700 passports being stamped did not take that long, only about 30-40min or so. Finally we were able to get off the ship.
The first day in Puerto Rico, my friends and I decided to travel to the rainforest (El Yunque) Indy style. We managed to get a group of 7 people together, and took a taxi there and back. When arriving at the rainforest we had to find rides up to the top. Finally we all met up at “La Mina Trail” which eventually led to a natural waterfall that had a pool we could swim in. After jumping off the rocks and swimming in the water for a while, the group decided it was time to head back, so again we found rides back down and jumped into a taxi back to the ship. When you all get a chance, ask me about the cab ride back… especially about “punky” as our cab driver called it.
Once getting back to San Juan, we decided to walk into Old San Juan and find a restaurant to eat at. We ended up finding a Venezuelan restaurant for dinner. After starring at the menu that was written in Spanish, we asked the owner of the restaurant what he suggested we eat. Finally, he told us all to get a “cachaco”. This was the most amazing this ever! It was a yellow corn pancake wrapped around chicken, white cheese, black beans, and sweet plantains. The sauce that went along with it was avocado, olive oil, cilantro, and some other spices. It was AMAZING!! That night, a bunch of us went out to Senor Frogs (bar/club chain in the Caribbean), and had a blast.
The second day in San Juan (Thursday) myself and three friends walked around Old San Juan. We went to the Fort de Cristobal and to the beach. The fort was amazing, I could not believe that it was possible to build such a structure without the use of the machines that we have today. The walls of the fort were each 18-feet wide, and I have no idea how tall it was. When standing on the top of it you could see over the whole city, it was beautiful. After the fort, we grabbed lunch as a local café called “Café Puerto Rico” and went to the beach. The water in Puerto Rico is soooo pretty. It was very blue, and the waves in the place we went to were not too strong. On Thursday night, a group of us SASers went to the local bars in the area, and met some Puerto Rican students. These students showed us how to dance Salsa. It was a lot of fun.
The last day I was in Puerto Rico, I went on a SAS trip to the Rio Camuy Caves. The Cave was really neat, but the trip took much longer than it should have. Unfortunately, I cannot really described what the caves looked like, except for the fact that they were amazing. Sorry I can’t be more descriptive!!

So yea, hope this entry keeps you all happy, and now you all know that I am still alive! Miss you all!!!