Puerto Rico Day 1

What a day...  So my flight for puerto Rico left last night at 11:30 PM and got into puerto rico at 2:30 A.M.  I met a guy at the airport who said he was returning home to PR and that he hadn't been home in 20 years.  He told me I could stay with him and his family on their ranch... ride horses.. etc..... and that they were throwing a big party for him.... sounded great... but didn't feel right.... then his story changed to that he hadn't been there in 10 years... anyway... he seemed a little sketchy... and then he disappeared...  When I got off the plane I took out my laptop to try to find some things to do and places to go.  It seems everything is in San Juan which is 100 km away!  So.. I ask the Taxi driver how much to San Juan.... $125 US  ... haha! yeah right!!!!  So then I go see how much to rent a car and drop it off in san juan... and it's between 70-90$ US.  at this point I have no idea what to do. I sat at the airport for about an hour deciding what to do... I almost rented a car, that way I could sleep in the car and get to where I'm going.  But you know what?  That would have been the easy way out.... this is an adventure right?  So I told the lady at the car rental place that I was gonna walk to San Juan.  She told me that I would never make it by tuesday on foot... I laughed and said... I know.... but someone will pick me up.

So I set out on foot towards a place called Ponce.  It was 5.8 km away... a little over 3 miles.  My iphone GPS said to "proceed with caution" haha.... i think it said that because there were no sidewalks but it was good advice no matter how you look at it right?  I got to a hotel that told me they were booked because that weekend Ponce, Puerto Rico was having a giant basketball tournament 8-10k youth!  That discouraged me... everywhere I tried was full and things did not look good.  I felt like if I could only make it to San Juan I would be fine.  I kept walking down the dark highways and I started thinking about home... a lot!  I almost wanted to go back to the airport and buy a ticket home cause i just felt lost and I wanted to be back somewhere that I felt secure and knew I would have a place to sleep.  Sure being on vacation is great.... but sometimes when you don't know where you're going or what you're doing it can be scary.  I think that's how life is for people sometimes.  I found a quote later on that really summed up the way I felt it said: "It's not where you go or what you do, but who is beside you that counts."  I think a lot of my worry came from having no sleep.  I made my way towards the city and found a guest house that was closed.  I called and there was no answer.... how discouraging right?  So I crossed the street and stuck my thumb out.

Cars passed me for awhile, even police cars with lights on.  I was getting desperate enough that I kinda wanted the cops to pick me up LOL.  My pack was getting heavy so I took it off and sat on it and stuck my thumb out.  That reminded me of when I was in High School I used to pick up hitchhikers all the time which really scared my mom.... and me sometimes... lol.  But I usually only picked up the ones that were walking.  I though... hey look at them... at least they are putting forth some effort and walking to where they need to go.  Today I understood why so many of the hitchhikers are sitting down.  So then a green truck pulls over and picks me up! Hallelujah!  I throw my bag in the back and we're off!

The guy that picked me up is named Edgardo.  I told him about the full hotels and he said he just performed at the basketball even so he knew what I was talking about.  That was a little hard to believe because Edgardo weighs easily over 400 lbs.... but hey... I guess the guy can dance :)  He told me he couldn't take me to San Juan because he lived in just the next town over and he needed to go home and go to bed.  I told him any distance was fine that progress is progress.... and that I would just wait for someone else to pick me up....So then he tells me I can stay at his place until it gets later in the morning and I can find public transportation.  So I go to his house and we look up the public transportation and find out that they don't run on sundays.  So I tell him I'm gonna fall asleep but I don't know when I'll wake up.  He said that was fine...

I didn't wake up till after 1 PM.  It was weird... I did the whole jolt awake where am I thing :)  I went to talk to Edgardo and he asked if I had any plans.  I told him no, that i didn't see many interesting things online and I didn't know what to do.  He said he would drive me around to all the good spots.  Awesome!  So we went to the beach... it was sunny and nice for awhile but in about a matter of 10 minutes the sky went dark and it started raining.  We went and had shaved ice, went to a catholic church, a fire station, fountain, market with music, a giant cross on a hill that was used as a lookout for ships, a mansion, a big catholic university.  We really saw a lot.

Driving home I asked Edgardo  (in spanish of course)  "Hey, did you pass me by and then flip around a few minutes later and pick me up?"  he blushed... laughed and said "Si"  then I said "why did you pick me up?"  more blushing.... haha then he said "bad intentions of course.... I thought u were bery hangsome, bery bery good luuking"  haha...  then he repeated himself a couple times.... I laughed then he said but he was still happy that he picked me up even though we were just hanging out and being friends.    Translation:  Even though you like women and I like men I still had fun hanging out with you.  haha.... so now I have a friend in puerto rico... just one... but that's more than I had yesterday.

So we went back to his house... he made dinner, then we watched a latin version of dancing with the stars, I tried on some masks made for carnival (ill show those in another update) I did my wash updating my blog and now it's time for bed.  This is actually my second time typing the blog.... I lost the first one on accident... made me mad... I almost didn't want to re write it... but that would be pretty bogus to give up now right? anyway... goodnight!