Zip Lining through La Marquesa Forest Park!

On Saturday, the Office of Exchange Students and International Students took all of us on a free trip to go zip lining through a rainforest!!

We went to La Marquesa Forest Park in Guaynabo (right outside of San Juan), which was about a 30 minute drive in a bus. We had a good group of about 50 of us that came, international and exchange students.

For anyone who has never zip lined or doesn't know exactly what it is:

A zip line canopy tour allows you to sail from tree to tree and platform to platform on a network of pulleys and double horizontal cables that are mounted between 10 and 70 feet above the tropical forest floor. During your adventure, you will be wearing a harness (that attaches you to the cable system), helmet and gloves. The staff members will help you with your gear and make sure that all your gear is on properly and securely.

The zip lines at La Marquesa Forest Park were about 50ft above the ground. I was terrified! I HATE HEIGHTS!

But, you only live once and zip lining through a rainforest is not something you get to do everyday, so I did it! And it was awesome!

There were 14 different platforms that we went on and each zip line was different in length and heights. And actually at one point we had to repel from a higher platform to one below it--I screamed like a 2 yearold kid throwing tantrum probably.

All in all, I am glad I zip lined, it was really a lot of fun! Even though I was shaking terribly the entire time we did it!

Fiesta Time!

This week I worked hard so I allowed myself to "play hard!" I had two exams and a paper due Monday and Tuesday, but then Wednesday was a Puerto Rican holiday and there was no school! It was Grito de lares, which I am told is celebrated because it was the first time Puerto Rico fought for their independence.

Since my roommate, Yesenia, is only here Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we hardly ever see each other and we never get to go out and do anything together. So Tuesday night we all went and met up at a little bar on our street to celebrate Grito de lares! Here's (bottom left to right) Kaitlin, Joyanet, me and Yesenia! Above us are some of her friends!

Then, Friday (as usual) we went to the beach, this time in Condado! Condado is the best beach for big waves that we have been to so far. They are the kind knock you over when you're only in ankle-deep!

After the beach we went to a Mexican restaurant in Condado that we heard was good called Tijuana's. The food was tremendous! And they let us wear their hats!

Thats me, Isabel and Joyanet!

Rat tails to Reggaeton

So I know that Kentucky is not known for the best, hip hairstyles in our country- Just go to the KY state fair and you can see every length and style of a mullet in your wildest dreams- but seriously, the puerto rican rat tail is a different story.

It is the rat tail with gobs of gel and hairspray, and is usually either cleary curled or straightened. This seems to be the hairstyle for men (and some women) here. If you ask me, it is VERY unattractive.

On the other hand, something that is cool in their culture is REGGAETON! Reggaeton is a genre of music universally known for coming from Puerto Rico-- It started in the 90's as a sort of "reggae en espanol" but now is a combination of reggae, hip hop, latin pop, etc. Here's a video of a very popular reggaeton song called "No Te Veo" that came out a couple years ago and was a number 1 hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiYEpU80RTo

(The video is horrrrible, don't pay attention to that, its just an idea of what reggaeton sounds like!)

Reggaeton is more "Club" music obviously. SALSA music is much more beautiful and the music that all generations live and breath here.

Here is a very popular Salsa song here that everyone's always singing--some say its the "2009 Salsa Song" called "Yo No Se Manana" by Luis Enrique. Heres the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXIgjQFMCiI

Culebra!

This weekend, a group of us traveled to Culebra, an island off the east coast of Puerto Rico! First, here’s a little history and some facts about the island!

Christopher Columbus was the first European to arrive at the island in 1493. The island was populated by Taino Indians prior to this and was used by pirates as a refuge for more than 3 centuries. It is located approximately 17 miles east of the Puerto Rican mainland, 12 miles west of St. Thomas.

In 1902, Culebra was integrated as part of Vieques, another Puerto Rican island just 9 miles south of Culebra. One year later, on President Roosevelt established the Culebra Naval Reservation. In 1939, the U.S. Navy began to use Culebra as a gunnery and bombing practice site. This was done in preparation for the United States' involvement in World War II. In 1971 the people of Culebra began protests for the removal of the U.S. Navy from Culebra. Four years later, in 1975, the use of Culebra as a gunnery range ceased and all operations were moved to Vieques.

Culebra has many beautiful beaches including Flamenco Beach (Playa Flamenco), which is the picture to the right. Flamenco Beach (where I stayed!) is ranked # 2 in the top 10 most exotic beaches in the world. The beach extends for a mile of white coral sand and is framed beautifully by arid tree-covered hills.

Many military relics, including tanks like the one we saw below in the picture, remain in the area of Flamenco Beach. Culebra and Vieques offered the U.S. military an experience of great value to the battles in the Pacific as a feasible training area for the Fleet Marine Force in amphibious exercises for beach landings and naval gunfire support testing.

Culebra was by far the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life! Before this I thought Santorini, Greece was the most beautiful, but this is better! The water was clear as glass, there were coral reefs in the shallow water even with pretty little fishies everywhere! It was paradise. I felt like I was on the TV show Lost because it was so un-inhabited and green. There were no hotels, houses or restaurants or grocery stores around on Flamenco Beach. Only the camping ground and one small villa rental on the whole stretch of the beach. There were wild animals everywhere in our camping ground too! I am talking hugggeee iguanas like this one >>>>>!!were wobbling around us! They were so funny looking.

So, to sum up, CULEBRA = PARADISE ISLAND!

Me Encanta Viejo San Juan!

Today some of us decided to take full advantage of the strike day and we went exploring in Old San Juan!

Old San Juan is considered the oldest settlement within U.S. territory with buildings dating back to the 16th and 17th century when Puerto Rico was under Spanish Possesion. Isn't it gorgeous?? I love the everything about Old San Jun--the narrow cobblestone streets, all the buildings with the huge, tall wooden shutters and the intriquite designs on the balcony railings!

Oh, and also the bright colors of all the buildings make it that much more beautiful! Look at this place here! Wow, that is a lime green house...ha. And there are plenty more places just like this!

Eventuall we made our way to the far point of Old San Juan where "El Morro is located.

El Morro is the most famous fort still in existence today in Puerto Rico which was built in the 16th century for use by Spanish troops to keep seaborne enemies out of San Juan. The word "morro" actually means "promontoy" in English. Today this castle welcomes people of arriving cruise ships to the bussiest port in the Caribbean.

We went up to the top level mostly, "Land Defense Level" and to a couple other levels. It was really amazing to see how well this fort has been preserved after 500 years!

Las Huelgas (Strikes) Galore!

Teachers, janitors and other staff members are going on strike here mucho. It's not what I am used to, to say the least! Students here inform us that this is common at UPR and has been happening for a while. I dont know any details really other than their strikes and protests are against the efforts to privatize UPR. Employees demonstrating today wore orange t-shirts that said “El convenio se respeta”, or “respect the agreement.”

So when these strikes happen, professors, janitors, etc. don’t show up for school. The staff at UPR plans this and it is official. It is known by us students pretty much through word-of-mouth or teachers will tell us day before that they will be on strike the next day and there will be no class.

There was a strike last Wednesday, then classes were cancelled last Thursday due to Hurricane Erika, I don’t have class Fridays ever and Monday was Labor Day. So, basically I went a week without classes and now classes are cancelled again tomorrow officially due to strike again. Crazy, right?!

It is actually very frustrating though because presentations, tests, etc keep getting pushed back and we never really know when things are due!!

On the other hand, we have been getting serious beach time! We went to beaches in Isla Verde, Ocean Park, and Condado this past week—these are all on the coast of San Juan.

It was the first time I had been to Condado and geez, the waves were intense! Condado is on the edge of Old San Juan and San Juan. After we swam there, we decided to go back later for some sushi at a cool sushi restaurant named Opium. Here we are at Opium—(from left to right) Christina (de Basque Country in Spain!), Isabel, Treavor, Alex, me and Terrill.