Puerto Rico

After the cruise Harry and i were absolutely exhausted, we couldn't check into our hostel yet because it was still morning so we slept in there lounge area on the couches for a while. That first day back in San Juan, Puerto Rico we didn't do anything just an early night in bed. The following day was also very quiet to, just looking around town and again catching up on some sleep. We met two German girls that night in the hostel, we played cards and talked for hours. Katja and Jess were leaving the following morning for Culebra, a small island off the east coast of Puerto Rico, we had also planned to go the after San Juan but we were a little unsure of how to get there because the public transport in Puerto Rico is a mess and very difficult. We wished the girls good luck on getting there with intention to go the following day. Again Harry and i just chilled out sorting photos out from the weeks cruise. 

The next morning we woke early packing our stuff  to head to the the bus terminal where we caught a local bus to the town of Rio Padries where we then got 2 other local collectivo vans to get us to Fajardo to catch a ferry for one hour to Culebra. There was only one hostel on the island for a steep price, $25 a night the town was tiny and within 5 minutes of getting of the ferry we bumped into Katja and Jess, they had stayed at the hostel the night before and thought the owner was a creep, so they chose elsewhere to stay. He was a creep but it didn't worry us guys. We met up with the girls later that night and had some dinner and drinks, it was fun we were dancing in a local bar and requesting songs all night! 

The next day Harry and i hired a golf kart with another guys from our hostel Nick, he was was french and doing some work in Puerto Rico, the kart hire was only $26 for the day, we basically went all around the island to all the beautiful beaches, the first beach was Zoni beach, the snorkelling there was amazing with bright fresh coral and thousands of vibrant  fish, we later went to a mexican taco bar for lunch and shortly after made our way the the famous Flaminco beach, it was a huge stretch of white sand thand curved around the bay around a kilometre long, there we seen Katja and Jess laying the beach, we thought they were acting a little weird it turned out they had been smoking weed at the beach haha, after all they are German.....! we talked to them for a while as it was becoming dark, we had to get the kart back before 5:30 , we put the Germans on the kart with us and drove back to town. On the way back we got pulled over buy the police, we were over loaded in the kart, he was nice he told me to drop the girls where they were staying and come back for the guys. It was such a fun day and so cheap between the 3 of us. 

From our hostel one of the workers, a local guy Brett takes people around the island in his little boat so we decided to do that Harry and i with Jess and Katja, we went to this first little private beach were we did some snorkelling and seen sting rays and a nurse shark amongst lots of fish, we were there for a couple of hours then moved onto the next beach, Brett dropped us there to swim and relax, this was my favourite beach in Puerto Rico a magical beach with palms white sand and just perfectly clear water. I nocked a ripe coconut down from a tree, getting a large rock i smashed the coconut until i split the outside shell, once i had done that i pealed the shell of to reach the inside shell, you then just scrape the top until it pops and you can drink the milk, it was cool because i didn't use any tools, just what we had on the island. It kinda reminded me of cast away the movie, we shared the milk and flesh and spent the rest of the time swimming and laying on the beach. Then we noticed Brett walking along the beach, he had broken down in the boat near the last beach we were at, he swam the boat into shore there and anchored it, having to walk to where we were. We were literally on the island with no way back, it wasn't a problem because at the end of the island there was another boat who was happy enough to take us back...

After Culebra we went to another island close by called Vieques, literally before we put our bags down at the hostel we were going on a tour, we threw the bags in the room and grabbed my head torch. This tour is one of Puerto Rico's most famous attractions, it's called Bio Bay where you kayak the bay with the Bioluminescence, like on the movie the beach, it was such a strange thing to see the water glowing blue when something moves through it, we could see the large fish shooting off underneath us, Harry and i were saying "quick look over here" the whole time, you can pick the water up and it glows in your hands. A few years ago some girls was bitten by a shark, so your not meant to swim but the guide said we could "accidentally" fall in! he panicked a bit and said "ok quick back in the kayak" then he continued to say that the bay is full of sharks haha so that was scary! Unfortunately we didn't get to take our cameras, so we didn't get any photos but this is an example off what it looks like 

We only stayed in Vieques for a couple of nights, we then got the ferry back to Fajardo where the four of us hire a car, it was only $28 dollars so $7 each, we went straight to the El Yunque national park were we hike to some water falls and other trails, we drove to the top of the national park where there is a hike to the top 3 hours return, it was already 4 pm and we only had 2 hours light left in the day, we went up a little way, Harry and I decided to run the rest of the way to the top, it took for ever and was so steep and hot. We finally got to the top trying to chase the sunset, it looked so amazing but the minute we reach the top the cloud came over, i was so annoying it looked so good the whole way and i just though " i'll wait for the top" but it didn't happen, it became dark really quick, we were running down trying to catch the girls on the path it was pitch back down in the jungle and we couldn't see a thing, we had no light or anything. We caught the girls about 5 minutes from the bottom, by this time it was around 7pm we didn't have any idea where we were staying or what town to drive to, we sat up there with the guide books having a read on where to go from there. 

We ended up going to a beach town called Luquillo, there was no hostel there and we had no idea where to go. We ended up paying $38 each and stayed in a nice hotel on the water with breakfast included, it was back to luxury again from the ship. The next morning i woke before sunrise and walked all the way along the beach for about 5km, the sunrise was amazing, it was such a beautiful morning an good to just have some time to myself, it gets hard sometimes constantly being around people waking up in dorms from people coming home talking loud all hours of the night, so it was good to just be alone with no one in sight. We later packed our things, spent some time at the beach and the girls drove us back to San Juan. We went for a farewell dinner, Harry and i were flying out the following day. We had so much fun with Jess and Katja, they were just as adventures as us, if not more. It was sad to say goodbye after spending the week with them. My first thoughts of Puerto Rico were bad we stayed in the wrong area in San Juan and i didn't like it to be honest, but by the end i really loved it, you just have to meet the right people and visit the best places. 

Next step was Trinidad and Tobago