Puerto Rico

Mr. CT Lawyer and I went to Puerto Rico about 2 months ago with his friends for a birthday celebration. A lot has happened since then (my mom passed as soon as I returned) and it feels like ages ago, but it was such a wonderful trip I want to make sure I document somewhere, so if I forget again that I went, I have this place as a reminder.

I arrived in San Juan late and after a turbulent flight. I wanted badly to sleep in for a long tim - and the rain before, during, and after our trip beckoned me - but we had a flight the next day to another island in the region, the naturally beautiful Vieques. Luckily, when we woke up and looked out the window, the mess of the constant rain and annoying flights were erased by the opulent blue we saw at the resort's beach, and all across the horizon.

The next morning, we grabbed our backpacks and took a cab to the small domestic airport in the middle of town. There, we were placed on scales and assigned one of the 7 seats available on the prop plane we were taking to get to Vieques.

A note to appreciate the tiny prop plane we took - our trip there was a delightful float to Vieques. We were below cloud level the whole time, and our 30-minute trip was a wonderful tour of the coast of San Juan and the dazzling blue waters that surround it. Our older pilot was a real gentleman type (with the coiffed hair and dress all in the appropriate classiness), and our little noisy plane dutifully tooted over to Vieques with his attentive switching of switches and watching the radar screen. The flight back, on the other hand, was turbulent and like being in a toy boat during a storm, rocking and zigzagging in the air while we beat the rain and rough low clouds. One of the ladies on the flight back got sick and I prayed for an emergency landing the whole 30 minutes in the air.

Anyways, Vieques.

Vieques is an island that boasts being the least touched by the modern world in a bunch of places (save the nuclear testing happening on one end of the island that kind of ruined parts of the island off limits to others), and we loved it for that. We arrived at the little airport to a beautiful smell of tropical trees and fresh rain, with the temperature being lower than the main island. We took a cab and drove to Esperanza on the southern side of the island (where the small tourist town was) and admired the lush green going past us as we drove. Vieques has a large National Park on it, but even the area where we were staying felt peacefully rural and low key. The roads aren't repaved because of the stormwater runoff impacting the beaches, and there is not a lot of light pollution. There are (what I believe are wild) horses roaming the streets of the tourist area, chilling out in a truly laid back beachy vibe that encompasses the whole island. For the very brief day we visited, we loved it!

Our Airbnb wasn't much to write about, so I won't. And it was raining a lot while we were there so I won't go too much into the tourism there for the one night we stayed there, for there wasn't much that we did or ate (except at a little joint named El Rancho Choli, where we were given tasty but huge portions of local pork and rice).

We were in Vieques for a very specific reason: bioluminescence. I have wanted to see bioluminescent waters for a while (since I found out about them, probably), and Vieques is supposed to be one of the best places in the world to see them. So when Mr. CT Lawyer mentioned his friends trip to PR, I almost immediately started to research how to kayak in the bioluminescent bays. We were fortunate that we were in the area for the appropriate time of the month (during a new moon), or else all of our trips would have been for naught. And apparently Vieques can fill up quickly, so we were extra lucky we booked it so early on so as to avoid missing out.

The evening we arrived, we went to a green store and waited for a bus to drive us to the bay for the kayaking experience. We had hired a local eco-tour group (Jak Water Sports), which turned out to be at our benefit as they only do small groups and use minimal light while we are on the water. The friendly staff got us ready to go and rocked us down the rocky road to the water, and at 8pm we headed off into our partner kayaks to experience the bioluminescent plankton.

At first, we didn't think much of the water that lit up gently while we touched our paddles onto it, but the further we got from the beach, the water sparkled like stars around us. We had a glass bottom kayak, and we could see the little glowing specks rushing past us like we were traveling through space at great speeds. We put our hands in the water and they would be covered in twinkling stars. I threw water on my partner and his back shimmered. And we had perfect timing because as we started to kayak back to the beach the rain started to downpour; we were able to run into the bus quickly. As the rain started, though, the light flickered in the water as the drops hit the surface each time. Magical is the word.

After our fun bioluminescent adventure, we returned to Old San Juan and became standard tourists. I don't mean that in the sense that we wanted to be that way, but it was just easier to be that way, because of our large group and our resort deal and the way PR works. There is a lot of tourism-based shopping and tours and places in San Juan - it was hard to not be a standard tourist. It was still lovely.

We had a day in Old San Juan, where we did the routine pilgrimage to the old and beautiful fortresses that hug the coast and tried to get a feeling of the town. We enjoyed looking at the waters through the 16th-century porticos and walking around the old architecture of big defense walls. We carefully navigated old cobblestone streets and tried to get lost down alleyways in a small strip of land that is Old San Juan. The town's buildings were vibrant colors and closely packed on the old Spanish streets. It reminded me of New Orleans a bit, only with more commercial than NOLA's artisanal local shops laced in between tourist traps. We were surrounded by shops like Ben & Jerry's, Adidas, and Coach - not normally what I think of when I think of Puerto Rico. We were clearly not the target audience.

Foodwise, this trip was a lot less gastronomic than many of my trips have been in the last few years. Sure there, were a lot of food options, and the pork and seafood were delicious, but we weren't having mind-blowing meals every time. Which was fine! The one thing I wanted to try, mofongo, my partner had tried before I arrived and had proclaimed to never wanting to try it again, so I didn't have a lot of time (or options) to go for it in the 4 days we were there.

BUT! We did have two awesome meals while we were there. Let me tell you about those memorable meals.

• Cafe Cortes Chocobar is my dream-come-true restaurant because they incorporate chocolate into everything. Take, for example, the chocolate-infused ketchup we had with our waffle fries, or our chocolate-spiced ceviche. And, of course, decadent chocolate shakes with chocolate shavings! The place was bustling, and we only got snack foods to hold us over for dinner. There was a line waiting to be seated before us, and it was worth it. I brought home some hot chocolate bars they had, and I have to admit they've already been drunk in entirety.
• Marmalade was our fancy romantic dinner date for the trip (because every trip has a fancy romantic dinner date), and we were both blown away by the meal. We ordered way too much (they offered dinners based on 5, 6, and 7 dishes - we chose 6, and were full to the point of popping), but each dish was delightful and fun. Most of the dishes we picked were rich and flavorful (our mistake), but there were a lot of lighter and fresh dishes as well. I had a very nice sangria, and finished off with creme brulee (my favorite). I had to walk outside for a while to get some air after our filling meal, but we already talk about going to Marmalade again when we return to San Juan.

Finally, a lot of our trip, when we weren't kayaking in Vieques or scaling Old San Juan, was stationed at the resort. We were, after all, there for a friend's birthday, and for mandatory relaxation. We spent a night enjoying a lovely birthday party under a colorful sunset on a vanilla sky, and one day we went to the spa for a treatment and massage after lounging around the beach and pools for a few hours. That's not normally how I travel, but I think this time it was glorious and (given the events that happened after the trip) necessary.

Lady Musgrave Island

On our day off in Gladstone, a bunch of us got up before the sun, got in our vans, and drove. We sleepily arrived at the quiet beach of Seventeen Seventy (1770) an hour later (Yes, that is the real name of the town. Something about James Cook landing there or something. Despite the strangeness of the name, it is a really nice beach area).

Why were we there? Because one of the islands of the Great Barrier Reef is just east of this area. We were off to the coral cay, Lady Musgrave Island.

The nice thing about Lady Musgrave Island is that it is not heavily loaded with tourists, unlike Cairns and Port Douglas further north. Most of the people who come to this area are Australians, and there are only a few boats that goes out there. For some reason I had been under the impression that we were the only people who were getting on the boat. There were maybe 80 other people on the boat with our group, it turned out. I barely noticed.

I had a packet of Kwells, as I am now well known for my motion sickness. I popped a few while getting on a low-riding boat that would bring us out of the beach area to the boat during low tide. The little, slowly-tugging boat felt like we were wading through the Everglades in the US (as far as I could tell) until we got onto the bigger catamaran.

On our way to the island, the boat flew over waves and rocked back and forth for over an hour. As my fellow classmates were vomiting around me into the little discrete bags the boat had for seasickness, I was sleepily taking in the rolling of the boat with my Kwells-induced peace.

Our boat slowed down and attached itself to a pontoon in the water, close by the island.

Lady Musgrave is gorgeous. We were there on a beautiful, sunny day, and the shallowness of the Great Barrier Reef and the island in the water made the ocean dazzle in almost unreal shades of blue. The island shimmered in the distance with its white sands and bright green trees. It was so peaceful there.

We snorkeled around in the light blue water for an hour or so. I floated on a swimming noodle and lazily hovered over the reef, enjoying the brightly colored fish and intricate designs in the coral. Unlike my last experience on the Great Barrier Reef, the pills meant that I did not have to worry about puking all over the fish (though they might have enjoyed that), so I swam further afield than before. And there were turtles!

Some of the classmates went scuba diving, and they mentioned they could feel/hear whales in the not-so-distant distance talking to each other.

After lunch, the tour took our group to the island to learn a bit about the ecology of the coral cay and the reef in general. A pleasant man took us out on a tour of the reef on his glass-bottom boat, and we got to look at more rare fish that way without hurting them/ourselves. We looked at some mammoth sea cucumbers, which are adorable for slugs. They peacefully lie around, eating whatever gunk is on the ocean floor and keeping everything nice and light - nature's vacuum cleaner. I decided I want to have a sea cucumber and name it Francis.

A bunch of turtles surfaced right next to our boat, too; our group nearly lost it with excitement.

The beach, though beautifully white, was very painful to walk on - it was old and dried up coral pieces that broke off and wash up onto the banks over time. Coral is already extremely sharp and rocky when alive, so in its white bleached beachiness, it was like walking on shards of glass in some places. The tinkling sound of the coral moving around on the beach, though, was beautiful.

The walk on the island was sharply different from the tranquil, lazy floating we just did in the water. The tour guide told us about how the trees on the island are almost completely made out of water, and birds use the roots of the trees to burrow and nest. The thing is, the trees make these sticky seeds and drop them all over the place, which ultimately kills about half of the bird population each year (taking into account new birds, don't worry) because the residue gets stuck on their feathers and they are unable to fly. They starve to death, and the dead birds end up composting on the ground while the trees consume the nutrients from their corpses!

Basically, the carnivorous island in Life of Pi is real, and it exists in the Great Barrier Reef!

Anyways.....

The day was relaxing, beautiful, and fun. We got back to the beach, and our tents over in Gladstone, feeling happy and even maybe a little more enlightened about the beauty of the world.

Coolangatta

Yesterday The Water Ladies and I made our way down to the Gold Coast, at long last. None of us had been yet, which was kind of a scandal to most locals - it's where people go for weekend trips to the beach around here, after all. The public transport has a pretty decent setup where after 10 trips have happened within the week, the remaining trips are free.

The Gold Coast is a good 2-hour train ride from Brisbane, so let's say it's a great deal to go on the weekend once a full week commuting to school has happened.

We opted to not go to Surfer's Paradise, the most popular beach on the Gold Coast for people to visit. The area has a reputation for being too-touristy, and a bit "plastic-like" for those looking for an urban respite. It's where all of the major casinos are in Queensland (kind of like a seaside Las Vegas in Australia), and tall skyscrapers create a city shadow on the coast.

Everyone says Surfer's Paradise is a must, but only for the sake of saying that I've seen it. Personally, I'm not completely sold on their congested beachscapes.

Being bookworm ladies with an interest in natural beauty, we took Kylie's advice to go as far south on the Gold Coast as we could - to the last stop in the state (before hitting New South Wales). She told us of a beautiful and cozy beach called Coolangatta.

(All I'm thinking is that I'm "cool, and gotta...")

Early Sunday morning - after a night with a themed party hosted by my roommates - Meg, Denise, and I hopped onto the Gold Coast Line and sleepily rode to the very end, under a gorgeous, clear sky. We then took a long, windy bus from the train station along coast. We rode past the reputable Currumbin Sanctuary (but didn't go, sadly), and finally let ourselves off once we saw "Welcome to Coolangatta" signs. We found ourselves on a pristine white beach with some of the most dazzling blues I've ever seen in liquid form.

Wow.

Something Australia has really impressed me with is the amazing blue-ness of the coasts. I thought The Bahamas was the only place the water could be this clear and stunning. But Australia has continued to amaze my eyes and give me a lot of beauty to drink up.

Coolangatta should really be called "a study of blue", because I'm pretty sure that (with the sky's cloudlessness) I saw every hue of blue in every gradient possible. The waves curved colors to change the quality of the blue and mix in greens continuously.

The clean, fine sand squeaked as we shuffled through it.

Something that was also awesome about our visit was how peaceful everything was. The majority of beaches in town seemed hardly occupied by people, and we were able to quietly admire the beaches without running into folks. It was a perfect day of awesome eyefuls, good company, and delightful walks along the coast to different (and incredible) vantage points.

And tasty food, of course. I mean, good food always has to be the case on day excursions.

Of course, I was burned to a crisp and radiant colors of red. In Australia, it doesn't really matter how much powerful sunblock you slather on your person repetitively - the sun dictates just how red you will end up at the end of the day. I swear I had thick tree layers of sunblock all over myself, and I am still tender and resembling more a steamed crustacean than a human on some parts.