How Was My Trip

My first full day back, displaying my new tan (making me truly tall, dark, and handsome), spawned countless "how was your trip?" questions today. Did you know "Puerto Rico" means "Port of Riches" in Spanish? Pretty obvious, but I never thought about it before. Anyway, here are the highlights:

• Night time kayaking in bioluminescent bay: Paddling a kayak in pitch darkness through stabbing mangrove trees, where the water lights up like black light on white, due to the millions of microorganisms who spark up like fireflies in the water when agitated.
• The Bacardi Rum Factory: Acres of beautiful landscape, like an alcoholic Disneyland, where they shuttle you around to different buildings and give you free rum-infused drinks. I learned the difference between Bacardi Silver and Gold, and where that bat logo came from.
• El Morro and San Cristobal Forts: Puerto Rico is the gateway to the Caribbean, and what better watchdogs than 6 story fortresses with 150 feet tall walls, and 500 cannons a piece of varying shapes and sizes.

And the low lights:

• Forgetting my contact lenses - every time I stepped from an air conditioned indoor environment or vehicle to the natural, hot and humid outdoors, my glasses would fog up for several minutes.
• Mosquitoes - these little pests are smaller than New York mosquitoes, making them harder to see and detect. You'll know you're around mosquitoes only after they bite you.
• Domino's Pizza - they close at midnight - especially disappointing after a day of hiking and kayaking and no dinner.