Travel Diaries: Puerto Rico
Hello. Hi. Been a while. It's been a bit since I last blogged anything and I'm a bit sad by that. I tried to stay consistent and it didn't really work out for me but it's fine. It's been a busy few weeks lately and now, well, I have plenty of time on my hands again since I'm working from home now due to our favorite little friend making his way around the globe. Not salty at all. Anyway, I just got back from my trip about 24 hours ago (EARLY Sunday morning) and I'm pretty sad, I miss the beautiful Puerto Rico already! I thought I would document my trip on this blog because it's great content and hopefully someone will enjoy reading about my little adventure. I'm excited to show all of my cool pictures of everywhere I went and the things I did while there so let's get started!


Not to mention that actually being able to spend a couple hours on the beach just reading while getting a tan for the summer was pretty nice. I ended up finishing one book within a couple days and started another. I was really happy to finally have time to just read and relax without being interrupted.

The top of the castle overlooked the beautiful city and was breathtaking. The pictures I took truly don't do it any justice, it was something you really had to be there in person to see to be able to feel the full affect of the beauty of San Juan and I wish I could've shared it with my friends, they would have loved every little inch of what we were able to see from the top.
It was also pretty funny to see iguanas everywhere. It seemed like on every other perch of the castle, there was just an iguana chilling, minding their own business and living their best lives. It was pretty cool too, I've never seen one out in the wild, only ever in zoos and aquariums. Definitely wanted to bring one home but I didn't think the airport would've been okay with that.
Day 3 in Puerto Rico was a pretty eventful one. First off, we woke up a little early to head out to take a ferry ride to the island of Vieques. There, we visited two different beaches. One beach being one of the best beaches in Puerto Rico that had beautiful white sand and another being something called "Secret Beach", which apparently had black magnetic sand covering the shores. I was pretty excited and didn't really expect the sand to actually be black. It was crazy to see! Both beaches were very beautiful but the second was my favorite by far. There was no one on this beach and we had the most beautiful view from where we were sitting.

It was breathtaking. I didn't want to leave. I really, really could've spent my entire life there. It was crazy to think that I was looking at something so beautiful to end off my day and thinking about where I was and what I was doing was just cool.
Our last day was bittersweet. We packed everything up by 11am and checked out of our beach house and headed into the rain-forest. Yep, totally normal. We decided that we would drive through the rain-forest to get the last bit of sightseeing in and my nephews ended up going zip-lining once we got there. I was in no condition to go zip-lining so I sat with my sister and just waited, the time went by pretty quickly so I wasn't bored for too long.

Even though the rain-forest was super cool to drive through, it was also a little sketchy. For one, there were no clear lines actually dividing up the left and right side and the roads were VERY small, probably only slightly wider than a single lane. It was quite a bumpy ride which was a little fun, not gonna lie, but it was totally nerve-racking whenever other cars were on the road. Having to drive on the very edge of the road to let other cars pass safely was fun.
But I mean, for what it's worth, we got to see some beautiful sites on the very last day of our visit there. I ended up finding some seashells along the rocks of a swimming hole we accidentally found.
Being surrounded by incredibly tall trees and hearing the water running along the rocks was so relaxing, it honestly felt like I was in a Jurassic Park movie.
It felt like we were in one especially while driving through the rain-forest. It cemented it whenever I realized we were also driving in a Jeep. Coincidence? I think not. I was definitely looking for a T-Rex and a few raptors, not even gonna lie. I didn't find one by the way. I was a little sad.
Later, after spending most of the day in the rain-forest looking for dinosaurs and eating a very small hot dog in the pouring rain for 10 minutes, we headed out to get one last visit to old San Juan in and get in the very last minute shopping for more souvenirs.
Our first stop: Senor Frog. Great food, awesome atmosphere, and VERY long straws. I was too short to drink from my own straw but it's okay, the food was amazing and it was entertaining to see the employees riding around the place on hover-boards. Afterwards, we walked down the streets and did some shopping and I managed to get everyone a little something. I of course got my own little treats that I'll be able to use everyday such as a backpack, a new wallet, and a couple pieces of jewelry. I was sad to have to leave this beautiful city once it was finally time for us to head to the airport and get ready to go home. As much as I missed home, I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye. San Juan has my heart and I can't wait until I get the chance to go back.

While I was there, I left a lot of things behind. I'm not going to get all emotional here and cheesy, but while there was a lot of healing that I've done over the past four months, there were things I still hadn't healed from. And while being there, I finally did. I was able to clear my mind of certain things, certain people, certain thoughts, and I came back ready to move forward. It was a freeing feeling and I will never be able to thank Puerto Rico for being that special place for me to realize that I'm gonna be okay after all. Thank you, San Juan. I came back ready to continue on with what I have here in my home state and truly see where life takes me. Until next time!

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