Puerto Rico Part Dos

DAY 5

Once again luck was against us. We went the night before and bought our own set of snorkel gear with the intention of flying to Culebra Island and snorkeling all day long. I was so excited I couldn't stand myself. When we got to the airport, they informed us that they didn't have a flight coming back at the time we wanted and so we would only be able to stay on the island a few hours. It wasn't worth it to us to pay that much money for just a short period of recreation. We decided to wait and come back the following day to go to Culebra.

Instead we drove to El Yunque National Park to go hiking.

It was phenomenal. The rainforest was very different from the one we hiked in Guatemala several years ago. It was incredibly green, moist and the canopy was much lower. There were beautiful waterfalls cascading over black rocks at every turn of the path. The air smelled sweet and hung heavy around us. We first hiked down to a large waterfall with a swimming hole at the bottom. It was filled with people and it didn't appeal much to us. So we ran the entire mile back up to the parking lot. From there we decided to hike to the very top of the tallest Peak--El Yunque. Being from Utah and being raised as mountain goats, the hike was not particularly challenging for us. In fact, we ran at least half of it. They said that it would take us two hours to get to the top, but we did it in half that. Very few people attempted the hike, so we had the mountainous rainforest almost entirely to ourselves. I wish so badly that I had my personal pictures and videos because it was one of those amazing experiences you don't get often in life--unless you live in Puerto Rico. I kept saying to Brian, "I wish I could just put this in a bottle and take it home and get it out when I need a moment of perfect serenity." At the top of El Yunque was a stone tower built in 1938. It reminded me of a Dharma Initiative Station, so Brian and I named it "The Coqui".

On the return trip, we ran the path back to the car to see if we could make it in half the stated time. (Our dream is to be on the Amazing Race. We decided they'd really like us because we argue just enough to be entertaining. Brian doesn't trust my directions when I navigate and I think he drives like an old man. He can't talk and drive the speed limit for crying out loud!) Thank goodness we did run because by the time we reached the last few meters, the tropical rain had descended upon us in torrents. It was cathartic, cleansing and absolutely beautiful! By the time we got back to the car we were drenched head to toe. (Every picture that I have here, while they are unfortunately not mine, were exact scenes we experienced.)

To back track a little, while we were up on the top of the mountain we were enveloped by thick fog. We found a little place with cliff that jutted out over the mountain side. It looked like a long ways down, but the fog was so thick in every direction we couldn't tell for certain. The wind was stiff and nearly blew us off our feet, so we laid down on the rock and just breathed in the thick, wet hair. A moment, while I no longer have personal photographic proof of, I will never forget.

DAY 6

We woke up early to with the intent of going to Culebra. But, when we got up it was dumping rain and thunder shook the sky. I had woken up with an especially uneasy, anxious feeling and I didn't know why. When I saw the lightening I thought maybe it meant that it was not a good idea to fly in a little plane during a thunder storm. Brian and I discussed what would be the most ideal option considering the circumstances. We decided that we would leave the little bed and breakfast inn and head to the western side of the island to explore some caves we had heard about. Because we were changing hotels, we loaded all of our stuff into the car. We drove for two hours to a town called Arecibo. We had read reviews that it was known to be crime ridden, but we had also talked to someone who had just visited and loved it.

When we came to the town, we followed specific directions to a little house with a dirt clearing where they allowed people to park for $2. When we arrived, we couldn't find anyone to take our money. Two other people arrived at the same time and walked out ahead of us on the cliffs. I asked Brian if we should put our backpacks in the trunk. We each had our laptops with us and our cell phones and cameras. He said no, but I did take his wallet and hid it in the glove box. I had the a nagging feeling to put the stuff in the trunk, but instead I followed Brian's advice and covered the laptops with a blanket and bags of groceries. I also had a distinct feeling to put my wallet in the glove box with Brian's, but once again I resisted and left it in my backpack.

We got out and went to explore the limestone cliffs that dropped down into violently crashing waves. The view was absolutely breathtaking. We had heard it was an incredibly beautiful place, and they were right. We were in absolute awe. There was a place where we climbed down into this cave and bats flew into crevices above our heads. The ocean gurgled in and out and flushed into the bottom of the cave. On the walls of the caves, ancient Indians had etched drawings into the limestone.
We loved every minute of it (which was only like 30 minutes) until we went back to our car. The driver side window was completely shattered and broken out. Our backpacks were gone, our laptops were gone, my wallet, our cell phones--every single thing valuable we owned was gone, except for Brian's wallet in the glove box (thank heavens, otherwise I don't know what would have happened). Our suitcase was still in the trunk with our clothes, but everything else was gone. I have never had such a sick, violated feeling in my life. I knew it was completely our own stupid faults. When I was in Guatemala, Belize, France, Israel, and especially Africa, I carried all valuables on me at all time or had them locked in a hotel closet. We got complacent and thought that we were safe just to lock the car since we were only about fifty yards away. What we didn't realize at the time was that we were being watched and were most likely followed when they saw us using a laptop while driving. It is likely that that couple that arrived with us were the lookouts, because they had vanished when we got back to the car. I cried and I was so angry at those people for thinking they had the right to our stuff. But, the thought that kept coming back to me was that I was just so glad that it wasn't my child that they took. I thought about the McMann's who thought it was safe to go to dinner just across from their hotel room while their children slept, only to find that someone had stolen their daughter, Madeleine. At least for me, it was only "stuff", which can all be replaced. It sucks, but it wasn't the end of the world for any of us.

(It is interesting as I think back to all the circumstances and choices we made that led up to the theft, I feel almost like it was fate. Everything had been slightly off the entire vacation. We made small choices that seemed like no big deal, or seemed like they would keep us safer but in the end all roads lead to Arecibo and being robbed blind. It's like living in a Choose Your Own Adventure book and every page you chose to turn to ultimately leads to something devestating. I had many thoughts, "if only", if only we had turned to page 94 instead of 89! I know in our culture we like to think that we can control everything and prevent every tragedy with helmets and seatbelts and locked doors, but ultimately, we have so little control over life and some things just happen because that was what was going happen. Maybe it's really like Oedipus Rex. Maybe by trying to prevent things we are in actuality only setting the stage for the very thing we are trying to avoid?)

We then went to the nearest gas station and asked for directions to the police department. A kind, elderly gentleman offered to guide us there. He did so, and then he offered to stay with us to translate. We waited for well over an hour for a policeman to meet with us. It was at that point that I fully realized we were NOT in the states. It was complete mayhem in there and no one was in any hurry to help anyone. When we finally did meet with an officer, he was a downright ass toward us. He showed absolutely no empathy and he took information that did not seem necessary, like Brian's place of birth. The whole thing was extremely weird. Then he stood up and said, through our sweet, old translator, "If you want a copy of the police report you'll have to come back in ten days and request it in person. If not, you can't have it." So we freaking wasted three hours of our time going down to the police station. Unbelievable! I just cannot imagine what it must be like to live in a country where not only are the police/government inept, but completely corrupt. We learned later that the police department in Arecibo is infamous for being bought off and involved in the theft. We had that distinct impression with the particular officer we worked with while we were there. On the other hand, that sweet, old man renewed our hope in humanity. As we said our thank yous and good-byes to him, he said, "I know you will now think that Puerto Rico is a bad place and there are bad people here, but don't forget there are good people like me here, too." Yes, old man, you are so right. There are bad people in every city who will take you for all you're worth, and there are wonderful people who would give you the shirt off their back. I guess we have to know the bad to appreciate the good.

The first thing we knew we had to do was get a cell phone. We needed to cancel all of our credit cards, call our insurance, and call the airlines to figure out how I was going to get on the plane with no form of ID. I was worried sick. We drove all the way back to San Juan, thankful that Brian had his wallet because otherwise we would have had no gas and no ability to leave that corrupt town. We had no way to figure out where to find a Sprint store, we just knew we had seen one or two on the island and we knew there had to be one somewhere in San Juan. We stopped at a Office Depot, they told us to go to the mall across the street. At the mall they had every cell phone carrier BUT Sprint. We were given directions by one of them to another mall on the other side of town. However, Puerto Ricans are familiar with their island and forget others are not. Their directions usually consisted of 'take thus and such road and then you go a ways and you'll see something on the right and then you go around a corner and across the street there's a restaurant, there's a turn directly across from there an then it's just up a little ways on your left.' SAY WHAT? I can't even count the Uturns we did during the course of the vacation!

So not only were we hopelessly lost, it was getting dark, we were stuck in rush hour traffic (which is sheer insanity because it's every man for himself and merging is a fight to the death), and we were getting cold because we--let me rephrase that, I was getting cold because there was no window on the driver's side. Finally, we found another mall and a Sprint store. It took us well over an hour, but we cancelled our phones so that they can't be sold or used again. I borrowed a phone and cancelled all of my credit cards, put in claims with the insurance, and then called the TSA. They told me that I needed to have a copy of the police report (yeah, right) and a printout of our Expedia travel itinerary and my husband's ID. I wondered how many crazy Uturns I would have to do to locate an internet and a printer. The stress of cleaning up the mess was exhausting, and it was only the beginning.

Finally, we took the car back to the rental agency to trade it in for another one. They assessed the damage and we paid only $229, which was much less than I anticipated. We were informed that because we used an Amex, they would actually reimburse us for that. Sweet! One ray of hope.

The man at the rental place was very kind and told us about getting his brand new sports car stolen in Puerto Rico. He asked us where we were staying in San Juan. We had never gotten that far to think about that detail. I had pulled up several options for hotels on my laptop, but we no longer had that. He said he had a friend that ran an nice, inexpensive hotel. He offered to set us up there--which he did. At this point, Brian and I were exhausted, starving (we hadn't eaten anything in over 12 hours), we stunk and Brian had been in his swimming suit all day. We accepted his offer and headed over to the little hotel. When we opened the door to our room, our hearts sunk again. I guess "nice" is a relative term. I plopped onto the bed and immediately felt a spring stabbing me in my rear end. I noticed that there was no blanket in the room. We called the front desk and the guy came over and asked in broken English what we needed. We told them we needed a blanket. "I not know what is this blanket." Oh, my word, I could only laugh. We pointed to the sheet and said, "Like this, but thick," as we indicated thick with our fingers. He finally brought us a blanket, but it definitely was NOT thick. We were too tired to equivocate. We laughed a little because we couldn't think of a more perfect ending to such a terrible day than to find ourselves in a Puerto Rican slum motel. What a day, but luckily, like all days, it inevitably ended.

DAY 7

We woke up and went to a small Puerto Rican bakery for breakfast. I was so concerned about getting on the plane with no I.D., I couldn't eat anything. We had several hours to kill and we couldn't stay in the hotel because everytime we looked at the floors or walls we got nauseated. We decided to head back to Old San Juan and see the other Conquistador fortress at the point of the coast. It was a perfect day and children were out flying kites for a field trip. We got a few more pictures so that we could restore some of what we had.

At last, we went to the airport. My stomach was in knots. I didn't know what I was going to do if they wouldn't let me on the plane. I didn't know how to get I.D. and I didn't know how I would pay for anything because my credit cards were all gone. I had printed my itinerary and was able to get my tickets from the automated boarding pass kiosk, so that was no problem. It was getting through security that was going to be a problem. But, when we got up to the officer who checked IDs against boarding passes, he was very kind. We showed him Brian's IDs and our boarding passes and absolutely resorted to grovelling and pleading. It worked and he agreed to let me go through without extensive interrogation. Praying does work :)!

Brian and I were more than ready to get home. It was nice to be together without so many responsibilities and constant stress. He really is my best friend and is my perfect match. Not many people love adventure and constant rigorous physical activity as much as I do, but Brian is one of those rare people. We work hard at home and we played hard on vacation and that's the way we like life. I am lucky to have such a fun, sexy guy to call my own. Besides, if I have to be robbed, I am glad I had my best friend with me to work through the trauma. It wasn't the "fun" part of our vacation, but it was an exceptional team building exercise for our marriage. We organized well together and conquered the problem quickly. And, we didn't even argue about directions or slow driving once after getting robbed! Should I count that as a consequential blessing? I will say, it was nice to be home and feel safe and see my kids healthy and happy. It's great to go on vacation, but sometimes it's even better to come home!