Last one from PR

The kayaking tour was the best part of Puerto Rico so far for many reasons (yeah I know I said that before ha ha). Firstly, it was beautiful. We kayaked in the pitch black of night, with the only way to guide ourselves was to look at the glowstick on the back of the kayak in front. In order to get to the bioluminescent bay, there is a long narrow canal you must go through. Because it was very curvy, many kayaks ended up in the mangroves! Having kayaked before, I was able to keep me and my partner Britneys boat on course. I met Britney in the Bahamas when I was sitting on a bench on the pier. One thing that I have discovered so far is that it is really difficult to make friends. Although I have met many people, once you meet them, it is unlikely that you see them again for a while. Britney and I talked a lot on the bus and I really think that we have a lot in common. When we finally reached the bioluminescent bay after many screams of “left”, “back-paddle” and “slow down” it was beautiful. The organisms glow every time they are moved, so when the paddle hits the water or the current flows. They are tiny but give off a bright sparkle that reminded us of peter pan’s dust. When we reached the middle of the bay, our tour guide Michael explained to us the mechanism of the glowing and some history. It was very interesting but most of us were more enthralled by the perfectly clear skies. An astronomy minor in the group explained which constellations were which and it was beautiful. The huge night sky reminded me of how small we really are in the grand scheme of things.
After the paddle back we enjoyed some snacks and then got back on the bus. Because my bathing suit was wet, I decided to sneak off behind a building and change into my shorts. Midway through the change, a couple of local women came and decided to dispose of their trash. I’m not sure whether they knew what I was doing or not but it seemed to take them an extraordinarily long time to throw their garbage away as I huddled behind my Fairmont towel.
On the long bus ride back, Britney, Michelle and I were talking to Bill Aron, one of the teachers. Bill is my new hero. He has travelled on three voyages before, although this is his first as a teacher. He is one of the wisest and most well spoken people I have ever met. Although just shy of thirty, he speaks as if he has experienced the world many times over. He offered us so much advice on friends, travel, and life in general. Although I cannot write everything he said, the main thing he advised us to do was to take personal emotional risks; go to dinner alone and sit with strangers, travel to a place independently, and challenge yourself to re-evaluate all your friendships when you get home. He said “If your friends aren’t truly happy that you had the time of your life on the voyage, then why should you be friends with them?” Ps. Friends take note, I’ll be quizzing you when I get back.
After the whole evening experience, I really started to feel more at peace with myself and am starting to look at the world and everything around me in a different perspective. Life is too short to settle!
We arrived back at the ship at 12:15am and by the time I had showered and everything it was too late for me to go out unfortunately!
So today was our last day in San Juan. We woke up late to an announcement that we were refueling and that smoking is not permitted today. The announcements are very annoying because a bell rings and then the dean blares through the speakers in the room. His voice is beginning to become quite irritating.
After lazing around for a while and finally dragging ourselves out of bed (my roommate was suffering the effects of the previous nights’ outing) we decided to head into old San Juan to find an internet café. We ended up in a beautiful plaza with a fountain and pigeons in a small shaded café. The internet access was free after buying something at the café. After debating what time buy for well over ten minutes (because we didn’t want anything) the lady finally gave up and said we could just use it for free. It was quite fast so I was able to upload some pictures onto facebook, speak to my sister and others on msn and also check out a few other websites. After my battery died about an hour later we decided to head to Walgreens to pick up some supplies. Although I was very well prepared before boarding the ship in the Bahamas I wanted to pick up a few things (another pillow, some food things, lotion and glitter for carnaval). We bumped into Dean Gaither there and also met big tom who is from Canada. He is one of my classes on the ship! By this time it was about one thirty so we decided to grab a bite to eat and head back to the ship. We wandered down to another plaza and picked up a beef turnover and a smoothie. Food prices here tend to be fairly cheap, while clothing and souvenirs tend to be similar to US prices. I managed to restrain myself from wasting money on useless trinkets and instead bought a painted mask which has much historical and cultural meaning.
We shared a taxi with big tom back to the ship and collapsed on our beds. It was quite a tiring time in Puerto Rico even though we seemed to do little more than sightsee in the town. The consensus on the ship is that everyone is excited to be moving on to more adventurous and exciting ports. This was a good first stop to pick up things that had been forgotten and to use cell phones for the last time but there was no need for it to be a three day stay.
We now have a week sail between here and Salvador, Brazil where we will arrive next Tuesday. This long stretch at sea will give us all a chance to settle into class and solidify friendships. Hopefully the seas will not be too rough and the weather will be nice. I hope to add another course on Wednesday so that I have five courses and a full course load. This means sleeping over Tuesday night at the registrar’s office because the line is very long if you aren’t early and the courses that have spots left do not have many spots. Me and a girl from down the hall, Brigette are going to take sleeping bags and camp out for the night. It should be interesting! I hope to add “human impacts on the costal systems” to my courses which are already music therapy, global studies, international business and cultural tourism. The course load seems to be manageable and apparently as the voyage progresses the teachers become just as tired as we do and lighten the course loads even more. I look forward to this day.
We are now pulling out of San Juan so I am heading up to the open deck to watch the departure.