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ALL RIGHT BOYS AND GIRLS.
Recap.
SO, we started our trip with a nice 4 AM WAKEUP. Then we got to the airport on BART, I fell asleep, all good. You don't wanna hear about that. We get to our hotel in Old San Juan, The Gallery Inn. Stay there if you ever go to Puerto Rico. It's 4 old houses that this woman joined together. She has statues she made all over the house, and they're really good - she's an artist. Michelle Obama once stayed there. So, we go out to dinner, go home, and sleep. I'll skip all the eating because it's not what you want to hear. The next day, aided by our trusty map, we head out to explore. First we stop at El Morro, a gigantic castle on the end of the city. I tell ya, EVERYONE was flying kites. So El Morro was pretty awesome. WE walked around, saw some cannons. Then we head down and grab a bite to eat, since El Morro took a long time, and we see people salsa dancing in the streets! ANd then there was this AMAZING street artist. We saw the end of his show, but it was great. For the finale, he juggled an apple, a torch, and a knife. He took bites out of the apple... while he was juggling. Then for the very end, he sliced through it WITH THE KNIFE in midair.
We then ate and went to bed for lack of sleep. Tune in next time for adventures in CULEBRA!

That would be right now. So Culebra is this nice little island that's off the coast of Puerto Rico. We took a cab to the city of Fajardo, and then took the ferry over to Culebra. Once there, we headed out to the beach! But not really. We just went and got checked into our hotel, bought some supplies, saw a gigantic starfish, and headed out to dinner. They have great fish there. And then sleep. The ferry had taken a long time. Next day, we head out to the beach for real! Flamenco beach is the most popular beach, but it's still nigh deserted, and the waves are great. So we spent a lot of time at this beautiful beach, with white, fine sand, and then trek over to Carlos Rosarío. Here, we use our newly rented snorkeling gear and head out for some fairly good snorkeling, with lots of colorful parrotfish. But since it's late, we have to go back and get dinner. We spent tons of time on the beach. Eat and sleep, and the next day, we manage to rent a car, and head out to Melonés beach. It's a really small beach, but that's not why we go - it's to snorkel. We head out to the reefs, crossing into another beach, and are wowed. Purple sea fans, orange branching coral, green kelp -everything. AND THE FISH. So many fish. There were parrotfish, tiny tropical fish, angelfish, and even a GIGANTIC grouper - 5 feet at least. After snorkeling in this world of wonders for 3 hours, we head to Zoni beach, nigh-deserted and with a beautiful route there - we could see three islands in the beautiful sunset, and bougainvilla along the road. We sit there and relax for an hour or two, and then head for - you guessed it - food!
NEXT TIME, THE FINAL INSTALLMENT!

Vieques. The best part of the trip. We wake up early to catch the ferry back to Fajardo. Here, we wait for two hours for the ferry to Vieques, another island. I see a strange sight here. The Puerto Rican version of Oliver Konkel! He is sitting there, violin case on the side, his macbook playing classical music, and he looks EXACTLY like Popeye! Scary stuff. SO, get on the ferry to Vieques, check in at our hotel, Trade Winds, which has a beautiful rooftop deck, and go to Sun Bay, the main beach on the island. It's... okay. Our first day is a let down. But it gets better. The next day, we manage to get a car! We head out to the hidden beaches, and stop at "Secret Beach."
It should be kept secret. It's the most beautiful beach I've ever been to. The water is like liquid bottle glass, the sand as white as snow and finer than sugar. There is shade everywhere, and the water is warm and calm. It's where they shoot Corona commercials. We stay there for the rest of the day, lounging in the water and relaxing. The next day, we head out to a different beach nearby, Orchid Beach. It doesn't do it for us. Then we head to Blue Beach, which is just as paradisical (now a word) as Secret, except the water is cold. ( We head back to secret, and lounge there again, the calm water lulling me almost to sleep.
Now. We head back to town early for a bio-bay tour. Let me explain. There are microscopic creatures called Dinoflagellates that make light for just a moment by reacting chemicals in their body. They only do this when moved, since they can't really move themselves and they want to scare off those nasty zooplankton! Several bays around the world, due to high salt and mineral concentration and calm water, have millions of these in each gallon. Mosquito Bay in Vieques is one. The tour guide takes us there and all 20 of us hop in kayaks. We paddle out to the middle of the bay and he explains all this to us as it grows darker. Soon, we start to notice that there is a faint light around our paddles. Then, we hop in - this is the brightest bay in the world and the only place you can swim. This was the highlight of the trip.
We glowed. Every time you moved in the water, light would burst out in the water where you had moved. You could see them rolling off of you - in Spanish, their name means "rolling fire." Everywhere I moved, a trail of light followed me, illuminating the water. They were like billions of fireflies following my every move. I could make LIGHT angels by lying back and moving my limbs. Here's a link on Dinoflagellates:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinoflagellate
It was amazing. We headed back and dreamed dreams of whirling light, probably the only way you can do so without breaking the law. The next day we head back to San Juan for one more day and rest there, preparing for the flight back.
Yesterday,we flew back, with a 4 hour layover in Georgia that became 6 hours.
We saw the Aquarium! The largest aquarium in the world. It had WHALE SHARKS. AND GROUPERS AND HAMMERHEADS AND MANTA RAYS AND SAWFISH AND TIGER SHARKS. THOSE WHALE SHARKS WERE LIKE, 30 FEET MAN. We also saw belugas.
Belugas. I have pictures. VERONICA.
Anyways we flew back, got home at 12:30, and I fell asleep. Did I mention we saw M.C. Hammer in the airport? :P

In weird format because I took it directly from facebook. THe "VERRONICA" Thing is because I have a friend obsessed with belugas.