Oh, they made it back safe, but wow, I know what it's like to try to lead a blindfolded person through a minefield. In the end, we all had a good laugh, though. Similarly, on that trip I tried to get a little adventurous related to our cuisine. Instead of just eating "American" faire over the course of our trip, I had staged an elaborate dining tournament that would ensure that every meal would highlight a different cuisine. This meant eating in more exotic locations, including an African restaurant.
For Puerto Rico, we were already playing around in unknown waters, but I still wanted to find something that screamed "special". Just days before the trip, I stumbled upon just the addition. Knowing the make up of my group, I triple checked to make sure that all ages (young to old) could handle the adventure and I got everything booked. So what were we going to do? Ziplining? An exotic restaurant? Oh no, we were going into the heart of Puerto Rico and we, as a family of 8, were going to go cave tubing. I had been sold by the website that talked about this being a life changing type of excursion. Everyone else, surprisingly, seemed open to the idea. Maybe they didn't really wrap their heads around what we were about to do, but I like to think more positively. I think they are just getting well trained for my planned trips and whether they admit it or not, they like a sprinkle of the unexpected.
Unlike Day Three, however, we wouldn't be taking it easy in the morning. We were located on the northeast corner of Puerto Rico and our excursion was in the middle of the island. Puerto Rico isn't gigantic, but even getting to our destination would take a couple hours and it started promptly at 8:30AM. So I hurried everyone out of the room at 6:15AM and we headed down to the little counter service place we had discovered just 2 days before. Everyone got more of the usual (cinnamon rolls, egg sandwiches, donuts filled with Nutella) and before we knew it, before the sun was even up, we were heading out to explore.
On the drive, a few interesting things happened. First, we saw a rainbow not far into our adventure. This was fitting, as every time my family sees a rainbow, they believe it is my brother Jeff saying hello. Hi Jeff. Miss you buddy.
Second, since it was a longer drive, and Sam was not yet cured of his infatuation with natural disasters, he created a sort of weird game, where we all had to be on the lookout for hurricane damage. I thought very little of it, as I felt it would fade through the longer drive. I was definitely wrong. Part of it, no doubt, can be chalked up to my oldest son's habit of being highly competitive. Suddenly, people were keeping score and we were having involved conversations explaining why some damage wasn't always caused by hurricanes and why Puerto Rico still needed our help. It was...different.
While these natural disaster conversations raged on (and yes, we got into the subject of which natural disaster was the worst and why each of us held our various opinions), Elisa got some sleep and we meandered across Puerto Rico. With about 15 minutes to go until our excursion began, we got off of the main roads and started heading up one of the most twisty roads you'll ever find. It was "enhanced" by the fact that most Puerto Rico 2-way roads are not that big. Many times, you need to pull to the side to let another car pass. So here we were, going about 12 kilometers through twists and turns. I was half afraid that one of the kids would get car sick and half afraid that I wouldn't see a car coming from the other direction. It was...not the best. I found it slightly hilarious, though, that exactly 2 minutes after 8:30, we got a call on my cell phone from the folks running the Excursion. Dude, you know the road we have to drive! Be patient!
But we finally did arrive, and got out of the car and prepared ourselves. We were told to leave most possessions behind, including towels. We would be one with nature and could worry about the finer comforts upon our return. As everyone did final bathroom breaks, each member of the group was fitted with a helmet with corresponding head lamp and a life vest. Here we were, 8 crazy adventurers that ranged in age from 72 to 5. What a sight, I'm sure.
And as we got ready to leave, we were greeted by our guide, Omar. Omar, it turned out, knew a shit ton of stuff about Puerto Rico and our excursion and ended up being just a fantastic guide overall. He balanced our safety with our sense of wonder and created a truly engaging experience. Yet, we would have to earn that experience, and I'm not talking about rough terrain - at least not yet. Our first step on this excursion was to pile into one of their vans and continue down the twisty turn road. That is, until we turned off the twisty road into a truly offload experience. How off road? We literally went up a steep incline to the top and Omar said "this is just like a roller coaster" and we headed down what felt like a 45 degree incline. We were bouncing all over the place. Miles and I had been relegated to the back, and I spent a good amount of time just hanging on. You should see some of the GoPro footage. Just watching it would be enough to get you car sick.
On the ride, though, Elisa got to learn more about her potential heritage. As we were traversing, Omar stated that the little farms dotted here and there were owned by the Cintron family. Elisa's grandparents held the last name of Cintron, and it was fun to see Elisa pontificating whether or not they had some tie to her. It was fun to see her further connect to her heritage and to Puerto Rico.
My enjoyment, however, was sidetracked by Miles. Where earlier, I was sure he was enjoying the bouncing, now, he definitely looked green in the gills. I was very afraid that if the ride didn't end soon, I would have breakfast sandwich all over the seat. But luckily, just about the time I was truly starting to panic, we arrived at our destination, and I was able to get Miles out of the car. He took some very deep breaths and started to regain control. I wish I could say that this would be my last experience with car sickness in the family, but I'll leave that for another blog much later into the trip.
Before too long, though, Miles was doing better and we were ready to start our true adventure. The plan would be simple. This would start with a mostly downhill hike through muddy trails. We were actually instructed to turn sideways and work our way down in a sort of shuffling pattern. According to Omar, it was better to fall to the side than have your feet slip from under you and you fall on your...butt. So here we were, all shuffling to the side. I was holding Sam's hand, Elisa's hand, or my Aunt's hand to get us all to safety.
Along the way, Omar filled us in on the various plants and wildlife. It was truly fascinating. We learned about how self sufficient those in Puerto Rico had become, and how much they were able to live off the land. We also were saddened to hear that even the heart of Puerto Rico had suffered terrible damage from Hurricane Maria. I was grateful that Sam didn't continue his game of finding damage as we walked.
Before too long, we had made our way all the way down the trail and arrived at a river. I looked around for tubes, but I kind of didn't expect to see any. After all, the water was moving pretty quickly around here. No, we were just beginning our quest. Omar told us that, holding hands in a long train, we would be crossing the river on foot. Unfortunately, the water got deep enough that Sam wouldn't be able to walk, so I got to carry Sam while holding Elisa's hand. But it was so cool. You truly found yourself alone in the middle of this exotic island. Sure, they did these excursions often, but you also got the sense that you were definitely one of a smaller number of people to ever do this. Nature was...raw. There was no other way to describe it. There were no hand bridges, guiding posts, or built bridges. There was only Puerto Rico, the river, our feet, and our train of brave adventurers.
Once we got through the river, we snaked through more rainforest like trees until we reached another part of the river. But this part was...moving. It was amazing. In every small little pond of water, you saw hundreds, if not thousands, of tadpoles. Outside the pools, miniature frogs were learning how to hop. It was breathtaking. Here we were, carefully stepping in and out of pools that were full of varying tadpoles and frogs. I loved it. We crossed another shallow part of the river and then headed back into the rainforest.
Before long, though, we came out of it and were greeted by a much calmer part of the river, anchored by small cliffs on either side. Sure enough, up and to the right, you could see stacks of tubes. We had arrived at the second part of our journey. It was so quiet, and I was sure there was no around us for miles. Soon enough, though, 9 tubes were brought down and the backpacks that we had lugged down were safely stored up on the cliffs. One by one, we each got settled on a tube and one by one we realized just how chilly the river was. Oh, we definitely had an inkling from crossing the river, but putting your butt into the water was an entirely new level of chilly. Omar patiently took each of us and had us use our legs to hook onto the tube in front of us. When we were one big snake in the river, Omar went to the front and starting giving us instructions to paddle. Everyone else was a single rider, but I had Sam firmly on my lap. This would lead to both Sam whining (he wanted his own tube) and Sam entertaining me (constantly talking into the GoPro about how he loved Puerto Rico and how amazing the vacation was).
Omar, it seemed, either had a terrible group of paddlers or something was wrong. Because we sat paddling for about 3 minutes and didn't move an inch. Poor Omar. Off he got from his own tube and discovered that a couple of the tubes were stuck on some rocks under the water. Upon returning back to the front of the group, we found that paddling was much easier.
Sure enough, we slowly started working our way toward a large cave entrance. Omar guided us most of the way and pushed us over to the left side of the cave entrance. Instead of paddling, we would use our hands to slowly work our way down the cave walls. It was so cool to slowly work your way deeper and deeper into a cave where you couldn't see the other exit. We all turned on our head lamps and even as we headed in, you could see the walls of the cave change. As Omar explained, when it REALLY rained in Puerto Rico, this cave would fill completely up. And yes, that's saying something. Deep into the cave, we glanced up and saw incredibly high ceilings. Omar even pointed out a random container that could barely be seen some 50 feet up. This was something in the river when a flood had occurred that simple had gotten wedged into the top of the cave. It was also very cool to see the walls of the cave change. They, at times, looked like something you might find in one of the caves in Carlsbad (or for my Utah peeps, in Timpanogos).
In a moment that surely gave Elisa the creepers, we came across scorpion spider like creatures that hung on the wall. Don't worry, we stayed away. But it was another shining example of just how far into the wilds of Puerto Rico we were. For awhile, we were under the cover of complete darkness, but slowly but surely, more light came in as we made our way to the other exit of the cave. We got to a place where the river was again shallow and we got off our tubes. We headed back outside, again completely alone. I was, minute by minute, becoming more of a fan of this adventure. THIS is the type of out of the box experience that, in my opinion, every vacation needs.
We came across a waterfall that had completely purified water (yes, we drank and no, we didn't ever get sick from it). Omar showed us some cool leaves that were completely water resistant, and Lukas and Miles spent time throwing water back and forth from leaf to leaf. Omar then found us a rock that provided us natural mud. We took his lead and we loaded our faces, arms, and legs with mud. Yep, it was a free mud mask for anyone interested and we all got involved - well, except for Sam. He got a little dribble on the side of his face and that was enough. He would stay away from the mud while the rest of us loaded up. None of us were as good at creating face masks as Omar, though. He stated that he did this on every excursion and he just had the best skin.
After a little more play, though, it was time to reverse course and follow the path we had already traversed. As we headed to the opening of the cave, it started to rain. It wasn't a heavy downpour; just a slight drizzle that only added to the peace and serenity of the experience. Heading back into the cave, the return trip would be more relaxing, though. This time, we were traveling with the current, so we could simply relax and "go with the river". Soon enough, we were back to the cave entrance and we meandered back to the shore where we had first gotten our tubes. And then Omar turned to the group with an offer - who wanted to go cliff dive with him? You could almost feel everyone collectively step back, but I was definitely intoxicated by this experience, so I was the lone volunteer. So Omar and I headed across the river and climbed the left hand cliffs. We made our way down to what Omar called "the deeper parts of the river". It's interesting, because the cliff didn't look very tall from the river, but it felt a lot taller when you were staring down into the river. But YOLO, amirite? The boys did a little countdown for me and I dove feet first into the river. Sure, it was cold, but going all the way down and touching the bottom of this river seemed like the perfect addition to this excursion. I was so glad I did it, and I silently marveled at the fact that Elisa and I, on back to back days, had our own "moments" with Puerto Rico and nature. She had gone into the pool and water fall (remember the whole "take the damn picture!"?) and I had cliff dived into this river. I was proud of both of us.
By the time I got back to shore, though, I was also very cold. Yeah, didn't consider that part. But we put the tubes back, got our backpacks, and headed back from whence we had come. Back across the frog pools, back through the rainforest, and back across the raging river. On the way uphill (no side shuffling required) Omar found a cool leaf that allowed you to write on it. Miles especially loved this (he is our science kid). But soon, we were back at the van and I knew the excursion was coming to an end. And while I had been transfixed with the experience, I also remembered the roller coaster van experience, so Sam, Miles, and I moved up to the second row and I cautioned them to watch the road in front of us. Yes, the drive was just as crazy and bumpy, but this time we avoided all of the car sickness.
Back at the starting point, we took the time to change our clothes and we got back into the car. Thanks again, Omar. You were truly an amazing guide. I'll never forget it.
Unfortunately, we had to meander back 12 kilometers to get to a regular road, and I was very worried about Miles. He was a trooper, though, and before long, we were heading back and searching for a place for lunch. While I was driving, I asked my Dad to find some options on his phone. A couple times, he found a place that happened to be in the opposite direction. We were all entertained when he kept mentioning a place called Joy's Barbecue and Connie openly rejected the idea every time. I might be wrong, but I don't think Connie liked either BBQ or people named Joy.
It took awhile to actually find a place to eat. I had to pull off the road for us to really narrow down a spot and I found a little pizza joint not too far away. We found our way to it, and headed in. This was definitely local. No one was in there, but the woman awaiting us was very nice and brought Elisa and the kids these fruit juice concoctions. We had a mix of burgers and pizza (I know...strange combo) and while it was fine, it wasn't amazing. Lukas especially rejected his pizza. The menu said nothing about jalapeños, but they had indeed put them UNDER the cheese. Yeah, that's kind of killer.
After lunch, we were all pretty done, though. We got back in the car and headed back to the hotel. Along the way, I finally killed the "let's find hurricane damage" game after it became a little to competitive and a little too silly how they were pointing out everything as some sort of hurricane damage (it wasn't).
Back at the hotel, though, we also had another mission for the night. There would be no swimming, as even though we were on vacation, our beloved New Orleans Saints were playing a playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Our plan was to get some drinks, watch from the hotel room, and get some room service. This served two purposes. First, it allowed us to watch the game. Second, Elisa LOVES getting room service on vacations. It's definitely one of her favorite things. We call this type of situation a great "two birds, one stone" moment.
Down at the bar, I patiently (okay, not really...I was nervous about the game) waited for a Havanas Bananas and we were still at the bar when I watched my dear Drew Brees throw an interception on the first play of the game. Well, at least I'd have my drink, right? We got our beverages and headed back into the hotel. As we were getting off on the 6th floor, a man was getting on the elevator. He chimed in with a random "the Saints are going down!" to which I replied "nice to meet you too!" Okay, I added "dumb ass" right after but the elevator doors were closed. I then went on a mini rant about jerk wad strangers pulling crap like that. I don't talk crap before a game. I wait until after.
And despite the horrible first quarter, my Saints would end up prevailing. They won the game and had officially made it to the NFC Championship game. And hey, we would still be on vacation that following Sunday, so yay!
Lukas was especially thrilled with the results of the game, though I got the keen sense that while Miles is a big Saints fan, he doesn't live and die by their results. What is my proof? When the game was it's most intense, Miles fell asleep. When he woke up and I told him the Saints won the game, he nodded and headed for the bed. Geaux Saints, right?
I will say, though, that I very much regretted not paying attention to what the elevator crabby patty looked like. I REALLY wanted to find him and point out that, in fact, the Saints were not going down. I was so excited (and still bugged by the stranger) that I considered running around the bar outside and just screaming that the Eagles had gone down, just for fun. Elisa definitely wouldn't have approved of that.
And yet, the day held one more surprise before we all retired. As Elisa was washing out our swimming suits in the bathtub, she screamed and I ran in. Here, in the middle of the bathtub, was a worm, still wiggling around. It seemed that we truly were in nature in Puerto Rico. A worm had even hitchhiked all the way from the middle of the island to our lovely hotel room. Elis was not pleased. I promptly disposed of the creature.
But as I laid down to go to sleep, I just smiled at the adventure that had developed just a few days before our trip began. This would be a lasting memory for me, and I was so grateful that we did it.
As for next time, we head for the second leg of our journey. We start by reenacting the football game from the night before and then delight ourselves by injecting Disney straight into my veins. The cruise was finally upon us.
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