From Cataño to the World: Why do I travel? The Reflection

From Cataño to the World: Why do I travel? The Reflection

"Why do I travel?" is the question of the century. I normally say that "Why not?" and  that's the end of the conversation. But to be honest the more I travel the more I ask myself why do I travel? There is 3 real reasons of why I travel.

Reason #1: I travel because of my grandfather.

Visiting Cairo, Egypt in March 2014

My grandfather influenced me like no other person had in my life. He was the man that taught me about culture and gave me the pleasure to gain interest in reading. He was a man that owned a candy shop for more than a decade in his small apartment in my hometown, Cataño, and the only way he traveled and saw the world was by reading the newspaper. He had so much knowledge and I'm blessed that he was my grandfather. I never got the chance to tell him about my travels because he passed when I was just 16. He still pushes me to keep traveling and learn more about other countries, cultures, and norms. I would love to just sit down at his little coffee table and chat about all the places that we talked about in the newspapers when I was just a kid and go over my pictures that I have taken in those countries. I miss mi querido viejo but he is one of the reasons why I travel. Traveling always reminds me of his voice and all of our conversations we had about traveling the world together.

Reason #2: I travel because I want to be a good influence in my community.

Visiting my hometown in May 2017.

Not a lot of you know but I grew up in the Residencial Juana Matos also known as caserio (Public developments) in Cataño. This place has a good community sense but also it has a big and strong influence in drugs and violence. As a kid I remember being approached by one of drug dealers on day while walking back home from school with my friend and he asked me what I wanted to do when I grow up and I remember telling him that I wanted to be a doctor that travels the world and helps people and he laughed at me and told me "that would never happen because you are here"(Referring to the caserio) the only way to get out of here is by being part of the drug world with dirty money, going to jail, or in a black bag dead. Until this day I don't remember the guy's name or what happened to him but his words of discouragement were more of a motivational booster for me. After that conversation I was determined to never become part of the drug lord and to do whatever it took to leave el caserio, to see the world, to always do my best, and to excel in everything that I put in my mind too. To you, stranger, I proved you wrong. I have taken all the opportunities in my life to see the world and do better as a member of society. I travel the world and post my adventures on my social media because I want to show the kids and everyone in my hometown that if I can get out of the caserio and see the world they can do it too. Some of them never have even been on a plane or even maybe never left the island and I want them to see the world through me. I write my experience traveling so they can see the world. When I travel I carry the Puerto Rican flag with me to show that I am always representing where I come from and that I will never forget to stay humble of my beginnings.

Reason #3: I travel because of my father.

Papi and I Bayamon PR August 2011.

My father is one of the most important reasons of why I travel and see the world. He was a hard working man that spend his entire life working to be able to support his family. He might have failed in many things in life but he never failed me as a father. A lot of things in life will happen where you will never understand the reason. My father passed away from cancer on September 6th, 2011. I was just 18 years old and I was just starting my first year in college. His only son to go college. It was a big accomplishment for me and for him because he never got that opportunity. His entire life from age 18 to 53 years he worked his ass off to retire and enjoy his life. 35 years of working literally from 8am to 430pm at one job and then working at his second job from 6pm to 11am just to be able to provide financial support for us and after a year of retirement he was gone. Six years from today he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and 42 days later he was gone. Opening my eyes that life can just end at any second. I never saw my dad talking about traveling the world or even having some leisure time for himself because the only thing that he always worried about were the bills and his responsibilities of being the man of the house. 65% of his life the only thing that he did was work, work, work and work and he forgot to see the world and live a little. I know that he wasn't really into traveling because he was always afraid that a version of TAKEN would happen to us but he always supported me and my sisters to travel. My missions trip to Honduras, the cruise in the Lesser Antilles, my 4 hours in Canada and my trip to Costa Rica was paid for by him and I will forever be grateful for him giving me the opportunities to travel even when he was uncomfortable and scared of traveling. I will never know if he regrets not traveling as much as he did but that's something that I don't want to think when I'm about to give my last breath of life.

Watching the Northern Lights in Iceland in March 2011.

For that reason I travel as much as I can because I don't want my job to be everything in my life I want my job to be part of my life. I want to be able to have some leisure time for myself. I don't want to follow the norm and forget what it is to have fun, see the world and just wander. I want to see the world with my own eyes where I just have an amazing view in front of me and just listen to the perfect song while staring at it because I want to make sure that I remember that moment forever. Take in the second and just think "Wow, what a beautiful view" and thank God for giving me the opportunity to see such creations. A picture does no justice to these moments but I still take the picture because I want you guys to see it.

The Louvre Paris, France April 2014

These are the reasons of why I travel. I travel because the passion was put into me by my grandfather. I travel because I want to educate my community and be the best example that I can be everyday. I want to be someone that people look up to and are influenced by me. To look at me and say I want to do what you're doing or I want to be just like him or even better because the sky is the limit. To not say "I wished I did that" and instead say "I did it." I travel because life is short and it can be taken away from you in just seconds. I want to make sure that when that day comes I can be happy and say I did it and I don't regret spending all that money. Because at the end of the day money can't buy you great memories.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope these words inspire you guys to take some leisure time to travel and see the world. Wander around your town, your state, your country and outside your country gain those great experiences and memories.

If you guys want to see more pictures of my travels go to my IG page and follow me: stevenrcamacho

From Cataño to the World: Spain Part I

Where in the World is "el Bori" from Cataño to the world: Spain Part I

At Barajas Airport.

I'm back and ready to continue writing about my wonderful travels. I apologize for not writing for so long but I'm back.

This post will be about my study abroad experience living in Spain. I studied abroad in Burgos, Spain for 6 months and it was one of the best experience of my life. This was my first trip that I ever did alone and it was the best decision I ever made. This trip is the one responsible for my traveling addiction. One thing that the study abroad program prepared you for is one, homesick and two, what to do when the unexpected happens while traveling but it doesn't prepare you for the traveling bug and the need to travel after your study abroad experience is over. Traveling abroad wasn't on my plans but my friend/brother Darren convinced me to do it and for that I thank you mi hermano. 

First meal in Spain

We departed on January 28th, 2014 from Philadelphia and arrived in Madrid, Spain the next day really early in the morning. After getting our luggage we met with a couple of the Millersville students that were doing the same program in Burgos. We decided to stay the day in Madrid and venture around. From Barajas Airport, we went to U hostels not that far from the center of Madrid. As soon as we arrived, we were super interested in the food. We wanted breakfast. I was thinking we could get a big breakfast like we get them here in the United States but I was wrong. Breakfast in Spain is pretty small and I couldn't believe it. I ended up getting a piece of tortilla española with a piece of bread and a soda because I don't drink coffee. I know, I am a horrible person for not drinking coffee. Other kinds of breakfast foods were churros with hot chocolate and when I say hot chocolate its literally melted hot chocolate.

View from U hostels in Madrid.

I was so amazed of being in Madrid that I couldn't believe it. I was in the country that for 405 years had control of my home Puerto Rico and a lot of our culture is influence by them. This was my time to really just take in everything and compare it with Puerto Rico. We then visited the Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace where we saw the change of guards, la Gran Via, la Puerta del Sol, and Plaza de cibeles. We also visited a couple of churches but I don't remember their names. It felt so surreal being in Madrid. After we wandered around Madrid and got lost in the metro system we got to the hostel and slept a bit and then went to the closest bar to get some drinks. The majority of us were 20 years old or less so that meant we could drink without getting in trouble. Let's just say that our first day in Spain was going to be one of the many awesome nights we were going to have during the semester. The next day we woke up really tired and with an incredible jet-lag we got up and left to Las Americas Bus Station. Left Madrid to go to Burgos where we all studied and lived for the whole Spring 2014 semester.

Plaza de Cibeles

Even though I walked, saw, and explored Madrid, I missed a lot of places that I hope to see in the future. Those places are :

-Buen Retiro Park
-Museo Nacional del Prado
-Temple of Debod
-Barrio de la Latina
-Puerta de Alcala
-El Escorial





Also here are some cool facts about Madrid:

-Madrid is the 3rd biggest city in Europe
-Madrid is not only a city but an autonomy of Spain
-The Royal family does not live in the Royal Palace.
-Madrid comes from the arabic word "magerit" which means "place of many streams"
-Madrid and New York City are on the same latitude 40 North.
-Madrid is the highest capital city in the EU.
-Barajas airport is physically the largest airport along with Paris airport Charles de Gaulle making it the busiest airport in the EU.

-Madrid is literally in the middle of Spain.
-Madrid was founded around 860 A. C (9th Century)
-They are the biggest Real Madrid fans for obvious reasons.

With the gitanos at Puerta del Sol

My 10 Reason of why you should Study Abroad:

1. Learn about yourself
2. Make long term friends
3. Gain independence
4. Discover a new culture
5. Expansion of network
6. See you own culture through a new lens
7. Get spontaneous and adventurous
8. You gain a greater knowledge of different cultures
9. Discover new and excited food
10. Of course you get the great International Student discount

Next post will be more about my time in Burgos I will try to condense my time there because it 7 month life experience and memories. I also went to another 10-12 cities in Spain.

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram: stevenrcamacho

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I want to leave this quote that really identify me and my love to travel:

"Viajar es imprescindible y la sed de viajar, un sintoma neto de inteligencia"

"Traveling is essential and the thirst to travel, a net sign of intelligence"

-Enrique Jardiel Poncela

From Cataño to the World: Costa Rica PURA VIDA!!! Part 2

Where in the world is "el Bori"?: From Cataño to Costa Rica Part II

Hola guys and welcome to my traveling blog. I would like to first apologize for my tardiness in posting the second part of my travels in Costa Rica. My computer died on me after being on my side for 3 years. Thank you Apple products ha, ha, ha. Thank you to my buddy Ryan for letting me borrow his computer to write this blog.

Day 4: Monteverde Region

Monteverde National Park

On this day we visited another national forest, it's called Santa Elena Cloud Forest. It was really foggy and the tour guide told us to stay together because sometimes they had seen jaguars walking around the trails we were walking. There weren't any fences or walls separating us and them it was just the path. The next morning our tour guide told us that the park ranger called and told him that they saw two jaguars walking the path that we were walking on in their camaras.


Students with traditional customs

On of the last things that we did before going back to the hotel was visiting an elementary school called Escuela Cebadilla in Monteverde. They welcomed us with a nice traditional Costa Rican dance and they showed us around the school. It was surprising for myself to see how the older kids will help the teacher with the younger kids from the village. The ration of teachers vs students is not really fair but all of the children were really humble and nice. I really appreciated coming to this small school and seeing the different perspectives of education systems between Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and the USA. We also donated some school supplies for the school and they were really happy for everything we gave them. They were really shy at the beginning because they heard us speaking English but as soon we started speaking Spanish they felt more comfortable. They didn't want to stop playing. Sadly it was time for us to head back to the hotel and rest but this was one of the better days just because I had a one on one with reality in Costa Rica for at least a day. It's been 5 years since I visited this school and I still remember their faces with a big smile showing how happy they were for us to be there.


David and I. He liked his personal space. 

Day 5: Horseback Riding and Canopy Zip lining

We started our day horseback riding. It was awesome. I had a great time. My horse's name was David and he was the smallest one out of all the horses. He was also one of the most hype and he always wanted to be in the front. It got to the point that I went out of the path and went down the hill and David, the horse, didn't want to stop. When he did I had to wait for 5 minute for everyone else to join me but gladly it was the end of the trail. My legs hurt so much but it was a good experience. Before David's episode I really enjoyed the mountain view. It remind me of the mountains back in Puerto Rico.

Getting ready for canopy zip lining

After horseback riding we headed to do the Canopy Zip lining. I was really excited because it was my first time doing it. Everybody was scared but I was ready. I'm an adrenaline junkie. We did it for a whole hour and even though the rope around my legs and waist were tight I didn't mind because I was having too much fun. The only thing that surprise me about this experience was how high we were from the sea level. I remember crossing a river before arriving to the canopy station and when I was going from stop A to stop B I saw the river that we crossed and it was really small. The only thing that came to my mind was " Ok Steven, if this rope breaks you are done so don't think about it". Another amazing thing that we did while zip lining was doing the Tarzan Jump. We were literally jumping off a cliff to the forest and we were just holding on a rope where all of our gear is adjusted to. I was just hanging there and it was great.

Day 6: Puntarenas Region (Crocodile Tour)

Chilling with the crocodile

After a really active day with the horses and Canopy Ziplining we started our day going to a Crocodile tour. Yes, I said it, Crocodile. I honestly don't remember a lot of the tour but I remember two things. First I remember walking to the boat towards the swaps and I saw a sloth in the wild and it was awesome. It took the sloth 10 minute to move from branch to branch and it was really surreal. Then later we saw a Toucan and it looked so beautiful but it flew away real quick because everybody was making noises. The other thing I remembered was seeing this huge crocodile at the delta just chilling at the sun and moving towards the boat and the tour guide telling us to be quite. Out of nowhere the freaking boat shakes and it was because the crocodile was below us and was curious with the boat. So, yeah, that was one of the most scariest 10 seconds of my life. One thing I liked was being able to take a picture with the crocodile. I just remember being super hot, sticky, and surrounded by a lot of mosquitos. After the tour we went back to hotel and enjoyed our day at the pool.

Day 7: Manuel Antonio National Park

At the Manuel Antonio National Park beach

On this day we went to the Manuel Antonio National Park. This part is on the Southwest side of Costa Rica on the Pacific Ocean side. This was our only beach day in Costa Rica and I enjoyed it to the fullest. While at the beach the tour guide told us to be careful on what we are leaving near the trees because the wild monkeys and raccoons can steal anything and everything from us. Of course some of the students didn't listen to him and what do you know the monkeys and raccoons stole their shirts and towels. Also they pulled one of the guys hair for trying to get his belongings. It was hilarious! One of the things that I loved about this beach was the nice white sand and that there were rocks of all shapes and all colors. The one that stood out was this beautiful turquoise rock. I wanted to take them with me but the tour guide said that is a national park and I couldn't take any rocks with me. I wasn't the happiest guy but I had a great time. We spent the entire morning and afternoon at the beach then on our way back to the hotel we stopped by a shop that everything in it was homemade of natural woods from Costa Rica and painted by locals. I didn't buy anything because I was broke and I wanted everything that was made in that small shop. It was pure authentic Costa Rican art. Then we got to the hotel and packed all of our stuff together to get ready to leave to San Jose because sadly our trip was coming to an end.

Dancing on my last night in San Jose.

Day 8: Back to San Jose, Farewell

On the morning before departing to the capital we met the national soccer team in Costa Rica. I had no idea who they were but I took a picture anyway. They were super nice and really humble. We didn't have the time to play with them but it was nice to have a 5 minute conversation with them. After a 3 hour drive back to Costa Rica we just got into the hotel and rested. In the evening we went to a restaurant on the top of the city of San Jose and enjoyed the amazing view. On the last dinner we had more of traditional Costa Rican dances and this time we had a chance to join the dancers. It was a wonderful night. Best night ever that I will never forget. These new adventures, experiences, and friends I will never forget. This is one of the countries that I would love to visit again and see how much it has grown and changed in 5 years.

Next week I will be talking about my 7 months studying abroad in Burgos, Spain and all the cities that I visited while in Spain. I promise I will be doing my best to do it as soon as possible.
Follow me on instagram: stevenrcamacho
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For those who follow my blog and read my post about my mission trip to Honduras I got a nice surprise for you. I was looking through some old pictures of mine and I found a picture of my friend Jose. The last thing I heard from him was that he moved illegally to the United States. Where in the United States that I don't know. But here is a picture of him:




From Cataño to the World: Costa Rica, PURA VIDA!!

Where in the world is "el Bori"?: From Cataño to Costa Rica Part I

Welcome back to my traveling blog. Today I will talk to you guys about my 10 days in Costa Rica. This trip happened a week later after I went to Canada and it was amazing. This was part II of my senior week present. I went to Costa Rica with my Spanish class on June 17, 2011 to June 27, 2011.

The group trip was with the company EF tourYou can check the trips here, they are really great: http://www.eftours.com/educational-tours/collections

Day 1: Arrive to Costa Rica and seeing San Jose

We departed from Philadelphia airport at 5am to then have a two hour layover in Miami Fl arriving to Costa Rica at 1pm. After meeting with our tour guy (Victor) and arriving to our hotel we had the chance to see San Jose while we waited for the other two groups to arrive from North Carolina and Nebraska. While waiting, we walked around San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Unfortunately it was raining but that never stopped me. Walking around the city of San Jose reminded me of the Spanish colonial architecture that Old San Juan, the capitol of Puerto Rico, shares with San Jose. We first stopped at the Mall Internacional. We walked around for a bit, got some food, and then left to go to downtown San Jose. Over there we visited one of the churches, a big plaza, and a bakery. After that we went back to the hotel to rest and prepared ourselves for our adventure in Costa Rica!!!

Day 2: National Park- Poás volcano

On our second day in Costa Rica we had a nice Costa Rican style breakfast at the hotel where we stayed and it was delicious. After breakfast we visited one of the National Parks in Costa Rica near the Poás Volcano. This was the first time I was going to see a volcano and I was really hype about it but first we saw a bunch of tropical animals in the national park. One cool thing about this mini zoo was that they had all the animals out in the wild except the poisonous one but they had a room full of butterflies and that was a really cool experience. After seeing all the animals in the park we went up the hill and arrived to the viewing site of the volcano.

For my surprise it wasn't what I expected a volcano to look like. The volcano was flat instead of your stereotypical volcano. It was still impressive because the volcano is still active and I was at the main crater of the volcano and just having the thought that it could've erupt was really scary but at the same time awesome.

Day 3: Lake + Arenal Volcano

We arrived late to our hotel from Poás so when I woke up and looked outside my balcony I almost died. The view to the Arenal volcano was amazing! Seeing that amazing volcano made me realize how big the world is and for the first time in my life I took a moment to enjoy this view. I took the moment to appreciate the beauty of nature and that huge volcano. Later in the day we went to lake Arenal. This lake is a superficial lake that the government of Costa Rica created for some ecological reason which I don't remember now but under this lake there is a abandoned town. They say that on a good day we can see the cathedral and some houses in the bottom of the lake while kayaking. We had the chance to kayak and to swim in the lake.

After visiting the lake we went to La Fortuna Waterfall which is deep into the rainforest of Arenal. This walk was really long but it was a good one. After being tired of that walk we arrived to the waterfall and it was worth the walk. The fall was great and it reminded me of el chorro de Juana in Puerto Rico but on steroids. It was nice walking around and seeing monkeys hanging around on the trees.

We finished out the day by visiting the hot springs in Arenal. Yeah, I said it, Hot springs. It was great. The hot springs were heated because of the Arenal volcano. Every natural pool had a different temperature. It felt great listening to nature in the middle of the night while resting in the hot springs.


The beginning of this week was great and the rest of it was about to get better. My next post will be part II of my Costa Rica trip. Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. Can't wait to tell you more about this trip.

From Cataño to the World: Canada (Niagra Falls)

Sunday June 19, 2016

Where in the world is "el Bori": From Cataño to Ontario, Canada (Niagra Falls)

Hello Guys and Welcome to my traveling blog. I must apologize for being M.I.A. but here I am again writing about my travels.

Today, I will talk about my shortest travel ever. I went to Canada on June 12, 2010 for 4 hours and 35 minutes. It was one of my high school graduation gifts from my father but the whole crew (The family) went with me. 

Bridge that connects Canada (left side) with the USA (right side). 

We departed really early from
Cleveland, Ohio to Ontario and it only took us 3 hours and 32 minutes to get there. It felt forever but I was really excited about this trip. I was going to CANADA!!! I was going to see the Niagra Falls something that I always saw in books and on TV. One of the best things about the road trip to Canada was that we were driving by the whole coast of lake Erie and it looked beautiful. Totally recommend going on a road trip to the Niagra Falls if you can. 

When we arrived to Canada we had to pass through customs which was the craziest thing ever. My father started to become paranoid because he did not know English and wanted my uncle (the driver) to translate for him but because it was my dad. He confused and irritated the officer that ended up telling us to get out of the car and to give him all 7 passports and then we all had to go to the waiting room. First we thought that we got in trouble because the cop told us to get out of the vehicle but then we found out that it was because we were first timers in Canada and they needed to put our information in but they did not stamp them (which upset me because I wanted my passport to be stamped). 

Niagra Falls, New York, EEUU.

After all of that hustle we crossed the bridge that connects the EEUU with Canada. It was beautiful crossing that bridge because you could see the Niagra falls from a distance. I don't know why but you could tell that you were in another country. But it was really interesting seeing the EEUU from another point of view. I always travel by plane to go to the EEUU so my view was always from the air. This travel was just crossing a bridge and  being able to see the culture difference in just a short period of time. When I got to see the Niagra Falls from a closer site it was amazing! I know it's just water falling from a cliff but it is just so majestic and natural. It's just amazing to see how beautiful nature is and how things are just created.

My sister Valerie and I posing with the falls.

After taking a million pictures of the Niagra Falls in all the angles that I could, my father bought us tickets to get into a boat and actually see the falls closer and actually get wet from it. That was the best part of the trip. After the boat ride we got something to eat and went back to the EEUU side. Why? Well, my father was paranoid to go and explore the rest of the city and everybody else besides me and my sister were tired so we left because majority ruled. My short time in Canada was really nice. I took a piece of Canada with me; the little bit that I did take back to EEUU has opened a more nostalgic feeling in returning again and to explore more of this beautiful country. I can't wait to visit again. 

My Father. He was hype to be in Niagra Falls he just never smiled. 

 This was a really short trip but it means a lot for me because after this trip I left to go to Costa Rica and LA later to find out that my father was diagnosed with Colon Cancer. Within two months during my first week as a freshman in Millersville University, I lost him because the cancer had spread all over his body. It was too late. He had stage four cancer (Metastasis) and the cancer was estimated to be there since I was 6 years old and I was 18 when he passed away.  I will never forget this trip. I feel that he knows that it what was happening within him and that we weren't going to be there soon because this trip was really spontaneous that he decided to do while we were visiting family in Ohio. I forever will miss him but I nourish the time that we have together and the relationship we had before he passed away. This year will be 5 years since he left and it still hurts the same but the only medicine to this is just knowing that I am continuing to make him proud with my success and by being his only son to graduate high school and college. For those who still have a father take advantage of your time with him because God can just take them from you in just a blink of an eye. 

I know that this post is not normal for me to do or even talk about but I would like to dedicate this post to my father José Antonio Rivera Ríos (1957-2011). Forever being there for me and for always trying to do everything for his kids... Happy Father's Day Papi (Tony)!!!!! 

My father and I on my high school graduation.

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Next week, I will be talking to you guys about my week trip to Costa Rica. My parent's second high school graduation gift. Thank you for reading. I know it was not long but I hope you all enjoyed reading about Canada and I am glad to share this part of my life with you guys. When life give you lemons you just have to make lemonade out of it. Like it, leave a comment and/or  Share it! :) 

From Cataño to the Lesser Antilles at Sea Part. 2

Where in the world is “el Bori”: From Cataño to the Lesser Antilles at Sea Part. 2

Hello Guys! Welcome back to my traveling blog,

Today I will be talking about the rest of the Caribbean islands I visited during my week at sea on the Carnival Victory Cruise.

Boricua group in St. Lucia

Believe it or not it, spending time on a cruise for seven days can be really exhausting, but that never stopped my globetrotting spirit to continue the adventure. After leaving Barbados, we headed to St. Lucia, a beautiful and breathtaking tiny island, not as developed as the other islands (Barbados & St. Thomas). When wandering around the streets, I noticed roosters and dogs roaming around. I have seen dogs roaming around the streets, but gallos??? Gallos means rooster in Spanish. Why were there so many gallos? Did they escape? Were they running for their lives?? Who knows! Moving on, my dad wanted to spend the entire day visiting the local markets, the harbor kiosk, and the beach. I, on the other hand, didn’t like the beach at the island it smelled like sewer water But the mountain view….Made you feel like Awwwwwww! Amazingly beautiful. I strongly recommend going to Jalousie Beach, I didn’t personally visit because my dad wanted to stay really close to Pointe Seraphine Port, but I heard rave reviews about it.

The Dancer at the cruise

When we returned to the cruise, we got dinner and then went to enjoy a dancing show (did I mention before there are a lot of shows on the cruise) and it was AWESOME!! What was better than the dancing -in reality nothing, dancing is awesome, ask anyone- there were waiters walking around the room asking people if they wanted a drink and they would get it for us. I didn’t get any kind of alcohol because I was 16 (legal age to drink in PR is 18, as well as other countries) but, the fruit punch they gave me was amazing and the waitress taught me how to say thank you in Russian, which is “Spasibo”. Because I have always being interested in different cultures, one of the things that I did while on the cruise was asking all the employees where they were from and how they got into the job they were currently employed in on the cruise, because I was interested to work on one, or I thought I was. I know it was being to forward of me to ask them in that way those kinds of questions but they loved it. They liked telling their story and how they ended up working on a huge boat and how they loved or hated working there. Overall, they always ended up liking it. Even though this day in St. Lucia wasn’t the greatest, I was looking forward for the next day in Antigua.

http://www.carnival.com/cruise-to-classic/caribbean-cruises/st-lucia-cruises.aspx

When we arrived at Antigua, I was determined to do some tourism besides visiting the local markets or the beach, so I decided to ask my father to take us to an island tour. I was really disappointed in St. Lucia, so I was really looking forward to see what Antigua had to offer.  A few hours later we arrived!!! When we left the cruise we decided to take a small tour around the island, so we went to the Stanford Cricket Ground. I don’t know anything about cricket, in fact, I do not understand the game at all. I just knew that it is a British version of baseball-or so the say- and that they have a flat bat. Our driver provided us with an education on the sport. He talked about how important this sport was to the island and how much they loved this sport. Going back to the sport, I think it’s completely different from baseball. Then he took us to see Fort James, the fort they used to guard St. Johns Harbor. This site has an amazing view of the sea that is breathtaking.

Fort James in Antigua.

After visiting these sites, we embark ourselves to the beach. On our way to the beach, we drove by Betty’s Hope sugar plantation. This plantation was active during the colonial time on the island of Antigua. You could see their mill tower from far away. Pretty cool! After driving for a while, we finally arrived at the beach and Oh My! It was beautiful and relaxing! The rest of the afternoon we spent it at the beach. We saw a Banana Boat and my sister wanted to hop in so bad and after insisting so hard, my parents finally let my sister ride it. It was fun but I will never ride that thing again.  The guy driving the Banana Boat made us fall out on purpose and when we hit the water it was like hitting cement. It hurt a lot! After falling, it was a problem getting on the boat, and we were pretty far from the shore. After that incident my body ached for the rest of the day and the only thing I wanted to do after, was to go back to the cruise, eat, and go to sleep. My time in Antigua was really nice.

http://www.carnival.com/cruise-to-classic/caribbean-cruises/antigua-cruises.aspx

The locals with their tradicional costume and dancing.

On our last day, we went to St. Kitts Island and the view from the cruise was spectacular. Because it was the last day, we decided to stay local and go around to the local markets and plazas. For our surprise, we had a group of locals dancing the traditional music of St. Kitts and it was really culturally rich. The colors, the outfits, and the music was great. Later that day, my father saw the Puerto Rican boxer Indio Quintana. My dad was so hype about seeing him that he stopped him at the souvenir shop and asked to take a picture with him and then made me take a picture with Indio Quintana even though he knew I was not a fan of boxing and even made me do the freaking pose. I look so not like a boxer. But it was nice meeting him. He was a really nice and humble dude.

Later, during our last hours in St. Kitts, we saw monkeys in the plaza as we were walking around. My father told us right away to not ask him to take a picture with the monkeys or to let us get near them and touch them because they are use as a distraction to get stolen and charge you a lot of money. For the first time during the whole trip my father was right. We saw how the locals would use the monkeys to take advantage of the tourists. If you touched the monkeys just one time, you had to pay them; as well, if you let them put the monkey on your shoulder and take a picture with it they also charged you. Really!!!! So, I took a picture of the monkey without them noticing it. HA! I know, I am a sneaky tourist.

http://www.carnival.com/cruise-to-classic/caribbean-cruises/st-kitts-cruises.aspx

On our way back to the cruise, I had a horrible feeling. I knew knowing that in less than 12 hours we will be back in Puerto Rico and that our trip at sea was over. NOOOO! PORQUE!!!! One thing that I missed and I highly recommend everyone should do is that if you ever have the opportunity to go on a cruise, wake up really early in the morning and go outside to the deck to watch the cruise coming into the San Juan Bay. My mother didn’t wake me up and she went by herself and told us. She was like one of ten people on the dock watching the sunrise as the cruise came into the harbor. Leaving the cruise was really sad but I was glad to meet all of the people I did during this trip, every staff member of Carnival Victory Summer 2009, and lastly that I had the opportunity to go on this cruise with my family.

Here are a couple on things that you should do and know before going on cruise:

• Have an agenda of the things that you want to do on each island. If you don’t want to do the activities that the cruise offers, don’t wait until you get to the port to plan what you want to do.

• Make sure to have a map of the cruise if you don’t have a photographic memory.

• Visit your cruise’s web site.

• Check when the best time to go on a cruise is depending on the region of the world that you are interested in.

• Make sure to have a valid ID or Passport. Some countries required that your passport is not within 6 months of expiring, otherwise, you will not be allowed to go in the country.

• Change your meal from the cruise every day. Try something different during dinner because if you don’t, it will become boring. Trust me, the menu doesn’t change the entire week.

• There are a lot of activities to do on the cruise so make sure to do some of them.

• Have some ME time during the cruise. An hour is good enough.

• Don’t fall asleep on the deck because you will have blisters and a first-degree burn.

• SUNSCREEN!!! HAVE THAT WITH YOU 24/7. At least 30 SPF.

Here is a video of all my pictures during the cruise:

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Next week, I will be talking about my one-day trip to Canada my senior week. It was a present from my parents. It was just a day but it was so nice going to the Niagara Falls in Canada.  Hope to see you soon!!

If you are interested in a Carnival cruise and their destinations, visit their website at www.carnival.com.

From Cataño to the World: Lesser Antilles at Sea Part 1

Hello guys! Welcome back to my traveling blog.

Me in Barbados local market.

Today, I will be talking about my first experience in a cruise and the islands I visited while 7 days at the Caribbean sea for 7 days. Traveling on a cruise was one of my dreams since I was a child. I always told my dad I wanted to go on a cruise on "Free Willy's" tail when I turned 10. It didn't happen at 10, but it happen when I was 16! My father gave us the option (to me and my sister) in choosing between going on a cruise or to Disney World and guess where we decided it? The Cruise! Or like I called it: City at Sea! We decided on the cruise because I have always wanted to be on one. The cruise trip happened on July 2009. These days were the craziest and most amazing days of my entire 16 years old life. This trip was the end of my four-year hiatus of traveling, but yet beginning of my wanderlust addiction. On this blog, I will be talking about three of the six islands I visited and next week, I will talk about the other three islands and the rest of my experience that I had during that amazing week.

During this trip we visited 6 islands. We departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico at 9pm on a Sunday. On departure day, we arrive super early to the cruise because we didn't want to mis it or make a line for being late. We arrived at noon and settled down on our rooms. The cruise was huge and amazing! I memorized the whole cruise in only two house by walking every corner of the cruise except, staff rooms and the casino. Two hours before departing, the cruise personnel showed us the safety procedures we should follow in the event of an emergency (pay attention to this, you never know when they might come handy, ref. Italy). This was kind of weird because the "safety guy" was overly excited, kind of strange for someone talking about safety. After the emergency drill, my family and I went for dinner and it was AMAZING! Our waiter was from Honduras and we bonded with him and almost kept him from doing his job. He was super nice! Besides the amazing food, which by the way is 24/7, they had amazing shows, free gym, free sauna, and free steam room. Did I mention FREE! Many things are free in the cruise. They even have a little mall inside, but that one is not free for sure.

Me in St. Thomas

When we departure, we walked tot he deck to see the view of "The Old San Juan" while the boat navigated away from the port and it was stunning to see "El Morro" slowly disappearing. It made me think about the colonization period and what Spaniards left behind here or the rest of America, after returning to Spain. Thinking that this was the exact same view they had as they were leaving. It got me really nostalgic, I was leaving my home, temporarily, but hype because I was about to experience theist adventure in my life, at sea, with my family.

Our first stop was Saint Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands) on a Monday morning. We woke up late and after some breakfast, we ran out of the cruise to see the island. We arrived at the Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas capital) and walked around the historic sites in the area and grab some lunch and just enjoyed the view of the capital. We had about 8 hours (9am-5pm) to see the island and go back to the cruise. The cruise offers you excursions and activities to do as well but some of them, if not all of them, have a free to pay so instead we decided to walked around the island and enjoy the bay and the beautiful blue sea. One cool thing that we did was buying a replica of a colonial locked. We strolled around the market and the local stores and it felt like we were on the Old San Juan but everything was in English and smaller than Puerto Rico. My father wasn't the most adventurous guy so after we were out for a couple hours in the harbor we went back because he didn't want to loose sight of the cruise.

http://www.carnival.com/cruise-to-classic/caribbean-cruises/st-thomas-cruises.aspx

View of Roseau, Dominica

On our second day (on Tuesday) we stop in Dominica ( Do not confuse it with Dominican Republic). This time we woke up early and left the cruise to sightseeing around the island. The first thing we did was to go to the bank to exchange US currency to the currency in Dominica (which is the Eastern Carribbean Dollar, look it up) and after we walked around the capital of Dominica, Roseau, and ran into Juan (El Cubano). At first my father was really concern about Juan approaching us because it offered us to give us a tour around the island for a really cheap price. He than later give in because Juan spoke Spanish and three other families from the cruise were going to take the tour too so we got into the van and began our adventure in Dominica.

Juan "El Cubano" and Myself back in the port after seeing the island.

On of the things I loved about the islands was the black sand ( Dominica is a volcanic island) and the hot spring in the forest. During our tour with Juan, we visited an amazing waterfall not he top of a mountain. While walking to the fall, Juan showed us some natural hot springs around the island. In one of the scenic view of the island, Juan showed us how the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. The same effect is possible to see from the west and east coats of Puerto Rico. It so amazing seeing how the world works and see how the Atlantic Ocean is darker than the Caribbean Sea (ocean is deeper than the sea) and how the waves collides with each other. I took pictures but they don't make justice to it. Moments like this are the ones that I take in to myself and admire how amazing nature can be. On our way back from the mountains, a van that literally was flying almost killed my family and I. Cars in Dominica drive in the opposite side of the streets, like in all English colonies. I also realized that the island of Dominica was not as developed as Puerto Rico, and tourism is the only thing that keeps this island alive. Dominica was one of my favorite islands in the entire trip. I really enjoyed exploring the island and meeting Juan. During the evening, we got ready for Captain Night, and my father birthday! He didn't want people to know but, because I am spontaneous, I went to the waiter and told him that it was my father's birthday and they brought a piece of cake singing Happy Birthday to him. Later during dinner, we met the Captain and he wished my father a great birthday. It was a great day overall.

My father on his birthday.

http://www.carnival.com/cruise-to-classic/southern-caribbean-cruise/dominica-cruises.aspx

On our third day we arrive to Barbados. I was excited of being visiting because...Rihannah is from Barbados!!! On that day, my father decided that we were spending the entire day at the beach. Fine with me! We met with the same group from Dominica and went to the beach. When we arrived at the beach, we found out they had sea turtles at the beach for $20 we could get could get on a boat with a clear floor and get near the turtles, snorkel with them and feed them. This was an unbelievable experience! The turtles were huge and it's amazing to see how they swim so majestically into the deep blue and calmly get near you to eat. My parents were freaking out because they didn't get in but they also, were far away form the shore. My sister and I were enjoying swimming with the sea turtle. After 30 minutes of swimming and feeding the turtles we headed back to the shore and enjoyed ourselves the rest of our day at Barbados.

Snorkeling with the turtles 

 Coming back to the harbor in Bridgetown (the capital of Barbados) the driver showed us where Rihanna was raised and the house she is stay when she visit the island. When we arrived to Bridgetown, we walked around the local market to buy souvenirs but first, we need to exchange US dollars to Barbarians Dollars, the local currency. After dinner, we saw one of the cruise offered: an impersonation of an artist and stand up comedy. Okay, the quality was not that bad but it could have been better. Half way through the trip, only thing that it was getting boring was the food. I ate so much the first few days that I was over it half way through the trip. Good thing I discovered the sauna and steam room and it was a nice place to go and relax and talk to other passengers about their experience in each island.

Coming back from snorkeling and feeding the turtles 

http://www.carnival.com/cruise-to-classic/southern-caribbean-cruise/barbados-cruise.aspx

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Next week, I will be talking about the rest of the islands (St. Lucia, Antigua, and St. Kitts) I visited while in the Carnival cruise, as well as, when is the best time to travel to the Lesser Antilles. I will be also posting a video with all the pictures of the cruise so you guys can picture everything that I am talking about.

If you want more information about carnival cruise and their trips you can visit the link below.

http://www.carnival.com