Young man writing about his traveling adventures and the lesson that he had from his journeys. Learning how to network, and use it to their advantage while traveling. To be spontaneous but smart about it when traveling and just writing to express and connect with those who has the WANDERLUST addiction. To encourage and motivate individuals to travel and learn the do's and don'ts pre traveling, during traveling and post traveling.
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.
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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:
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.
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.
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)!!!!!
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! :)
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Half of the group at the airport in Tegucigalpa. Can you find me?
Today, I will take you to my real adventure outside the island of Puerto Rico, one that I actually remember. I had the great opportunity to visit Honduras for two weeks during the summer of 2005. It was a mission trip that my church did to Honduras and it was the second year they did it. I decided to go because of two reasons; first, I wanted to go out and see Honduras and see Honduras and get their currency and second, because my sister, Valerie, The year prior and I was upset I didn't go because I was too young to go by myself. I know I am such a little brother. My church decided to go to Honduras because they were affiliated with another church in Puerto Rico and we were going to help them in spreading the love of God as well our sweat and tears to help them in anything that we could.
We departure to Honduras on July 11, 2005 and it was the longest flight of my life. We only had one stop, Panama City, and from there to Honduras. It was an 8-hour flight and I was really hyped about it. When we arrived to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, it was really sure!!! For the first time in my life, I had a cultural shock. First, we had to get off the plane by going down the stairs, follow by walking the runway to reach the airport building, where our luggage was waiting for us. This experience was a bit unusual given that I had never had to walk on the runway to get inside the airport. One of the first things our group leader said to us was: "DO NOT GIVE MONEY TO ANYBODY NO MATTER WHAT". At the moment I didn't understood why our group leader would say things like: "WE ARE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE AND WE ARE HERE TO HELP, RIGHT?... and say things like that!!" Well, to my surprise outside of the door of the airport over 50 children were waiting on every tourist to come out to beg for money and sell us things. In that moment it hit me...I realize I was not Puerto Rico any longer, and that I was experience for the first time what real poverty looks like. I just couldn't understand why, the kids instead of their of their parents were begging for money!! Non of us gave money to the children but, we witness a tourist giving money to one of the kid and next thing you know, all the children ran desperately like tornados around the tourist, who ended up with ripped pockets and no money. It was just surreal for a 12-year old kid to understand why at such a young age, children have to provide for their family instead of the other way around. This was an eye-opening situation for me. In that moment I understood that I my life was going to change forever in a good way
Waiting in the villa to get something to eat. Can you find me?
During those two weeks, I remember visiting three different cities in Honduras: Tegucigalpa, Yoro (a city in the mid-north side of the country) and an pedro de Sula (one of the biggest cities in Honduras located in the north near to Guatemala). We also stayed in other smaller town and villages (this was a long time ago) and I don't remember all of their names.
On our first days in
Tegucigalpa, I remember they brought us to church to community service, as well
as, to meet our chef while in the trip, which in the trip which by the way was
amazing!!! I remember how I approached her... I needed to let her know things I
didn't like to ear to my surprise, she replies: "Well you will have to eat
whatever I cook, otherwise you will starve until next day breakfast. Those were
the most hurtful words someone could have ever say to me. But I did ate
everything she cooked, and because of her I stooped being picky with food-well
more than now! I'm still picky, but open to try anything. A few days into
helping build a church, we learned that there was another group that was coming
to Tegucigalpa and that we needed to wait for the bus at least three hours so
the bus was late and we had to walk from the church to another village and we
walked about 5 hours in a dirt street in the middle of the jungle. It was a
strange experience but cool at the same time! We had things to do because the
weather was nice and the view of the mountains and fields were amazingly
beautiful.
At a church making balloons for the children. Can you find me?
On all of our church visits, we were responsible for entertaining the children and teenagers at the church. Because I am a professional clown (I am serious!) and recently graduated from Clown School in 2005, I took charge of making balloons and face painting since nobody else knew how to do it. I had such a blast doing this, even though I wasn't dress like a clown. Those hours I spent making balloons and painting faces made my day. To see a child with a big smile and such joy over a ballon in the shape of a sword, hat, turtle, dog, or giraffe, made me realize that I needed to appreciate more what I had back home and not be ungrateful because I didn't get the latest thing. In my case it was a Nintendo DS.
During the trip I met my friend José. Like me, he was volunteering with the church and in a way, he was also our tour guy. He is one of the persons I met during I met during this trip that until this day, I still wonder what happened to him. He used to talked to me about how he tried to get to the United States multiple times and how he would got caught in the borders of Guatemala, Mexico and the United States while he was on a train that crossed the borders (except the U.S border). He explained to us how hard the move on and get a job in Gringolandia (United States), if you do not possess money or somebody to didn't understood a lot about immigration, but growing up realized the situation in Honduras and the struggle that my friend José was going through. I left Honduras saying good bye to my friend José wishing him the best and hoping I would be able to se him again with a lot of candy and toilet paper, the two things he loved because he wasn't able to have it that easy. We left Honduras and two or three year later we found out that our friend José tried again to get into United States illegally through that train and made it. They told us he was in Miami but we never got a confirmation. I hope he is doing well and I wish him the best.
One of the things that impacted my life during my time at Honduras was that the regardless of the current situation at the time, people were so nice, happy, optimistic, and extremely humble. I had the opportunity to go and visit the house of one of the members of the congregation and it really opened my eyes. The house had only 3 bedrooms, one shower, no toilet, the kitchen was in the back of the house and it had a huge pan and it was build on top a bonfire surrounded by mud, and a living room that only fit 3 people sitting at the same time. The walls were made out of mud, the floor was made of dirt and their bathroom was 20 feet away from the house which was 4 panels of wood and the roof made out of zinc with a hole in the middle, which was really uncomfortable. Believe me it was! I have used it. Another thing that impacted me was how their broom was made of. The broom was made of a stick with wood and three branches. After coming back to Puerto Rico I was not the same kid that have left. I appreciated everything I had, even the broom because I didn't had to climb trees and swept the dirt. And as a kid I didn't had to go to work to provide to my family.
Random things that happen to me in Honduras:
We did most of the road trip during the night. We always move around on a yellow school bus, and we all had our own seat. One night on our way back to San Pedro de Sula, as soon as we hit the road, I felt asleep on my seat, which was on the right side of the bus. It was a rainy day making the road muddy. Later that night, I woke up with the scream of everyone shouting my name, but I couldn't understand why. When I finally woke up, my face was smashing the window because the bus was almost falling down a cliff. Everyone was trying to make weight all the weight that almost made the bus go down hill. As you can see, nothing happen, otherwise, another person will be telling you the story. I move faster than Speedy Gonzalez, moving to the left side of the bus allowing the bus to move out the cliff and continuing our way to San Pedro de Sula. Very scary, but adventurous experience.
We were really close to visit a Native American tribe in Honduras but I couldn't go because I was 12 and they didn't had space in the truck. Funny story; after they made it to the tribe, the messenger of the Native American didn't allow anyone to come close to the tribe outside the path. So, I didn't missed anything but I was really hype about knowing how close I was to a real tribe, just like a typical kid.
KFC chicken from Honduras taste way different than the KFC from Puerto Rico.
When you order a soda to go, they don't give you a cup instead you get a mini plastic bag with a straw.
On our way back to Puerto Rico, My mother, sister and I gave our passport to the TSA guy and he took forever to look over our passport. When he talked to my mother he said he only had two passport and that he was missing mine. My mom got into an argument with the TSA guy, she ended up grabbing my passport from where he was hiding it. I almost got didn't left Panama.
When I arrive to Puerto Rico, I went straight to the ER because I was dehydrated from the trop. I drank tap water in Honduras the last day there and I almost die because of how many times I went to the bathroom in a 8-hour flight back to Puerto Rico.
Things to know about Honduras before departing :
There is no vaccine required to Honduras, but recommended to have hepatitis, tetanus, and typhoid vaccine before departing to Honduras.
There is no visa required to visit Honduras with a U.S. passport. You have 90 days to enter and leave the country as a tourist.
The north cost of Honduras has most humid period between September to February while the rainy seasons are between October to December. In the center of Honduras the drought season is during November to to April (this is the best tine to visit) and the rainy season is during May to October.
AS SOON YOU GET TO HONDURAS GO AND EAT SOME BALEADAS!!!! IT'S A MUST!!
*****If you are interested in knowing how hard and horrifying was for my friend José to emigrate from Honduras to the United States by train. I recommend reading the book of Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario is a really eye opening book. Is not my friend life story but it's close to every experience my friend went through every time he tried to leave Honduras.
I hope you all enjoyed todays post. Let me know what you think and don't forget to like and share! Coming up next the LESSER ANTILLES 2009! I will talk to you about the great adventure I had when I went on a cruise for 7 days. See ya, God Bless you all! Merry Christmas!
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:
