Day 5: Thursday
Today we got up and went STRAIGHT to the house. We worked on painting
the back of the house. (It took tons of paint, since there were so many
holes in it) Then, I ate breakfast and took a REALLY short shower, and went
up to the bus. It was about a 2 hour drive to the taverns for site-
seeing! We waited for about 3 hours!! But we finally went into them. They
were beautiful!! Then we saw these CUTE cats!! And an adorable kitten.
My friend and I rode the 25 cent horse (haha, at the same time). It was sooo
funny because I accidentally unplugged it with my leg -- twice!
After that, we went to the mall (in downtown San Juan)! They had awesome
stores: 5-7-9, Afterthoughts, almost anything you could think of, even
Wal-Mart!! (No joke!) I ended up getting a cute shirt, and some cute
accessories. In Puerto Rico, there's absolutely no tax!! It's so awesome to
buy something that's 15 dollars, and actually hand them 15 dollars!!
I had tons of fun in the back of the bus, the people from the other church are so funny, I almost peed my pants!! Micheal (this guy with/ absolutely NO FAT anywhere on his body) did a "chubby" impression.
When we finally got back at the camp, we sang and played this REALLY
cool game where you run around and sing and clap! (I have no idea what the
words are, it sounded like "frickidy frickidy todo") Oh well, These
counselors dressed up as the BSB and sang!! It was the greatest, because
they actually slightly looked like them!! Then, we go to devotions and then
bed!!
Day 6: Friday
Everyone got up and finished packing! It wasn't so hard this time
around, even with our purchases, because we decided to leave some clothes
behind for the camp. Even though we had to get up early to make it there,
we went to the bakery, to get a last taste of the bread. Everyone was sad to
leave the camp, but excited about the day ahead of us.
We left for the rainforest!! It took a lonnggggg time (4 hours!) and
about 3 bathroom stops, but we finally made it there. We found a vendor, and
ate a little bit. We found the main buildings, and waited until we could have a
guide/host. We went on an awesome tour, and got to drink from the "spring of
life"! It's sooo pretty out there! I took some pictures, but I'm not sure
if they turned out good or not. We bought some stuff in the gift shops, then
left for Old San Juan.
Once there. we got to walk around wherever we wanted, then met back together at the Hard Rock Cafe. We went to all sorts of shops, and got good stuff for our families, even though it was overpriced (tourist traps!). My friend and I started being followed by this scary-looking guy, but we ducked into a shop, and
he walked away. *whew*
It took a while, and help from lots of store owners,
but we found the Hard Rock Cafe, and went in!! (Woops, we're last!) In the
bathroom (no joke), it said on the door: "No nuclear weapons or drugs
allowed inside!" I found that hilarious! We took plenty of pictures and
headed for the airport. (We stayed overnight at a hotel there.)
Around 11:30, we had devotions in a hallway in the airport, then went to
sleep!! Ahh... warm showers again!! We can even flush toilet paper down the
toilets now! (We couldn't at the camp.) Some Spanish dating games were on,
and also talk shows and comedies. They are just like us, but they speak
another language. I think that's the only difference, except for how much
nicer they are than most U.S. people.
Day 7: Saturday
4:30 and time to get up!! (Believe me, that's NOT my choice!) We went
through customs and checked our bags, then we got ready for our flight to
Miami!! Well, it turned out that the brake pads needed to be changed, and our flight didn't leave on time. Our flight was originally supposed to leave at
6:30ish, but we missed that one, so we had to catch the next one, which was at
8:50!! Everyone slept in the lobby, and goes to the shop for last minute
souvenirs. It's about a 3 hour flight, but we finally made it to Miami after
even MORE delays!! Our plane to RDU was supposed to leave around 11, but
because of the extra delays, we also missed THAT one!! So, there we were at
around 12, in the Miami airport, not knowing what to do. There was one
flight, and it's pretty close, except there were only 2 open spots, so we send
2 people home. For the rest of us, we had no idea when we'd be getting
home. Two people had a wedding to get to, and I felt really bad, because
they definitely were going to miss it.
We slept/waited in the lobby for hours more, until they finally brought
us food vouchers!! They were only worth about 6 dollars, but that's
definitely good enough for me!! My one friend is hilarious, she got
someone working there to push her around in a wheel chair, because she's
"disabled"... he totally didn't believe her, but it was funny anyway.
Some girls from the other church and I started the runny club, also!!
Sorry to have to mention it, guys!! But, I couldn't resist!! Everyone who
had "the runs" was in! We had a handshake, club song, alternate club song
(compliments of me), and we were going to start a newsletter. It was the
greatest!! (I definitely was in it!) We took a great picture in a bathroom
stall!!
Anyway, around 7ish (yep, we did nothing at all for about 7 hours), we
were scheduled to leave for DC!! (That was the only way to get home, DC,
then RDU) Except it started to rain. Everyone got upset and we were
worried we were going to miss yet another flight!!! But, even thought it
left a little later, we made it!! Good thing I brought along my magazines!!
I read every single word in all of them!!
When we arrived in DC, we had about 1 minute to get from American
Airlines to Midway!! AHH!! In other words, we had to get off the plane, run
until we found a bus, use 3 buses to get all of us there, and run through the
Midway building, and get on the plane. Fortunately, it turned out to be a
jet, so we made up about 97% of the people on the plane. They waited for
us!! Our luggage had somehow been shipped to RDU on another plane, so
luckily, we didn't have to worry about that. At around 10:30, we left for
RDU!! That was the definitely the most fun plane ride: the lead youth
leader is single, so we tried to get her and the 2nd pilot together!! It was hilarious, because she's extremely shy, and we wrote a description of her and got a flight attendant to give it to him.
We get to RDU around 12!! Finally!! We had a super-long day, and it was even one of my friend's 16th birthday!!
I had tons of fun on the trip, and even though we didn't really do all
that much while we were down there, I still felt good about it! I met lots
of new people, and had totally different and new experiences. If any of you
guys have a chance like I did, take it!! Going to another place is
definitely fun and worth it!! Thanks for listening!!
-spazchick
Be sure to read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 if you missed them!
