Summer Update 09

Que Dios les bendiga. (May God bless you.)

August has flown by, it seems. This month I had the wonderful privilege of hosting my mom and sisters for a week in my home here in PR. It was the first time that my sisters had ever been to a tropical island, and they were so excited! A and G tried hard to catch the lizards that crawl around and on the outside of the house (without success). We also picked fresh avocados and limes from the trees behind the house and enjoyed the cool evening breeze while we sat in the chairs on the roof terrace.

We also did a lot of sightseeing. I gained a reputation as the energizer tourguide. One of my sisters needed to tell me that the point of sightseeing is to "see" and that I needed to relax! Great advice. Their first full day on the island, we visited Monserrate Beach in Luquillo, PR and the tropical rainforest El Yunque. If any of you ever come to PR, you should go to the Monserrate Beach. It is very clean, is well guarded, has good parking, and has a gorgeous view. Just be careful you don't place yourself or your things under one of the many coconut palm trees. You never know when a coconut may fall to the ground! The rainforest was also beautiful. We drove up a road running through the center of the forest and going up the mountain. There were various points to stop and look at the scenery--an observation point overlooking the valley and surrounding mountains, a waterfall, a tower (undergoing maintenance), and many different trails that would have been fun to walk if we had the time (and energy). I am very thankful that my little car with its 4-cylinder engine made it up and down the mountain.

Their second day, we visited Old San Juan. In the morning we toured the San Cristobal fortress. We saw the dungeons and tunnels and living quarters of the soldiers and many other things. Everything was very well identified. We also saw four giant wild iguanas (about 4 feet long) that lived in the outer grounds of the fort. After the fortress, we ate lunch at the San Juan Food Court. A and G decided to try some PR food (rice with chickpeas, plantain pie). Then, we took a short ferry ride across the San Juan bay and back, and, finally, we did some shopping in some of the small souvenir shops in Old San Juan.

Their third day (Saturday) we drove to Ponce, a city on the southern side of the island. The southern side of the island is across a mountain range and is drier and more arid. We saw a few cactuses. In Ponce, we ate lunch at the boardwalk, climbed up a tower overlooking the port, drove around the city getting lost and looking at historic buildings, bought quenepas (a type of fruit) on the side of the road, drove up a steep ridge overlooking the city to get to another observation tower, visited a Japanese garden, and dipped our feet into the Caribbean Sea. A was my wonderful human GPS and map reader. I couldn't have done it without her.

My car also had its adventures to and from Ponce. We had a flat tire on the way there and then had a piece of the weatherguard over the wheel come loose on the way back. Fortunately, I called Triple A to change my tire, and then, on the way back, a towtruck driver cut off the problematic piece of weatherguard. I am thankful for the Lord's protection and also for the fact that these incidents happened during daylight hours so that we four girls weren't stranded on the road at night. By the way, my car's doing fine although I'll probably take it in at some point to fix the weatherguard, and I need to learn how to change a tire!

The last few days that my family was here, we visited my church, spent some time with my aunt's family, took a ride on the Urban Train and visited the Rio Piedras Botanical Garden. At home, we laughed a lot, played games, watched a few movies and enjoyed spending time together as girls. I am very thankful for this time with them, especially before G and L's wedding in September.