Puerto Rico

Okay, let me start out by saying, "Don't go anywhere when you are big and pregnant." Steve and I went to Puerto Rico for a work function. We left at 8:00 am and arrived at our final destination (our actual room) at 12:30am. I had nicely swollen feet. They really did not go down until after I got home and went swimming.

The first actual vacation day, appeared promising. The weather was warm. After making it through the mandatory morning meeting (just a bunch of clapping), we headed for the rainforest. When we finally got out of the bus, I wanted to walk. The picture of me at the waterfall is before my fall. Pretty good since my grimace might not have looked so great on camera. I decided to forget the fact that I'm due in 7 weeks and climbed to the base of the falls. The rocks were very slippery. But not to worry, I was being careful. But then I found myself on the rocks on my right side. It happened so fast, and like the diving incident on my birthday, I discovered that I'm not invincible. I heard a lovely crack on my ribs. It is important to note that I broke my fall with my ribs and hip, not my hands. I did however get up, with everyone looking at me, and managed to hobble off. A week later, It still hurts on my right side, but not horribly. And I'm sure the bruises will fade soon.

On Friday morning I woke up to a beautiful day. I had a pedicure and manicure (in which the locals informed me I was having a boy) and then got ready for the beach. Our lovely resort was built on a cliff with no great beach. You have to take an 8-minute ferry to get to Palomino Island where the beach is. We missed the first ferry by being 30 seconds late (actually we were early, but the ferry left early). So we waited for what was supposed to be 30 minutes but was actually 45 (the ferry was late). After a short ride and the promising spread before me, I was excited. But alas, looks can be deceiving. The water was full of hard shells and sea grass. It made for some very hard walking. You couldn't walk, but the water was so shallow you looked like an idiot if you tried to swim. So I thought, lay on the beach and read. Couldn't lay on my back, or stomach, or right side. But I could sit. The hazards of pregnancy. I tried to dig a hole for my belly in the sand, but the sand was very hard. Oh well, on our way back to the ferry, Steve asked the locals where a better beach was. He got some advice. So we were looking forward to a day at a great beach on Saturday.

We did eat at a fabulous place for dinner on Friday. The food even rivaled our St. Thomas experience. We sat on the patio under the awning and watched it rain so much that the storm drains overflowed and frogs were seen hopping to higher ground while some not so limber frogs were swept into the ocean. Then we went back to our room, assured that it was normal for it to rain that much and the next day would be sunny and clear.

Not so. We woke up Saturday to pouring rain. Pouring rain that did not stop all day. The only thing we could do was visit the resort shops. That got old really fast. It rained so much that we could not see any of the islands outside of our window. So the snorkeling trip we had planned obviously did not pan out. Visibility was pretty low.

Sunday morning we woke up to the same type of rain. It was departure day and I was ready. All in all, Puerto Rico is very beautiful. I was impressed with the mountains, but I will still take Hawaii.  The crime rate has something to be desired and quite frankly, Mr. Iguana did it in for me. Any island that is infested with iguanas, is a once-in-a-lifetime type of spot for me. I do not enjoy them at all. Okay, I hate them. However, I wouldn't mind checking out old San Juan on a cruise stop. As for traveling while in the last trimester, I guess I never have to worry about that again!