Our adventures in Puerto Rico

Caitlyn and I decided a few weeks ago that the theme song for our lives was 'I lived' by One Republic. For many months we had been busy researching places to go visit at the beginning of 2015. We thought of Argentina, Dominican Republic, Belize, but we ultimately picked Puerto Rico for many reasons.  This would be my first time leaving the country, so it would probably be better to have gone some place close in case something happened.  Also Caitlyn had family that lived in Puerto Rico that cut down the amount of money we would spend.  We are broke need-greater pioneers of course. 

So this is our adventure:


Day One
Naturally we count the traveling as part of the trip.  We had plane tickets for February 16 flying out of Charlotte at 10:10 pm.  Winter storm Octavia had other plans for us.  Back in the summer for our Chinese convention our plane was cancelled twice and we are starting to see a pattern. I woke up Feb 16 to find a message from the airline that our plane had been cancelled.  So I quickly called to make alternate arrangements. It was either a flight at 10:30 pm that flew to Chicago or a flight the next day at 12 pm.  I already knew both of those flights would share the same fate as our original flight.  But we chose to go with the flight at 10:30 that night, because we knew the weather was only going to get worse.  It did just that.  The second flight got cancelled as well. Now what?  

We were determined to get to our much anticipated vacation no matter what.  Caitlyn called the airline once more and we ended up with tickets the next morning flying out of Atlanta.  Next issue.  How were we to get there? 
We had made these new arrangements around 3:00, and the megabus to Atlanta left at 4:50, not a minute sooner, not a minute later.  I scrambled to leave home and pick up Caitlyn from work.  She had to call her supervisor so that she could leave work early.  In a perfect world that would have been amazing. Naturally about three different sets of customers walk in right as we were going to leave. We weren't able to leave until 4:35 when a replacement came. Keep in mind the megabus left at exactly 4:50. I was convinced that we were not going to make it from Harbison to downtown Columbia in 15. I may have broken some laws along the way, but what's important is that we made it to the bus with FIVE minutes to spare.  Caitlyn's parents had our tickets and food ready for us.  They are AWESOME!  Without them we definitely would not have made the bus or would be starving.  Thanks a bunch to my second family!  

I had never rode on a bus for a long period of period of time.  I was only familiar with the Disney buses, and at most had only been on one for forty minutes. So despite the discomfort of sitting for four hours in a small space, it was actually pretty fun.

We arrived in Atlanta around 9 P.m.   with the freezing rain giving us a nice welcome.  After some trouble finding the train we finally made it to the airport close to 10 pm.  

Our first day drew to a close, but our traveling was far from over. 


Day Two - Are we there yet????? 
The answer to that question is a big fat NO!  After arriving at the airport we had to wait a little over TEN hours before our flight left for Miami at 8:05 am Tuesday February 17. We had to endure a sleepless night, eating at Burger King three times, and some pretty strange characters while at the ATL airport, but it wasn't all that bad.  We were able to study for the meeting and also place some JW.org business cards with Chinese individuals.

Once on the plane, the countdown till we set foot in Puerto Rico grew shorter and shorter.  Finally at 3 pm we made it to our destination.  Actually not quite.  It was still another hour drive to Ponce, Puerto Rico. Caitlyn and I were both starving so we decided to have a snack at Wendy's.  Much to my surprise, Puerto Rico has many stores and restaurants we are used to,  though not everything is exactly the same.  For example, at Wendy's I was able to buy a double cheeseburger like normal, but also nachos for a side.  The prices at Wendy's were more expensive and there was nothing under $2. But the quick fix was just what we needed, although we were quickly growing tired of eating fast food. Yuck. 

When we reached aunt Rita and uncle Henry's house,  we had very little down time.  We quickly took showers,  which we were singing praises to Jehovah to be able to get cleaned up,  and then jump back in the car to head to the midweek meeting. Aunt Rita and uncle Henry attend the Ponce English congregation. I had been very excited to go to a meeting in with it would be in my mother tongue but a foreign language for others in the congregation.  Now I can somewhat understand how Chinese speakers feel when they visit our group.  It was wonderful! The congregation was smaller than ones we were used to in the states.  Caitlyn and I both come from pretty big congregations in Columbia.  The friends were so welcoming and encouraging.  We got invites to come and live there right away to help out. For those that know me well, they are familiar with my dislike of doing anything in English.  I prefer to do everything in Chinese.  But for one night and one night only I decided to put my Chinese songbook and Bible aside and use only English.  I wanted to have a full on experience and I'm very glad I did.  We were able to meet up with our instagram friend, Monica for the first time!  That was super exciting to meet our first international friend in person!  The unity in Jehovah's organization can not be beat.  We truly are a world wide family.  

After the meeting we go to McDonald's, yes our fourth fast food meal in 24 hours, with a group of friends.  There is also a lot less options than in the US,  but instead of the Dollar Menu, they had a small 89 cent menu.  I got a small Sunday and papas wedges (potato wedges). Mcflurrys are very big here.  And the ice cream counter is separate from the food counter. 

After McDonald's we took a couple home.  The brother had lost his job three years back and they decided to sell everything and buy a boat.  So for the past three years they have been living on the boat, traveling to various ports and visiting different congregations.  It was such a pleasure to meet everyone. 

All in all, it was a very good first day.  But after being up for over 37 hours, we needed some much needed rest.  And we did just that.  


Read Part Two