Regresamos / We return

Just finished submitting a research grant and wanted you all to know that's why this blog hasn't been updated in a while! Sorry I made you wait so long! Glad you are back reading about our adventures :)


We've returned from a few trips over the past couple of months and it was great to be back on the mainland. Believe it or not, I really enjoyed the cooler weather! And also hanging out with old friends and family of course.

My first trip was to San Diego for the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting. This is the biggest neuroscience conference in the world that meets once a year in various cities around the US. I missed last year's meeting - which was in New Orleans - so I was ready to take on the conference this year. San Diego is one of my favorite cities that host the SfN conference, so I did lots of preparing to make sure I would try some new restaurants and do a little shopping, time permitting. Most of my time spent in SD was at the conference, but it was great to catch up with old friends and colleagues and see the latest neuroscience research going on! :-P

While I had an incredible time and wanted to stay longer in San Diego, I was also excited about coming home. Like I said before in my last post, San Juan is slowly starting to feel more like home everyday. I still find it hard to believe that I live three blocks from the beach and only an hour or so away from amazing beaches, caves, and the rainforest!

A couple weeks later, Ethan and I headed to Nashville to visit our family. His sister, brother-in-law, and 2 kids live there and some other family members traveled there as well. It was one big reunion! Although I spent a lot of time working on my grant application, I was able to get out a few times and enjoy Nashville.

On Thanksgiving morning, Ethan, Craig, and I raced in the Music City Thanksgiving Day 4-miler, which started in downtown Nashville at 8am. Brrrr! It was cold! 25 degrees Fahrenheit! That will definitely wake a person up :) Ethan and I ran together and finished in just under 33 minutes. Not bad for hardly training! I also came in 5th place in my age group!

Heading to the start line... it was so cold but at least the sun was shining!

I was ready to celebrate with some turkey and stuffing. Ethan's brother brought some ham that was farmed by Ethan's nephew. It was so delicious! I wish we could have brought some home. There was also some yummy butternut squash, sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce and gravy, and roasted brussel sprouts. And of course, Ethan made his famous dinner rolls. They were the best batch I have had so far. My mom also brought some pies from the Fresh Market. Mmm!!!

My mom and I went to a Radio City Christmas Spectacular show with the Rockettes at the Grand Ole Opry - it was great! Finally, all of us went out on one of the last nights tp go bar hopping around Broadway, eat some BBQ and listen to live music. Country music ain't that bad after a couple of beers! haha :) Here are some photos:

Enjoying some beers n tunes at Legends Bar

Niece and nephew tower :)

I was sad to leave my family and wanted to stay longer on this trip... it was alot of fun playing with the kids, eating BBQ, and listening to live music. Can't wait to go back there soon!

For Christmas, we'll be staying here on the island. We might do a couple day trips to explore some new places we haven't been yet. I'll keep ya posted!

Feels like home / Se siente como hogar

After many months of settling in to our beachside abode, it's finally starting to feel like home. For me, it took a house sitting job before I realized how much I enjoy living and coming home to our cozy home in Condado!

Another reason why it's difficult for me to perceive this place as "home" is because of all the fun adventures we get to experience in our free time:

Kite surfing...

Ethan at his first kite-surfing lesson!

He made it way out in the ocean!

Exploring Caves...

Cueva del Indio

A lot bigger than you think!

Beautiful water and rock formations

Enjoying the water!

Near the caves

Hiking in the rainforest...

Hiking in El Yunque with the Adrenaline Junkies

Heading to the peak!

Gorgeous views once the clouds parted

View of the ocean from the rainforest

Wandering about a very old city...

The views from the balcony of the apartment in OSJ

A constant supply of delicious and eclectic restaurants... I don't have any photos of the food or anything, but we've discovered some amazing pizza and Mexican restaurants!

And of course, always seeing the tourists roaming around our neighborhood.

There's been plenty of things to keep us entertained... So anytime you want to come and visit, our door is open for you! :)

Happy Anniversary / Feliz Aniversario

I can't believe it has already been a year! Today we celebrated our first year together as husband and wife. What an adventure is has been thus far!

For our anniversary, we decided to do something fun and adventurous... we joined our adrenaline junkie friends for an outdoor excursion that involved exploring the rainforest on the south side of El Yunque in Naguabo, Puerto Rico. The itinerary included hiking, repelling, body rafting and cliff jumping! I was so excited (and a bit anxious) to go!

We met our friends bright and early at 6am and headed south to Caguas to meet our adventure guides from Puerto Rico Hiking Tours. We arrived at our base camp around 7am and had a quick breakfast. Then we piled on the safety gear (helmets, life jackets, and knee pads) and headed out into the wilderness.

Getting the low down on the hiking tour by our tour guides, Gabriel and Jose

I decided to wear my funky vibram five fingers shoes... I should have worn some sturdy waterproof hiking boots with super grip! We were slipping and sliding all over the mud and rocks. Despite a few scrapes and bruises, we made it through. Here is a pic of us near the top, enjoying the amazing view of all the waterfalls!

Most of the adventure was pretty intense... you really had to do what guides instructed or you could be in big trouble. One of the activities required us to jump from a tall smooth rock (think slippery)  into a pool of water with pretty decent current, and swim to the other side to grab onto a flat rock before wading across to go underneath a raging waterfall. I could barely see where I was going! After swimming for our lives under the waterfall, we climbed up some more slippery rocks (still under the waterfall, mind you) and came out on the other side to wave at our friends across the water. Then we slipped back underneath the waterfall to swim back to the other side. As Ethan and I were going back under the waterfall, his legs were dangling a little too far out into the current of the waterfall and he got sucked in unexpectedly! I said to the guide, "Where did he go???" Then he said, "He's gone. You're next!" I was thinking, "What?!?! Going under this waterfall was tough enough!" Not to worry, the guide explained everything to me so that I would not get sucked in unexpectedly. After he calmed me down, I took a deep breath - what I thought might be my last - and went under... slowly but surely, I came out on the other side and swam back to Ethan and my friends. What an exhilarating experience!

After jumping from the top of rock (at bottom of pic), we swam across to that rock wall, then swam underneath that waterfall...

...and came out the other end! Cheese! I can barely see anything...

We also did some repelling... my first time doing this. I was nervous at first, but by the second time, I was enjoying the view!

Overall, it was an incredible experience and we are so glad we did it! I learned a lot about myself and my limits. Life is all about no regrets and feeling alive! That's why I can't wait to go back again and test my limits again ;)

Check out these amazing views:

Island Adventures / Aventuras de la Isla

Greetings, friends! The past few weeks have been all about adventures! We've been trying to stay active outside, and we've been keeping busy with several things. The most exciting thing that I tried was paddleboarding for the first time ever in the Condado lagoon. It was so much fun! I can't wait to get my own paddleboard. Check me out paddling through the water:

Paddleboarding at the Condado Lagoon

We've also been going on a group biking trip about once a week with some other island transplants we met who also enjoy outdoor activities. Here we are after biking about 5 miles to El Morro in Old San Juan. It is very pretty at night:

We found this group on meetup.com - The Adrenaline Junkies. We've been attending several of the meetups each week and hosting some meetups of our own including a beach run on Sundays. It's been a great way for us to stay active as well as train for a 5k trail race we signed up for in mid-August. I can't wait to run on the trails! I haven't had much luck finding good places to trail run around here (except maybe El Yunque, but that requires an hour drive and the trails good for running there are quite intense).

I've also been going to a bootcamp class on the beach on Saturday mornings... as you can see, I've been finding different ways to get around having to get a gym membership! haha! Here are some action shots of the bootcamp class:

Working out on the beach is really fun! Even if you get all dirty and full of sand, it is so refreshing to run in the water to rinse off and cool down a bit!

Hope this post serves as inspiration to keep all you folks out there active! Stay tuned for the results of the trail race - I hope to beat Ethan again ;)

Rochester

Well, it's been a while since we wrote anything, so I'd better catch you up on our recent trip to Rochester.

We were in Rochester in June to celebrate the wedding of some good friends. It was a great wedding and while we were there we had the opportunity to catch up with our other friends and family.

We arrived at the airport on a typical rainy, dreary, and grey Friday afternoon in Rochester. We picked up our rental car and headed off to our first stop.

As soon as we hit 390 I couldn't help but feel a sense of openness and freedom. I was in awe of the lane choices I could make! You see in San Juan on a Friday afternoon, you'd be lucky if you could get the car up to 45 miles an hour let alone be able to change lanes when you want. It was highway bliss.

Anyway, we arrived shortly at John and Randy's home where they graciously hosted us for a few nights. We settled in and had just enough time to catch up before we headed off for our next engagements. Maria was helping to setup for a baby shower she had the next day, and by virtue of existing, I was helping out too. We did what we could quickly, because we then had to meet the Kumar's for dinner, and I had to get to bed early to be up at 5 am for a drive down to New York City for my friend's bachelor party.

It was craziness from the time we landed until the time we left.

It was a long drive down to NYC and back but it was a great party for a great friend and luckily, I was just a passenger in the car. When I got back to Rochester I was grateful to arrive at a party Randy had put together for Maria and I.

The next day we took some time to relax in the morning and catch our collective breath.

At this point I can't remember everything we did, which should be a lesson to all of you who plan to recount a story to write it down soon after it happens.

But here is what I do remember:

We got to catch up with great friends in Rochester, celebrate a birthday, Maria got sushi with Sarah while I ate a garbage plate with Andrew, but we didn't make it over to Dinosaur BBQ, Maria got her hair did while I fell asleep watching Big Fish, I spent an entire day with my nephew playing catch, shooting pigeons, and avoiding the police while he skipped school (typical boy stuff), we spent time with my family, ate some of my favorite hometown pizza, saw all three falls at Letchworth and had a picnic in the park, ran a 4 mile trail race, saw our friends get married, played cards against humanity until 5 am, had a late brunch and hopped back on a plane headed for San Juan.

Like I said, it was crazy. And it was great to see everyone that we could while we were there.

When we left Rochester to move to San Juan, I wasn't so keen on the idea, but Maria was ready. After having gone back, Maria didn't want to leave. We both miss all of you back home and hope to see you in San Juan and we'll try to see you whenever we can get to Rochester.

Until then, wish us luck with this tropical storm, although it shouldn't be too much trouble for us since it's passing to the south.

Lovely view of San Juan as we were taking off for Rochester

I love watching the chickens roaming around the yard at Ethan's house. And their eggs are delicious!

We forgot we saved the top of our wedding cake.  We decided to eat it while we were visiting since we wouldn't be back in August. It was better on the wedding day :)

Beautiful views of the falls at Letchworth

Drinks with friends in Rochester!

The Japanese gardens at Sonnenberg Gardens where our friends got married.

Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Wible!

Had to make a trip to Wegman's! Look at the excitement on Ethan's face

More Visitors / Más Visitantes

Ethan and I have had a slew of visitors over the past few weeks. First, my PhD advisor was in San Juan for several days attending a conference. On one of her days off, we took her for a hike on our favorite trail, the El Yunque Trail, at El Yunque National Rainforest. It was a long 3.5 hour hike, but well worth it! This was the second time Ethan and I have hiked this trail, and on the first time, we missed the incredible view from the top because the clouds were passing over Los Picachos peak, one of the tallest peaks in the El Yunque Rainforest at 3,175 feet. But on this day, we lucked out. Check out these views!

View of Luquillo and Fajardo from Los Picachos peak

Another lovely view!

We had to take our photos quickly... the clouds were coming in fast!

Then, Ethan's sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew came to visit for a week at the end of April. We had so much fun with them! Ethan's sister planned so many fun activities...  Check out some highlights, pictures courtesy of Ethan's sister:

Ethan and our nephew playing in the sand at the beach near our house. 

Playing at the pool... Don't drown, Ethan!

Snorkeling at the Seven Seas

Enjoying lunch and the sunshine on the catamaran

Check out this snorkeling video I found online. This is footage from the same area we went snorkeling... and possibly from the same tour group in Fajardo. This was my second time snorkeling ever, and it was so much fun! The tour boat gave us bread to feed the fish and they got really close! There were so many of them and all different colors and sizes... I can't wait to go again!

Here are some photos of the Bio-Bay tour we did in Fajardo at La Laguna Grande (the Grand Lagoon). There are only 7 Bioluminescent bays in the world... and three of them are in Puerto Rico! Here is a post from one of our favorite blogs about fun things to do in Puerto Rico with more information on the Bio-Bays. 

They had a food cart near the Bio-Bay that sold corn dogs wrapped in bacon! 

Got our life jackets on, ready for some adventure!

Getting our stroke in sync

We took the early tour before the sun set so we could get a better view of the lagoon and the mangroves. You can't see the dinoflagellate during the day, so you have to wait until after the sun sets to see the action. I was a little weary of going kayaking around a lagoon in murky water, but it was an incredible experience. These little dinoflagellates light up so much in the dark! Every time we moved our hands or oars in the water, it would light up! Ethan said it was one of the coolest things he's EVER seen. So obviously, we are going back next time we have more visitors.

Ethan's Churrasco Mofongo entreé at La Estación after the Bio-Bay tour

On the last day of their visit, I gave them a tour of the lab. I also showed the kids some fun science stuff. Check out my niece's fascination with a human heart!

A future cardiologist?

She was in awe over this heart... much the same way I am in awe of the brain!
I also explained to them what we study in the lab and showed them some of our "subjects."

Overall, this was a really great visit with my new family. We packed in a lot of activities and I think they had a great time.

We had about a week and a half to recover from this fun visit before my mom and step-dad came to visit for Mother's day and my birthday. My mom arrived first to stay at our house for a few nights, then joined her husband at the Conrad hotel and resort, where they stayed the rest of the week. They wanted to mainly relax, so we spent most of the time hanging out at the pool or walking along the beaches. For Mother's day, Ethan and I made my mom some breakfast, then we headed out to Playa Mar Chiquita, my favorite beach in Puerto Rico. We also wanted to do a little shopping, but the Puerto Ricans like to close EVERYTHING on Mother's day (this is also the case for Father's day too! who would have thought?). While we are used to Mother's day sales on the mainland, the Puerto Ricans use Mother's Day as another excuse to celebrate and party!

For my birthday, Ethan brought my mom to the lab, and I gave her a quick tour and introduced her to all my fun lab mates. After lunch, the lab surprised me with a birthday cake! It was so yummy. Then we finally went shopping. They have the Premium Outlets here, just like Waterloo in upstate NY. For dinner, we ate at Silk, where I enjoyed some delicious sushi!

After my step-dad arrived, we gave them the usual tours of Old San Juan and El Yunque. This time, El Yunque was a little different. Because May is one of the rainiest months in Puerto Rico, the rivers and waterfalls were gushing at El Yunque!

This stream/river is usually half the size of what we saw here!

My mom and I on the flood steps at the Baño Grande pool in El Yunque. 

It was nice having my mom here to show her where we live. I wish she could have stayed longer. Can't wait for your next visit, Mom!

Sunset stroll in Old San Juan con mi mamá

Wow, you are a trooper if you are still reading this! This was quite the long blog post... until next time!
¡Hasta Luego!