Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a joyous celebration with friends and family to ring in the new year. Ethan and I went to a beach party with some friends:
Lots of people we met for the first time...
Bonfire on the beach!
Ethan enjoying the fire
It was a great party! Lots of good food & drink and great conversation. About 2 minutes before the countdown, it started to rain and we all darted underneath the trees for cover. Ethan hit his head on a branch. (ouch!) It only rained briefly, but we were all counting down the last seconds of 2013 under the trees with cups of sparkling wine in our hands. Then we headed back to the fire to warm up again!
It has definitely been an adventure living in Puerto Rico. We have had our ups and downs: seeing beautiful places; exploring the beaches, mountains, rainforests, and caves all over the island; finding delicious restaurants; meeting new friends; learning Spanish; trying to find a decent car; surviving the city traffic everyday; and saving up time and money to visit friends and family on the mainland. Reflecting on all our experiences of 2013 brings me to my resolutions for 2014:
Run more
I reviewed my mileage for the past few years and it has decreased drastically :-/ In 2012, I ran a total of 430.5 miles while only making 375.9 miles in 2013. I definitely want to get this number back up for 2014! So far, I have several races planned: Ethan and I are signed up to run all 6 Xterra Trail Races this year (5k or longer for each race). I am also signed up to run the Puerto Rico Half Marathon in March. Hopefully, I can get a new PR for that distance!
The heat and humidity are brutal in Puerto Rico!
Communicate better
I guess we always can work on this one. This is one of my goals for 2014, especially in my postdoc in the Quirk lab. It's a lot larger lab than what I am used to, but I am learning to communicate effectively more and more in the lab each day. And I am definitely improving my Spanish!
Eat Better
Ethan and I have been struggling to come up with planned meals for the week. Sometimes it gets pretty bad because we come home late from the lab most nights of the week and are too tired to make an amazing meal. So one solution I have for this is to plan our meals for the week and make meals ahead of time so that we have healthy prepared meals for those days we come home late. I also want to try some new recipes!
Here's to another adventurous year on the Island of Enchantment! Cheers!
What are your new year's resolutions? What are you going to do to achieve them?
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! :)
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 ;)
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!
After another full day of searching, we came across this cute 2009 Toyota Yaris Hatchback with very little mileage! It was a bit out of our original budget, but we soon realized we would have to modify our budget to get something reliable and cost effective. Hopefully, we will keep it in decent shape and be able to sell it at a decent price when we leave the island.
To celebrate, we spent today at the beach, just relaxing! We drove by our future apartment again and snagged a picture to show you:
At the front gate, you see the cute little patio area with lots of tropical plants and then you take some stairs and you can see the fence at the top near where the front door is. We can't wait to move in!
And to sign off tonight, here is a fun video we took while driving from our current house on the hill in Cupey:
What a whirlwind of a week it has been! After finally settling
on the Volvo, we showed it our landlords, the Kuilans, and they recommended we
have it checked out by their trusty mechanic just down the road. While Ethan
took care of that, I was headed to a lab safety training session at Centro Medico, aka the medical center.
We have driven several times from our house to the medical center, so I was not
worried I would get lost. I even gave myself 45 minutes to get there! But
somehow, I managed to miss the exit! I was so mad at myself. Fortunately, I was
able to get turned around and back on the highway and was only a few minutes
late arriving. Sometimes when you are forced to figure something out, you learn
better, so I'm starting to feel more confident about driving around San Juan despite the
heavy traffic and lack of signage on the highways. They do have signs for exits
and speed limits and whatnot, but sometimes they are either blocked by giant
trees or there is no sign before the exit to let
you know it is coming up! And before you know it, you've missed the exit and
you have to turn around… and there is almost NEVER an easy way to turn around!
Anyway, I made it to the training session, and although all
of it was in Spanish, I managed to figure out what was going on. It was only
general lab safety anyway, so it was nothing new for me. After the training
session, I headed back home and heard some disappointing news. The mechanic
told Ethan that the coolant and oil were mixing in the engine of the Volvo and
would need a head gasket replacement. So Ethan called the dealer and told him
there was a problem and he just said, no worries, just bring it back. We weren't sure if that meant he would just give us our check back or if we had to trade it for another car or what. I was so distraught
because we had spent so much time looking for this car, AND I had just
filled it up with PREMIUM gasoline!!! Grrr… but Ethan was right, better off
spending $40 on the gas than $1500+ on a new head gasket and who knows what
else might be wrong with it… :-/
So, to take our minds off the car situation, we went to see some
houses and apartments with Toni. We checked out some nice homes in Guaynabo, a
well-respected suburb of San Juan. Most of the homes were in gated communities
with parks and tennis courts, and some of them even had a pool! We really liked
it there, but the homes were just a bit over our budget. We decided to consider
2 bedrooms instead of only 3 bedrooms since there seemed to be more space than
we thought for our bikes and tools. They showed us a smaller 2 bedroom
apartment, but it was just too small, then Toni thought of this cute apartment
that we might like in Condado. Condado is another nice area, mostly filled with
fancy hotels and restaurants right next to the beach. I never thought Ethan would
want to live there because it would be too noisy and crowded. But we went to
see it anyway. It was a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment but the bedrooms were
spacious and there was also extra space in the laundry room and part of the 2nd
bedroom had lots of extra space for an office area. I was excited to see it.
How fun would it be to live just three blocks from the beach!?!? As soon as I
saw it, I fell in love with it. The front entrance is shared by only one other
tenant, and it is adorned with beautiful tropical plants and charming patio
furniture, perfect for relaxing and enjoying the fresh air. We walked up a
flight of stairs to the front door and went inside. It was so cute! The first thing
I noticed was the beautiful blue tile on the kitchen counters… que bonita! We wandered through the dining area and the living room which were adjacent to the kitchen. Just beyond the
living room was the master bedroom… with tons of space! That connected to
the newly remodeled bathroom which then led into the spare room… which seemed
enormous! On the other end of the spare room was a nice area perfect for two desks
where we could situate our offices. Off to the side of that space was the laundry
room which had plenty of room for our bikes and tools. That then led back into the
kitchen. It was the perfect place. And I couldn't believe we were so close to
the beach! We decided to take it as soon as the current tenants moved out - mid-January… just in time for our things
to arrive! Plus, the current tenant was moving back to the states and wasn't planning on taking any of the furniture… so it could all stay with the apartment!
This deal was getting better and better by the minute! Now we wouldn't have to spend all our money
buying new furniture. I was so glad we found this place… I can’t wait for
all our guests to see our new home! It's about 10 minutes west from the airport and 5 minutes east of Old San Juan, depending on traffic of course! Here is a picture on google maps of the location:
After the house hunting, we had to take the Volvo back. L I really wanted to keep it but knew it
would be a big hassle for us in the long run. But we were so incredibly lucky
that the dealer took it back, no questions asked, and gave us our check back.
Whew! But now, we still have to find a car…
So far, we've been lucky with some things but unlucky with other
things… Now, onward with the car hunting!
