Viaques, Puerto Rico

There is Puerto Rico - the big island - off in the distance.

Barbara, Jon and I took a long weekend and went camping on one of Puerto Rico's island: Viaques. We had been to Culebra many times and thought it would be a good time to visit the bigger island. We had great weather - sometimes spotty - camped for free on a beach, with nats and ants. Saw many wild horses, which was fun. Did a little "off roading" in our rented truck - the road won. Did some great snorkeling and exploring.

Three Kings Day in Juana Diaz

Yes, I LOT late, I realize. We spent Three King's Day (January 6th) in Juana Diaz the "birth place" of the 3 kings here in Puerto Rico. It was a great time filled with tradition and culture. We bought some 3 kings treasures to take to the Ukraine with us and remind us of the great festivites of PR.

Halloween at Monte Verde

Jon and I were vampires this Halloween. Lindsay and Joe - Zombie couple. Derrick was a man-ina-tee. Jodi a hipi. Mandi - HurriKane. Zayas - a scary masked man. Mike - another scary masked man. Barbara was Missy Guamani. and Mendez - an old woman, I guess! We had a great time. The party was up on the roof of the Monte Verde Apartments. A bit of wind to keep the mosquitoes down, a bright moon to shed some light and great company. Hope you all had a good halloween! (Don't you love Jon's make-up job!)

Girls' Night, Culebra, Quincenera

Here was our Girls' Night in San Juan. Lindsey, Kim, Andrea, Mandi and Jodi. We went to dinner at a Flamenco show. It was a good time and something that we should probably do more often.

This last weekend, Jon was out of town (state, country) in CA with his brother and dad. The rest of us went to Flamenco Beach on Culebra and camped for Friday night. It was great to wake up on the beach. We spent the day snorkeling. It was good! One of the best places in the world, I am sure.

Yesterday, I attended my first Quincenera. It was a great time. I took lots of picture, trying to document everything if I ever teach Spanish again. Ashley was beautiful. It was basically a wedding... just missing the groom. 14 bridesmaids, almost as many "groomsmen", dinner, dance, DJ, ... everything really. It was so fun to be invited!

Exploring with the new Americans

Just one more of Rico, sleeping.

Here we are at a beach in Luquillo. Jon is happy to have some "guy friends" to hang out with. We have really been enjoying the new Americans. It is fun to show them around.

We took them to the rainforest where it POURED on us. I suppose that is what happens in the rainforest, so it was fitting but put a damper on our time at the waterfall. We were the only ones there though!

Casa de Pastelillos. Great food, great view, great company.

Let me introduce you to Rico, from Puerto Rico

Yes, there is a third member of our small family down here. His name is Rico. We are a sucker for kittens and this one was found under the hood of Mandi's car, sitting on the engine block during a rain storm. How could we NOT take him home. I know what you are thinking: we have Jackson staying at my mom's in Montana. We have Lella staying with some neighbor that she loves better than us in Laurel. And we have Julio staying Lisa and family in Boise. But he is so cute. We couldn't leave in the engine to die!

We named him Rico. His home is Puerto Rico and it forever will be. We may just keep him with "Casa Verde", our current house, and whoever moves in next - well, they get the house, the car and the cat! What a deal! :)

He only weighed a pound when we took him to the vet last week, and now probably weights three.... so he is enjoying his food!

Back in PR

We have made it back to Puerto Rico. We arrived back on the island on the 29th of July. Our flights went well and we actually ended up with all of our bags when it was all said and done. First time for everything. Upon returning to our house, we found it just as we had left it. Well, there was a pretty thick layer of dust over everything, a couple cockroaches, a dead mouse in the middle of the living room and a couple lizards that had started to move into the guest room… but that is normal. A couple days later, Jaylyn (my cousin) and Ted, her fiancé, flew into San Juan. Right away we took them to the rainforest to stay in our favorite cabin owned by our friends the Haits. The cabin was wonderful, but the secret waterfall that we took Jay and Ted to was what they enjoyed the most. Other times that Jon and I have been there we haven’t really been able to swim, but this time we took advantage. We climbed to the top and found a great Jacuzzi in the waterfall. It was definitely a highlights. The next day we went to the “touristy” side of El Yunque and to a waterfall there. That was packed with Puerto Ricans, but still refreshing in the hot sun. We did many things with Jaylyn and Ted and enjoyed having them here. They did get to experience a bit of the real life as the car did overheat for them in San Juan. And since then we have taken the car in 5 times to get it looked at and more parts repaired. Now I understand why people just buy new cars.

We have had an excellent start to our school year this year. Jon is in a brand new classroom with great stadium seating for the kids and a huge Smart Board with a very high quality projector. The kids are enthralled. His class sizes are very low this year, I think his biggest is 19, as he is teaching 3/5 advanced classes, so he is very spoiled and has nothing to complain about. I am in my old room still, and we are pretty packed in there with 2 classes of 29 kids. But I like my kids this year and have already taught 3/5 of them before, so we have a good relationship and I think that they will be easy to work with. But then again, it is only the first week of school…. Next week could be an entirely different story!!