LonnyGomes.com

I will have to admit, I do feel a little ignorant about Puerto Rico. I mean I know it somehow became part of the USA throughout the progression of history, but that’s about it!! Usually, I like to research at least a little bit of the country before I arrive and this time I didn’t even do that!!

While I was waiting to get my bags this morning, a woman — who was practically shouting — asked her husband if he had any American money because she wanted to buy a drink from the coke machine. After I heard that, I felt a little less ignorant. Now if I can figiure out what this gibberish language people speak here I’ll be all set!!

A few of my friends have this inside joke about the guys with the dreds that have them wrapped up in those oversized wave caps/apple hats. In Portuguese, they nicknamed them “moronduns” (eu sei que eu acabei de dar uma rata!!). One time while taking the china town bus to NYC, There was a “morondun” on board with us. Before boarding, this particular guy lit up a joint while everyone was in line (yeah, the Chinatown bus can get a little crazy at times). Anyway, my friends spent half the trip making fun of him by taking pictures of this makeshift moronduns they created with a scarf.

I came across one while eating breakfast –which I tried odering in portanhlol (when you try to speak Spanish but mix Portuguese with it) — a picture just to prove that eles existem em Puerto Rico também (they exist in PR too!)

I made it to Puerto Rico! My trip — voyage rather — started at 2 pm EST. I left worked, and insted of driving to the airport and paying for almost 2 weeks of parking, I drove to my friend’s aprtment complex to drop my car off there. From there I walked about a mile to the closest metro stop and made to National airport with time to spare. Everything went relatively smoothly besides the whole baggage checking process but that deserves a post to it’s self!

My plane arrived a bit late, which could have been a problem because I had a connecting flight in Miami but all went well. As it turns out, the Miami leg of the flight was running a little late as well.

I’m here now and am already re-evaluating some of my decisions! Seriously, I’m not sure why I thought getting here @ 1 AM was a good idea without having plans on what to do immediately afterwards!! As far as lodging goes, I think I’m good for tonight … Still awaiting confirmation on that though! But everything will work out in the end … I’m sure of it … I think

So yeah, it’s almost midnight and I’m pretty much not done packing and still have a lot of errands to run.  It’s gonna be a long night!

I’m not too worried about the clothes, but I feel like I’m going to forget something important like the charger for my camera battery or something … it’s times like these where I hate it that I procrastinate!

It hit me today … I will be boarding a plane for Puerto Rico in 2 days and my lodging plans still aren’t finalized. Even by my own standards, this is bad!!! The thing is Puerto Rico isn’t even my final destination. It’s merely a stepping stone.

The final destination is actually a cruise ship where much of my extended family and I will be touring six different caribbean islands. My mom is one of eleven siblings and her side of the family is big on reunions. One of the aunts had the idea of changing things up and going on a cruise this year. The plan is to set sail on December 21st and return the 28th, which means we’ll be spending Christmas in the caribbean!

One of the catches is that the ship leaves port from San Juan, and it definitely isn’t the cheap season for flying to Puerto Rico. My thought was, if I’m going to fly all the way down there, I want to at least get to see the country for a bit.

With that thought in mind and with no further research, I bought a ticket with an arrival date of 2 days before we have to board the ship and 2 days after we get back. I figured I’d just stay in a cheap hostel and explore the island. I know there are some people that are uncomfortable about hostels, but staying in hostels is what *made* my London trip. I wasn’t planning on being there alone, but due to a turn of events I was there solo without knowing anyone. In the hostel, I met a lot of other people in the same situation and it worked out well. I think I would have been miserable if I stayed in a hotel and had no contact with other people.

Anyway, I digress … after purchasing the tickets I find that there really aren’t any “hostels” in San Juan and according the priceline the cheapest hotel is going to be about $90/night and $90 + 4 nights is pretty much the cost of the round-trip ticket from DC to PR!

This was bad news, but I didn’t give up hope. One of my friends had told me about this site called Couch Surfers. What it is a network of people who are willing to extend their hospitality out to weary travels by allowing them to crash on their couch for short periods of time.

Once again, some may feel hesitant about the whole idea but honestly, I wish I knew about this earlier! It would have no doubt helped me out when I ended up in Rio *alone*! To sign up for the site, you don’t *have* to be willing/able to offer up a couch/spare room for the random traveler. You could also offer to meet for a cup of coffee or play tour guide for a day.

As of two days ago, a few people said they were able to meet for coffee but most others were either traveling themselves or hosting other couch surfers … why do I procrastinate like I do! As of yesterday, a guy — who from his profile seems pretty cool — said he was around and had room. I have yet to firm out the details with him, but this whole couch surfing thing may work after all!