From Vieques to San Juan

Date: 05.03.2014

...it was time to head back to the main island *sniffles*. We started the morning slowly and during our first cups of coffee our host James paid us a visit - fortunately we were all wearing pants (well, I was, for once :D). James was a fun and interesting guy, and he had been visiting Finland for 7 times in his life, what are the chances :).

After getting our gear ready, I called for a taxi, and once again problems - we can get there in one hour. With our stuff and my knee, I didn't want to walk to the centre, so we sat at the bus stop and all did our things (I was writing) and waited. For the first time the lady taxi driver was precisely on time, wohoo :D.

We went to Isabel, and I forgot to buy one cool shirt from Black Beard, and it's bugging me a lot. The guys wanted to eat some pizza for breakfast and I was too tired to argue - I managed to get one slice down, and the guys ate the grande bacon pizza by themselves, plus stnz ate a slice of meat lover's pizza, which almost came with the whole chicken on top as I suspected when he ordered it :D.

The guys sleeping on the ferry trip

We got to the ferry terminal and waited for the ferry. This time it wasn't full, so we got a place to sit and it didn't take long for the guys to start sleeping. I wrote some stuff up and played some Fallout2 on the 1 hour trip.

When we got to Fajardo, there was the minibuses waiting and trying to get us to their vans, and stnz declined them all. While waiting to see what the guys would do to get us to Ceiba to pick up our car, I noticed a woman in her panties and undershirt, wearing some platform shoes and completely out of it. If we'd be at home, I would've went to her and asked if she was alright, but here I didn't have the guts. So I decided to just watch what was happening, if she was drugged by someone and if someone was trying to do something to her. After keeping my eye on her for a while, I noticed that she was with a guy and a little (~6 yo) girl. The guy seemed to be clean and sober, and the kid was dressed and bathed, but I had the vibe that they were all homeless, and the kid was more attached to her father. It still made me really sad to watch how a person could end up in that condition, and make things worse, there was a little beautiful girl involved. I really hope that everything works out with them in the long run. Life usually does correct it's ways on some point..

After a while and when I asked when the car rental place would close it doors, stnz realized that we didn't have the time to clown around - we needed the ride and got one to Ceiba. We managed to get there like 5 minutes before closing time.. Stnz had rented us a small and cheap car and we were guessing what it was on the small lot. Imagine our surprise when the girl drove a Jeep in front of us :D. It felt like the universe was fucking around with us, because for the 5 days in Vieques we were all cursing our lack of a car and how all other tourists were driving by with their Jeeps :D.

Our ride

Then it was off to San Juan, and to the apartment Stnz reserved for us blindly. It was pretty interesting to find ourselves inside a closed community, right next to a beautiful beach. The neighborhood was a little step-up from where our earlier apartments have been located, but I'm not complaining. Still, I somehow already miss the simple life of Vieques. I wonder what I could do there so I could move and live there? Even the Fajardo ferry terminal seemed busy and quite annoying after the somewhat peaceful island living, not to mention what it's like in the busy San Juan.

The electricity work in the US is something... else. And even halen (170cm short) could touch these lines. And so could I with a bit of a jump :D

The beach 50m from our apartment

 I had a wonderful surprise at our new apartment: 1) there were dogs! Oh, how I've been missing scratching, hugging and kissing the dogs, and talking softly sounding like a crazy person (you aren't crazy when you do that while addressing the dogs, aren't you??)  2) the other dog was named Mia! I had a namesake! I'm forming an alliance with Mia, just because we are two Mias and we are awesome <3

My namesake, Mia the awesome dog (pic by stnz)

The private terrace we have by our apartment is great place to play a nerd (who am I kidding, I'm a nerd)  (pic by stnz)

It was my time to take the couch again. This time it was much better to sleep on than the plank in New York  (pic by stnz)

There was a nice and clear sky on the beach next to us, but I was too tired and hurting all over to have the energy to go there and do some night time photography. But I promised to myself that I was going to do it on the next day. We'll see.

Day 1 in Vieques: Diving

Date: 01.03.2014

Yes, I love to be photographed under water too

Today was the time to start my open water dives for my OWD-certification. The day started early and we went outside to wait for the cab the scuba diving ppl had arranged us. When we reached the nearby baseball field, the only car that came there just in time was a minibus (it's a long GMC van), I asked two times from the guy did the diving ppl order him to pick us up, and in local way  "don't understand = YES" he got us on board. When we reached the nearby city of Isabel, he asked us "where now?" ..Shit.

We found a guy who spoke English and he translated stuff for us. Turned out that he wasn't really knowing where to take us. The diving ppl's organizer was really concerned who took us, but after I gave her the full name of the guy, she relaxed.

The Sea Cow in her black burrito covers

We got to the pier and turned out that it was just me and the guys - it was funny to see that the guy's instructor was the same guy I said at the ferry terminal that "if that dude is not a diver, I don't know who is" :D. I was lucky and I got to do my open water dives private - it was just me and Carlito. He is pretty much the nicest guy I've ever met, and he really is a wizard underwater. I'm usually the kind of person who goes fast from A to B if I have A and B, but he likes to do things veery slowly underwater and he dives near the bottom. It was a good thing for me to see that you can go even slower underwater and see more stuff, and because how low he was diving, I had to learn to control my buoyancy pretty quick simply by breathing, and forget about using the BCD.

Carlito stealing Brrandoon's fin with a sneaky underneath dive (by Halen)

Sea turtle searching for food (by Halen)

Braaandon floating around the pylons (by Halen)

The pier was really beautiful place, and I can imagine that if I lived in Vieques, I would be diving there almost daily. The place is just magical and there is just so much to see and photograph. During our dives we spotted a huge stingray (around 1 metre wide) and lots of more interesting animals, and some really beautiful fishes I just stopped to stare and almost forgot why I was there. One point we noticed Brandon and the guys diving by, and they didn't notice us our the sounds Carlito was making, so he swam underneath the guys to the other side and just took one of Brandon's fins from his leg. Now I've tried laughing through the regulator too :D. Fortunately Timo got a picture of this nice surprise, which we Finns could describe as "Vittuilu on välittämistä" = "Fucking around with someone is caring"

Apparently I did pretty well and I was a natural according to Carlito, but maybe he just says it to all of his students :).

My hairy walrus friends and Brandon (or Bob the diver), their guide

After the dive we got back home and walked back to the town to get something to eat. We walked around for an hour or so, and stumbled upon some cute animals. I've been missing my dogs, so I had to give some TLC to a dog we saw. He had a timid friend, who started to trust me pretty quick, but unfortunately he seemed to have some painful sores around his neck, so I couldn't touch him. But it was really heartwarming to see him gnawing his buddy with his front teeth after I was done scratching his buddy.

Finally the guys settled on a place where we should go to eat, and it was a pizzeria where they had a fast internet = we could upload pictures and update our blogs, which is nearly impossible at our apartment. The diving really wears you off, so we were all done for the day at 22.

Locals are in a bar next door