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I promise I will get a post up soon. I have more surfing disaster stories. No worries. I apologize for not posting for some time, I knew Dan would always post more than me...but Chop??? I need to get going on this.

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Surf's Up (And Down) in Aguadilla

Two weekends ago, the whole volunteer crew decided to see what all the fuss was about. Pretty much everyone we’ve talked to has recommended we visit the west coast. Also, because of seasonal currents, starting in November and ending in March, the west coast has a giant swell that attracts surfers from all over the world to Rincón and Aguadilla. Rincón was the home of world surfing competitions back in the 60’s and 70’s. We were all excited to experience the beauty we had heard about and also to possibly go surfing.

We left early Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the drive took longer than expected. The major highway going west was closed for about 30 miles due to the oil refinery explosion. We decided to stay the night, so we booked a hotel with 2 queen beds, and 1 double for 85 dollars. Not bad when it’s split 5 ways. Beds, air conditioning, and a hot shower were more than we could ask for. The price of the hotel reflects the general philosophy of life in Aguadilla. The hotel manager told us the beds are packed in tight and the price is cheap because he started the hotel so that surfers could come in flocks to enjoy the beach without breaking the bank. Everyone is laid back during the day and ready to party at night. It’s a sleepy little village that revolves around surfing; everyone just wants to catch that big wave of the day and celebrate it later. As you may have guessed, I was totally in my element. I love everything about Aguadilla. It was a welcome change of pace from the death stares we get in San Juan.

Playa Crashboat (Crashboat Beach) is famous in Aguadilla. It apparently got its ominous name from the eventual wreckage of all boats that docked there due to the massive waves. We journeyed there after we dropped our stuff off at the hotel. Getting to the beach anywhere in Aguadilla from the town is an adventure in itself. The streets, or lack thereof, descend rapidly in a crazy zigzag pattern through heavy brush until you happen upon the ocean. We enjoyed some cheap, beachside pinchos (barbecued meat on a stick) before laying out. Unfortunately, the day was cut short. An hour or so after our arrival, an incredible storm hit the coast. The raindrops were larger than I had ever seen and they didn’t stop all night. Unbelievably, the hotel television had a multitude of channels, including NBC! The day was saved with a case of beer and a Notre Dame victory over BC. Chalk the day up as a tie.

The next day we decided to venture further north to Playa los Jobos. This beach is famous for its surf. After asking directions from everyone in town, a supposed 15-minute drive took us over an hour. The beach was beautiful and everyone there seemed to be having a great time. Tiki bars and sandwich shops lined the beach and reggae was constantly playing. I immediately inquired about surfboard rentals and we quickly found a young surfer dude that was renting out his 3 surfboards. He let us rent each board for 2-3 hours for 20 bucks a piece.

When I first got my opportunity with the board, the waves were of moderate height. I was surprised how easily I got up. That specific beach area has a kind of bay feature to it. I rode a few waves almost all the way across the bay. I had to swim to the shore and walk the board back to our spot. I passed the board off until it was my turn again. My success had ended with that last run. Once I got the board back, the waves were more powerful due to high tide. The waves were also more frequent. I was definitely struggling to even paddle out to wear the waves pick up. Dengue’s damage was evident; I felt weak. Eventually, I got up on a few waves but was tossed after a short run. I also had trouble dropping in. The front part of my board kept dipping too far into the wave, which always resulted in a sandy and salty ending for Jon. Undeterred, I will surf again.

With this surfing adventure came many new lessons. First, I now know why surfers wear rash guard shirts. Given the poor quality of the rental board and the long day of surfing, my nipples felt like I had breastfed an elephant. A powerful image, I know, but it’s the only way I can make you understand the pain. Second, surfers have those slender, compact bodies for a reason. Everything from paddling out, to catching the wave, and maintaining balance is an intense core workout. I didn’t realize how much my abs and arms hurt until about midway through the day. Thirdly, I love the ocean. Okay, that’s not a new lesson, but I do!

Pictures and videos coming shortly after this post! Check the Web Albums.

I Got A Fever...And The Only Prescription Is More...Wait, There Is No Prescription. I Have Dengue.

Approximately one week after Andrea left Puerto Rico, Dan acquired the flu, which is still going strong on the island. He had a fever and chills one night and was very weak/tired for the following few days. A few days after Dan began to feel better, I was hit by a ton of bricks. One weekday night, I was watching the latest episode of House on my computer when I began to feel sick. I started the episode feeling great, but once I got to the end and packed up my computer, I could barely stand up. I also got the chills to a degree I have never felt. My whole entire body was shaking, so much so that my teeth began to hurt from all the chattering. It is generally about 90 degrees in my apartment, even at night. Despite the heat, I was freezing. I became very weak and decided to go to bed early. I notified my roommates of my bizarre illness, took some Tylenol, threw on a sweatshirt, and hopped under the covers.

I woke up at least 5 times during the evening. Sometimes I woke up with the same extreme chills, sometimes I woke up drenched in sweat. My entire bed was soaked with sweat. I felt too sick to move or do anything about it, so I laid there most of the night. I knew I had a high fever, but we didn’t have a thermometer. The next day I woke up with 3 more symptoms. 1) I had absolutely no appetite. 2) Every part of my body ached. It was the feeling of squatting in the weight room for the first time in a long time, except everywhere on my body. This made it hard to even walk. 3) The worst part by far was the extreme migraine. I had trouble looking at light. Then I had trouble moving my eyes around. If I looked up, my eyes had a sharp, shooting pain. I won’t go into how the situation of me not having insurance yet or expound on the way my sickness was handled, but I went on this way for another 2-3 days. We finally got a thermometer after I was feeling somewhat better and my temperature keep floating between 101.5 and 102. I couldn’t believe how much better I felt compared to the first few days and my temperature was 102. What was my temperature that first night? 104?

Eventually, I broke into an unbelievable rash all over my body. Up until this point a doctor and many others decided I had the flu. The rash, though, is a Dengue Fever hallmark. I finally got to a doctor and got some blood work done. I had Dengue Fever. On a side note, the doctor noticed I had huge bites of some sort in my groin region. Before I could even begin thinking about how that could have happened, he told me that the bites were from small ants. Outstanding! The hormiguitas are expanding their borders from the kitchen to my bedroom. Just last week, I woke up to them crawling all over my face. Good stuff. So with Dengue, you can’t really do anything about it. It’s just like a severe flu with more intense symptoms. The major thing you have to be careful about with Dengue is developing the most severe strain. About a week after symptoms, your white blood cell counts drops more than it already has and you are generally in the hospital for a while. I don’t know all the technical terms; you can look those up medical crowd. It’s called Hemorraghic Dengue Fever.

After the major symptoms die down, the full recovery takes a few weeks. I lost 15 pounds and felt pretty weak for a long time. Collective wisdom and some decent airfare lead me to participate in a weeklong recovery program at Kearney Hospital in Palos Heights, Illinois. I basically slept the whole week. The following weekend, I was lucky enough to make it to the Notre Dame vs. USC game in South Bend. I journeyed back to a scorching hot PR on Sunday.

It's Not Everyday An Oil Refinery Explodes by Your Apartment

VIDEOS, VIDEOS, VIDEOS! The title explains it all. Check the news to get more updates. As I am typing this, I am looking out my window at flames and a massive plume of smoke. Look at my WEB ALBUMS (link on the right side of the page) to see ample pictures and videos. Also, there are pictures and videos of the mini-ants that own my kitchen.... and now my bedroom.

Andrea's Visit

Andrea came to visit in the last weekend of September. She arrived early Thursday afternoon and departed Sunday evening. We were lucky she was able to take her class off on Thursday and get her work for Friday done early. Although the visit was short, somehow we packed in everything worth doing into those four days. I can’t believe how much she got to experience, which were typical experiences for me. Andrea really got a good feeling for how we live and what we do on a daily basis.

After her arrival on Thursday, unfortunately, we had to go to the office for a few hours. We had a full van because Stephen’s girlfriend, Traci, was visiting as well. Andrea soon realized how unorganized our work is and how we eventually get something done. Later that evening we had a meeting in Cantera where we were developing our business plan for the new ecotourism business, so we had to create the material to discuss for the meeting. Traci and Andrea got to alleviate the boredom with a scorching walk down the street to our favorite local café and eatery, Yanni’s. We left early for the meeting so we could show the girls around the lovely neighborhood of Cantera. Without surprise, a stray horse stumbled in front of our community tour. Andrea has ample photos of the encounter. The meeting went as it does normally: some people didn’t show up, some participated, some participated heatedly, and some didn’t participate at all. Así es la vida. After the meeting, Sylvia was kind enough to take us to our favorite restaurant, an Argentine steakhouse called Deli. It was a jam-packed day, so we decided to call it a night there since we had to get up early the next day.

On Friday, we only had one business matter to take care of at Centro Buen Pastor. Two representatives from the Boy Scouts of America came to Buen Pastor to have a meeting with us, Fernando, Sylvia, and the nuns regarding Buen Pastor possibly becoming one of the main campgrounds/home bases for the Boy Scouts in this part of the island. This would not only be a huge boost to the Centro, but it would bring in funding for further development and events for Proyecto Siempre Verde. The representatives gave us a good idea of their requirements for certain achievement levels and formal events. They seemed very enthusiastic about partnering with us, but they had some qualms about requirement fulfillment, which we are addressing in a formal proposal. More importantly, Traci and Andrea got to meet Fernando, our Puerto Rican father and idol.

We had the rest of the day off to show the girls a good time. Without hesitation, we drove to our favorite beach spot in Luquillo. The weather was perfect and the waters were calm. We swam, tossed the frisbee, had a few drinks, and I even caught a starfish. We decided to explore nearby Fajardo for a possible dinner location, but this port town left us hanging. It’s not as big and developed as we thought. We wound up hitting up a small pizza joint on the side of the road on the way back to San Juan. Although this day was also quite busy, the couples couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stop by La Placita. The atmosphere, as always, was amazing, but, as always, we ran into the same ol’ problem, we don’t know anyone and are left to observing. At least the girls got to see the Santurce nightlife and have a glass of the strongest rum and Coke possible.

The next day, Juan Albors, a member of the PRCSC board, trustee of the Oriental Financial Group, and Harvard grad, graciously invited us to his beach home in the county of Dorado, just west of San Juan. It turns out that Juan lives an exclusive coastal community with an amazing private beach, pool, and grill club. On the drive to the beach from his home, he pointed out that he lives two houses from Ricky Martin. The beach club was unreal. Everyone was extremely accommodating: towels, beach chairs, drinks, etc. Not to mention, the beach had a natural rock formation that created a pool of ocean water baked by the sun, perfect for casual water lounging and snorkeling amongst the tropical fish. Juan even put us on his tab for the day. What great timing with the girls being in for the weekend. The day was very relaxing.

We left in the early evening because Stephen and Traci were meeting up with some islander friends in Ponce for the night. Andrea and I went to a Chili’s in a mall plaza near the apartment for a belated birthday dinner funded by the parents. Chili’s was the optimal locale for dinner since their 1000+ channels and multiple flat screen televisions at the bar almost guaranteed a comfortable viewing of the evening Notre Dame vs. Purdue annual football competition. The bartender advised us that the game would be on soon and that we were all set. Once game time rolled around, ESPN got switched to the women’s volleyball tournament game of Puerto Rico vs. the Dominican Republic. In all seriousness, women’s volleyball is the most popular sport on the island. Much to our dismay, we had to scarf down our food so we could head to Shannan’s for the rest of the game. Now we have been to Shannan’s multiple times for games, but never at night. It seems this “Irish pub” turns into a nightclub as the day grows old. We had to pay a cover and we soon realized that we were a little underdressed (Puerto Ricans pride themselves in their sense of fashion and style). Oh well. After weaving through the gyrating throngs of hipsters, we happened upon a lonely television at the bar showing the game. The rest of the televisions were showing the volleyball game. We ordered $4 dollar Medalla Lights (PR’s Keystone) to feel like we fit in and survived multiple heart attacks until our nerves were settled with a Jimmy Clausen bullet to Kyle Rudolph in the endzone. We headed back to the apartment elated with the result and content with a successful day.

Sunday morning, Andrea and I attended an early mass at the local parish chapel. We were planning on going to the local beach Playa Escambrón, but our collective decision was that we had our fill of the beach the past two days and that our remaining time would be better served strolling the historic and exciting streets of Old San Juan. We took the short drive to the peninsula, parked, and embarked on our merry way. Old San Juan is a peninsula where the original colony of Spaniards, mixed with slaves and indigenous people, first came to live together. Essentially, Old San Juan is about 15 blocks by 10 blocks of cobblestone streets and hills resembling those of San Francisco. The apartments, bars, shops, and buildings are every color of the rainbow. The weather was absolutely beautiful. The temperature was in the 90’s, but combined with intermittent clouds, a refreshing ocean breeze, and bountiful shade from the plethora of shady parks, the climate could not have been better for our jolly Sunday stroll. The atmosphere in Old San Juan is very uplifting. We walked through the middle of the town and then clockwise from the port on the south end to El Morro on the Northside. El Morro is the oldest fort in the Western Hemisphere. It was established by Juan Ponce de León some years before he set off to Florida to search for the fountain of youth. Ironic were his objectives given that we now know Florida is the opposite of the fountain of youth. I would call it the fountain of comfortable aging. El Morro is a large, sturdy, seaside fort complete with multiple bastions for firing canons at invading pirates and plunderers. Sadly, the dream weekend had to come to an end and I had to take Andrea to the airport in the early evening. All in all, I had a wonderful four days with Andrea and the rest of the crew. It was a welcome break from our sometimes monotonous daily routine.

Posting Hiatus

I must apologize for not posting for some time now. As many of you may already know, the past 2-3 weeks for me hasn't been ideal. I hope to have a post up by the end of the week. It will include:

-the weekend of Andrea's visit
-the week of Dengue fever and all its joys
-the week back home recovering
-the status back in PR