Puerto Rico
I arrived at DFW yesterday, and waited in no lines. I did the self check, and there was no one waiting in the x-ray line. It was straight to the front each time! Very nice! I've learned how to pack light; therefore, I don't have to mess with checking a bag. I arrived in PR last night after a 4 hour flight from DFW, which covered Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, the Bahama, Caicos and Turk Islands. I was very happy that I could still get my cellphone coverage here. My phone never changed times for time zones, so I thought there wasn't going to be a satellite connection. I arrived at my hotel, Coral By The Sea, a mile from the airport. For $80/night my hotel was pretty primitive, but I know that God is gradually weaning me from the American lifestyle so there's not so much of a culture shock in Haiti. I was hoping for one last hot shower, but that was cold too! After being awake for 28 hours, and not eating all day I was hungry and tired. I showed up in the formal restaurant in my sweats and ate a tasty chicken breasts with creole sauce and seasoned rice. Then this morning an omlette with french fries. So far so good on my gluten free diet! Sometimes the options are slim pickings, but the slim pickings were delicious this time.
Everyone at the airport, the taxi driver, hotel attendant, and the waitresses all spoke English. I guess I look American so they all started off by speaking English with me. I took 4 years of French in high school. The Spanish that I do know is from my 6 week exploratory class in the 8th grade and the majority of my foreign speaking patients. I was a little worried about the communication, then today my taxi driver knew very little English. He was asking me questions in Spanish and I knew what he was saying! I try to get by with what little Spanish I do know with my Spanish speaking patients who know little English. When they don't know what I'm saying in English I sometimes use the french word, and sometimes they understand what I am saying. So when the taxi cab driver was speaking this morning I recognized some of his words because they were similar to french. Now when I stop to think about it, I should have never worried to begin with. I have plenty of experience with Spanish speakers and I always get by, and achieve what needs to be done.
The night shift messes with my body for a day or two after coming off of it, and reorienting it into a regular schedule gets tricky. Last night I didn't have my air conditioner programmed the right way so my room was getting humid and the smoke alarm was beeping like the battery was going low. After 3 or 4 hours of sleep I woke up and had a tough time falling back to sleep, despite being awake for over a day before. My body is very rebellious that way, and no matter how tired I am I usually pop a Benadryl to keep me asleep for a good 8 hours. I thought I could get by not doing it last night. I was wrong! It takes about 12 hours for the Benadryl to wear off, so I usually wake up with a Benadryl hangover, but this week I bought the pills instead of capsules and split it in half. I slept through the day, and woke up without a hangover.
So I set my alarm clock to wake me up 3 hours before leaving for my flight. My layover by the way was 15 hours in Puerto Rico. I had a choice between Miami, Alanta, or Puerto Rico as my layovers. The decision was tough. So this morning I got up and walked to the sea, which was 2 blocks from my hotel. I stopped to get my usual Starbucks iced coffee, which usually comes to $1.83 in Dallas or $2.17 in the highly taxed Chicago. Today the same coffee was $3.91!!!!!! $3.91?!?! I know they were thinking “(in my foreign voice)Stupid Americans! They want their coffee! We'll overcharge them!” They're right! I'll do anything to have my coffee! Substance abuse at it's best!
Well once again my lines were very short at the airport this morning. I got here a couple hours early, and was checked and x-rayed in 20 minutes. A guy had 2 cats and I carried one through for him. I told him I hated cats from growing up on the farm, and the infestation we experienced! Lol! Our last cat that I had any emotional attachment to, died about 3 years ago. Never again though! So now I'm waiting for my flight to Port Au Prince, and am going to monkey around with my new camcorder to figure out how to upload my videos for all to see! Until next time, God Bless!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA6cnNzRUk0 San Juan Beach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMu7ljLXLfQ The Hotel
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