Puerto Rico - Day Four

I slept so good last night - must have been those two rum and cokes. I sat and talked for a while with a sick man whose father had just died. He was in Puerto Rico to bury his dad and sell his house and boat. I didn't even ask this guy what his name was. He'd traveled all over the world growing up. I asked him why he didn't keep his dad's boat, and he told me he thought he'd lost interest in boating from spending so much time having to help his dad work on his.

I ate two bananas for breakfast. It's the only thing I can handle in the morning these days. I think I've eaten more bananas already on this trip than I have in the last year. Which is funny, cause I've only eaten like five. Here's the Hotel Fantasia something or other in Boqueron.


Right now, I am in Boqueron at the public beach. If any place in Puerto Rico called me, it was this area. It's really cold and windy and rainy here. I haven't found a place to stay here yet and it's early in the day, so I don't necessarily need to stay. I should have gone to Politos before I left Salinas, but I was on a manatee high and wasn't thinking clearly.

Ain't life weird? A bunch of loud American dudes just mixed me a drink on the beach and then tried to get my phone number. There are seriously like 5 of them. From New York. My first reaction (as always) was: whatever.

Then circumstances brought these folks back into my world (my hotel was across the street from theirs and I heard them in the pool area), and I ended up eating dinner with them. I absolutely wouldn't have if they hadn't had a woman with them. The woman's name was Irene, and I dug her spunky new yorkiness. They were eaters, let me tell you. Food people. It was quite a spread. And they were loud. I am pretty uncomfortable with public loudness normally, but as I got used to it, it was kind of fun. It ended up being a weird/good night. After dinner we walked around town and had a couple drinks together and told stories and jokes. It was nice to talk to people, and they were all really warm and kind and generous to each other and to me.