Relaxation

The view from our 18th floor hotel room at the Caribe Hilton, San Juan

We have been in Puerto Rico these last 10 days or so. I have never needed a vacation like as badly as I did when we came. Can't remember when I've slept so much or so hard, and have been able to do anything or nothing. As I sit here on the balcony of the Rincon Beach Resort and Hotel, I am looking out onto a turquoise ocean, white sand, and beautiful palm trees lazily moving with the ocean breeze. There is an infinity pool, several cabanas, and acres of abandoned beaches stretching in either direction.

We spent six days with Sam's family over on the East side of the island, then three days at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan. I have never enjoyed a place like that hotel and Old San Juan. If you would like to see pictures of our trip, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/HernandezHouse08/PuertoRico2010# and double click on the first picture. You can look through and see where we've been and some of the sights so far. I am just far too lazy just now to try to upload these pictures here.

El Morro sentry tower at the gate of Puerto Rico, Old San Juan

I think that I'm even getting a hint of color in my cheeks and arms. It is rare to find someone more white than I am, so this is gratifying. When I left work at the last day before vacation, the Chair of my department intoned, "You need to be outside more, Barbara." Then Sam's auntie told me the same thing. Of course, the girls have always thought that I'm hilariously pasty-faced, so being outside in the sun may give me an advantage in more ways than I ever considered!
I think we're going kayaking in the ocean today, around the bends and over the backs of fish. The ocean is so clean here that one can look down about 4 feet and see fish swimming around, stones, shells, etc. It is truly beautiful.

One of the things that Sam told me when we bought our house is that he'd love to have it decorated like a Puerto Rican house. I had no idea of what that meant until I got here. But once here, and into several homes and lots of buildings, I am thinking of what would work with our space and belongings...the painting and redesign will really be fun for me. The observation tower in the Rain Forest Preserve

We will be leaving Rincon on Sunday morning, heading back to Levitown to have one last family bash before flying out on Monday morning from San Juan. We are getting weary of life away from the predictability of our own home environment, but it is doing us a world of good to be here. I will truly feel sad as I leave this magical place. We have helped the economy here considerably, and I feel as though I am leaving a pint of blood here--in the stomachs of mosquitoes and no-seeums that have fallen down my shirt and tortured my extremities since I've been here. There is just no lady-like way to rake at a patch of six bites over my "angel bone" on my back!

Porta Coeli, ca. 1609. Oldest church in the Western Hemisphere

The next few months will not be as vexing and stressful as the last few have been, so I hope to be more visible here after next week. Thanks for standing by.