puerto rico, the bahamas... on the way to brazil!

Okay, so i had this big long post written out on my computer but now i can't find it, so that's not very helpful. The Bahamas were awesome, i mean who could complain about gambling and sitting on the beach all day drinking bahama mamas? we went swimming with the dolphins, and as soon as i figure out how to put pics up here i will. the dolphins were fun, we even got to do the "foot push" which is the whole titanic thing pushing through the water. We embarked- some nice shipboard language for yall there- on sunday, the 4th. after waiting in the scorching heat for like two hours, we got on, and i settled in to find my wonderful roommate. we didn't have class until the day before puerto rico, so it was pretty much one big pool party there for a little while. we got to puerto rico, and just kinda bummed around old san juan, which by the way, is absolutely gorgeous. the night before you get off the ship at a port, they give you a preport briefing on political situations, diplomatic situations, etc. basically safety stuff. their advice for puerto rico? keep amorous behavior to a minimum. (amorous behavior meaning sex, because they have had a very bad recent outbreak of stds) . hey, at least they let us know... the morning we got here, the governor got on, andgave a speech on puerto rico. so he's basically their president. by the way, p.r. is a u.s. territory, not state, not country. I GOT TO MEET HIM. yeah, seriously, got to shake his hand and everything, but no picture of it :(. that afternoon, we (friends and i) walked around old san juan, looking at the forts and such, and trying out local beer. that night we went to a welcome reception to interamericana university-puerto rico. they taught us how to salsa, and we also got to try a bunch of different puerto rican food. it's pretty much all delicious, probably because most of it is fried. but either way, all puerto rican food that i have had has been amazing. the next day, we went to the western part of the island to visit the rio camuy cave system. we started out hiking, and hiking. and hiking. it kinda sucked, but the guide would look back, see that i was about to die, then conveniently give a little factoid about whatever tree, region, etc. we were close to. :) i wasn't the fat kid on the trip, just the only one who wasn't afraid to let him know. anyways, we waded through a river, then jumped off a 6 ft rock into freezing cold water. after that, we hiked up a mountain. yes an entire mountain, to lunch. the family that fed us is completely self sufficient. they have an organic farm, outside showers, solar-powered everything, their own water supply (the river) and they zipline across the river in emergencies. it reminded me of spy kids :) they didn't filter their water at all, because p.r. happens to have one of the most naturally clean water supplies in the world. after a traditional puerto rican lunch, we ziplined across the river, then rapelled down a 90 ft. cliff. After that, we hiked back up the mountain and left... that night we had BIOLUMINESCENT BAY. Pretty much amazing trip. It has something to do with the dinoflagellates and plankton in the water, and the conditions are perfect here. P.R. has 3 or 4 out of the 7 in the entire world. it looks like little bitty lights are crawling all over you if you put anything in the water. We swam and stuff, etc. then kayaked back. i should mention that intoxicated kayaking is never something i would recommend, and here's why: granted, it made the sparkly things look a little more sparkly. but, downside is that there is a very narrow channel to go through to get there. i, the trusty captain, was not sober enough to steer correctly, so i ended up putting my first mate (dayna, girl in front) into the trees. we had gotten a little tipsy because they didn't have enough kayaks for our group to go, had to wait for another group to get back, and there happened to be a bar right there. so needless to say, we went straight to bed that night. okay, well, that's pretty much all for now, oh, and sangria is really good yall should try it. internet minutes are running out very quickly. i miss everyone!!!