Sapphire

After managing to catch a couple of publicos from Ponce to Fajardo I arrived at the ferry station in Fajardo around 11:00. I had intended on shipping myself off to the exotic, and much touted Culebra, which according to Puerto Ricans was essentially paradise, but the next ferry to Culebra left at 15:00, however, there was a ferry to Vieques at 13:00. I decided not to mess around the dock for an additional two hours so I settled for Vieques, despite some very conflicting safety information in our guide, which as it turns out most of the information was simply hype.

I waited for the ticket window to open, which opened roughly 40 minutes prior to departure, got my ticket and sat on the upper deck of the ferry for the next hour-and-a-half. The upper deck was nicer than the lower deck, primarily because of the air conditioning, but also because it was less crowded than the lower deck. As the ferry departed I noticed a short distance from the dock a partially sunken ship, which didn't give me a whole lot of faith in the captain of the ferry, though there was no indication there would have been any connection between our ferry and the other ship. Nevertheless, when you're leaving on an airplane, you're not going to feel great if you see the preceding airplane explode on the tarmac.

At 14:30 we arrived in Vieques and I caught a publico, which is apparently the only way to get around the island, unless you rent a jeep or bicycle. For three bucks the driver dropped us off at Esperanza, a small town, whose status as a town is somewhat confusing, especially since the entire island, which is 21-miles by three-miles, is home to a whopping three thousand. Before departing Fajardo I had semi-reserved a room at Banana's Guesthouse. I saved a fair amount by going for the room without air conditioning, a luxury I usually spring for, but as the hotel is located along the southern coast I figured I'd be cooled by a breeze and wouldn't need AC. The room was pretty basic, not having a television in room (though there was one at the bar), but it did have a small refrigerator, in which I put my can of Coke, that I forgot to take out.

A bit later I was talking with the a couple of the employees about laundromats and internet cafes. She pulled out a map and started showing me various places I could find several services at, but apparently around four o'clock some places will start closing down, while others are open for another hour or so. I decided to catch a publico to Isabel II and check the town out, when I came across a place called Blackbeard Sports, which is mainly just an outdoors shop, but I remembered something about them having internet access so I stayed there until about 17:30, though apparently they had already closed at 17:00.

The owner, Brian, or so I assumed him to be, was a nice guy and told me about several guided tours of the nearby "Bio Bay", which lights up various colors due to the organisms, who become illuminated when they feel threatened. These creatures will normally respond to boats and swimmers by illuminating themselves, and apparently tonight was supposed to be the night to see the bay. You can only see the illumination of the bay on cloudly or moonless nights, and as it happens a man with his daughter, who hailed from Northern Kentucky, near Cincinnati had told me that the lunar cycle for this particular night was a new moon, so the abscence of the moon would mean that seeing the illumination would be a piece of cake. I called a tour operator and was told the tour would cost $30. I was kind of disappointed. I don't really like tours, but this seemed like something that would be interesting and that I should see. With half-an-hour to go before the tour began I looked for publicos, but couldn't wave any down so I the lack of transportation effectively decided for me that I'd skip the tour.

I wandered around and found a restaurant called Richard's Cafe, or something similar. I ordered a coke, and went to the restroom to wash my hands, but upon my return the waitress discovered someone had stolen my coke, so she poured me another. I ordered a fish sandwich, and about an hour later the kitchen finally coughed up my food. While the unexplained wait for the food was annoying the sandwich was pretty good, and they made sure it was served hot. I guess when you have an hour to cook something it should be hot. After eating I had the waitress order another employee to call a publico for me. The publico arrived and the driver was the same one who had taken me from my hotel into Isabel II so I assumed there was no reason for me to tell him where I wanted to go, but he ended up taking me to the only "resort", Martineau Bay Resort & Spa, which is operated by a Sheraton brand. The driver looked at me liked he expected to get pay and get out, when I reminded him "Banana's". The driver's friend started to laugh hysterically, and I forced out a laugh too. I guess it was funny, but I couldn't follow the Spanish that followed the bursts of laughter, so the reason it was funny to me is that this driver apparently thought I had $400 or so to throw around for a room per night.

When I got back to the hotel I immediately fell asleep.

The next day I was intent on catching the ferry from Vieques to Culebra, but before doing so I wanted to get access to the internet so I set off looking for the nearby internet cafe I had been told about the day before. I had been directed to walk westward, then turn right at the first street, turn right when I reached then end of that street, then turn left and a cafe would be located on my right side. I walked westward and came to the first street a short distance from Banana's and turned right as directed. As I approached the mid-way point of the street I saw a middle aged woman come out of her yard and I believe she was tending to a few plants. She was probably fifteen or twenty feet from me, at the same time I heard thunderous barking and kind of jumped thinking a dog was trying to play with me, but was unable to because he/she/it was encaged by its fence, but then again this is Puerto Rico, where chickens cluck around neighborhoods and horses graze in the median of a busy San Juan highway.

As I turned to look at the dog I saw three very large and apparently hungry dogs barrelling down on me, showing their teeth, growling and barking. I booked it as fast as I could, and whipped my head around behind me to see how fast the dogs were running and I can tell you - they were fast. I ran faster, all the while the thought that dogs can run roughly 19 mph, while I can barely run 1 mph ran through my head.

At the end of the street I turned around ready to fight these vicious beasts to the death when to my delightful surprise I realized the dogs had given up chasing me. The middle aged woman, who watched the event burst out laughing as I tried to catch my breath and reduce my heart rate from 500 beats per minute to about 70 bpm. I glanced at the dogs and managed to state "Dogs loco,". The woman agreed. In unsure English she gave me the advice - "Don't run."

"Don't run!?" I replied back at her, which could be best translated as "Are you out of your fuc&*%$ mind!?" After catching my breath I wandered around a few more streets and gave up hope of finding the rumored internet cafe and approached the town on the side furthest from the home of the murderous dogs. Doing so took an extra fifteen minutes, but I wasn't about to race the dogs again.

I wrapped my time in Esperanza by gathering business cards and visiting the Vieques museum, which was founded to document and teach about the culture, history, and eco systems of Vieques.

I then caught a publico into Isabel II and tried to catch the ferry to Culebra, but big surprise – the ferry never showed up. This didn't really surprise me as it seems that places, services and whatever else in Puerto Rico that would have been helpful only works when people are not relying on that service. I retired to simply going back to the main island and flirted with the idea of flying back, but a publico driver was trying to take me for a ride (pun kind of not intended) by charging me $9 for a ride to the airport. Rather than not be screwed over by the island, yet again I decided to take the ferry. As I went up to the ticketing window for the ferry a riot broke out between two groups of passengers, who had just departed the ferry and were on their way home. A fat girl whaled on some skinny girl with a painful bitch slap, then hair pulling, kicking, tearing of shirts, and angry Spanish flying back between the various groups turned into a spectacle that required nearly six or seven cops to break the two groups up. A few smaller fights broke out between the groups, but were easily broken up, but the main "attraction" was kind of brutal.

I apparently had a panicked look on my face because they guy behind me said something that I looked worried that the locals were going to kill me. Apparently he missed the near-riot so I filled him into as to why I was somewhat concerned. He and I got to talking and it turned out he was on his way to the main island to beg some woman, who he had never met, but I suspect Jani, Evan, Maj and I met because she helped to run Casa del Caribe, the hotel in SJ we stayed at, for his job after she fired him for arguing with her on the phone.

After arriving in Fajardo I made my way to Luquillo and checked into the Luquillo Sunrise Beach Inn and played in the waves until I later saw Evan, as they were checking into the hotel.