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(note: this is one of my pre-scheduled posts set to appear at 5:00am EST each morning I am in a port city. I will post follow-up information about each trip once I am able to get back on the computer.)
These are the trips I will be going on today...
Horseback Riding at Hacienda Carabali (Time: 0800 - 1200)
(I got assigned to be the "trip leader" for this trip so luckily I will get this event paid for in part. If you get picked to be the trip leader and the trip is under $50, you get that full amount paid for. If the trip is between $50-$100, you get up to $50 back. If the trip is over $100, a faculty member gets 50% paid for. Trip leaders essentially are responsible for acting as a liaision with the tour operator leading the trip and for keeping students on schedule. It is up to the trip leader to keep track of which students are late and, if necessary, to make the decision to leave without them if they do not follow the schedule. Students get penalized with "dock time" in the next port if they aren't back to the ship or if they cause the group to be delayed.)
Description:
After a 45-minute drive from San Juan, enjoy an exciting journey on horseback through a spectacular natural forest environment at the foothills of Hacienda Carabali. The trails lead you along the Mameyes River. Horseback lessons and guidance are provided. (PRICE: $75.00)
Bioluminscent Bay (Time: 1630 - 1930)
(I got assigned to be the "trip leader" for this trip so luckily I will get this event paid for in part. If you get picked to be the trip leader and the trip is under $50, you get that full amount paid for. If the trip is between $50-$100, you get up to $50 back. If the trip is over $100, a faculty member gets 50% paid for. Trip leaders essentially are responsible for acting as a liaision with the tour operator leading the trip and for keeping students on schedule. It is up to the trip leader to keep track of which students are late and, if necessary, to make the decision to leave without them if they do not follow the schedule. Students get penalized with "dock time" in the next port if they aren't back to the ship or if they cause the group to be delayed.)
Description:
The Greek philosopher Aristotle described the phenomenon of bioluminescence thusly, "You strike the sea with a rod by night and the water is seen to shine." Primarily a marine phenomenon, bioluminscence is the ability of living organisms to emit light. Bioluminescence is created through a process of oxidation: luciferin is oxidized in the presence of the catalytic enzyme luciferase, which produce light-generating cells called photophores. There are only four bioluminescent locations known to man, and Puerto Rico has three of them. Travel by motorcoach to the warm protected waters of Las Cabezas Bioluminescent Lagoon (approximately one hour) and then board two-person kayaks. Paddle through the mangroves where you will be able to appreciate nocturnal animal life, as well as iguanas recharging their energies for their next activities. The most common color of bioluminescence is blue, although red, orange, yellow, green and violet may also be found. Please note: The maximum weight limit for the kayak is 250 pounds. (PRICE: $63.00)
Some links relating to today's trips...
- http://www.gsipuertorico.com/pages/pinacle_tours/horseback_riding.html
- http://www.nationalgeographic.com/media/world/9805/glow/
Update:
Today was my day of physical exertion (this is coming from a person who has the body of a reader). Surprisingly, my body didn’t throw up from this demand on it (yet). I woke up early and was the trip leader for the horseback riding trip. This essentially meant I passed around a sign up sheet on the bus, told them I would need three people to fill out evaluations on the trip on the return bus ride and I gave them the warning that if they wanted to leave the trip for any reason, they had to tell me so I could check them off the list. At the end of the trip, I round them all up and threaten that I will leave without them if they aren’t on the bus or are holding us up and then I do a head count and tell the bus driver when it’s okay to go.
The horseback riding trip was a lot of fun. I had never been horseback riding before and I definitely think I would do it again. We took a 45 minute or so bus ride to the place and a mangy looking dog greeted the bus as we pulled up and watched as everyone got off. There were about 4 or 5 dogs at the place and all of them seemed to like going up to people and getting a good rub down. We were then led to the area where we signed our names on the waiver form. The guys that worked there eventually gave us a brief introduction to riding (don’t pull back on the reins unless you want the horse to stop and move the reins to the right to get it to go right and to the left to get it to go left…to get it to go, just give it a little kick if it isn’t already following the horse immediately in front of it).
horses in the stable at Hacienda Carabali in Luquillo, Puerto Rico
They then asked us to divide ourselves into three groups – those who had never been riding before, those who had gone two or three times in the past and those who were experienced riders. There seemed to be an equal amount of us in each group. They then started pulling the horses one-by-one out of the holding area they were in. When they pointed to me, I went to the horse and then put my left foot in the stirrup and hauled my other leg over. As we were waiting for the entire group to get saddled up, some of the horses people were already on began to do stuff – namely piss, poop and fart. As we began riding, this farting seemed to be epidemic which was actually pretty funny at times because the horses would be running along and farting at the same time.
At one point we got to another horse holding area and they asked us if we all knew the names of our horses (because we were going to dismount for a while and then get back on after a short break). Mine was apparently named Pepa. We waited for a short while at the holding area and the guides sold water from for $1 there.
taking a short break from horseback riding at Hacienda Carabali in Luquillo, Puerto Rico
(click here for bigger version of the video)
a student taking a short break from horseback riding at Hacienda Carabali in Luquillo, Puerto Rico
(click here for bigger version of the video)
After about 20-30 minutes, they started pulling the horses back out and called out each horse’s name so that we would know which one to get back on. After doing that, we continued along the rest of the trail and then finished the ride where we started. It was there that they had photos of each person (taken when we initially mounted the horses at the beginning) that they were selling for $10 a piece. I got someone to take a photo of me on the horse as I was about to get off at the midway point so I didn’t feel the need to buy mine.
me horseback riding at Hacienda Carabali in Luquillo, Puerto Rico
I rounded everyone up and then we got on the bus around noon. Everyone seemed to have a good time and I thought it was funny that two or three students asked me “Did YOU have a good time?” (maybe they were in doubt that one of their professors had the capability of having fun…I just thought it was kind of funny how a number of them did this).
Upon returning to the ship, I immediately took a nap. I was going to be leading the Bioluminescent Bay trip that was leaving at 4:30 pm so I had a few hours to catch up on some sleep. I woke up around 4:00 pm or so and then headed back down to disembark the ship.
The Bioluminescent Bay trip was a lot of fun too…we had two buses of students going on it for a total of 65 people. One of the staff members on the ship was the bus leader for the other bus. I repeated all the “trip leader” spiel to the bus of people I was taking and we took an hour and a half drive out to the place. We were given release forms to sign to fill out when on the bus so we would save time once we got there.
When we got there, a guide came on the bus and said he would be collecting our forms and that we should leave any electronic equipment or anything of value on the bus because we would be getting wet. I left my camera on the bus so I wouldn’t be without one for the rest of the trip so unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of the trip (it was probably too dark to take any good photos anyway). We got life jackets and the guide asked us to get a partner to kayak with (each kayak held two people) and the Academic Dean (the guy who hired me) was on the trip and asked me if I had a partner when we were getting our lifejackets on. The guide then gathered us around to give us a basic introduction to kayaking.
They then told us there would be a bucket to put our shoes in as we went down the little ramp to the water. We all eventually got in our kayaks and then they led us to the mangrove entrance a little ways away. I was sitting in the front of the kayak and the repeated motion of rowing and sitting in the position of having my legs straight out in front of me made me feel tired quickly. My stomach muscles and arm muscles were getting all the work and I couldn’t just stop paddling whenever I wanted. Each kayak had a red blinking light on the back of it and we soon found that once in the mangrove swamp area, we had to just follow the red light in front of us. It was extremely dark and we made several left and right turns in the dark to get to the open bay area where the bioluminescence is seen.
After about 20 minutes or so of paddling we got to the open area and they asked us to gather all of our kayaks around so the guide could make sure we were all there. At that point, I was glad to stop paddling and give myself a rest.
The guide then gave a short talk about bioluminescence – essentially saying that motion in the water activates the chemicals in the organisms in the water that cause them to glow (the same chemical reaction that occurs in fireflies). He said if we waved our hand around in the water we would see little glowing bubbles around them – everyone did this and it was pretty neat. He then said we could get in the water (one person per kayak at a time) if we wanted to see our bodies glowing. Some students did this. Mike, the academic dean, asked me if I wanted to do this and I said I would be afraid I wouldn’t be able to pull myself back into the kayak after getting out (the water was 18 feet deep at that point). He said he had back problems so he wasn’t going to get in the water either. I think being in the kayak was sufficient enough! They let us paddle around the bay area for a little while and if you really dug your paddle into the water, you could see the bioluminescence pretty strongly. If it were an hour later it would have been even darker out, but the trip was fun regardless. We then were led to paddle back through the same dark, narrow passageway that we came through. Going back didn’t seem to be as strenuous for some reason so I guess I got used to it.
They then had bottles of water and little packets of cheap cookies for us to take for free after we got out of the kayaks so we ate those before I rounded everyone back on the bus. We got back to the ship around 10:00 pm.
