After breakfast, we put up the Christmas tree. There are few things more stressful to me than putting up the Christmas tree (and in truth, it's Josh that puts the tree together). I think it's the Christmas lights that get to me. There is hardly a year that goes by without my incurring some type of breakdown due to the Christmas lights. Seriously, I must invest in a pre-lit tree to save my sanity. This year, the tree is crooked and only 3/4 of the lights come on when you flip the switch on the wall - NICE and CLASSY! But, I'm not much of a "Christmas-y" person anyway.
You can see by the pictures below, however, that Josh has the holiday spirit :)
Later that same night, I was off to catch a flight to Puerto Rico so I could "chaperone" two students who were attending the Latino Insitute's Technology in Education conference. I say "chaperone" because one student is older than me and is raising three kids.
We caught the red eye flight leaving Phoenix at midnight and arriving in Charlotte, NC around 6:30 am. The flight was bumpy so I didn't get much sleep. Upon arriving in Charlotte, one of my students laid down flat on the floor to sleep while I (despite the fact there were immovable armrests) laid on my side across three seats and using my suitcase (which was the perfect height) as a pillow.
The connecting flight from Charlotte to San Juan was fairly empty so although I had an entire exit row to myself, I moved seats because the arm rests didn't move. I found a row with three empty seats and moveable armrests. I was able to lay down flat and catch about 2 hours of sleep which was AWESOME.
We landed in Puerto Rico, navigated baggage claim for the students, found a taxi, and were on our way to La Concha Resort. The hotel is very nicely remodeled and all rooms are ocean view. Check in, however, was a nightmare. Our room wasn't ready for 3 hours after we arrived which normally wouldn't have been such a big deal but everyone needed to shower to get ready for the conference.
While we waited, we ate lunch at Latin Star, a local Puerto Rican restaurant. I didn't know what anything on the menu was so I went with something that had chicken, rice, and plantains in it. For those of you who know me, you know I love to travel and be adventurous, however, I'm not typically adventurous with what I eat. My dish was absolutely amazing though and I could go for eating some of it right now even.
Then, we waited some more by sitting on the beach outside of the hotel. With 45 minutes until the conference started, I had to go to the front desk to put my foot down. They gave us two rooms on the same floor and we were off to get ready.
La Concha Resort
View of the ocean from Latin Star restaurant...too bad we were still wearing our jeans, sweats, and long sleeves from traveling!
Amazing dish called Mofongo con Pollo (mashed seasoned plantains with chicken)
View inland from the 12th floor where the first networking reception was held
Oceanview from the 12th floor
There was a wine sampling event that night. I have a non blurry picture as well, however, I think the fuzziness is pretty and captures the mood. When I thanked the guy whose company was providing the wine, he didn't speak/understand English. But he said something that the group translated for me as, "We don't have to speak the same language to understand the beauty of wine."
Oceanview from my 6th floor room at night. The green glow in the foreground is a swimming pool.
There was a wine sampling event that night. I have a non blurry picture as well, however, I think the fuzziness is pretty and captures the mood. When I thanked the guy whose company was providing the wine, he didn't speak/understand English. But he said something that the group translated for me as, "We don't have to speak the same language to understand the beauty of wine."
Oceanview from my 6th floor room at night. The green glow in the foreground is a swimming pool.
Swimming in the ocean. I have this thing when the water is cold and I am going to swim, I RUN as fast as I can and fall into the water. Yes, I did that in Puerto Rico, too.
El Morro-the first fort built in Puerto Rico.
Although this pic is blurry, I love the colors and the shape of the arches.
Janell and Judith
View from El Morro
Cemetary
Cemetary
This cemetary was so beautiful.
OLD SAN JUAN:
The San Juan cobblestones have a bluish tint.
We left Puerto Rico on Wednesday morning after a terrible time checking out that still hasn't been settled. The front desk is by far the WORST part of the La Concha hotel. We flew up to Philidelphia and I had my fist philly cheese steak sandwich. It was good but the meat was ground up rather than being strip steak like I thought. I leave you with a goofy pic taken when I wasn't ready-ha ha!
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