Copeology: Puerto Rico

For spring break this year we packed our bags and headed to Puerto Rico with Austin and Lacey. The trip started off with a bang when Lacey told us in the airport that we were going to be an aunt and uncle. Hooray! Also in the airport on the way there, Austin made friends with a native Puerto Rican woman named Carmen who invited us to stay at her house during our adventure. This turned out to be very helpful because it was a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of trip, and we ended up needing a place to stay!

When we landed in Puerto Rico, we couldn't find a car to rent. This put us in something of a predicament that landed us in a nasty hotel in San Juan with a slight delay in our journeyings. The next morning we were able to find a car, and we loaded up and headed to the southern part of PR, a place called Gilligan's Island. Now this is not THE Gilligan's Island, but it was still a beautiful place. We took a ferry out and played for a few hours. The island was divided by a river that connected the ocean on either side. We explored this river and saw a water snake!

Boys will be boys.

Ben decided to grow a mustache for the trip. Oh so handsome.

After the adventure at Gilligan's Island, we drove to Aguadilla on the west side of the island where we found a nice hotel to stay in for a few days. From here, we visited the cave system of Camuy. There was a long wait (which allowed for these photo-ops), but the caves were breathtaking.

On this excursion, we also visited the Arecibo radio telescope in the middle of the jungle. Fancy.

After our time on the west side of the island, we headed back to San Juan, after which we enjoyed the east side.

In San Juan we visited the San Cristobal fortress.

We enjoyed some fine dining at Marmalade, a restaurant made famous for its white bean and black truffle soup. Seriously, the best soup I've ever tasted. Ever.

We spent the next few nights with Carmen.

From Carmen's house we visited El Yunque rainforest. The fauna was amazing. We had a lot of fun hiking around to different lookout towers and waterfalls.

On our last day (Sunday), we took a ferry out to another island: Vieques. We were planning on a lazy day on the beautiful beaches of this island and were delighted to find a church building across the street from the ferry station when we got off the boat. The members were in Sunday School and would be starting sacrament meeting in 20 minutes. We hung around and enjoyed the Spanish meeting. We were able to see a recent convert receive the Aaronic Priesthood. There was a strong spirit in this tiny branch, and I was thrilled to be able to attend church. Ben translated the talks for my benefit.