January 24, 2025 - Friday


Good morning, Puerto Rico! We all headed to bed early last night, understandably. And today, we're well rested (except for Ben, who slept badly and is not well rested). We met with Chels and Frank around 10 and followed them to Charco el Hippie. I decided to drive because following people drives Ben crazy in America, let alone PR! 

The driving here is definitely different. It's not like it's bad or even aggressive, but people just pull over everywhere, no matter who is behind them. And when someone wants to pull onto the road, they just put the nose of their car out 3-4 feet until someone stops for them. It's kind of crazy. The potholes are wild and people will just swerve around you whenever they feel like it. On the upside, nobody has been driving fast at all and nobody is rude so far. It's not too bad! Just different.

After the hour drive to Charco el Hippie, we got some bad news. It rained so much last night that the waterfall was rough and the river was moving too swiftly for us to jump into. We got there and climbed around on the rocks a bit, while the kids complained about how hot they were. Finally, I told the kids to get into the shallow part, at least, to cool off. That's when the fun began! We all started to get into this pretty shallow pool, and then ventured out into a deeper part where we found some rocks to hang onto so we wouldn't get swept away. Chels checked the depth and decided it was safe enough for the kids to jump off of one of the higher rocks. So fun! They jumped for like an hour, while Chelsea and I hung out in the deep part catching them.

After the waterfall, we went to a food truck court for lunch. Me, Ben, and Jonas all got Puerto Rican food and the girls got smoothies and french fries. It took like 45 minutes for our food to be done and we were the only customers! 😅 Chelsea said it's always like that in PR and that's why they hardly ever eat out. Luckily, there was good music playing and a nice, shady place to hang out in comfortable chairs. All the other adults got some beers, and we had a good time just talking and hanging out. We weren't done with lunch until almost 3 and then headed back to the condo for beach time and pool time! 





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