Day Four: The Trip for the Keyboard

Today was a real lesson for us in the difference between how things get done in Michigan and the way things get done around here. Are you ready??

Puerto Rico, including surrounding islands

We woke up around 5:15 this morning so we could catch the ferry to the main island to pick up my keyboard. Hannah wasn't too thrilled about this trip, but it had to be done, so off we went. We were traveling on the ferry with Abbie so we could split the cab ride from the ferry dock in Fajardo to San Juan and back with her. The morning ferry leaves Culebra at 6:30 and arrives in Fajardo around 8:00. It takes about 45 minutes to get from Fajardo to where we would drop off Abbie at her appointment and pick up the keyboard. If everything went according to how we do things in Michigan, that would mean we'd get pick up the keyboard around 8:45. It would take 15 minutes or so to retrieve the anxiously-awaited keyboard. 


Abbie had said that they were going to do some shopping and we should, too, as things are quite a bit cheaper and there's a lot more available, so I figured in an extra hour. Then I had figured we'd hop back in the cab, get Abbie from her doctor's appointment and get back to Fajardo to catch the next ferry by around 11, right?


Nope. That's NOT how things happen around here. 


First, the ferry was 15 or 20 minutes delayed in leaving. It's not that there was any known problem; I think it's just that no one in charge of taking us was in a rush. On the way over, some folks from Culebra were talking about the return ferry leaving at 3:00. That was when I realized that although our particular purpose for going to San Juan was singular and could be done pretty quickly, this trip was going to take a full day. 


Not only was the trip longer than I had anticipated, it was much more confusing as well. After we had dropped off Abbie at her appointment, we headed out to pick up the keyboard, which went very smoothly. However, Joel, our taxi driver, got a call letting him know Abbie wasn't going to be done with her appointment for a while so Hannah and I should go shopping. I had a shopping list, so that was no problem. Joel could just take me to a shopping center nearby. 


I asked about that and Joel responded positively, made another quick phone call and before I knew what was happening, Joel drove us about 40 minutes away to a shopping center that had some familiar-looking names (K-mart and PayLess Shoes) and dropped us off. He told us he was going to go back and retrieve Abbie, take someone else somewhere, and come back and pick us up at 1:30. So there we were, someplace on the main island of Puerto Rico and I have to be honest: my head was spinning!


We headed into the K-Mart, which gifted us with a marvelous little Puerto Rican adventure! We looked for things in an unfamiliar store marked completely in Spanish. What in the world is "articulos"???  We did find several things we were looking for and then finally I admitted to Hannah that I felt more than a little overwhelmed. She said she felt hungry. 


We decided to find lunch (it was 11:30 by then and we had eaten breakfast at 5:30) and Hannah noticed they had a little restaurant/diner in the K-Mart store. We went through the service line and examined the choices they had available. I recognized roasted chicken and rice. Beyond that, there was very little that looked familiar. Being the brave souls we are, however, we tried our best attempt at Spanish (You know, "Ola..."), and the sweet ladies in the hair nets behind the glass giggled at us (well, at me, anyway). After considerable deliberation we made our choices (which were all delicious), paid our bill and enjoyed our meal together. 


Our next stop was at the PayLess shoe store, as Hannah has already grown out of a pair of shoes that she has worn several times this summer. At 12 she is wearing the same size shoe I wear. Yikes! We picked up a pair for her and because there was a buy-one-get-one-half-off, we decided to pick up an extra pair of cheap flip-flips, too. It was weird trying to communicate with the sales people when they didn't speak any English at all. We wandered past the rest of the stores because unless there was something we really needed, we just weren't up to the language challenge.


Then we walked with our shopping bags in tow to the Walgreens, about a half mile away, because that's where Joel was picking us up. Not kidding. We had been told Walgreens carry post cards and Hannah really wanted to pick some up. Guess what. Walgreens doesn't carry postcards. We picked up some anti-itch spray to help ease the effects of the mosquito-bite-ridden arms and legs we both possess, and a few other incidentals and wandered around Walgreens until our 1:30 date with Joel. Didn't get any postcards.

Ferry Dock in Fajardo

Our faithful taxi driver picked us up at the appointed time and returned us safely to the ferry dock shortly after 2.  I then hauled my 95-pound keyboard in its case over to the ticket window across the street and then back across to board the ferry. We entered the ferry from the rear and I was instructed to take my "luggage" to the front of the boat. "Okay," I thought with gritted teeth, wondering if no one else noticed that this thing was about ready to pull my arms out of their sockets and is about the size of a casket, "I can do this." Although I don't speak Spanish, I KNOW some of them were saying some not-very-nice things about this strange woman with the monstrosity of a case. I don't think I took anyone's legs off, but I can't guarantee that some of the other  passengers don't have really big bruises from that case. 


The return trip included the discovery that my phone is broken. Yes, broken. Our only phone. No, Culebra has no Sprint store to pick up another one. I'm sure there's one somewhere on the main island, but another all day trip is not going to happen this week or probably any time soon. So please don't try to call me for at least a week. Email will work! Tomorrow I'm mailing my insured phone to Stan and he's going to get it replaced and mailing the new model back to me. 


I was determined to not allow this (or any of the other) mishap(s) to dampen our day. Abbie had met back up with us on board and we all chatted quite happily. By the time we docked in Culebra, though, we were all pretty pooped. The problem was, I still needed to unload the keyboard, get it to my car, deliver it to school, and then get it into the school. It wasn't pretty to watch, but it's all done. My arms are probably two inches longer than they were this morning at 5:30, but it's all done.


We rewarded ourselves with a swim at Zoni beach, and then came home, feasted on PBJs and Skyped with Stan. Hannah's now asleep and I'm headed there shortly.


So today was yet another opportunity to be stretched in more ways than one. Thank You, God, for today's opportunities. Yes, I really mean that. Good night!