The Martinez Mafia

On Saturday the 2nd we left for our 1st anniversary trip (a little early) to go to Puerto Rico and got back Saturday the 9th. We decided to go there because my sister-in-law, Becky, is from there and most of her family lives there. They were having a bunch of the family come in, including Becky and David, during the week we were there so that's why we decided to go ahead and go with them instead of waiting for our anniversary. We stayed with Abuelo Miguel and his wife and we had a blast! I thought that I forgot most of my Spanish from staying in Spain a few years ago but it all came back early in the week and if we had stayed longer than a week I'm sure I would be able to speak fluently. Since Becky and David come down quite often, they didn't do quite as many tourist things as Vincent and I. Also David's friends, Alex and Nick, came to Puerto Rico and joined us on a few tourist activities. To say the least, it was an amazing 1st anniversary trip and we are definitely looking into getting a summer home there so we can keep going back. If you haven't been there, GO!! But try to go to other cities besides San Juan because the island has prettier places. Abuelo Miguel lived in Humacao which was on the eastern side of the island and in my opinion the best side :)
Here are lots of pictures and videos of all the tourist things we did:

The 1st Day

Vincent and I at the beginning of our trip

Our tiny rental car that we grew to love

While waiting for Becky and David's airplane to land, we walked around San Juan and tried on various things, like the sassy sunglasses above.....

Hanging out at Abuela's (the other grandmother)

At Becky's other grandmother's house, she had all sorts of fruits and vegetables growing in her backyard, including the mango Vincent is munching on above

There were also avocado's growing in one of the trees...

My brother, David, and Becky's father, Greg, pulling coconuts down from a coconut tree in Abuela's yard

Becky's dad, Greg, cutting the outer layer of the coconut

Pulling off the outer layer of the coconut to get to the brown layer, the layer we're all familiar with

Drinking the coconut milk......yummy!

Fellow guest, Alex, found a small iguana in Abuela's backyard

The iguana actually has its' eyes closed......

Look at those claws! Wow!

Abuela's house is right by the beach......

Left to Right: Alex, me Vincent, Nick, David, Danny (Becky's cousin), Rubein (another cousin), and Greg

Sand dollars while they're still alive.....

A random horse tied up at the beach

The view to the left of Abuela's house

A Night in Fajardo, Puerto Rico

Having a few drinks at a bar, listening to a band play

Left to Right: Rubein, Alex, Vincent, Becky, David, and Nick

He loves when I take his picture.......

The amazing band at the bar

I don't know if you can tell but the drummer is about 9 years old

Click for a little sample of the music

Hiking & Ziplining in the Toro Negro Rainforest

Vincent, me, and Nick hiking in our sweet helmets that protect our heads from the rocks :)

Vincent and I in one of the spring water pools

The helmets are just the coolest :)

Pancho, the dog that, believe it or not, actually lived in the rainforest. Every time a group of hikers would come, he would meet them and go through the rainforest with them. Cool dog!

Vincent getting some love from Pancho

Vincent in front of one of the many waterfalls in the rainforest

Vincent, about to climb a baby waterfall

Nick, climbing one of the larger waterfalls

Taking a break before we did the ziplining

Vincent in one of the very cold waterfalls that I didn't go near....

Nick ziplining, I didn't catch the beginning because I wasn't ready

Vincent ziplining

Me ziplining with Vincent filming

Vincent ziplining again

Me holding the camera while ziplining

Vincent, taking a much needed break after ziplining

Sailing & Snorkeling in the Caribbean

Vincent and I snorkeling

Vincent, saying hi from the surface

Me, up close and personal

Vincent took this picture to show how clear the water is. The bottom of the ocean in this picture is about 15 feet below and you can see it clearly.

The island we were snorkeling near

Horseback Riding in the Rainforest

This video sums up my experience on the horse....

This video sums up Vincent's experience.....

Happy Birthday, Titi!!

The woman in the blue dress, Titi (Auntie), turned 90 on this day....Wow!! Everyone else in the picture is Becky's family that came to visit

All the guests of Puerto Rico: Alex, Becky, David, Vincent, Nick, and me

Singing Happy Birthday and then a special Spanish song after

Snuba Diving

Nick snuba diving (mixture of scuba diving and snorkeling)- I don't know if you can see but he has a starfish in his hand

Vincent keeping it real at the surface

Me, giving some love to the camera

Back to shore after Snuba diving......Sweet hair!!

San Juan

Vincent standing on the fortress in San Juan

The basketball court in the middle of the fortress walls

The graveyard between the fortress walls

The streets of San Juan remind me of the narrow ones in Italy....I love it!

Coming up on the Bacardi Distillery

About to go in Bacardi....

Our Hosts

Our lovely family we stayed with and fellow guests

From back to front: Abuelo Miguel, Becky, Abuela, Paola, Titi, and David, Me, Vincent, Nick and Alex

**SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST**

On the last day there, on the way to the airport, we had to drop off the rental car. Well, we found the rental car company and kept driving to find a gas station. We found one about a 1 ½ miles down from the rental car company. Well, Vincent got out and started filling up the car. After a few minutes he opened the door, turned the car on and then went back to filling up. I turned back to see Vincent’s face between his two hands, plastered against the window, looking in the direction of the dashboard. After a few minutes, he got in the car and we headed back towards the rental car place. Only, we found out that right after the rental car place, the road becomes 1 way and the only way to get back to it from where we are at is to go down 2 exits and then U-turn. Right after the U-turn I notice Vincent looking at the road and then quickly looking down at the gas gauge. After a few minutes of this, I finally ask what he’s doing. He responds “I’m not about to fill up a gas tank ALL the way when all the rental car company needs to see is that the tank looks full.” I then told him that would’ve worked if we hadn’t had to go down 2 exits and then back around again to get back to the rental car place. And, what do you know? As soon as we pull into the rental car place, the gas gauge goes down a notch. Vincent groaned and stopped the car. I reminded him that the rental car place would fill up the car all the way at $5.50 a gallon. This sparked motivation and he turned around and headed the other direction for a gas station. This time we found one right by the rental car place. Vincent jumped out of the car, went inside and prepaid $2.00 on our pump. He came out, filled up, and turned on the car……..nothing. He went back in and paid another $1.00 and came out again. Again, he got the same results. He looked at me and said “3 times is the charm”—another dollar. I guess that is just a saying because it did not work. At this point, he was agitated. He asked me to start searching the floor of the car, the coin tray in the car, and my wallet for spare change. While he was searching the backseat for change I heard him muttering “How is it possible that $3.00 doesn’t fill up the mile and a half I drove??? I’m not wasting any more of my dollar bills……stupid car.” So after scrounging we came up with $3.72. He then turned to me and dumped the change in my hand. “Can you go in there and pay? I think they think I might be a weirdo?” (Keep in mind that Vincent had changed pumps each time he prepaid, so I’m sure that the gas station attendant was well past “weirdo”) After I came out to see him almost done pumping I got in the car and started it. Absolutely nothing had moved that gas gauge. Vincent got in, looked flabbergasted, and then said “Forget this, I’ll pay the $5.50 a gallon.” So we pulled up to the rental car company to have one of the employees inspect the car for damages as well as the gas tank and sat while he did it. After he was done Vincent tried nonchalantly to ask “Ummm, so how much is filling up the gas tank going to run me?” The employee responds with “Oh, I’m not charging you anything. As long as you have it at least ¾ full, I don’t charge you.”

As we walked away I heard Vincent say “There goes $7.72 that I’ll never see again”. Poor guy………being cheap has its consequences.

So yesterday I was typing up some stuff for one of my doctors and then I remembered that I need to scan some documents in. So I went over to our scanner, stood in line and came back to my desk and resumed typing. But all of a sudden I came to the doctor's last name which is Nesmith. But it kept coming up on the document as Mesmith. So I looked down at my "N" key and hit it with 1 finger to make sure my chubby fingers weren't spilling over onto the "M" key. Still "M" came up when I hit the "N" key. I really started to feel crazy. Then I hit the "M" key and an "N" came up on my screen.

That's when I started telling everyone I could. I was making everyone type what they thought was an "M" and then look at the screen. It was freaking all of us out. I insisted that I had not left my desk since I began typing (I forgot about scanning the document). This just boggled everyone's mind even more because how did the "M" & "N" keys work halfway through typing then just stop working???

Well, then my friend Nicole just happened to casually mention that maybe my "M" & "N" keys had been switched around when I left my desk for a few moments. I checked out my cubemate's keyboard, and there it was---- my keys were supposed to be switched.....AMAZING. That seriously was the best prank I've ever had pulled on me!!