Leaving the hectic city of Casablanca behind, I head by CTM bus for a 6.5 hour drive to Chefchouen, know as the Blue Pearl of Morocco. The bus heads back through Rabat and then onward. We make a bathroom/snack stop and I grab a delicious grilled meat with tomatoes and onions.
Two sweet women help me translate the Arabic to know when to be back at the when we make stops (they were grateful as I switched seats so that they could be together). Another stop was made in a town called Ouazzane. We drive through many farming areas with goat herders and donkey carts and people selling produce such as tomatoes and pumpkin like squash. Head through the Rif mountains and arrive around 8pm. Take a taxi to Bab Souk, where my Dar owner meets me and walks me to the place I am staying. Much safer than the cities, I can walk around after dark. 
The city is beautiful in all of its colors of blue, even at night. The streets are cleaner and there is a faint smell of jasmine. Cats and kittens are everywhere. Some look sick, and I am afraid they don't look long for this world. But most people leave dishes of water outside their houses for them and food (although often it is bread, which I don't think is likely good for cats).
I wake up early the next morning (accidentally waking my Dar owner, as I didn't know he sleeps outside my room on a couch) and walk the mostly empty streets. The blues change hues with the light. Soon, the kids all start walking to school. A dog starts following me around and scares the cats. I finally have to walk him back and find his owner so he stops following me. Head back to my Dar for a delicious breakfast. 
An omelette, fresh local goat cheese and olives, crepes with local honey and butter, and bread with jam and nutella butter. And of course, coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice. The selfie stick tourists start arriving in full force. Thursday is market day and Bab Souk is busy. People are very against photos, so I don't take many. 
I run in to the woman from bus, who greets me warmly and has now joined her husband and son. I find a painter who invites me in and lets me watch him paint. In the afternoon, I walk to the Old Spanish Mosque and sit with many others, awaiting the sunset. Along the way, someone picked fresh, delicious figs from a nearby tree and shared them with me. It is a great view of the city and the sunset did not disappoint! 
Wander to the main town plaza and listen to a bit of music before heading to a new restaurant that opened two weeks ago and have delicious kefta tangine. Little meatballs with spices swim in a tomato sauce with an egg soft boiled in the sauce, served piping hot with fresh bread. It may be my new favorite meal.
The next morning is Friday, the religious day. I am also excited, as I was told by Jalal in Casablanca that Friday is for couscous. You can get it any day in restaurants, but Fridays are when people make large batches in their homes for sharing after prayer. And supposedly, you need to try couscous from someone's house, not in a restaurant. I had anxiously been counting the days down to Couscous Friday! But I had no leads on how to get an invite to someone's house for couscous. After another delicious breakfast, I head back out to wander. I roam from near the top of the town, down to the bottom around the commercial district full of clothes for locals. 
There are cute little town squares to stop in, each with their own decorated tile spot for people to get water. I head back around the kasbah, where I had spoken to a Berber from the desert that sold gems, rocks, and minerals. I watch his shop for him as he goes for prayer and we sit and chat for quite a while. And score! He invites me for couscous, as he is friendly with many of the neighbors and a woman sends over a heaping plate when it has is done. 
It is delicious cooked with well seasoned broth and topped with a bit of meat, potato, carrot, cabbage, and a zucchini like vegetable. We share the huge plate of couscous using a makeshift table on top of the rocks, gems and minerals. Unlike instant, fast cooked couscous, the couscous here is slowly steamed on top of the ingredients while occasionally hand rolled in olive oil to keep it from sticking. A teenager pops in to the shop and sheepishly joins us for the woman's couscous. Apparently, his mom also made couscous, but he likes the neighbor lady's better. Ha! With my Friday goal achieved, I wander around more. 
Had thought of going to nearby hikes and Akchour waterfalls by shared taxi, but I heard it has been so dry lately that it was not as impressive right now. So instead, I end up playing with a mom cat who purrs with chin rubs and her two kittens at a rug shop. I head to a restaurant for lamb and prune tangine for dinner and head back to my Dar, where the owner is always there to greet me with a big smile and see if I need anything like coffee or mint tea.In the morning, I pack my backpack and have a quick breakfast before heading for the bus. I walk instead if taxi, as it is downhill and I need to get more cash as the next few accommodations only accept cash and there is a withdrawal limit. It is my first cloudy day of the trip, but only about three rain drops, so luck out. Catch the bus for 4 hour 45 minute bus ride (which included a rest stop at a strange gas station/butcher and grill/cafe/random peacocks roaming about and a sad monkey in a cage on a leash). This bus is mostly tourists, with a few local Moroccans (as opposed to the Casablanca to Chefchouen bus that had the opposite ratio of locals to tourists). We pass more farm land, grape yards, and a large lake. We stop at a more touristy place for snacks/bathroom break that had a sad, lone Barbary macaque in a cage and random peacocks roaming around. Arriving in Fes is quite a change. It is a huge city. Took a taxi to my Dar (he ripped me off a bit as he told me 20 dirham for a shared taxi and then said he had said 30 once we arrive... which I know was a lie (I confirmed 20 dirham twice before getting in) and I told him "if you REALLY need the extra 10 dirham, even though you told me 20" which he did not seem to like. Whatever, it's a dollar, but I don't like being lied to. My Dar came and collected me and it is, like most places I have stayed, absolutely spotless and a beautiful display of the local architecture and decor. Wood ceilings, beautiful metal lamps, colorful tile work and plasters, and copper bathroom fixtures.
The location is also great, as it is close to the Blue Gate and the Batha Poste entrance of the Medina. I wander the streets, and surprising only really get slightly panic lost once (there are reportedly over 9,000 streets in the medina). It helps that my accommodation is near the entrance that is at the highest point, so when in doubt, "head uphill" on one of the main streets. It is chaotic and amazing. 
I was nervous for Fes as I had heard horror stories that women shouldn't travel alone here and kids constantly hassle you and give you wrong directions and get you lost. It is a little unnerving walking through this narrow, single wide, unlit alleys. But I just try to appear confident and walk close to women if I get nervous. But everyone I met was kind and helpful, offering all types of information about the history and area and never asking for money. The shop owners kid around, but are not pushy. "Come have a look! Where are you from?" I laugh and say I will come look if they can guess where I was born. "China? Japan? Korea? Uh, Mexico? Morocco? I don't know." 
Ha! I was going to save most of the sightseeing for the next day, but run into a guy from Australia that imports goods and he is going to the Chouara Tannery to pick up a leather jacket to mail so he takes me with him. They let me look over these expansive vats, and tell me all about the process. Square vats of white and greys that have pigeon poop that people collect and sell to them to break down the leather with its ammonia. And then various colors of dye. It is a bit stinky, but really beautiful. 
They show me the shop, but don't push me to buy anything or charge me an entrance fee like I had heard. Not sure if they are just worn out by the end of the day, or the stories I heard were incorrect. I was told there was a widowed women coop owned by the government that was worth checking out the next day, as it was closed for the day. But I happened to wander past it and they invited me in. Inside was a huge, old palace with many rooms for his four wives. They let me up on the roof for a spectacular view. Even invited me to stay for dinner, but I didn't want to impose.
The next morning, I get up early and watch the sun rise over Fes. I start wandering when most things are closed and the streets and alleyways are far less busy. As things open, it is magical. Shop owners come and open the unassuming wooden doors and all kinds of treasures are behind the doors. Lamps, antiques, jewelry, rugs... and some souvenir type junk from China. 
I visit Al-Attarine Madrasa when it opens and it is beautiful! Built in 1325, the tile work, plaster, and wood work is amazing. There is a fountain in the center courtyard and I have it all to myself. 
They gesture that I should go upstairs which was the living quarters of the students, and just let me explore everything on my own. Beautiful dark wood with sunlight streaming in from openings in the roof and big metal hanging lamps set the mood. 
There was also a great view of the nearby green tiled rooftops and mosque. Then some guy came and set up a tripod and to do some kind of "model-esque" catwalk photo shoot of himself posing, and it ruined the mood. I walked out in to the spice and perfume market and wander some more. 
I had no plans other than to wander, making way on the narrow streets for horses, donkeys, carts, motorbikes and people. This behavior of not having any destination appears concerning, as people keep trying to be helpful by taking me back to see the tannery. 
It is easier than arguing and trying to explain with their limited English and my almost non-existent Arabic and French that I have already been multiple times and I know where it is. Luckily, I really like the tannery and it looks different in the different times of day. Everyone at the tannery laughs on each arrival, especially by my third visit. But I get mint tea and a chat each time, with no pressure to buy or give any one any money. 
They also let me in to my own little viewing area deck (as well as threatening me that if I came back a fourth time in one day, they were putting me to work in the vats). As I am wandering, people keep inviting me into this unassuming doors, behind which are these ornate, multi-storied family houses with terrace views over the medina. My legs and calves are burning from all this hill and stair climbing. Wandering around in Fes really is a treat. I find dried apricots, mishmish, one of my few arabic words. I buy a kilogram for my long bus journey and atlas mountain adventure. I try a chicken pastille for dinner, a pastry of sweet with cinnamon on top and savory. I sit in the square outside a kasbah and enjoy sunset with all the local neighbors, thousands of birds coming out at sunset that live in the old wall behind us (starlings I think) and watching the kids play soccer and boys teaching their sisters how to ride a bicycle. Back to my dar, I have my first uncomfortable experience as the night employee seems too touchy for me and keeps trying to hold my hand and touch my face and wants to know what room I am staying in and trying to come to Meknes with me the next day. I end up slapping his hand away from me and smile and show him the next will be a closed fist. He leaves me alone and I quickly go upstairs and double lock the door, putting my big backpack in front of the door so I will hear if it gets opened (there is an update to this story in the email from Marrakesh).The next morning, I wait until the night employee has gone and the nice owner is back. Other than the aggressive hotel employee, I really enjoyed Fes and wish I had more time here. I have breakfast and head to the train station, catching a taxi for only 10 dirham (someone tried to charge me 50 and I laughed). The train to Meknes only takes about 35 minutes and I walk to the CTM bus station. They agree to hold my big backpack until my 10:45 pm bus for only 5 dirham. I set out to visit Volubilis, a partially excavated Berber city from the 3rd Century BC and old Roman ruins. I consider the cheap options of getting there as it is about an hour away (city bus and shared taxi or shared taxi and then petite taxi), but decide against the time it can sometimes take for shared taxis to get full to leave. I find a private taxi driver that speaks great English. He can't take me, but finds a nice older man to take me there and wait for me for a few hours to wander and bring me back and drop me in the old medina in Meknes for 250 dirham (about $25).
He also gives me all kinds of info and tips on what to see when I get there, saving me from getting a guide. Volubilis (so hard for me to pronounce for some reason, but the Arabic version of Walili rolls off my tongue way easier) is beautiful with preserved tiles, arches, and columns, surrounded by farmland. It is hot at around 90 degrees, but well worth several hours and the money. 
It is a lot bigger than I thought, with many sections to explore. I probably could have maybe spent another hour or two there. I spend the rest of the afternoon wandering Meknes and the covered market with butchers and shops full of spices and olives and preserved lemons. Most everyone seems super nice, inviting you to take photos and ask questions, without asking for money or anything. 
I watch the special art of Meknes with silver wire designs hammered in to black metal. I spend the late afternoon at a cafe in Lahdim Square into night, awaiting my bus. The square is somewhat empty during the day, but at night, it fills up with vendors and people and comes alive. Food, clothes, sunglasses, watches, music, kids playing, little motorized cars driven by kids zipping around the square, cotton candy, balloons, everything is bustling. 
But it feels pretty safe, even at night. I needed a little help catching a taxi, but my trick is to look for the guys in the neon vests who handle street parking. They seem to always be helpful and friendly, and speak a bit of English. One helps me get to the right spot to catch a petite taxi, and I can see him watching from across the street and traffic circle, and eventually after I am waiting for a little bit, he flags one down and sends him over to come pick me up. And, it was the first taxi driver who uses a meter, and without me even asking it was already turned on!) back to the CTM station and now await the bus for my kasbah adventure. Not looking forward to an overnight bus with a wait and change of buses at 4am in some small town of Errachidea. Not sure of phone/internet for the next four days until I reach Marrakesh.Love,
Betsy
After over an hour of chatting and people watching, I head to the Royal Palace. The guards let me walk around the grounds after showing my passport, but there is lots going on and soldiers everywhere and you can't enter the palace. Next, I head to the Phoenician and later Roman ruins of Chellah. The grounds were beautiful to wander around, alongside many cats and storks with gardens, tombs, minaret and old broken columns. 
I wandered back to my riad in the heat of the day, as most things shut down around 1pm for Friday worship. There is a mosque in the old medina, and the prayer mats were lining the walkway and full of people as I walked beside them to get back to the riad. I went to my room, but was surprised by a knock at the door as the staff brought me fresh squeezed orange juice, a pot of coffee and biscuits (as I didn't take breakfast since you have to tell them the night before a time you would like to eat and I never know when I will get up). I rest for a bit and then head back out.
Walked through an expansive cemetery overlooking the sea. Watch some surfers for a bit and head to Kasbah of the Oudayas. There is a small residential area, with colorful blue and white walls and of course, more cats. Wander about getting lost and avoiding big tour groups in the narrow streets. 
Head over to enjoy the Andulusian Gardens and a mint tea at the cafe overlooking the Bou Regreg River. Wander through the touristy shopping Mellah area and wander the streets back toward the old medina. I am now running in to people I met at morning coffee and am greeted by "Bonjour Vietnam!" by a few passerbys. The medina is hopping on Friday night. Stop at a busy food stall and join a few groups of women on little plastic stools for some kind of bread stuffed with grilled meat, egg, tomato sauce with spices and cheese. I think it was 80 cents and well worth it. A cute little old woman smiles at my happiness of yummy food and squeezes my arm warmly as she passes. I wash my dinner down with two fresh lemon ginger juices from another stall for a dollar and head back to the riad, falling asleep to the soothing chants from the nearby mosque as kids play soccer (or kick an empty plastic bottle) in the street and cats fight and wail. Luckily, sleeping through noise is something I am used to.
To my surprise, breakfast is ready when I come downstairs. Fresh squeezed orange juice, yogurt, cheese, lots of breads/crepe like thing, jams, and a carafe of strong coffee. After, I catch the tram to the Hassan Tower and Mausoleum of Mohammed V. Beautiful architecture surround the tombs of the king and his two sons. There are fountains and amazing detailed tile work everywhere. 
A guard stands at the door to the Mausoleum. Inside is a beautiful dome roof and multiple levels. A man sits at the bottom and softly reads the Koran aloud, occasionally taking time to cough. It is very peaceful. After my visit, I wander around the Mellah area, the old Jewish quarter. In the heat of the day, I headed back to the riad and just relaxed with the cats and read a book. In the afternoon, it cools off with a nice sea breeze. I head back outside in to the old medina, busy on a Saturday.
And tons of food vendors like bakeries of sweet treats (some Syrian treats look like tiny bird nests with pistachios), , fresh squeezed juice, sugar cane, or pomegranate drinks, fresh donut looking things fried in front of you in vats of hot oil. bowls of steaming snails, shwarma and grilled meat. I end up grabbing a delicious sandwich stuffed with fried fish, salsa, roasted pepper, hot sauce, eggplant, and whatever else he put in. Sat with some women on little plastic chairs outside a mosque and the vendor seemed pleased that I liked it. He ran to a nearby vendor to get me a hot, sweet mint tea to wash it down. Filling dinner for 20 dirham ($2) and was a bit sad I couldn't eat any more, as there was so much I wanted to try. Wish I had been able to take more photos, but feels weird to take out my camera as it feels like tourists are far and few between. And the little old woman don't like my phone in my hand, as two have implored me with eyes and pointing to put it in my locked purse. They seem pleased when I do, nodding and patting my arm with a smile.
There is also the organizers for a music festival going on staying in the hotel. Check in and off to wander again. It is Sunday, so many storefronts are shuttered. As I don't have a map, it is hard to tell if I am in a bad area, as there are mainly only men out. There is old, run down art deco and art nouveau crumbling neighborhoods next to new, modern buildings next to poorer looking neighborhoods. I passed an old, beat looking movie theater and almost stop for a movie if one had been playing (although I wouldn't have understood it). I stop in a cafe for sweet mint tea and watch the city. End up in the old medina again and wander and eat snacks (easier without my big backpack, now safely checked in to the hotel). People everywhere are so friendly, waving and saying welcome. There are little places with old pinball machines and billiard tables. 
Kids run around, playing in the streets. I find my way to the mosque and watch the kids jump off the wall in to the sea as others fish from the rocks. Wandering back towards the hotel, I stop at a restaurant for a mixed kabob grill dinner. The server is so nice and we get to talking. She is studying English literature at the university. I head back to my hotel and sit outside, chatting with the nice man who works at my hotel who has great English. He is from El Jadida, where I plan to take a day trip from on my last day in Casablanca.
Wake up early the next morning to head to the mosque for a tour. The hotel gives me great walking directions, and yet, I manage to get lost. Partly due to my horrible sense of direction and also, street names and numbers are hard to come by here. Traffic is also intense as there are not always lights at pedestrian crossings so you go halfway and make yourself as thin as possible between traffic to cross all the way when there is a break. Luckily, I have wandered past the hospital and urgent care clinic, in case I need it :) So make it to the mosque a little later than planned, but well worth it. 
The mosque has tours and is one of the only mosques that allows women inside. It is partially built over the ocean and has a retractable roof. Most building material is from Morocco, except some marble and chandeliers. After the tour, I wander around more along the water and through neighborhoods, occasionally stopping in a sidewalk cafe for coffee or mint tea when I need a break. During the afternoon heat, I go to read my book, The Caliph's House, set in Casablanca. In it, they talk about many of the places I have wandered through, even the Rialto Theater I walked past and took photos of the day before. In the evening, I head to a small spot recommended to me by the hotel for my first tangine. I chose beef and vegetables and it is delicious! There may have been a small cockroach or two running around, but that seems par for the course in Morocco and I hear that makes the restaurant even better :) The restaurant staff are surprised by my appetite, as I eat every last bite. The sweet woman that cooked it comes out and seems pleased that I enjoyed it so much. 
Back to my hotel, I spend the evening in the chair they put outside for me, chatting with the staff and people of the neighborhood as faces look familiar and people greet me after the second day. I am treated to a beautiful sunset sky over the church at the end of the street and then later the call to prayer over the city, which I love the peaceful sound of it every night.
We pass through the factories on the outskirts of Casablanca and head past small farms with goats, donkeys, cows, chickens, horses, and even a turkey. Crossing over the Oum Er-Rbia River, where Azzmour lies, we shortly arrive in El Jadida about an hour and a half after departure (37 diarhams each way). I share a taxi with a guy and we grab a coffee at a beachside cafe before parting ways. I walk around the port and then head in to the old walled Portuguese City. 
Wander the neighborhood, enjoying all the colorful doorways. I check out the old vaulted cistern built underground in the early 16th century with nice reflections from the incoming light and standing water on the ground. I walk the old wall, with views of the sea and occasional cannons lining the wall. For a third time in two days, I am stopped and think someone wants me to take their photo for them. 
But then they all line up and want a photo with me. I remember this happening in Egypt and I still don't get it. Sometimes teenage boys, or families, and today a sweet old mom and her daughter. After walking the wall, I head back to the neighborhood and have some fish for lunch. Then I find the old community oven. Neighbors and their kids bring dough to the oven and salted fish, which are baked by the community oven baker and returned when ready. 
The place actually has a terrible history as the place slaves were brought to send to the New World, but now it is a place of happiness. I buy a loaf of bread for one dirham and wander some more. I run into another community oven and a man outside awaiting his bread to be baked invites me to his house for tea. A bit pensive at first, I do my test of walking the town with him and everyone seems to like him and greet him. We go get his mom from a neighbor's house and his little sister and they make me tea and we sit and talk. The mom excitedly takes me up to the roof for views of the sea because she saw I liked animals and she wanted to show me her hamsters, one of which just had babies. I spent the rest of the afternoon there, and was sad to decline their invitation to stay the night at their house. The sister gives me a white rose when it is time to leave and they help me get a taxi back to the train station (most taxi drivers only speak Arabic and/or French, making it difficult to communicate with them). I catch the train back to Casablanca and had my last dinner at the restaurant I had eaten at the first night, seeing the server again who is so sweet and we say our goodbyes and good wishes for each other.
It is currently government run and the schedules were known to be lax, with boats often breaking down. In fact, the most up to date information on ferries seems to be on a Facebook page where citizens post up to date info for the day (on a page that uses a photo from the movie Bird Box with Sandra Bullock blindfolded in a boat as their cover page...showing how much the residents trust the system). They had also recently moved most ferries from Fajardo to Ceiba and the new facility infrastructure was not suppose to be that great. So I was ready for it to be a big hassle, but in fact, it surprisingly went rather smoothly! We drove to Ceiba and left the car, as no tourists can get cars on to the island. We managed to purchase our ticket for what I thought was the tourist schooner, but they loaded us up on an earlier departing cargo boat. 
They let us go sit on the cargo platform, and it was nice to lay in the sunshine with the waves (even when one splashed up over the side and soaked me, much to everyone's amusement). We arrived earlier than check-in at our apartment, but I had arranged to leave our bags. The apartment was in a perfect location next to a canal and near the ferry terminal and several restaurants. We grabbed a quick lunch and headed to Flamenco Beach for the rest of the day. 
There are big group shuttle buses that run from the ferry terminal to Flamenco Beach. It used to be used as testing grounds of the US military, but now ranks in the top of several rankings most beautiful beach in the world awards. It really was picture perfect, even with the crowds. There are also two rusted old tanks to explore on the beach, which people decorate and graffiti from time to time. 
We just played in the water a bunch and happened to run in to the couple who suggested we eat at the roadside stand when at El Yunque, so chatted with them a bit. We headed back to town in time for me to talked to Culebra Divers dive company that also rented snorkel gear near the ferry terminal. I found the woman at the desk to be unknowledgeable (she told me there were nudibrachs didn't exist in Puerto Rico... only in places like Fiji) and a bit rude, so ruled out diving with them or giving them any business whatsoever (which she did not seem interested in, any way). 
We walked over to our apartment, the Blue Flamingo at 
We found an amazing grocery store, Colmada Milka, right next to our apartment that was small but somehow stuffed with goodies, even stuff that I don't see in Seattle like Enstrom toffee. We each grab groceries and I grabbed meat, cheese, and olives and enjoy a tapas dinner on the balcony. Wade and I played cribbage on the balcony surrounded by twinkling red and green lights until bed.
The next day, Naomi and Wade both succumbed to their bad sunburns and decided to stay out of the sun. I checked out a different dive company named Aquatic Adventures near the apartment in the morning. Well, technically I went to the shop because there were a bunch of cats there and I wanted to pet them all. But then one of the owners showed up and she seemed so much more likeable then my experience the day before. And she must be good people because she fed the cats (and one chicken) that were outside and they all seemed to know when she got to work. 
I decided I would go snorkeling and see what I could for the day and then decide what to do the next day. I went off to snorkel at Playa Tamarindo, which was easy to catch a ride to on the shared shuttle to Playa Flamenco. It quickly became an overcast day, so it was a perfect day to spend snorkeling. 
The water was nice and calm, so even though I only brought my mask and snorkel and no fins, I could still swim way out. I saw several rays, four turtles, and a barracuda. It was mainly sand and seagrass, and a small coral rebuilding area that some University of Puerto Rico students were working on. 
It started to pour rain, and there were very few people out at this beach. I was going to walk back to the main road to try to catch a taxi, but managed to hitch a ride on the back of an older couple's golf cart (the way lots of people get around). Turns out they were from Kingston! We decide to go to dinner at one of the popular restaurants, Dinghy Dock, across the street from our apartment. First we stopped in to a little art gallery next door (between Dinghy Dock and the nice dive shop, Aquatic Adventures). Naomi found a beautiful necklace that she bought. We ended up getting a table next to the water and watch the huge tarpons swimming around looking for table scraps that people throw them. We all agreed that dinner was good, but not worth the money. I decided to skip diving the next day and try to get to a small island called Culebrita that had been recommended to me by my friend, Dan. I will have to try to get some diving in if we make it to Greece in the Fall. Wade and I play more cribbage on the deck and then off to bed.
On the way, we passed this HUGE futuristic, James Bond-looking megayacht which turned out to be 
Then I went off snorkeling and chasing turtles around. Our boat driver had snorkel gear for everyone, so Wade tried his hand at snorkeling. The beach has a big hole that must have had a nesting turtle in it recently, with evidence of little broken shells. We walked to go visit tide pools and climbed up to see the views. On the way back, we saw wild goats (sadly, I didn't have my zoom lens with me for some reason). 
I also found some really different looking lizards. It was pretty hot, so we didn't walk to go check out the old lighthouse because I wasn't sure if you were allowed in it (the info I saw on it said "do NOT go in, it is very unsafe but the views from the top are beautiful"... ummm, mixed messages anyone?!?). When we got back, we played with the hermit crabs that seemed to sense when a bag of chips was opened from wherever they were hiding (not unlike my co-workers). 
Sadly, the day had to come to an end and we all packed up and helped each other back on the boat. I said goodbye to my beach crab who had barely moved all day and the little turtle who was still swimming around near the boat. It was a perfect day with a perfect group of people. When we got back to Culebra, one of the ladies in the group of older folks invited us to dinner at their condo in Condado in San Juan. Sadly, we the timing wasn't going to work out, but she texted Wade later and said the next time we come back, we are to message her. Wade later said that a conversation they had while I was snorkeling made it sound like the older gentleman may or may not have been the former president of Bacardi. We had decided to rent a jeep on our last day on the island as it would allow us to see more of the island and have a place to store our luggage after an 11am checkout from the apartment (there is really only two choices... a golf cart or a jeep for rental transportation on the island). 
Since the jeep rental is for 24 hours with free pickup and dropoff and we were catching a late afternoon ferry, we had the jeep rental place come pick us up at the boat dock and went and grabbed a jeep. We went back and grabbed Naomi, heading out to watch sunset back on the beach I went snorkeling the day before. We go back and shower before heading to dinner. 
Sadly, dinner was kind of a bust as the restaurant I had heard good things about was closed. Construction was being done on the main road in town, so lots of businesses were closed. We ended up driving around and stopped for loaded baked potatoes and churros at a stand called Sweet and Salty on the side of the road.
Our last day, and my birthday! We wake up and pack. I sit on the balcony with my breakfast coffee (man, the coffee is so good here) and watch a little old lady fishing across the canal at Mamacita's, cat at her feet. We loaded our luggage in the jeep and set off to explore the island after the 11am checkout. We visit the little history museum and drive around the island, checking out some of the farther beaches like Zoni Beach and watch pelicans on the way to Playa Punta Soldado where I take my last ocean swim. 
We drop off the jeep and they drive us to the ferry dock where we catch the fast tourist schooner ferry back to Ceiba. Luckily, our rental car is just fine after sitting for a few days and we drive to Fajardo to check in for our bioluminescent bay kayaking tour. I have a yummy birthday dinner of garlic butter fish and rice and beans. The bioluminescent bay tour with 
The channel opens up to a bay with the dinoflagellates. While the water doesn't glow all blue like they make the photoshopped photos, it still does shimmer and make it look like you are pouring white glitter out of your hands when you move the water around and pour it out of your hand. Pretty magical! Wade and I did a good job working together to not bump in to too much or tip over. We still have a few hours before returnoing the rental car and checking in for our 5am flight. So we find a place to shower at the public beach behind the men's room. We try to dry our wet clothes on rusty wrought iron chains and dance in the street to people playing music and hanging out. We then drive back to San Juan and pop in to a late night dining spot called Waiter's Gastro Bar in Condado area for second dinner :) I had the best rice with homemade sausage dish that was enough to feed three people. Sadly, all good trips have to end, and we head off to return the car and check in for our flights home. Puerto Rico was a blast, and we just may have to return!