Crabs Everywhere

I cut the last post in half because, as anyone who followed my India emails will tell you, I write a LOT in a single sitting.  Therefore, this picks up where the last one left off.

To backtrack just a little bit, after breakfast that first morning in San Juan, the owner's son informed us that his mother had accidentally put us in a room that was supposed to be reserved for a group of ten who would be arriving that day.  He was terribly sorry for the mix up, but would we mind switching rooms?  Now, mind you, our former room had a view of the ocean across the street.  We agreed anyway and went to investigate our new room.  While this room was a corner and had a window on the left wall, it did not have a view of the ocean (though we could easily see the ocean if we ventured out onto the balcony).  This was sad to us.  It also appeared a little more dilapidated than our original room.  Regardless, we settled in anyway and, as it turned out, that side window was key because the breeze appears to come from the hills, not the ocean.

The new room...

Following our excellent feast at the little yellow kitchen, the three of us headed back to the hotel for a quick pitstop.  Courtney decided to remain there because her sunburn was bothering her and she was tired, but Sara and I weren't quite ready to call it a night yet.  We wandered down the street and ended up at a bar called the Black Whale, which we both agreed reminded us slightly of the trance club/bar we went to in Goa, India (more on that later).  The place was colorful and open, with barstools and tables that looked as though they were cut from logs, a pool table, a foosball table in the very back, and a very eclectic crowd.  It was mostly outdoors (far too hot to be inside).  Sara and I settled ourselves at a high top near the entrance to the bar, about halfway down the patio.  It was a prime people-watching location.  As we worked our way through some beers, we discussed everything from traveling (must do more) to relationships (not now).  It was one of the best nights yet and definitely solidified my belief that we need to travel together more frequently.  

At one point, this guy came up to us and invited us to join him and his friends at their table  As he was clearly intoxicated, this was entertaining.  We learned his name and that he was Canadian, although his accent sounded different, almost Spanish.  We had fries coming to us though, so we were disinclined to relocate to another spot.  While he was talking to us, his friends got up to go play pool, so he told us we should join them for that.  We told him we'd "think about it" and he left.

And then he turned up at the beach today?  Awkward.  

Gratuitous beach picture

Our waitress at the Black Whale was funny as well.  We decided we were hungry around 10:58pm, and so called her over to order a side of fries.  She said (in Spanish) the kitchen was closed (and I understood her!) and pantomimed what happens when she asks the kitchen for food after that time.  From what I gathered, they get very angry and throw things.  It was hysterical.  However, she managed to get us fries anyway for which I shall be eternally grateful.

All that day it looked as though it was going to rain (obviously this did not stop us from going to the beach).  Around 3am, long after Sara and I returned from the bar, it finally did.  This is when we learned our roof leaked.  At first, I was annoyed by this and objected (silently), but then I realized it actually felt pretty good, so I put my Zune under my pillow and went back to sleep.  There isn't much you can do about those things at that hour of the morning anyway.  It was a pretty major storm, major enough that I had minor concerns about my impending doom (really though, what ISN'T scary at 3am?).  However, when I started getting tense, I asked myself whether this current storm was worse than the storm we experienced at Panisagar during our last week in India (that was intense: howling wind, rain everywhere, tornado, etc.).  Obviously it wasn't, so it was all good.

Our new, albeit slightly leaky room

Our second full day in San Juan was much the same as the day before: breakfast, shuttle, beach, shuttle, shower.  A routine I could get used to.  Sara and I befriended a taxi driver while we were wandering around San Juan in the morning, trying to see if a different beach could be an option for us.  His name was Louis and he was funny.  He also dropped his price really easily.  Unfortunately, we weren't haggling (had I been haggling, I doubt I would have been so successful).  He told us not to worry about anything because we would be "safe with him."  Oh, by the way, this was entirely in Spanish and not only was I able to comprehend enough to translate to Sara, I was able to respond!  SUCH A WIN.  

I actually felt bad we weren't going to use his taxi, but the beach we were really interested in, Playa Hermosa, cost $3 to get on anyway and we weren't yet convinced it was going to be a good enough beach day to warrant that.  

It did end up being a really nice beach day.  Courtney stayed mostly in the shade because I was worried about her burn and she was being smart about it.  There were also two people stung by stingrays that day - what??  Courtney was able to help out an English family whose son had been pretty badly stung.

Nice beach day.  Love the beach.

There was, in fact, a marked animal/crustacean presence at the beach that day.  On the shuttle to Playa Maderas, we noticed tons of brighly colored crabs covering the embankments, climbing in and out of holes and threatening to fight the truck as it rattled by.  When I say "brightly," I mean legs the color of fire, purple pincers, black bodies and yellow eyes.  I've never seen anything like it.  

Swiped from Google, but this is the crab.  It's also vaguely terrifying to google "crabs."  Just saying.

Later, around 3pm, there were hermit crabs everywhere on the beach.  The craziest thing is that they were all heading in the same direction.  It was absolutely bizarre.

Chased this little guy all over the place while I attempted to get a picture of him before he turned around and ran away again.  Success.

We took the 3:30p shuttle back to town and hung out at the hostel for a while due to a sudden storm that came out of nowhere and foiled our plans of watching the sun set, drink in hand.  I'm starving.  It has now stopped raining, so hopefully we can go find food...?