I woke up feeling content. At first, my eyes peeled open, and it was an instant “Where am I?” was I back in New York, was I still in Puerto Rico? I hear my baby cousins running around chasing each other, and the noticias playing from the kitchen. I was home. Home, not where all of my clothes were stored, where my pretty bed was messy, or where I had routine waiting for me, but the home where my heart was… la casita verde. The little green house.
This is where family is, this is where when you wake, the birds are chirping, abuela is busy making desayuno (breakfast). This is where, no matter how many of my cousins have left home and started a family of their own, they show up everyday for lunch, where the grandkids run around and play in the yard, where the spouses help around the house, where we all come together. Esta casita verde is love.
Like usual, whenever I’m here, I spend my morning roaming the backyard for a quick lap, and since I try my best not to pick up any internet and do work, my tiny little notebook comes into play. Writing started for me at a young age, especially since I always caught myself not remembering a lot of details about what happened last week, a month ago etc. So I started to write, I know have memories that I can cherish for a very long time. I have diaries from 5th grade, crushes about boys, struggles at home, and all my little evil thoughts. Sometimes I go through them and see how much I have grown. 
Since Chris was so eager to do 4 wheelers, I hounded my cousin Yenny to find out how we could get that done. Today was spent with speed and a lot of dirt on our faces.
I was nervous, and Chris being the speed demon that he is had no care in the world. “This is what atv’s are made for” is what he would tell me everytime we sped up through a dirt hill, or even by passed the trail that was made up for us. When we first arrived, I mounted my helmet on tight and grabbed my camera. (Like my camera would stay home, I take that thing everywhere) Chris was excited, I was busy praying.
We rode along the highway, something tat scared the shit out of me, more than the actual dirt track, maybe because the cars were speeding so close next to us. I just kept picturing my body alongside the curb in pain..yikes….
This was all Chris, he asked if I wanted my own bike, and I refused. I think I trusted him more with my life than I did myself. I jumped behind him and grabbed on. “Hold on tight” he would tell me everytime the miles per hour would go up higher. I want to say that I hated it, but I was secretly loving it. And I know he was too, everytime I grabbed on tighter and yelled for dear life. Him cracking up was everything.
I had given Yenny the other go pro, even though her and Franklin were in the back most of the time, having issues with their 4 wheeler. It was going off to the side, they were stopping and comparing to Chris, going much slower. But who wouldn’t with this daredevil?
He puts me in the front, and is driving from the back, he starts going fast, faster, faster…. and he doesn’t stop. He’s hysterically laughing, and screaming at the top of my lungs. STOOOOP, CHRIS!!!
When he finally stops, I jump off, and storm off… “I’m not riding with you anymore!” he’s still laughing, and I’m looking for someone to trade places with me. My baby cousin Voctor looks at me real quick and says “no”.
“I’m sorry, come back!” with that evil looking grin on his face. I roll my eyes and hop right back on the bike.
The worst mistake this man has made yet. Check it…. He tells me ” You want to drive?”
Oh, my goodness! I swear, I wasn’t trying to kill him on purpose. I step in front, mind you, I don’t even have a driver’s license. I think he was looking for a death wish. I started off pretty well, so I’m surprised at my self. Steady, steady, I was picking up speed and had control, as soon as I decide to slow down because I was getting scared, I crash into the sugar canes. Chris crashing right into my and hurt his leg with the atv. Oh, shit!
“She’s trying to kill me!”
I have so much footage from this day, and surprisingly even the crash…. (which he still thinks I did on purpose) lol
I’ll be posting videos soon, I have so much work to do, trust me, they’ll be up soon.
Tell, me, you think I did it on purpose or was it an accident?
(the locals wanted a ride, they would chase us while we we riding, when we took a pit stop to get beers, I had the chance of capturing this shot)
Omg, omg, omg… what the hell is all that banging that’s going on outside?! The light is peeking through the blinds and the studio is a mess. Chris and I take a quick look at each other and it’s like we both read each other’s mind. We jumped out of bed in a panic. “What time is it?”
Early mornings usually mean you have something planned for the day. That was the right thinking for this scenario. Chris had set us up to go on a tour and 
We actually ended up hanging out with Patrick from Harlem, since he was more on the adventurous side of things, while everyone else seemed to be complaining that they had to hike.
Like usual, and I’m not surprised at all by this, but I lost my footing and fell on the ride side of my ribs hitting a rock. That wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t going to stop me from having a good time anyway.
The hike back up was a bit more of a struggle, due to the incline and the sharp turns. Once I saw the end of the line, I couldn’t be more relieved. Time for lunch, we were all exhausted and hungry and another couple in the van were getting more ghetto than they originally were when we first met them. We stopped at one of the local pit stops and grabbed some grub. We ordered some pasteles en hoja con arroz y habichuela. And even though the food was good and devoured, I’ve had better pasteles from my abuela, and even from Chris’s mom.
When we made it back to the van, we were cracking up and Charlie already knew we made a quick run for it.
We all walked on the beach for a little while to grab some fresh air. The sand was cool, the moon was bright and the waves were a little rough.We walked into an Irish pub called Patrick’s. I stepped into the restroom while everyone else went to grab a seat. As I stepped out of the bathroom I lost my footing & ended up falling on my right side. I’m not exaggerating when I say, I busted my ass!
Everytime this man had something to say, I had a snap back response to it. After many drinks, Chris invited Monica and Rob back to our place so we can just blast some music, have more beer and shit talk all night. I cut open a mango and served it, a nice sweet snack to balance out all of that drinking. Time got the best of us and we ended up falling asleep around 3am. Good last night.
Time for check out. Staying with Jose and Bill at the communal hostel was fun, but now it’s time for something a little more private. We headed to
