Otherwise known as the anxiously-anticipated legendary Spring Break! This year I was lucky enough to head to sunny Puerto Rico with my friend Emily who spent the fall there studying abroad. We stayed with one of her friends, and enjoyed laying on beaches, relaxed like it was going out of style, and ate these totally bad-for-you fried cheese-filled sugar-syrup-covered pastry things called quesitos.

In Old San Juan, the building and houses are all brightly colored, and the architecture has tons of character. It's also quite a tourist-y area, and prices are raised accordingly. The part of Old San Juan I liked the best was the fortress, called El Morro. It was built in the sixteenth century, and reminded me greatly of the Alhambra (the palace/fortress in Granada, Spain).

This picture was taken when Emily and I were sitting on this little nook area in between some higher tower pieces. There weren't a lot of people there, and it was incredibly peaceful to have the whole ocean laid out in front of you.

Towards the end of the week, we went to a smaller island called Vieques. It involved a turbulent ferry ride but was so worth it. We were in search of a black sand beach, and trekked through paths that hadn't been traveled in some time, walked by rocks as tall as a house that had been worn away by water, and saw hermit crabs and lizards... and then, we got this:

There was no one there except for us to start out with. Later, two snorkelers came to shore and they had been capturing lobsters, squid, and octopi from the bottom of the sea for their dinners. We talked to one of the guys, and he took out of his bag this octopus that oozed and sucked over our hands. It reminded me that one of the best parts about travelling is having the opportunity to leave the beaten path-- you'll see things that are less popular but just as incredible and talk to the local people who can teach you more about the culture of a place than any guidebook.