The Puerto Rico trip was a failure in the track sense, but it was so great in the life sense. I arrived in San Juan in the evening. I had to find the shuttle that takes the track athletes to the town where the meet was gonna be. It was 3 hours away!!! I didn't know Puerto Rico was 3 hours wide! To top it off, I had to ride in a packed van. It was akin to riding in the car up to Washington after the family reunion, but at least this time it was shorter. So we get to the place and it is a nice little resort all the athletes from the Caribbean are staying. Everything is in Spanish with English subtitles. For the whole night Friday I didnt hear any reggaeton, upsetting.
The next day I was bored out of my mind before the track meet (I wouldnt be competing until the next day). I spent alot of time on the beach, which was right outside the village, and I ruined my watch by not taking it off like an idiot. The water was so clear, it was beautiful, post card stuff. I didnt get in the water because I wasnt even planning on going to the beach at first and I didnt have proper attire. Played on my computer for a while (no internet so it was just JNES emulator time, lol). When we left for the track meet, it was a nice 30 minute trip. I got to see the country side of the city of Mayaguez. And I must say, the architecture there was so intriguing. Even the resort we were staying at, everything was so transparent and elemental. I know it is because of cost effectiveness, but it was such a breath of fresh air to me to see brightly painted concrete houses with plain shutters, intricate iron work on the doors and sometimes intricate concrete block screening. (I talked about it alittle with Muhammad and he said it was prison-like, lol, I guess school has effected me too much). Got to the track and the stadium is perfect in my opinion. Consistent with the Puerto Rican feel of the culture. The vista is beautiful, you can see the ocean and the mountains from your seat (Everything was beautiful in PR, the women were ridiculous, the average girl was a 7 of 10. It would spoil me to grow up there and have to move to the US, lol). The weather didn't hold up well. But the thing is in PR, they dont run for it when lightning strikes. They waited so long to halt the meet. And the fans were so dedicated and stayed throughout the crappy weather.
Muhammad arrived that night because he missed his flight the day before. It was cool having him there. Before he arrived everybody spoke either Spanish, or in a Caribbean accent. I felt so square and self conscious. I hadn't felt that way since like early high school, it was weird. I chose to limit my words simply because of that fact. I had planned on relaxing on the beach and wading in the water the morning before the meet, but Muhammad was pretty adamant that the sun would drain my energy and stuff. We pretty much hung out together the whole time on Sunday. It was cool, we were like brothers or something, lol. Watched everyone who had already competed, play at the beach while we just sat there. Then eventually it became time to prepare for the meet. I dont really want to go into the actual meet. It was quite horrific, akin to the NCAA Indoor Nationals meet. I pretty much 2nd guessed everything about my jump. It was okay this time because I knew I was using a different technique. But it really sucked overall to come to the reggaeton capital of the world and lay an enormous egg.
Came back to the village and me and Muhammad both felt like garbage. Muhammad hurt his heel through no fault of his own (improper shoes) so he didnt do well. We kinda planned on going to the ocean to be mad that night. Didnt really happen, we both just dozed off to sleep. We had different departure times so he left and i half sleep gave him dap and he left. I went back to sleep and almost missed my shuttle because my phone died so I couldnt set an alarm for 430am. My teammate somehow knew to wake me up at 432am asking me when my shuttle leaves. Thankfully there was a problem getting the buses on time or else I would have missed it yo. Long day of traveling and finally ended up at home sweet home. Gonna chill in ATL for 3 weeks until the meet in China.
Endnote- It sucks traveling for track meets kinda. I go all the way to Puerto Rico and all I did was sit around being bored and watch a track meet and compete poorly. I didn't experience any of the culture besides what my eyeballs saw. I could have experienced some night life, but I was too depressed after the meet.
Glad u had a good trip hasheem, even if it was a failure. Just the beginning of your world travels! Yes Im commenting, finally figured out how
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