you asked for it....

earlier this year i was lucky enough to take a trip to puerto rico. never in my life have i thought about going there, but my roommate meg, who works for jet blue, got us a stellar deal. i will never forget that phone call on my way home from school when they told me they'd bought me a plane ticket so i'd better get work off. are you kidding me? what is a girl to do in that situation?? i'll tell you...she get's work off.
what a trip!! we had an absoulte blast and had a very "cultural" experience. we spent a full day at the beach, and i was so excited to get some sun!! it was still winter in provo and everyone was pasty-white or fake-bake-nasty, so i was excited to come home with natural sun from the beaches of puerto rico. in your face.

if you only knew how long it took us to get this picture....

no one told us about the harshness of the sun down there in puerto rico. i was smart enough to put sun screen on....on the tops of my knees. "gosh it would stink to get the tops of my knees burned", i told myself as we layed out our towels on the beach, claiming our spot for the day. i brought a book, and plus we had taken the red eye the night before, so a little nap was in the order. as the day progressed i could tell i had maybe gotten a little too much sun, so i put on a jacket and decided it was time to head back to the hotel.
we were scorched. we went straight to a walgreens and bought aloe vera. i even went and got into the FREEZING swimming pool at the hotel to try to "stop the burn" from progressing. does that even work? all i know is i was freezing my bumpies off. it was a miserable night to say the least.

The next day was painful, but it was just a sunburn. it killed to be in the sun (makes sense) but we had planned to be in old san juan all afternoon...so off we went. we toured old castle things (with the help of a great tour guide), ate at "cultural" places, and megan even got her pina colada. it was a blast, but that stupid sun was killing. i found myself avoiding regular pathways and making my own where there was shade. we even bought umbrellas (to look more like real tourists) to shade us from the sun. later that night we headed to the airport to catch our red eye back to the mother land.

after our first flight, my ankles started to swell up (from the elevation, i assumed) and i even started forming these little blisters on my legs where i had gotten the most sun. i had seen little blisters before. this wasn't my first sunburn. i wasn't too concerned.

notice the layers. puerto rico was hot. slc was cold at each airport i would add a layer!

by the time we got to the SLC airport, i was in major pain. i could barely walk my ankles were so swollen, and the blisters were not their original size. i didn't know quite what to do, but after jon took one look at my legs (i was so embarassed to even show anyone!!) he told me i needed to to straight to urgent care. megan and i left straight from the airport and went to urgent care.

how pathetic...

do i look happy to you?? at this point, it hurt to have my legs on the floor and was trying to prop them up on things. i couldn't even look at my legs, but i was afraid to have my pants rubbing on the blisters, so i had to have them pulled up. i was miserable. i have debated whether or not to even post this next picture. everyone always wants to see it...until they see it. then they make this nasty face and look at me like i'm a deformed creature. but its time for you to know the truth....

no, that is not pudding on my legs, and no, i don't know why they are yellow. i do know that my ankles are not usually that size. i also know that i could not walk for 2 weeks after this little incident. i know i cried in urgent care while they drained every last blister.

lessons i learned from my trip to puerto rico:

1. if you are going to leave the country, tell your mom and dad. i don't care if puerto rico isn't really"out of the country" because it's US territory (thanks matthew) and if you think you are old enough to go on trips without permission.
2. sunscreen is a good thing. sometimes i think its still "cool" to be tan. i need to get over that. i have fair skin and freckles. great. wear sunscreen.
3. it is no fun to feel like you can't call your mom. i was in p-a-i-n...but she didn't even know i went on the silly trip in the first place...so i didn't feel like i could call her to cry about it
4. i love the english language. spanish is pretty, and maybe i'm just jealous that i can't speak it myself...but i was happy to be back in new york and hear english again. english everywhere.
5. i love me a bk stacker.
6. never take the little things for granted, i.e. walking, showering, going to the bathroom by yourself, getting a drink when you're thirsty, standing still in one place. sounds silly...until you can't do these things. i have funny stories, and if you are lucky i will share them with you about how i had to live whilst i could not walk.
7. i love to travel. i love to see different places, experience different cultures. but let's be honest. i'm an american, and i love things that remind me of home. ( yes i'm referring to bk and dq )

ok. i'm hoping we can still be friends, despite the horror of this post. please, love me anyways. just in case you wanted to give me a speech: i know, i know. i'm a firm believer in sun screen now. i love it. i went to the beach this summer, and although i did get some sun, i was very careful and not embarassed to lather that stuff on like my life depended on it. i'm hoping to never repeat the pain of puerto rico again.