Maynard High School Spanish Club Trip June 24-30, 2006

Puerto Rico:  June 24-30, 2006

Tibes, Dancing, Birthday!

   The next morning we set off toward San Juan and stopped along the way in Ponce again at the Tibes Center (Archeological and historical site) where we got a great tour about the Taino Indians (the first inhabitants of PR) and got to see some excavations of ball fields and a reproduction of a village full of huts. The guides also taught us about the vegetation that the Tainos used to sustain themselves as a peaceful culture. Some of us actually had the opportunity to hear some explanations in Spanish to questions that were asked by local people visiting and were happy to be able to understand!

   We stopped in Old San Juan one more time to have lunch at La Bonbonera again and shop one last time before leaving tomorrow. In the evening we went to a different little restaurant that served home-cooked Puerto Rican food that was fabulous for a farewell dinner. We sang Happy Birthday in Spanish and English to one of our group members because it was her birthday! And we were plotting a little surprise party in one of our rooms for later that night complete with decorations and a cake too.

   After dinner we went back to the hotel to get ready for some more salsa dancing at the Marriott since they had a live band again, like the first night we arrived. This time our tour director Gina, and her friend Javier who worked at the front desk of our hotel were there to give us some pointers and lessons on how to dance salsa and merengue. At first some of us were a bit shy but before long ALL of us were up on the dance floor having a BLAST! We even had the singers announce Happy Birthday to Heidi too and that made it extra special for her.  We stayed out with our chaperones til 12:45am that night dancing and then we returned to the hotel to have our little party for Heidi. We got to bed really late but thankfully our flight home was in the afternoon the next day and we could sleep in. What a great ending to a wonderful trip!

Above: At Tibes Center

Left: Gina, our tour guide, with some in our group at the salsa/merengue dance party; Above: Dancing the night away!

Below: Tibes Archeological Center’s Taino village reproduction

Left: Our group at the Marriott waiting for the dance party to start; Above: A very special birthday!

Left: In Old San Juan, a monument.

 

Right: Late night surprise birthday party!