Puerto Rico

Okay, so I have been on vacation the last week to the tropical island of Puerto Rico. It was a dream come true that not even the intense sun burn/smashed knee/multiple bug-bites and sores could dampen. It was amazing. We went to the coral reefs, old city of San Juan, rain forest (El Yunke), and dry forest. I had the chance to take hundreds of pictures while I was there, well over 500. Even the poorer parts of the cities had a quiet beauty about them. The only bad part of the experience was the endless amounts of homeless animals. They were everywhere and while intensely adorable, one could only feel bad for all of them. Life on the street can be hard enough for cats, but there were also so many dogs. Nevertheless, it seemed that the people there either took care of them as food was left out every day in dishes on the street.

One of my favorite subjects to photograph were the limitless lizards.  They were literally everywhere and every size! The iguanas looked the most impressive, but were non-native species. To the right is a native lizard of Puerto Rico that is showing it's large neck as a defense mechanism. This is meant to scare other animals away as a last resort, but it did not really work on me. Really, I have read so much about the tropics that this vacation was a dream come true for me as well as my brother. Although I have had less time recently as I have been taking more demanding classes in school, I have always loved animals and researched them. This trip allowed me to see some of the amazing animals that I have always heard of.

Can You Smell the Weather?

It was the middle of the winter when I walked outside and I saw it snowing. Now, this does not sound unusual, but the meteorologists had not called for snow, so all of my friends were making a big deal out of it but I was not surprised. Why? Well, I had remarked to my father the night before that it really smelled like it was going to snow. It has a clean smell similar to rain, but with a certain twang present in the cold. It is almost like the smell of snow makes wherever you live smell a little bit cleaner. Now, at that time, very few people believed me and I hope to prove the skeptics wrong, so if you do not believe me as well, try smelling the snow some night before a storm. See how it smells just that little bit different. I just thought of that experience because of the smell tonight. It may rain tomorrow.