The day was filled with excitement and nervousness as my mother, stepfather, sister and myself prepared for our Puerto Rico vacation. My stepdad is from there and he was taking us on our first trip. We had spent the last two weeks preparing for this day. We were going to spend eight days in a little island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, a total of 3,270 miles away. We packed our suitcases with flowery summer dresses, modest bathing suits, sandals and the ugliest water shoes on the face of the earth. How dare my parents expect me to wear those hideous things but it was a must on our packing list and so we did. We traveled by plane all night and landed in the morning and so began one of our greatest adventures.

I was too excited to sleep and I ended up staying awake most of the plane ride. The pilot came through the microphone announcing our arrival to “La Isla del encanto” along with the temperature. All of sudden a burst of applause fills the airplane and everybody is laughing and smiling and speaking with their thick puerto rican accent! It was truly amazing, I didn’t know all of these people even spoke spanish. I learned it is customary for people to clap when they land on the Island, this is a must and happens every time. We went and got our rental car and headed to our hotel. We spent the first two nights in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The ocean was beautiful, the water was clear and sparkling and eighty degrees. The sky was blue and the clouds were like brilliant white patches, smeared across the sky catching the sunlight. It was a beautiful sight. The temperature was in the eighties and it was so humid every time we went outside my little sister’s glasses would fog up.  “Mom! Look at my glasses!!” my sister would scream as we stepped outside and we would all turn and look at her and laugh at her as she used her fingers as window wipers for her glasses. ‘

On the third day we went to Isabela located in the north-western part of the island. My stepdad planned our trip there in honor of my little sister, her name is Isabela. We drove through the island looking up at the beautiful, cotton candy like sky. It’s exotic, luscious green plants lined both sides of the road. As we arrived it started raining or more like pouring. The biggest drops of rain I’ve ever seen. We arrived at our beachfront bungalow, soaking wet we made our way up. As we entered the beach house I look straight ahead and notice two french doors and head straight towards them. As I open the wide doors, I hear the roaring waves and am able to see the ocean waves straight ahead. I can smell the sand and salt water, it’s humid and it’s hot. Soon it stops raining and by this time it is evening and time for dinner. We go to a local restaurant and decided tomorrow we’ll get up early and explore. As we get ready for bed my stepdad says, “Put the alarm for six o’clock” and we all gasp! “Whaaat!!!! We’re on vacation!” It is then explained to us that we are getting up early to get the most out of the day since it rains after four o’clock everyday.

Morning comes sooner than I expected, the dreaded alarm goes off and everyone surprisingly and obediently gets up except for me, I am the family rebel. After about an hour my stepdad comes back to the beach house. “Alondra, get up! You have to see this, come see Dory!” My family had found the perfect spot to go snorkeling and there was all kinds of cool fish. The beach was magical and definitely a special place. Once I arrived I realized what I was missing.  My mother and step dad decided to explore on their own and the rest of this story is only what I heard from my mom and stepdad.

There was a big cliff, my stepdad said it was coral reef. It was about thirty feet high and about one hundred forty feet wide. They decided to go around to where the water hit the cliff. My mother had her snorkeling gear which included a snorkel in one hand, goggles around her neck, hat also around her neck, those horrific water shoes and seashells she had collected in the other hand.They were walking and of course my daredevil mother was as close to the edge as you can get when a tremendous wave came through. My mother said it was intense. She felt her water shoes slide from under her feet and before she knew it the wave picked her up, slammed her harshly on the ragged rock and threw her in the ocean about ten feet from the coral. My stepdad, who is the smarter of the two had rushed to the inside of the cliff and held on. After the wave swept through he let go and turned and did not see my mother. Only after a few seconds did he realize she was gone and in the hands of the respected ocean waters.

My mother said the wave took her and spun her around underwater, she describes seeing water droplets in her eyes as she’s struggling to breathe. She goes under, flips, turns, opens her eyes, closes her eyes, holds her breath, chokes on some water all the while imaging her story on  a television show called, “Vacation gone bad”. She thought she would die. As she pulls her head above water she gasps for air and looks around. She begins to panic and starts swimming only to find herself tired and unable to get any closer to shore. My mother said she was scared. My mother rarely gets scared. It took her a few minutes to collect herself but when she did she realized she needed a plan. There were no people around, no lifeguards. It was just my mother and stepfather there. She saw a group of huge water turtles and that’s when she realized she was in deep waters. Fatigue hits and she decides she will just float to regain her strength. All she sees is water as far as the eye can see. It is calm and a sight to be admired. While she lays on the warm water she sees another wave coming. She realizes she can backpedal her way back all the while catching the wave and using her body to move in the direction of the cliff. And so she does, she comes close enough for my stepdad to grab a hold of the snorkel pulls her in and finally pulls her out of the turbulent water.

My mother and step dad join us a short time later. My mother is bleeding from her elbow, leg, ankle and has a huge hematoma on the side of her left leg stretching from her hip to mid thigh. My sister and I look at both of them and ask them what happened and that’s when the story of how the Atlantic ocean almost took my mom came to be.  A funny addition to this story is that my mother never let go of any of the items she had with her including the shells she held in one of her hands which are now on display in my home next to our picture of the time we went to Isabela, Puerto Rico.