Day 58 - Dec 16

Again when I woke up today Chris was MIA. Apparently him and Eneida went to the mall to pick up a few things for the white party. I hit the gym for a few and when they get back I ask Chris what the money situation is and if he’s heard anything. We were supposed to meet with the mayor of the city yesterday and Eneida told Chris that she had talked with him and that the money will be approved but it won’t be ready for another few weeks because things in government slow down around the holidays. He said that she was in tears when she told him because she is so sorry that all of this is going so bad for us.

We have no money. When I say we I mean the team has no money. He was asking the city for money to cover the checks that he wrote post-dated and that still doesn’t cover close to all of his expenses. What this means for me is two things. One, they have no money with which to buy me a plane ticket home and two, they don’t have the money to pay me what they owe me so even if I wanted to I could pay for my own plane ticket home! The reality that I might not get home for xmas is starting to set in. This is seriously like a nightmare that I just can’t wake up from. Each day I write a blog and get all pissed off about something and each day I try to wake up and think positive and be happy and be ready for another “day in paradise” but its like each day I am getting punched in the gut with more bad news. I didn’t take this gig to make a whole lot of money, infact I would have made more at home working at the grocery store and coaching HS than if I came out here. The point wasn’t to come out here for the money but the point wasn’t also to go broke. While I’ve been out here we’ve gone out a few times but each time I’ve been pretty good about my money, and as far as eating out goes most of the time I paid for food it was with the understanding that I was getting reimbursed. Ontop of that, just because I’m not using my degree doesn’t mean that SallieMae and American Education Services aren’t in a rush to collect all the money they loaned me. I have been out here for the start of just about 3 pay periods for my loans and if I don’t get paid this last check then I will literally be broke. Not walking a fine line and living close to the edge, I literally mean operating with a bank account that says $0.00. And with that $0 I’m supposed to buy my own plane ticket home?! I am so furious….

After mulling this over for a while and being pissed, and depressed, and sad, and angry and every bad emotion you can be I went back to the gym to workout and clear my mind. Fortunately for me Puerto Rican women are awesome and that helped cheer me up. I’d especially like to thank the girl infront of me in spin class for being awesome at spin class. Great workout, terrible day.

Upstairs we are getting things ready for the party some more and downstairs Eneida’s husband and friend are preparing the pig for the roast. This is kinda cool and kinda gross at the same time. They have him on his back and he’s split all the way up the middle to his snout and his spine is cut open so they can remove any of that stuff in there. After rubbing him down in some seasoning they flip him over for the otherside. While he’s on what used to be his belly, they pull out a blade and hammer to crack open his skull and the friend is trying to pry it open while Eneida’s husband is pulling out the brains and what not. Remind me to never be a butcher.

Today sucked. I want to go home and be with my family for Christmas even if I am broke and buy…er make, them terrible gifts this year.

Day 57 - Dec 15

Today I woke up in my bed and the brothers were sleeping next door in theirs. Apparently Chris passed out on his laptop outside last night and got wrecked by mosquitoes (they love him almost as much as he loves complaining about them) as well as being woken up by the roosters downstairs and the blazing hot sun. On the other hand I slept like a baby. People are starting to get things in motion to start getting ready for this white party. The house has a huge patio in the back and she expects to host about $150. I assume no expense will be spared cuz she goes all out. I head downstairs for a quick lift (awesome) and the back up to see Chris power washing the floor and everyone running around doing stuff. I’m down for the cause even though I don’t have my work overalls and boots. This is a little backwards from what I was expecting. Here I passed on the opportunity to work in civil engineering to play basketball and I find myself doing manual labor for a guy that doesn’t speak a word of English. Something about this is backwards I think? Her husband is a builder and has lots of tools and bricks and crap laying around for us to shape shift the whole patio into a nice lil party scene and Chris is getting sick of power washing and has drawn a negative of the Chicago skyline in the dirt on the roof. It was pretty impressive I must say!

After we clean the roof we load into the car and head out to a couple different beaches trying to find a winner and again settled on crashboat. The water everywhere else was dirty or the waves were too far out to enjoy it was just bad so its back to crashboat for some more and more BALLSY pier jumping. When we get back its back to the gym for the afternoon lift and then upstairs to catch up on my TV shows. For some reason when I was at the hotel I couldn’t download them and I am like 2 weeks behind on them all so the afternoon was spent in a hammock on the clean patio vegging out.

Day 56 - Dec 14

Today had a hell of a start! Enedia told us yesterday not to talk with Diego so when he called at 9 this morning I ignored it, and at 9:01, and again at 9:02. I hope he likes a little taste of his own medicine! Then I got a text message “You guys are leaving today. Dad is going to pick you up at 12:30pm, flight is at 4pm and you have to be there at 2pm. We do check out at the hotel. I will take Harry’s car.” Ok, so I don’t really know what to do here because I told him that I wasn’t leaving without my money. Today is the 14^th and the check is for the 18^th. Before I can game plan too much Ralph gives me a call to say that he just got off the phone with Diego Jr and that they want to get me out of here. Before we can talk about things Diego calls again and Ralph tells me to take the call. Diego says that he got us a flight for today etc etc and I told him that I’m not going anywhere without my money. I told him at the Hatillo game that a post dated check for the 18^th was fine if I was leaving the 19^th but if he wants to buy my ticket for sooner I need to have the money in my hand when I get on the plane. “Papa, I don’t know why you don’t trust me. Eneida and you guys all think that the money isn’t going to be there. If I tell you its going to be there its going to be there ok. If its not I will write you a check myself. You deposited the last check in Texas (I gave it to my dad when I was in Boston) and you can do the same thing with this one.”

“Listen, I told you I am not leaving without the money in my hand so you can either change the ticket or find my money and I want all of it”

“What do you mean all of it?”

“The money you owe me for the last two games and the money for food, if you can give me cash for the full amount you owe me then I’ll take the plane ticket and be gone. Can you give me all my money?”

……

“Hello? Greg?”

“Yeah Diego, I said can I’ll leave if you give me all of my money but if not I’m not getting on the plane.”

“OK, I’ll call you back.”

As soon as I hang up with him I call Ralph to make sure he’s got my back. I said “Ralph, I’m sticking my neck out here and if I balk on this ticket to hold out for my money, chances are he’s not going to buy me another ticket this little misunderstanding.” Ralph tells me to call him and get the flight information and change the ticket, it might cost like $100 or something but its worth it to hold out for my money. I called Diego to get the flight information and he tells me to hold on cuz he’s on the other line with Eneida talking about some things and he will call me back. I don’t hear back from him for a while but Chris and I are packing none the less; ironing whatever “winter clothes” we have with us.

After like 30 minutes Eneida shows up at the house to talk to us about things. I told her about Diego and the flight and she says that she doesn’t think Diego has the flight because he’s been calling her all morning trying to use her credit card and she said no. So it turns out he’s the one balking on the ticket. She explains to us that the mayor David Bonilla, will be in Aguada tomorrow and that she’s going to talk with him and make things right. She says that she is going to tell David not to give the money to Diego but to give the money to her so that she can make sure it goes to the Santeros. Thank goodness for this lady right?! Eneida is having a party on the 18^th that she really wants all of the Santero’s to go to, and then on the 19^th there is a dinner for the sponsors that she would like us to go to as well. Diego, his dad and Eneida have been selling tickets to people for this dinner to help raise money and I think going to this should give me some leverage to get my money. I am not above making a scene. So a few minutes into us talking about flights and money and story swapping about bullshit Diego’s fed us he gives my phone a call asking for Eneida. A few minutes later he shows up at the hotel. We bullshit like nothings wrong and I have nothing to say to the dude unless he hands me my money and a plane ticket. I will graciously take both, decline a handshake and get on the damn plane and hope to wake up from this mess. After a few minutes of pleasantries Deigo and his father head outside to talk to Eneida. I wish I knew what they were saying but my Spanish isn’t that good and they were talking a million miles a minute. Everyone was pretty worked up because voices were getting loud. I was very proud Eneida stood her ground because they both can be very abrasive but she didn’t take any shit from them and said that if they don’t work with us on our flights, then she won’t go talk to the mayor. From my understanding of the situation, the Diego’s have been trying to get things rolling with him but have been unsuccessful and Eneida is a small business owner as well as very involved in the community and has his ear.

Regardless, we have to move out of the hotel today because he isn’t going to pay for it anymore. Eneida has offered her home to us and this is going to be great because she lives right above the gym in a pretty nice place AND theres a kitchen so we are bound to get some home cooked meals. As soon as we get there we drop our bags and head downstairs to the gym to get a lift in. Afterwards Chris, her 2 sons Xavier 14, and Bryat 17, and I head back out for playa crashboat since its close. We’re there for the rest of the day jumping off the dock and riding the waves until its practically dark out. Afterwards its back to the gym for a late afternoon tune up lift and then upstairs for dinner. The good news is that they have a HUGE TV but they get 6 channels and they are all in Spanish. What a waste of an awesome TV. After some time staring at the babes in the Tellenovelas its time for bed. There are two mattresses in Xavier’s room and after some fbook stalking I’m cashed out.

Day 55 - Dec 13

Pretty worthless day. We woke up and it was raining so all beach plans got cancelled, plus its Sunday so the gym is closed. The hornet could use a bath cuz it stinks pretty bad so we try to vacuum out as much of the sand and stink as we can. Diego isn’t answering his phone for us and Eneida comes by the house to say that he’s not answering for her either. He said something to her about tickets being too expensive to buy them for us and since the team doesn’t have a credit card (and since he can’t write a bogus check to the airlines) he wants to use her credit card. She told him that if he gives her the money she’ll happily put the flights on her card… She told us that he was being really pushy about it all and that she doesn’t want us to talk to him anymore. The mayor of the town and her are apparently close and she is going to have us meet with the mayor on Tuesday when he is back in town from San Juan.

The rest of the day is filled with naps, TV and monitoring my Fantasy Football team before heading over to Eneidas for another dinner. She’s been so good to us and if it weren’t for her I dunno where we would be. Hopefully we can get out at a pretty good hour tomorrow to hit a new awesome beach or maybe even snorkeling?!

Day 54 - Dec 12

We went out for a little last night to the bar by the water and it was a good time. Met up with Ray’s brother and his friend at the bar and lots of rounds were bought. There also may or may not have been a Santeros fan at the bar and she may or may have not given me her number but either way it was a groggy start to the relatively early morning. I really wanted to go to the beach today but not just any beach! There is a beach on the southwest corner of the island called Playa Sucia (literally “Dirty Beach”) and its going to be a bit of a drive. Chris grabs a lil more sleep and I head around the corner and pick up some electrolytes and donuts to start the day off right.

After a pretty long drive to the bottom corner of the island we run out of pavement. I did my homework last night and so far everything is going according to plan; bird sanctuary on the right, bay on the left. The road a pretty tightly packed dirt road but there are pot holes EVERYWHERE. I think this is what people used to do before video games, driving on this mess in the hornet was quite the challenge but I made it past level 1 and 2. All while going about 15 miles an hour. We get to a little bridge and we get out to snap some pictures because we have been driving for a good while and I see no beach and its just gross water stagnant water on both sides. Google maps says we are close but nothing about this looks like a beach that is rated 4 of 4 stars by 158 reviews. After a little while longer we have to hoof it because the road is so bad and there are SUV’s with 4 wheel drive parked so either you physically cant drive anymore, or the beach is real close. When we hop out we can hear waves lapping and it sounds pretty close. Unfortunately its pretty overcast out and according to the Weather Channel iphone app there’s bad weather headed in this direction.

We have to walk through a little bit of brush but once we get through the clearing we see an awesome little beach! The water is so blue, the sand is white and it’s a little cove with the waves lapping up on the beach. The suns not out in full effect but I’m not gonna waste a good time. The beach is anything but packed and there are maybe 30 or 40 other people out there, friends, families, and young couples out hiding in covered spots in the brush. Chris and I toss the football around for a while, get some good body surfing in and notice a goup of people walking around on the hills to the left. There’s some cool rock formations out there and it’s a pretty steep drop off but the view’s gotta be incredible. Surprisingly enough it was Chris’s suggestion that we head up there! We trek up some half-worn path and get to the top and its awesome! Its like I am literally standing as far south and west as you can go on the island. Pretty incredible feeling and to make it better as soon as we got to the top the sun came out and things looked 10X better. I’m snapping pics away and Chris brought his laptop and wireless card with the sole intention of making people jealous via skype! He got no signal on the beach but has full strength on this random rock for some reason. While we’re up there Chris grabs me and freaks out! “DUDE! I think I just saw a shark!?” I laugh at him and look out there and see nothing. “A shark definitely popped his head up, I’m not even kidding” I figured I’d give him the benefit of the doubt that he saw SOMETHING and watch for a little bit. Sure enough something pops up again but it doesn’t look sliver like a shark, more like a big boulder or something? It goes away and comes back a minute later and we figure it out; there’s a manatee in the cove! He’s far enough away not to really worry about it but so close that its awesome! After a while we head back to the beach for some more wave surfing and then a solid, ALMOST nap followed by some beachside iphone monopoly; without a doubt the greatest of all iphone apps. The sun is in full force and the whole scene is looking great. After a little while longer we head up the west side of the beach to check out another cliff area and lighthouse before heading home for the night. Thank goodness the weather held out for us! Its fun doing stuff with Chris, cuz last time I was here in PR this is all stuff I was doing by myself, but I can’t help but wish my friends were here. It would be awesome if I had friends from home or the college crew here to check this out with me. Maybe I should have skipped the basketball thing and just tried backpacking across some country with friends?! Oh well, I can check one more awesome beach off my list of places to visit in life. Now if I can just get a gig in London, Cairo, Madrid or Rio…

Day 53 - Dec 11

After we went to the gym this morning, Chris and I went to a sweet beach called playa crash boat. The beach was pretty sweet and features a huge pier out into the water. Why its called crashboat I have no idea but I guess maybe it’s a pretty perilous place to dock? Who knows… We learned from our mistake the other day at Rincon and found an old nerf football around the hotel and brought that with us to the beach to “have a catch”. Its supposed to be play catch but I know people who say “have a catch” that’s stupid. Obviously it wasn’t too long before we made our way out on the pier to jump off but early on there is a huge yellow steel plate that prevents you from walking out on the pier. It extends outside the edges of the walkway so its kinda tough to get around but theres a wooden plank that you can stand on and shimmy your way around. It takes Chris some convincing but he finally follows me out there. The pier’s not crazy high maybe 8 feet or so but its still fun and the next 30 minutes are dedicated to attempting to snap pics in mid air. The water is so clear here and even though its like 10 feet deep you can see right to the bottom. No word today from Diego on when we leave or anything and I am not necessarily in a rush but I really want to get back to be with my family for xmas. But I ain’t leaving till I get my money, otherwise I got no money for presents and it’ll just be gift certificates for hugs!

Day 52 - Dec 10

Nothing to do today really so the day started late and with a showing of Carlito’s Way. We rolled around at the apt before heading back up to the gym. We don’t have anything to do so might as well get in a lift right? The knee felt a lot better for the game last night as did all my lil dings but still not 100%. I guess I don’t need to be 100% anytime soon though since the next time I’ll be taking the court it will be in khakis and a red polo. The team I coached last year to a 7-40 season (not really 40 losses but yes only 7 wins) has started off way better than anyone had expected and I am excited to get back there. Could I see myself coaching one day? For sure, I love basketball and I love teaching it but I also love engineering and could see myself having a decent career doing engineering and then retiring to be a high school math teacher and coach somewhere.

After we hang around at the gym for more than we should have it’s raining so we head home for a good nap. Talk about your all time unproductive days. After the nap we head over to Harry’s house to hang out, eat food and for me to explain to him and his family how American football works. The good news is that they get to learn while I watch the Steelers. The bad news is that Big Ben is not as elusive as Nate Maurer once calimed he was. Really guys? The browns? Neither of the Diego’s called today so I have no idea when I’m outta here but I checked tickets online at Harry’s house and a one way to the states is surprisingly cheap. We’ll see what happens.