Puerto Rican Beaches: Playa Sucia

I love being a teacher and all the perks that come with it.  I’m always up on the hippest new songs like PSY’s Gangnam Style and the newest fashion trends like mustache necklaces.  But I’d have to say one of the best benefits is the two months of vacation time I get over the summer!  And since this is a travel blog, you can imagine that I take full advantage of this time off.  In my earlier teacher years, I would spend those two months working with a youth mission organization, TEAMeffort.  The goal of TEAMeffort is to allow youth and adults “put their faith into action” through serving others all over the U.S. and Caribbean.  In one of my many summers directing a TEAMeffort camp, I spent six weeks hectic, glorious, God-filled weeks in Ponce, Puerto Rico.  Over the years, my students always hyped Puerto Rico and how I just had to visit.  After that summer, I realized what they were talking about.  Puerto Rico is full of amazing beaches, delicious foods (I’m not going to lie, I totally had a quesito almost every day), and just the most caring people.

After that summer, I was just dying to get back to Puerto Rico to visit my new friends and have more time to adventure without having to rush back to camp to prepare dinner or head off to Walmart to buy toilet paper for camp.  One of my great friends that I actually met through TEAMeffort, proposed that we head to Puerto Rico to visit our friends at camp a year later.  Perfect!  I could visit the people and place that I love and get to adventure some more!

One of the families that became part of my Puerto Rican family offered to take us to the beach while we were visiting.  It really is true that the best way to travel is with the locals!  We ventured off to Playa Sucia in Cabo Rojo.  This beach was breathtaking.  Personally, I’m not too fond of sitting on a beach all day with just the sand and salt water.  I like having something else to do or see.  Playa Sucia has just that – from hiking to the lighthouse, to taking epic photos by the cliffs and swimming in a cove.  Travel tip: Don’t EVER take off your Chacos when swimming in uncharted territory.  This could result in stepping on a dead sea urchin or something else pointy and small spikes will remain in your foot for weeks.  Not that this was ever a problem for me or anything…