In my country, there are parties every weekend. The patron saint festivities are festivals that all towns have in honor of the saint with whom the Catholic church in the city was baptized. In honor of that saint, saint, or virgin, there are two weeks of festivities.

I enjoyed attending parties held in different towns on the island. I was on vacation and wanted to go to parties on a small island called Vieques, which belongs to Puerto Rico. Everyone said that the best patron saint festivities were those of Vieques. My friends in the community went on a trip to that island and invited me to join them.

We left early, and before 7:00 in the morning, we were at the boat terminal in Fajardo. We bought the tickets and sat down to wait for the boat to leave.

Friend 1:     The girl who sells the tickets told me that the last boat from Vieques to P.R. leaves at 6:00 in the afternoon.

Me:              Okay, so what we have to do is buy the tickets as quickly as possible when we get to Vieques.

Friend 2:     We’re going to get on the boat; they’ve already opened the doors. We’ll look for my friends when we get there. They are always late.

Me:              The boat is moving a lot.

Friend 1:     Don’t worry about me. I’m used to traveling in bigger boats than this.

Friend 2:     Just in case, I’m not going to look at the sea. The boat has been launched, and it will take two hours to reach Vieques.

Everything was going very well, and we were almost getting there. I looked at my friend, and he was earnest; His countenance was not very pleasant.

Me:             What’s wrong with you? You don’t look good, and you’re pale.

Friend 1:     I think breakfast was bad for me. I’m a little dizzy and my stomach hurts. I’m nauseous.

Me:             But didn’t you say you were a finished sailor?

Friend 2:     I think that this sailor has not even gotten on Cataño’s boat.

Me:             I don’t think he remembers that time.

Friend 1:     It’s not the time for jokes. I think I’m going to the bathroom to vomit.

Me:             I’ll wait for you here. As my mom says. “It’s better to be cautious than to have to remedy.” So, go to the bathroom.

Friend 2:     Look, there’s the boat attendant. Ask him where the bath is.

I looked at my friend, and he looked sick. He started walking towards the girl, and I noticed that my friend was going from side to side. I followed behind him with my other friend. A girl realized that my friend wanted to talk to her and stopped to wait for him.

Miss:           Is something wrong with you, young man?

Friend 1:     No, but can you tell me where the bathroom is?

Miss:           It’s on the left, at the end of the hallway.

Friend 1:     To your left, or my left?

Miss:           In that corridor you see, to your left.

At that moment, a wave moved the boat from side to side, and my friend fell to the ground. At the same time, he couldn’t hold on and vomited on the floor of the boat. The girl looked at him, then at my other friend, and finally at me.

Miss:           You are his friends.

Me:             Us? I guess.

Friend 2:     No, I don’t know him.

Me:             What do you say? We all travel together.

Miss:           Come with me to get two good mop heads to clean the floor.

Me:             What if we don’t want to?

Miss:           Do you want to know what will happen to them if they don’t clean the floor?

Me:             No, it’s not necessary, we’re going to leave the floor clean.

Miss:           I imagined it. Any other questions?

Me:             I don’t have any.

Friend 2:     Neither do I.

Miss:           Well, let’s look for the maps.

Although my other friend was not very happy, we had to clean the floor of the boat. People passing by looked at us and walked away laughing. There was little left to reach Vieques, about ten minutes. After cleaning the floor of the boat, I didn’t feel like celebrating. I felt that my hands had a bad smell. I went to the bathroom, cleaned myself as best I could, and tried to forget what had happened. I still couldn’t forget, and I remembered what my friend said to the boat attendant, so I talked to him.

Me:             Why don’t you know us?

Friend 2:     Forget about that, I didn’t want to clean the floor of the boat. You are my best friends. Look, there are my friends from Vieques; come on, I’m going to introduce them to you.

Friend 1:     What are their names?

Friend 2:     The tallest is Joseph, and the other is Peter. Here they come. How are you, guys? We didn’t see them the whole trip.

Joseph:       Maybe you didn’t see us, but we did.

Friend 2:     Why didn’t they call us?

Peter:          Well, we were going to call him, but when we saw what happened, we decided to wait until we arrived. The truth is, we didn’t want to bother them. You guys were very busy.

Friend 1:     What happened was that breakfast was bad for me. Now I need something to drink; A coffee would be perfect.

Joseph:       Well, let’s have a drink. We’re going to have a great time here.

We went to a bar in town that was a cafeteria. We all ate something and started making jokes. From there, we went to another store and then to another, until the afternoon came. I didn’t know what time it was or where we were, Joseph said.

Joseph:       Guys, Peter and I are near some houses, so we’ll let them. Enjoy the holidays.

I was surprised. Our friends left us alone. I didn’t know what to do, and I asked my friend.

Me:             Do you know where the boat terminal is? I don’t remember.

Friend 2:     I don’t know, but we can ask. Let’s go to that fire station.

We went into the fire station, and a man who was in front of the station came up to us and told us.

Man:           Hi, guys. Need help?

Friend 2:     Yes, we want to know where the terminals of the boats are.

Man:           You’re from the Big Island. I know, they’re here for the holidays.

Me:             Yes, but we have to arrive at the terminal before 6:00 a.m., or be late.

Man:           The terminal is at the end of the street, but it’s already 6:10 p.m. You will not be able to get on the boat, but don’t worry, I have a house that I can rent for just $20 per person. You can rest and then enjoy the parties in the evening. Tomorrow you can leave in the morning.

We were all happy, and the man took us to the house. We paid him sixty dollars, and he left. We entered the house, but I never wondered why it was open. It had a hammock and furniture, and it looked great. We were all happy, and I didn’t want to think about what had happened.

Friend 2:     We’ll go to rest and then go down to the village. I lie down in the hammock. You can use the furniture.

My friend lay down in the hammock. I sat on one of the pieces of furniture, and my other friend lay down on a sofa. I was almost falling asleep when I heard my friend arguing with an older man. I didn’t understand what was happening or why the man was in the house. I got up and tried to figure out what was going on.

Friend 2:     Lord, what’s wrong with you? Why do you prick me with that stick?

Man:           What are you doing in my house? I leave the house for a moment and find you here; this house is my home!

Friend 1:     What? We rented this house for one night.

Man:           I don’t know who took you for fools, nor do I care. Get out of here if you don’t want me to call the police.

My friend got up from the hammock. We began to argue with the man. The man tried to hit us with the stick he had in his hand and took us out of the house. We withdrew, arguing with the man, knowing that someone had caught us as fools.

Me:             ¿What do we do now? I don’t have any more money. I only have enough to pay for the boat. We are going down to the village.

Friend 2:     Look, there is the terminal for the boats, and it seems like someone’s in the ticket box. Let’s see.

Me:             Hey, miss, are you still selling tickets?

Miss:           No, but we are going to have a boat that leaves at midnight.

Friend 1:     We’re in luck. Can you give us three tickets?

Miss:           Here they are.

Me:             What do we do now? It’s only eight o’clock at night, and we don’t have any money.

Friend 2:     We’ll have to stay here. I don’t want to go through the restaurants in town. I’m very hungry.

Me:              Don’t tell my mother what has happened to us.

Friend 2:     Not even that our friend vomited on the boat?

Friend 1:     That should stay between us.

Me:             It is okay; No problem. What time is it?

Friend 2:     Ten past eight.

Me:             It looks like it’s going to rain.

Friend 1:     Yes, I’m hearing thunder.

Friend 2:     A drop of water just fell on my hand.

Me:             Does anyone have an umbrella?

Friend 1:     I don’t have any.

Friend 2:     What time is it?

Me:             Time to run, it has already started to rain.

Friend 2:     But where are we going?

Me:             I don’t know, but if you don’t run, we get wet.

It was time to board the boat, and there were more people than we had imagined. The lack of accommodation on the small island of Vieques meant that many people could not find accommodation, and everyone had to return to the Big Island. The boat was crowded with people, and the trip took longer than usual. We arrived in P.R. at three in the morning and had to wait for dawn to retrieve my friend’s car from the parking lot where we had left it. I got home and slept for almost the entire day. When my mother asked me what the trip had been like, I told her that it was a memorable trip. The truth is, that it was unforgettable. I’ve never forgotten it. My advice is, if you go to Vieques, don’t go near the fire stations.