It was a gorgeous day in Puerto Rico, and the fluffy white clouds in the sky made it all the more lovely. There were birds singing high up in the tropical trees, and there was a light brown lizard scurrying around underneath. Beautiful salsa music blared from the windows of the neighboring houses as freshly washed clothes swayed on a clothesline with the gentle wind.

Nothing could've topped this experience, except the fact that I was unable to enjoy it while sitting on the concrete sidewalk. In fact, I had been waiting in this exact same spot for the past 5 hours.

With nowhere else to go.

As I got off the plane at the San Juan Airport earlier in the day, I was feelin' real good about this next traveling adventure of mine. For the first time, I would set foot onto the island of Puerto Rico. And for the first time, I would be CouchSurfing all by myself! (As a young woman traveling alone, this is particularly a huge deal.)

Things were off to such a great start. Great weather, great scenery--even the taxi driver was being great in his driving.

He was an attentive fellow who inquired about where I was flying in from ("From California!"), who I was meeting up in Puerto Rico ("A friend I just made"), how I met her ("from the internet!"), and how long I even knew her ("Why are you so curious?"). Soon, his attentiveness transgressed into a genuine concern.

For those of you that have never heard of the term "CouchSurfing" before, it is not what you think it is. It is NOT the act of standing on someone's couch and holding a surfing pose. It is not a freak fad. It IS, however, an amazing act of altruism for travelers on a global scale. And it is not something that can easily be explained to people without evoking fear or concern in this day and age.

How would I try (or want) to explain to this overly concerned taxi driver that I had met a woman on a networking and testimonial-based website designed to allow open-minded and generous folks to open their homes from all over the world to others who needed a free place to stay, a view of their neighborhood from their eyes, and an everlasting friendship despite never knowing if both parties would ever see each other again?

So, I didn't.

But, it didn't help that by the time he drove me to the host's house, she wasn't home. Add to that the fact that she was not picking up her cell phone. By the time she did, the taxi driver was on the phone with her, asking her in Puerto Rican where she was and when she would come home to let me in!

"There should be someone in the house! My roommate is home. Just call out her name and she'll let you in, honey! I'll be back this evening swee--*click"

Her phone died.

So, after the caring taxi driver and I tried several failed attempts to exclaim this elusive roommate's name through the porch window, and after assuring said taxi driver that I would be okay--that I wouldn't need him to drive me to a nearby American restaurant, he hesitantly drove away.

Sure, there was a Quizno's down the street. Sure, there were many buses with routes all over the island. And, surely enough I figured out soon enough that the language predominantly spoken was Spanish. Luckily, I had minimal to NO expertise on Spanish. Why did I take French in high school again...

A Quizno's sandwich and a free hour-long busride later around town, I am back here sitting on the concrete floor in front of my couchsurfing host's house. And this happily-scurrying lizard has become my only friend for the 5 hours.

Now, as the reader, I am sure that you saw red flags aplenty while I did not. I bet you the lizard saw it coming, too.

There's a few important lessons I learned as I ruminated on the Puerto Rican concrete:

-ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN: Anything can happen. For example, your host not being home, and her cell phone dying. It could have been worse, but it thankfully wasn't. Fortunately for me, my host finally arrived and took me into her arms right before she took me salsa dancing into the wee hours of the night, and the rest of my stay with her was phenomenally unabashed with love.

In any case, always have an address of a nearby hotel/hostel/inn where you can check into should things fall through with your couchsurfing host. Have a list of phone numbers you can call, and have some loose change for payphones should your OWN cell phone run out of battery.

-KNOW BEFORE YOU GO: What language is predominantly spoken in the region so you can have important phrases handy?  What modes of transportation are available for the "safe/tourist" areas, what the weather is like, etc.?  Sure, it was the thrill of not knowing anything about Puerto Rico, but had I not known how to ask for directions in Spanish I could have gotten lost after getting on the bus to roam the town.

-HOW ABOUT CONFIRMING ARRIVAL LOGISTICS WITH THE HOST?: Enough said.

-USE YOUR BETTER JUDGEMENT WHEN SELECTING A HOST: The reason I didn't worry too much about my host was that there were hundreds (literally) of previous couchsurfers who left her nothing but positive testimonials. Couchsurfing.org's testimonials are nothing like Myspace.com's testimonials. You know what I mean. Those spam-like greetings which will not be found here. Couchsurfing tesimonials are golden, as they are crucial shares of information on a guest's experience. Whether someone felt safe and comfortable (or not)...is something the entire couchsurfing community will know immediately.

Couchsurfing is not for everyone, but it is for anyone who can see past the media-instilled fear of strangers and who is open to the idea that there can be genuinely good people in the world. Couchsurfing is truly an opportunity to experience local life that just would be much less likely to exist through typical touristy means.

-Julie