Day 1
God was really on the ball today getting me to each flight
when it seemed impossible. I went to the wrong airline at check-in and had
quite a little walk to the correct desk, which lost me some time right out of
the gate. Then, the security lines were really long, but a nice TSA agent
tipped me off that the next station over would probably be shorter. The other
side of the coin, however, left me on a long walk back to my gate. A weather
delay prevented me from being late. 4.5 bumpy hours later I ended up in not at
all sunny Atlanta. The delay left me with only 20 minutes to get from A to E
gates, and Atlanta happens to be GIGANTIC. Thank goodness for their train
system that got me there just in time to…not board? Another weather delay! The
time passed quickly with my teammates and we were back to brothers and sisters
again. When we finally boarded the plane to San Juan, Puerto Rico it took
another 3.5 hours to arrive. I watched The Bourne Legacy the whole time (not
complaining) but as a side note, what the heck was that ending?! It just BAM
ended!! Ok I’m done on that subject…*shakes head, clearly still thinking about
it.
We were supposed
to have two houses on a beach or a lagoon of some kind but that fell through.
We ended up with one apartment and one beach house. So 7, I say again, SEVEN
girls took over the three-bedroom, two bath apartment. I opted for the futon
couch in the living room to make things even and it turns out to be
surprisingly comfortable!
Our digs are situated on a golf course, which explains the
miscellaneous golf clubs and old golf shoes in the closet. If we get bored
(unlikely with SEVEN 20-something women) fear not! We’ve got board games in
another closet!
Day 2
Well it’s a beautiful and HOT day. Hot for me anyway, it’s
got to be 70-something. We ended up at the range around 10 and it looks like
their whole Olympic Complex. After we passed the guard station, we took this
winding road around a track, high dive, and other event sites. The whole place
is covered in green hills (almost mountain status) and it kind of reminds me of
a green Colorado or Northern Wyoming. The backdrop for our shooting was a great
big hill with brown-green grass that made it very difficult to see the target.
We all agreed that this is one of the most difficult ranges that we’ve shot on
yet as far as visibility, which makes it a great training range! We got a solid
day of practice in with some of the Puerto Rican team and it turned out to be a
good day. Apparently, there are iguanas running around here, but I have yet to
see one. That’s my mission: catch an iguana. Why? I’ve never seen one in the
wild. Now that I think about it that might not be such a good idea more on that
later.
For lunch, we went to a little kabob place that served the
BEST BBQ chicken kabobs I’ve ever had in my entire life! There had to be two
chicken breasts worth of chicken on one stick! A-MAZING!!! Definitely going
back there every single day!
After the range we did some shopping…grocery shopping.
Burgers and games at the guys’ “fish camp” as we called it. This place was in
the middle of a small, and what appeared to be a poorer part of town. The
“lagoon” it is situated on is more like overflow but it would make a great
bachelor pad or fishing camp. Now that they’ve figured out how to pump their
water, they may have a hot shower…poor guys. We finished up the fun late
tonight and are looking forward to another great training day tomorrow. And
finding an iguana. Must find an iguana.
The team at Fish Camp
Blue Crap caught while fishing at Fish Camp...they were looking for fish...but this works too!
Day 3
Another day in paradise and the same schedule. Wake up; get
7 women through the shower and out the door by 9:45 and at the range by 10.
Yesterday, the skeet shooters had to shoot on the range that required a bit of
a walk so we were really happy today when our coach said that we would be
shooting the range closest to our vehicles where we had made our base camp.
We’ve been practicing the new target sequence that will be enforced in 2013 and
I must say, braking 8-year-old habits is no easy task! I still need reminders
when I need to get off the station, at which point my teammates kindly say,
“Get off!!!” Thanks guys!
In other news, I saw my iguana!!! They’re fast little guys
so I couldn’t catch it, though. I was waiting for my turn and looking at a low
hanging tree branch when I saw a small pair of eyes staring back at me. When we
made eye contact and I really started studying this little baby iguana, he
started glaring and slowly unfolded his bright red throat flap. This gesture
made me not want to attempt to pick him up at first but once I broke eye
contact when I stepped back, he was gone. I saw two other small lizards but I
don’t know what kind they were. Will try again tomorrow.
After practice, we had time to sit by the pool before
getting ready for dinner at the Fish Camp with the boys. The coach and a few team members of the
Puerto Rican team came as well and we had a great time talking about the
intricacies of the brain and eyes in relation to shooting and life while some
fished. Someone even caught a blue crab! I’d never seen one in real life
before, but apparently they can be found in Puerto Rico in a mango grove!
Tomorrow’s range day will include a 50 target + final match
AND an all around match where we will all shoot 25 skeet and 25 trap targets.
We’ve been hearing about this great beach that is just out of our reach with
longer practice days. Our coach says that our ticket to that beach is at least
one perfect score throughout the competition. Let the games begin!
Day 4
I’ll spare you the “woke up, ate breakfast…” bit and assume
we all know the process that got us to the range. We had a few rounds to
practice before we started our 50 target + final match. Last night, some of the
Puerto Rican guys offered to take us to an island not far from Fish Camp that
is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous. Our ticket to go was a perfect score
throughout the day. Another thing mentioned was an iguana hunt. Apparently, the
things are like rodents here so it’s open season. O. My. Goodness. BUT the
ticket was the same price as the island: a perfect score. So we started our
practice and I started off with a 24 and a 22 in practice. Close, but no cigar.
Up comes the match and I shoot another pair of 24s. How frustrating! One of my
teammates shot his iguana hunt-qualifying round in his first practice round! What a little twerp! I ended up winning the skeet match after the final and a 2
target shoot-off. Then it was time for the All Around match! After waiting what
seemed like 2 and a half days for the trap shooters to finish their finals. The
new changes in the way finals are shot will make for some long days in 2013!
Trap went pretty well for us not using our own guns and only having shot trap a
few times in our careers. The top score was 18/25 and both my other teammate
and I brought up the rear with 17s . Trap is so repetitive that we didn’t know
how many targets we’d shot half the time and were all surprised when it was
over. The trap shooters. Oh the trap shooters. Bless their little hearts, the
trap shooters. Let me say that it’s a lot easier to learn how to sit still when
you’re used to moving (skeet shooters shooting trap) than it is to learn how to
move when you’re used to sitting still (trap shooters shooting skeet). We had a
ball picking on each other while they were shooting and trying their best to
master an International Skeet mount. In this mount, the shooter must start the
butt of the gun at the hip and only break from that line when the target comes
out. This is difficult to learn anyway, but when you’ve trained yourself to
mount the gun before you call for the target and remain as still as possible
and to have your head on the stock in a certain way, it is very frustrating to
learn out to throw the gun up and pull the trigger. Not to mention the targets
whiz by at what must seem like warp speed to someone who is used to watching
targets go away from them vs. across the field. It was great fun and, although
we were supposed to shoot a perfect score to earn a trip to the island, our
coach went easy on us and we all get to go tomorrow…probably because only one
person shot that perfect score. I really wanted to go on that iguana hunt but
only 4 people can go. It was postponed today because it was only about 70
degrees and overcast, too cold for the iguanas to be out. We’ll try again on
Saturday and hopefully I’ll be able to go as well.
Dinner tonight was interesting because we ate in a pirate
ship. Yes, a pirate ship. The entire place was the shell of a gigantic ship
with a stage AND a mechanical bull! Unfortunately, the bull wasn’t on but there
was a nice 8 foot pirate snowman for the freezing temperatures of 70 degrees
above 0 *insert eyebrows rising. One of
my teammates said that a Puerto Rican mentioned to her that when the
temperatures reach 70 degrees the schools close because those are winter
temperatures. I’m thinkin’ I’ll trade you winter for winter straight across and
I’ll even through in some rain! Any way, dinner. So we’re at dinner and this
place runs on island time. 4 of us split a big platter that turned out to be
*ehem: ½ chicken, ½ rack ribs, 1 pound steak, at least ¼ pound fried onion
straws AND a plate of French fries. Yeah, we were full. And don’t forget the
nacho appetizer! With all that food, I’m glad we got in early. It’s been a long
couple of nights with an early day tomorrow so we have time for another match
and the island!
Day 5
Today was a short
day because…..we’re going to the island today!!! All we had to shoot was 4
rounds but we had to be at the range and shooting by 8 so that we could be back
to the Fish Camp by 1. The boat was going to pick us all up there and sure
enough, there it was! Our coaches stayed behind for some quiet time and I can’t
blame them one bit. One of the Puerto Rican shooters (2012 Double Trap
Olympian) knew a guy with a boat and set it all up and he went with us to make
sure everything went smoothly. About a 10-minute boat ride away, there was
paradise. 
A small island covered in lush trees and a small beach since it was
high tide. I was imagining a monstrous, white sand beach with a town, but this
was more like an island that someone would be marooned on and not mind it. The
sand was coarse and the water had to be 75-80 degrees, which the Puerto Ricans
assured us would be freezing. Sorry Charlie, but I’m a Washington girl and if
it’s warmer than 40 degree glacier water then it’s warmer than anything I’ve
been in! It was only after we had returned to the main island that it dawned on
me. I had sat in the Caribbean Sea!! Our host and captain asked if any of us wanted
to go on a boat ride and only 4 of us stepped up. That little boat took off
like a bullet! We had to be going 25-30 knots! They took us to an even smaller
grouping of islands where they like to go. The water was calm between them but
the current was swift so we swam around and chatted for a while and then headed
back to gather the others and head back in seeing as it’d been 4 or 5 hours
since we’d left shore. They even let me drive the boat back! I was cautious
because it wasn’t my boat and I didn’t want to waste his fuel or anything until
he reached over and hit the gas and we did 30 knots all the way back to the
rest of the group. 
We got back and
started telling stories to our coaches about a million miles an hour like
little kids after their first day of school. They finally shut us up long
enough to ask if we were hungry and, come to think of it, yes, we were all
starving! The Puerto Ricans knew of another little hole in the wall that
supposedly made the best food and boy were they right! This little place was a
bar and restaurant with a dock so you could just tie on and come in for lunch
and a drink and be on your way again, or you could be a square and drive up. I
had one of the best burgers I’ve had in a long time. One thing about these guys
is that they don’t put seasoning on top of their food, they put seasoning in their food so you don’t have to do
anything to it and it works! We stayed there and played darts, talked and ate
until we all got tired and headed back to the apartment. Of course, placing
bets on whether or not our horse would be on his corner where he always was
when we passed at a certain time of night. He was.
Day 6
Today was the first
match day. We shot 75 targets with the Puerto Rican team to fill out their
world cup team selection match. I shot a 25, 24, and a 23 for a 72, which also
took the high score for the day! We will shoot another 50 targets and a final
tomorrow but that 25 got me a ticket for the iguana hunt!!!!!!! That was the
perfect recipe for one excited Jaiden! Me, two of my teammates who also shot
25’s and my two coaches who reluctantly (wink) agreed to fill in the space
headed out with more Puerto Ricans in their Jeeps to their favorite iguana
hunting territory. It was just outside of town, down a dirt road where everyone
dumped their unwanted furniture. Lots of tall trees and long grass and bugs.
Lots and LOTS of bugs. The ones that bite and itch like crazy! It wasn’t long
before we found our first victim sunning in the very top branches of a tree.
Where else would you find sun, right? My teammate got the pellet rifle out and
took the dinosaur. I was surprised at how big they are! The thing had to be 2 ½
feet long from head to tail and they said he was small. O goodness. We kept finding them in the trees ranging from
yellow, orange, red, and green on the legs, belly and beard; beautiful, in that
scaly prehistoric lizard kind of way. 
The one I got was a bit bigger around and
dang near as long as I am tall. It was a pipsqueak in comparison to my other
teammate’s iguana. That sucker was massive!! As I was talking with one of our
guides, I learned that iguanas are an invasive species to Puerto Rico, brought
here as pets that grew too large and were released. They have no natural
predators on the island and when they lay their 80-odd eggs they all hatch and
flourish, hence, the open season on hunting them. They can climb, swim, and run
like the dickens. If you corner one, watch out for that tail because that’s
their weapon of choice if there’s nowhere to run or climb. From what I’ve
heard, iguana tastes like chicken, but more tender, juicy and flavorful. Tasty.
I’ll talk their word for it.
Day 7
Match day 2 and our
last day at the range here in Puerto Rico. I was a complete idiot and ate a lot
of bread, including but not limited to half of a Krispy Kreme that someone
spoiled us with, and my blood sugar was so out of whack it left me anxious,
paranoid, and ready to pass out at any moment on the field. My eyes could catch
the bird, but my brain was too fried to send the signal to my hands so I got
out of there with a 21 on the first round and a 23 after a few hours and my
body calmed down a bit. That made me tied for first with my teammate and one
ahead of the other. That didn’t matter going into the final, however, because we
start at 0 according to the new rules. I ended up taking 3rd
overall, which is fine with me even though it’s last place in our group.
The Puerto Ricans
made a big spread for lunch today: fried turkey, fried pork, and fried
breadfruit. The breadfruit tasted like a sweet potato to me, but it’s more like
a fried plantain. They peeled the fruit, chunked it up, fried it, let it cool,
squished it, and fried it again. The result was a round, flat, crispy, soft
chip of sorts. Add a big pile of rice with black beans and it was one heck of a
meal! These people really know how to cook! And it was the men that prepared
the meal!
Once everyone was
done with lunch it was time for the traditional baseball game in the field
behind the clubhouse. A Puerto Rican and American captain were chosen and the
teams were decided. The wives and children of the Puerto Rican shooters played
as well. The kids had been looking forward to it all week and had been
practicing during our training days. I played the role of photographer since
I’d had a bad cold all week and didn’t want to aggravate my cough. The game was
a fun one to watch with people yelling in Spanish, English, and sometimes both.
We didn’t play for score, but everyone knew what it was, of course not that any
of us are competitive. It was great to see these people, most of whom strangers
at the beginning of the week, playing baseball like they’ve known each other
for years. It warmed my heart hearing the Laughter at strikeouts and giving
second chances, cheering on the younger kids, and dads encouraging from the
outfield in another language. That’s why I love this sport so much. It’s the
impenetrable bond that comes from having this one thing in common: a passion
for shooting. We may not get along every moment of every day or agree on where
to go for dinner, but if one of us gets into trouble, the others would jump
into the fight without hesitation. And friends made on one trip overseas will
be friends every time you visit common countries. We will always go over to the
Puerto Rican tent to say hello to our new friends until we’re old friends.
That’s just the way this sport is. And it’s all thanks to the love of sport.
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