Puerto Rico

We flew out of New York Monday morning and arrived in San Juan in the afternoon. We picked up our rental car then explored the old forts there and ate some really good Puerto Rican food. On our way to our condo East of San Juan we stopped at Costco and Walmart to get food for the week. Milk at Costco was $6.00 a gallon! Good thing I don't like milk. The thing that was crazy to me about Puerto Rico was it felt like a different country but it is totally American. Most people speak English and there are American stores everywhere--Cold Stone, K Mart (which I thought didn't exist anymore), Sears, etc. (Also, don't mind that the wind makes me look 10 pounds heavier in the fort pictures--or maybe that was from all the cheesecake, cupcakes, and pizza I ate in NYC).

 

We loved our condo in Luquillo. Here's our view of the ocean:

The second day we were there we went to El Yunque National Forest. It was so weird to see the American National Parks signs everywhere. The forest reminded me a lot of Costa Rica.

 

We mostly ate at our condo but did enjoy a couple slushies and smoothies. There is a row of restaurants on the beach north of our condo that are called kioskos. I decided we should walk there at 7:30 at night to get a treat. It gets dark there at 7:00 and the kisokos ended up being way further than we thought so we ended up walking like 5 miles round trip on the pitch black beach to get a slushie. My suggestions usually end up in not so great adventures. I decided on this trip that my new motto is "Sam is usually right".

 
The third day we were there we drove south to Fajardo to catch a ferry to a small island off shore called Vieques. The ferry was only $4 round trip! I really wanted to rent bikes while we were there. Sam thought we should get a scooter. The experience we had solidified my new "Sam is usually right" motto. When I read about Vieques the guide book and websites said it was a great biking island because there is very little traffic. There was no mention regarding the hills you have to climb to get from one side of the island to the other. We rented some overpriced mountain bikes, rode down to mosquito pier (a pier that the navy started building with the goal to reach back to Puerto Rico) then wanted to go to the other side of the island to Esperenza where the beaches and snorkeling were supposed to be the best. All I can say is, climbing paved roads on a mountain bike is not the most leisurely activity. Put us on road bikes and it would have been a different story. By the time we got to Esperenza we were starving. Sam ate the best fish and chips he's every had in his life then we went to one of the beaches. It really was beautiful over there. I'm sad we couldn't spend more time on the beach. (I got my bike ride though!).  Oh yeah, also. They aren't kidding when they say there are a lot of wild horses on the island.

The fourth day we just wanted to relax on the beach. Don't worry, we still had an itinerary though. The condo supplied an umbrella, beach chairs, and some beach toys. We read for a while, played "beach tennis" with some wooden paddles and a ball, boogie boarded, swam, make a sand castle, ate lunch, read, and boogie boarded some more. And got very sunburnt. We had to get aloe with lidocane that night and I looked really cool on the beach the following day wearing a shirt over my suit.

 Miss you PR!