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Location | New York City

Back after the trip. I miss laying out on the beach. Would you like to see Greg’s sad face?

Greg's Sad Face

We got to the airport in Aguadilla, put the car in the parking lot, went through the agricultural inspection, then got breakfast, then went through security then got on the plane… when we realized… we never returned our keys to the car rental counter! Now we need to get those keys sent out ASAP back to the airport. We’re getting charged per day until we get it back to them.

It’s funny because it’s fitting that our trip ended as it did. With some sort of big absentminded mess-up. Maybe that’s karma hitting us in the butt? (After we got out of our original hotel).

Anyway, I’ll be writing an “open letter to Puerto Rico” in my next entry, but not tonight. Maybe tomorrow. A final picture for you:

Goodbye Puerto Rico!

Location | Rincon Beach Resort

Today was a day to not do anything. We woke up late (11am-ish) before we headed down to find breakfast. Unfortunately the restaurant was closed, so we went back upstairs, packed up all the food that we had, and carried it down to the beach. We spent the morning and early afternoon laying out reading magazines and books. We were drinking piña coladas that did not turn me red, so Greg went out and bought some rum, which we then added to our next piña coladas. Greg is my hero because he brought back a roasted chicken! It was delicious to finally eat some street food. Earlier we had eaten the papaya we bought from a fruit stand, and we had kiwis too.

Roasted Chicken

Then there was swimming on the beach until the sun set. Even though there were storm clouds in the sky, the sun was still bright and it couldn’t have been more perfect. The storm clouds passed right over us and we had some great weather! The sunset was beautiful, a bright red (and HUGE) sun on the horizon.

Sunset

After sunset was more twilight swimming, dancing around in the pool (yes I said, dancing), then hot tubbing. More beach, then hot tubbing. Essentially I’m surprised my skin is withstanding all the water.

Instead of going out to dinner we ended up staying in eating snacks… beer – Medalla Light – apparently the Puerto Rican beer of choice; salted cashews, canned pulpo (octopus), and pan de agua. Now it’s just reading and chatting late into the night…

Location | Rincon Beach Resort

We started out relatively early. Set out with the El Yunque Rainforest in mind. We got some coffee and drove off. We decided that we should check out the Arecibo Observatory, a giant radio telescope in the mountains. It’s the most sensitive radio telescope in the world. It’s been featured in movies like GoldenEye and Contact. Anyway… if you’re pressed on time, Greg and I made the decision it’s not worth visiting. It’s $6 a person… but apparently we walked in w/o paying, and we went outside, bought tickets and went back in… We could’ve gotten away without paying for anything at all.

Radio Telescope at Arecibo Observatory

The size of the telescope is incredibly impressive, but there’s nothing else to see besides that. Especially for how long the drive is to get there. After the telescope, we headed toward the rainforest, but since we were starving, we decided to make a quick stop in San Juan. We stopped in Ocean Park to go to Kasalta Bakery for lunch. I had a Cuban sandwich that I’d consider one of the best of my life. We also ordered empanadillas, pan de agua and Greg got rice pudding. Clean with a lot of variety, not too expensive either. A great place to grab lunch (and from the number of people inside, it was a popular place).

Afterwards, we headed out to El Yunque. We got there relatively late, around 4:30pm. The gates closed at 6. We drove up to Coco Falls, the “most photographed” falls in the rainforest.

Coco Falls in El Yunque National Rainforest

We looked for a trail that we could complete within an hour. We ended up at the Big Tree Trail – which was supposedly 0.5 miles long. We hiked and hiked, but it felt a lot longer. It was an easy trail, partially paved or at least covered in gravel. Up and down, we saw trees, trees and more trees. We listened to birds calling and the sound of the rainforest was deafening. We didn’t finish the trail before we turned back. Apparently we missed seeing La Mina Falls, where you can also go swimming at the bottom of the falls.

Trail Map for El Yunque

After going through the trail, we wanted to go to Luquillo Beach. We headed there as twilight was setting in. The beach was pretty pristine (minus the kelp on the shore).We headed back to San Juan in our wet bathing suits. When we arrived in Old San Juan but traffic was terrible. There was a motorcycle accident and too many cars on narrow streets. It took us 30-40 minutes just to park. We walked around before we settled on a place called Raices to eat. All the other restaurants seemed emptied out at 10pm, but Raices still had a wait. We were seated at the bar (yay!) and I ordered the Kan Kan Super Porkchop w/ sweet plantains (I’m not sure what it was… but it was aweeeeesome when it came out). Greg ordered the Dorado, fish under some vegetables w/ rice and beans. The pork chop was totally awesome, but parts of it were overcooked. I love sweet plaintains, so I’m glad that’s what I ended up ordering (no more rice and beans for me!).

Afterwards we set out for the 2 hour drive back to Rincon. We got back around 1:30/2am and went on a twilight swim and dip in the hot tub. It has been a late night, but a great set up for tomorrow!

Location | Rincon Beach Resort in Puerto Rico

After an early morning dip in the ocean and pool, we were off to Boquerón. Apparently it’s one of the best beaches in Puerto Rico, but tourists rarely make it out there. In the low season (and on a Thursday) it was only about 10 people on the beach. Quiet, ours, it was pretty great. We drove along the peninsula trying to find the perfect stretch of beach. At the end of the peninsula there was a resort, but it was boarded up (closed for the season?). We decided to offroad a little and check out the beach. Unfortunately there wasn’t much beach at the end of the peninsula and the only part we’d want to swim in was across a small channel. At least there was a small convenience store where we bought some Coronas. We headed toward the giant parking lots back toward where we came in.

Boqueron Peninsula

The beach was nice, but underwhelming for the description our tourbook had given us. We swam around in the water, lay out on the beach, I took a nice nap after reading a magazine… then it began to rain and we were running back to the car.

Boqueron Beach

We decided we were going to head southeast toward Ponce to find dinner. We ended up offroading to figure out what was on this strip of land I had spotted from the highway.

Random Lagoon, Random Strip of Land

The exit was very strange, as it lead to a hotel (that was closed?) and then to a racetrack (which was very full). Then there was the deserted racetrack and parking lot that was dilapidated and falling apart. We couldn’t find a way in since all the roads were blocked, so we exited, but right as we were about to get onto the freeway, I spotted a dirt road leading away from the exit. Greg thought we should turn around, so we turned around on the freeway and took this dirt road which was along the wall to the race track. The wall was very long, made of cement and the top had barbed wire. We might has well have been driving along the walls of a prison.

Tall Cement Wall and Barbed Wire...

There was a small cluster of houses which seemed deserted or closed for the season, and we got to the end of the road where we found a group of people running and training along the shore. Greg and I headed to a mangrove to take some photos. Unfortunately I left very quickly due to myself being attacked by mosquitoes.

Fishing Boats near Ponce

After driving out, we headed to Ponce. Ponce looks like any other town. Strip malls, some narrow roads, a lot of dilapidated old buildings. A mix of Detroit, Los Angeles, and a little bit of a Charleston/Havana feel. We ate dinner at an Argentinian-Italian restaurant. For an appetizer, we ordered fried yuca. Greg got a skirt steak, I got chicken stuffed with shrimp. Dessert? Dulce du leche crepes.

We drove back to the hotel and took a dip in the completely deserted beach (also, completely unlit dark ocean). I have a slight fear of the dark (more of the fear of the unknown) but it was liberating to swim out there without freaking out. After a dip in the pool and hot tub it was up the stairs to pass out.

Location | Rincon Beach Resort in Puerto Rico

It began at 3:30am this morning when I woke up and began to get ready for my 4:15 car ride to the airport. Greg arrives and we’re off!

JetBlue terminal is amazing! Flight is smooth minus the finicky/crying/cooing baby. Got our car, took a scenic ride to Rincon, checked in at Villa Cofresi. Then we grabbed lunch. Mofongo is the specialty here – garlicky mashed plantains. Greg ordered the fried pork mofongo and I ordered the fried chicken special. Not bad, but not amazing.

Fried Chicken Special

Then we left and were on the beach. It was completely deserted…! The hotel is in the low season, so there are a lot of empty rooms…

We were in the water for an hour or two before it began to rain. It was pouring for about an hour with deafening thunder and also lightening. We sat on our patio watching it all come down.

Then we headed out to drive around… We first went to a grocery store (EcOno) where we bought more food than is necessary… plantain chips, juice, canned pulpo, beer and fruit. Then we drove south to a whale watching tower where I noticed that there was a hotel nearby which I recognized as the Rincon Beach Resort – which we almost originally booked.

View from Whale Watching Tower

So that leads back a fun story…

We went to the Rincon Beach Resort to check it out, and then we were suddenly deciding we wanted to change hotels! We checked the price online and it was cheaper than Villa Cofresi, so we went back and asked Cofresi about their cancellation policy and somehow we managed to work it out (minus $80 they charged us for partial usage), but otherwise, we got a room at Rincon Beach Resort.

Anyway, We’ve been saying “It’s Puerto Rico” everytime something goes wrong. The room at the new hotel is about the same as before except… There was mold on the headboard! (Which we wiped off). That’s been the only drawback… Sorta.

We drove around in search of dinner, but there are so many US chain restaurants and not enough local places. We settled on a seafood place. Greg ordered mahi mahi and I ordered the mofongo stuffed with chicken (which was AMAZING!). It was a little like chicken pot pie, except instead of pastry crust, there was garlicky mashed plantains. The chicken was so incredibly tender too! Mrmm.

Anyway, now we’re back in the hotel getting ready for bed.

Location| New York City

Check out the current radar map of Puerto Rico…

Doesn't the weather look lovely?

If you look to the west of the Island to about where it says San Sebastian under the green blob, that’s where Rincon is… crossing my fingers that this changes in the next 18 hours…!

Location | New York City

It’s almost as if this trip to Puerto Rico snuck up on me. On Wednesday, I’ll be off to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico at the ungodly hour of 6am. You know how much I enjoy those early morning flights.

When we arrive in Aguadilla, Greg and I will be staying in the beach town of Rincon, apparently known for being the host of the 1st World Championship of Surfing in 1968. From there? Laying out in the sun, surfing, kayaking, hiking, swimming, snorkeling and so on. Hopefully there are some great adventures to be had. There’ll be pictures and other updates from me, no worries. Just check back here on Wednesday or Thursday!