Ciao

The next day, I had just enough time to say goodbye to my family (and the iguanas) before heading to the airport and back home. I love my family so much and had such a great time vacationing with them.

Some observations about Puerto Rico:

Spanglish is apparently the national language. Even the ads have both english and spanish in a single sign.

No cars move over for ambulances. Even with their flashers on, the ambulances were sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Old San Juan - Part 2

By this point in time, Kelly and Diane, Mom Dena's sisters, had joined us in Puerto Rico. Since we just had just not had enought of that really beautiful city, we headed back to old San Juan. I went with Grandpa, Kelly, and Diane to finish the walking tour of San Juan, this time heading in the opposite direction.

We started with (1) La Casita, a little house on the docks of Puerta de San Juan and (2) the big pink La Aduana (Customs House). Near the docks was this amazing outdoors photography exhibit, the Earth from Above, from Yann Arthur-Bertrand. The photography is meant to encourage sustainable development. The photos were very inspirational. Next up, El Arsenal (not pictured), a former Spanish naval station; and (3) La Princesa, a former jail current art house on the esplanade near (4) Raices, a beautiful fountain. We followed the promenade and (5) Muralla, the city wall with turreted guard towers, along the bay. Once past the (6) gates, we walked along the hilly sidewalk to (7) La Fortaleza, the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere, and (8) the pigeon-filled Parque de las Palomas. We passed the (9) Casa Rosa, before heading downhill to (9) Iglesia de San Jose, the second oldest church in the Americas, and (10) Convento de los Dominicos. We ended back at El Morro, then headed to find Jayde, Jordan, and Mom. We all grabbed lunch at Burger King . . . I know, but it was the only place we could all agree on, and did some souvenier shopping. We ended our trip to San Juan at Plaza de Colon, sitting, laughing, and enjoying the good weather.

This is just a random alleyway near Plaza de Colon that I thought was pretty. Got to love the cobblestone streets and brightly colored stucco buildings with oil lamps.

The inside of Iglesia de San Jose.

A close up of Raices.

Cool trees.





Plaza de Colon


Back at the hotel, I went for one last dip in the ocean.



Here is Jayde right before a wave mowed her over. :)

El Yunque

The next morning, we explored our hotel. The beach was beautiful.

We went to the iguana feeding. They were everywhere and absolutely unafraid of humans.









In the afternoon, we headed to El Yunque. It was conveniently located just ten minutes from our hotel. It is part of the Caribbean National Forest.

Our first stop was La Coca Falls.

Next we started hiking La Mina Trail. Some of the trees in El Yunque are over 1,000 year old. The leaves were very large and, apparently, made a perfect sun shade and umbrellas.






The trail ends at La Mina Falls, the perfect swimming hole.




When we got back, Jayde and Mom just wanted to hang out in the room. Jordan was insistent that I come out to the beach to play with him until the sun set. Although I was tired too, I went. How much longer is he going to still be young enough to want to hang out with his older sister? In fact, that very thought crossed my mind while I was watching him on the beach and I started crying. He is growing up so fast! But he'll always be my bug.

Arecibo

Although the resort had a lot to do, I was anxious to get out and see more of Puerto Rico. Jordan, Grandpa Reeder, and I decided to take a mini road trip to Arecibo. Arecibo was about three hours from our resort so we had to get up really early to pack in everything we wanted to do.


After arriving in Arecibo, we grabbed some pastries at a cute, local diner and headed to the Cavernas del Rio Camuy the world's third largest system of caves.
Jayde and Mom declined to join us because the guidebook mentioned there are bats in the caves. Below is the only bat we saw the whole day.

The mass of stalagtites and stalagmites were pretty impressive. These pictures don't do it justice.

Our next stop was Parque Ceremonial Indigena Caguana. It is a cultural site with some impressive, ancient rock grafitti circling the 10 ceremonial bayete (ball) courts. The drawings were fairly well-preserved and really interesting.

The trees and plants were enormous. Jordan made a pretty perfect GQ model. :)



By the time we finished there, it was pretty late in the afternoon and we were racing to get to the Observatorio del Arecibo before it closed. Although not something you would expect to find in Puerto Rico, the Observatory is apparently the world's largest radio telescope. The "dish" is 20 acres wide and cables are 50 stories high.

By the time we got back to the resort, it was late and I was exhausted. But Jayders had her heart set on going out. Jason, my friend from high school who was stationed in Puerto Rico, offered to show us around the clubs in old San Juan. I don't remember the names of any of the places we went to, but we had a great time.

Old San Juan

The next morning, we got breakfast at the hotel and walked around the grounds. There were iguanas EVERYWHERE!

We played in the ocean, in the sand (well Jordan did),

and in the pool.




We spent the afternoon walking around old San Juan, which was about an hour from our hotel with pretty heavy traffic. What an incredible, beautiful city. It ranks pretty high on my list of the cities I've seen. We started at El Morro, "a six-level fort with a gray, castellated lighthouse." It is the oldest Spanish fort in the New World, built in 1539.


From the El Morro grounds, you can overlook the Cementario de San Juan.


We walked past the cemetary and La Perla, "the most picturesque slum in the world," to get to Forte San Cristobal. It was a really bizarre. Beautiful, old San Juan completely surrounds and overlooks this really dangerous ghetto. The guidebook warns, "La Perla . . . remains the prized turf of lawless people who will be only too happy to rough you up and rob you if given the opportunity. . . . This is not a place to wander into." Although we kept a safe distance from La Perla, we were called some names I dare not repeat for snapping photos as we passed over it.

Although it is not as well know as El Morro, Forte San Cristobal was my favorite part of old San Juan. It was a great place for pictures.



After hitting the top tourist spots, we went shopping and in search of a place to eat. Before we got too far, though, a torrential downpour started. It was raining whole garbage cans full of rain. Although completely futile, we pressed ourselves up against the walls under over hangs trying to avoid the rain. We eventually ran into a restaurant and had dinner, hoping to wait out the storm. No such luck. It was still pouring when we left the restaurant and as we tried to navigate our way back to the car, all of the power in old San Juan went out. So there we were, running around lost in the dark, in the rain, and in a city that we weren't sure was entirely safe after dark. We eventually made it back to the car in one piece, but soaked to the bone.

We warmed up back at the hotel, with mojitos in the hot tub. The perfect end to a beautiful day.